May 9th-Oakley, Kansas 50 degree Tornadofest!

Multiple target areas, all with pros, all with cons. You must choose one, and choose it wisely. A surface low with cape values approaching 2,500 and rich moisture was in place in SW, Kansas up into Colorado. This was accompanied by a dryline with CAPE values of 4-5000 and rich low level moisture, however, early morning convection was making that target a lot less appealing as cloud debris was going to be a major issue. Then, finally a WF and the less likely target due to minimal low level moisture and cape was draped across Northern, Kansas. Which to choose? Which to choose?

Joined with me this chase day again was Brennan Jontz of Iowa Storm Chasing Network. My chase partner Stephen Jones was nice enough to allow us to crash at his place in Norman, Oklahoma while he stayed the night in Texas with Cody Howard from the previous days chase where we scored a large tornado near Haynesville, Texas. Hoping to go 2/2 we awoke to a Moderate Risk in place across SW Kansas near the surface low. However, we were still not 100% convinced that this would be the most favorable target area.  We stayed in Norman, Oklahoma way longer than we should have because of this difficult decision.

12 o clock pm came around and with convection still along the red river area we decided to commit to the Northern target. Hoping it wasn't to late we had to haul it to our target area of Liberal, Kansas. Not even to Watonga, Oklahoma an MD was already issued about an upcoming tornado watch. It wasn't until Woodward, Oklahoma (when our tornado watch was issued) that I realized an MD was issued for the Southern play. Then.....the new 20z outlook came out, and I felt like driving my car into a wall. After the moderate risk for the Northern play was taken away at the 1630 outlook a new moderate risk was issued. BUT NOT FOR US! HAHA SUCKERS! The area that had been under a 5% probability outlook was upgraded to a 15% hatched outlook mentioning strong tornadoes. WHAT THE HELL?!?! This absolutely destroyed my day and I think all I posted to Facebook was "SMFH".

Meanwhile, a ton of other chasers and locals were down South in a very volatile atmosphere with the morning convection finally disappearing. Not only that, there was a freaking OFB in 4,000 cape and mid 70 degree dew points in place. As angry as I was, and after texting Brennan the news (as we were in a convoy) I couldn't let this keep me from focusing on the chase at hand. Finally arriving in Liberal, Kansas under a nice CU field it was time to wait, and hope we didn't miss anything crazy to the South.

"It begins"......a storm fires near the town of Cisco and is as classic as it gets on radar. However, a closer look revealed that not a single chaser was on it! There were a couple locals and a couple spotters and only one or two well known chasers on the storm and boy was it producing a beaut! A very violent, cone tornado was tearing across the Texas landscape. But, those who were shit talking the people for going North this day weren't anywhere near this storm. It was comical to watch and like clock work, by the time the chaser hoards got to the storm it died. My chase partner who was busy running tours this week Alec Scholten scored a couple tornadoes along the Red River so that made me happy to see a team member score while a ton of others busted. Except, laughing at them about bit me in the butt.

I hadn't been paying attention to the placement of the low that morning as I was driving to the target area. It was more North than anticipated and storms erupted in Eastern, Colorado. Well to our North. Except the HRRR kept being persistent with firing storms along SW Kansas and the Oklahoma Panhandle. With storms firing nearly over head of us we were at a crossroad. After pacing back and forth between storms we finally committed North. But, not before photos started to flood my newsfeed of the storm we finally committed to already producing incredible tornadoes. A white one with a rainbow to be exact. But storm motion would not work on our favor. This storm was moving due North away from us, and while we had a perfect road North along the border and going as fast as safely possible this was an impossible task catching up to it. More and more photos continued to come in of even more tornadoes this storm was producing. Photogenic tube, after photogenic tube. Stovepipe, then wedge, then a large cone with a satellite rope. UGH! UGH! UGH!

We stopped off for gas in the town of Sharon Springs, Kansas. I was so mad and tired at this point that I was ready to call off the chase. I asked Brennan if he agreed and after a few minute discussion he also agreed. I texted my friend and fellow storm chaser Adam Lucio who had the same kind of day as us if he wanted to do dinner in Goodland, Kansas. His response was "It better have a bar". That was my kinda answer. However.....The storm Gods were about to turn the frown we had upside down. I noticed a storm (nothing impressive) blow up on radar and go tornado warned. Not just a tornado warning, but a confirmed tornado on the ground near WaKeeney. Interesting. While that town was just out of reach it still peaked my interest that a storm managed to latch onto the Warm Front and produce up here. Then, another blimp appeared on radar. This one much, much closer. Just South of Oakley, Kansas. I texted Brennan and suggested we go after these. We had I-70 with a favorable speed limit, and we were only 30 miles away. He agreed, and I texted Adam before we even met up saying we were going for it. He said "see you there" as he was still a good 20-30 miles behind me. As soon as we got onto I-70 a confirmed tornado was on the ground and being live streamed by local news media. Floor it! The closer and closer we got, I realized "holy crap! we are going to make it! we are going to make it!" and before we knew it, we were inside the tornado warning box right before the storm crossed I-70.

LOOK AT THAT MONSTER STORM! With how little this thing was, it was producing tornadoes. The original plan was to take some side roads and get ahead of the "hook" as we thought it'd cross 70 before we could get there. We hopped off an exit and I called Brennan and said I think we can make it. Lets go for it! We'll hook slice and be in perfect positioning for it crossing the interstate. So, we turned around and got back onto 70 and continued East. We punched through the precip in the hook region and the whole time I had sweaty palms thinking "did we beat it? did we beat it? am I going to drive right into it?" and then the rain started to clear. Then, I look off to my right and that glorious, glorious moment. Tornado on the ground baby!!!!

A beautiful, and long lived elephant trunk tornado was just to my South. I tried to flag Brennan to stop but he didn't see me (which he later pulled over about a half mile down the road). I was so freaking happy, after all of the frustration we finally scored! 2/2! The tornado roped out, and the next one was on the horizon. I drove up the road and gave Brennan a high five as we celebrated on an empty highway from where police had blocked it off right after we passed by. While filming the still rapid area of rotation from the first tornado of the evening, I hear a strange wooshing sound. Then I look over, and another tornado touched down from a sister meso on the storm! I wasn't even aware my voice could get as high as it did. I mean this thing was 25 yards or less, and I was outside of my car and a good 30 feet from it. I ran back and pulled up the road a couple hundred yards and let it pass behind me. Thankfully it was weak because it hit a semi, and had it flipped the semi over I'd be toast.

Then, while filming this tornado, I look over my right shoulder and another tornado touches down from yet another meso handoff! unreal!



But that wasn't the end of it either. Yet ANOTHER tornado touched down right behind this one! Twins! My second pair of twins in my chasing career!

All of these video grabs I will add are in a time period that was less than 15 minutes. This storm was so cyclic it was unreal! The crazies part was it was only 55 degrees outside! The low temperatures lowered the temp/dew spread and a storm was able to become surface based and root itself to the Warm Front and take advantage of the insane speed shear and helicity in place.

It was time to re position and attempt to keep up with this storm. But, as soon as we started driving, two more tornadoes touched down from the sister mesos!

These would be tornadoes number 5 and 6 of the night! All in less than 30 freaking minutes! We found a North option through the town of Grinell, Kansas but were almost immediately greeted by mud roads. It didn't take long for us to fall behind and watch the storm begin to pull away. But, not before a fat, wedge tornado planted on the ground about 20 miles (yes you read that correctly) to our North/Northwest. This video grab is the beginning stages of tornado number 7.

Then she continues to grow in size

Adam pulled up shortly after this video grab and of course we had to celebrate. He grabbed this photo that reveals the awesome structure, star lit sky above, and a fat wedge that was later rated EF2 underneat!

 After an unbelievable night, it was time to celebrate with steaks! All of us convoyed to Hays, Kansas for a well earned meal. But, not before I would get pulled over for the second time this trip -_-. I had already gotten a speeding ticket in Oklahoma the day before, so why not add Kansas? Even though I wasn't speeding. He ended up pulling me over for falling too close (which I really wasn't) and let me off with a warning. Hoping to keep the streak alive, day 3 of chasing awaited us in Iowa.

Conclusion-Don't give up! Persistence always pays off! Had we of all gotten mad and said screw that storm and ate in Goodland we wouldn't have witnessed this incredible event. With a tornadofest while it was so cold outside. Also, stick with what your gut tells you. By going North like what our gut was telling us it ended up paying off. This chase also taught me a lot about forecasting. As it was by far the toughest forecast I ever had to make. It wasn't a setup where models said "Hey! Go here for tornadoes!" this one made us work for it.

Tornado reports

Footage from the day
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeSZV8ow1QQ

May 16th-Elmer, Oklahoma EF3 Tornado-Close Range!

EPIC Close Range Tornado! 

May 16th, 2015 would be day 2 of a 2 day chasing stretch and by far the most brutal amount of driving I have ever endured. The day before, I was chasing in the Nebraska Panhandle along the Colorado border, where I had a decent chase day. But, not before driving all night after working a 9 hour day at work all the way to Western, Nebraska. With only an hour of sleep, I made it to Kearney, Nebraska before I could not drive anymore. Falling asleep at the wheel, I pulled off in a rest area, and got about 2 hours of sleep before I had to wake up and continue my trek for the next day of chasing. This chase day nearly cost me my job as well. I had called off work while sitting at a Perkins parking lot looking at model data for the next day (May 16th) while we waited on storms to fire. All models were showing ingredients for long track, and perhaps violent tornadoes. I woke up in Kearney thinking I'd only have to drive a couple hours to central Kansas and fall back asleep before storms initiated. I woke up to a 15% hatched tornado outlook issued by the SPC, stretching from Southern, Oklahoma up to Southern, Nebraska with the top analogs being some major tornado outbreaks like April 14th, 2012 where I documented 7 tornadoes. But, there was a big problem.

Not only did I awake to a 15% hatch tornado outlook, but I also woke up to Kansas socked in clouds and rain and 50 degree temperatures and pathetic dew points. I knew this was not going to do. So, scratching my eyes after waking up, I hopped into the drivers seat, feeling like death, and continued my long, and painful drive South. This wasn't just any ran shield either. Not one to where you could simply drive about an hour South and be in the clear. Nope. There was no clearing at all in Kansas! In fact the only clearing was in the Texas Panhandle into southern, Oklahoma and Texas! Ahhhhhh! Now, not only to I have to drive even further on no sleep. Its now a race against time, and to top it off I am now too far from home to make it home for work the next day! Thinking for sure this trip was about to come to a disastrous end, with me already being clear out here, and still possibly going to miss epic tornadoes. I text my boss asking if I can not come in tomorrow. I already knew what the answer would be, but I had to try. What I forgot, is that I had volunteered to cover someones shift tomorrow. I almost instantly got a "no" and at this point I am freaking out. Because I had been driving South and I was sitting on the Oklahoma border reading a text message saying my worst nightmare. But, I got a second text from my boss about someone who could possibly cover my shift. So, I make the phone call, just after slamming my car in park angrily and smacking my steering wheel out of frustration. But, a miracle happened. My co-worker agreed to cover my shift and it was go time. The chase was on! But.....it was a race against time. I was hauling through blinding rain as I crossed into Oklahoma, continuing my dive South. As models made it clear I needed to be along the Red River. A river that separates Oklahoma and Texas.

I finally reached I-40 and started blasting West. Storms erupted in the Texas Panhandle near Shamrock, Texas. ( I am flying down the highway at this point) and tornadoes are being reported on the ground. My chase partner who is already chasing documented a tornado already and I was missing it. To top it off? As I get within 40 miles of the border, the storms begin to morph into a squall line and become outflow dominant. So, I dive South even further at new storms going up along the dryline. I stop near Willow, Oklahoma and observe the storms approaching. I remember saying "this looks like ass" as I am frustrated, and irritable as i'm still running on 3 hours of sleep in two days. I continue South and I lose data for quite sometime. At this point, i'm hoping my decision to keep going South wouldn't prove to be a costly one. I arrive in Eldorado, Oklahoma and get data back. Storm to the North looked even worse than when I left it, and small, but isolated storms were firing just to my Southwest. at this point I feel better about my decision to continue South for storms initiating in a better environment. It took my awhile to notice, but I noticed I was almost on E in my gas tank. I arrived in Quanah, Texas to find no gas stations and I thought for sure the chase was over. Just as my storm went severe warned and was passing over town. I feared I'd run out of gas and watch the storm leave me in the distance. Thankfully, when I got to the West side of town and there it was! Gas! I run inside to fill up and the chase was back on. But we were fighting river crossings.

I pulled off on highway 287 to observe the storm. Honestly, it looked like absolute garbage. It was an elevated, elongated, piece of shit.

But the games were about to begin. I noticed a small storm going up just South of this storm. A cell merger was underway. I hopped onto my road option to cross the river back into Oklahoma and now tennis ball size hail was being reported my other chasers. This told me the storm was rapidly intensifying. I'll never forget watching the storm hook, and hook, and hook even more on radar as I approached with a rock hard updraft and sculpted meso.

CG's are being spit out about every half second or so. Its as if Thor himself was telling us something big was coming. Then.....I noticed it. The alligator. The alligator mouth began chomping away, I quickly jumped in my car and crossed the Red River into Oklahoma and pulled off on the Oklahoma side of the bridge. Then, the most ominous thing I have ever seen. I heard this deathly roar. It sounded like a constant roll of thunder. Then, whole trees began flying into the air. Tossed like toys. But, the tornado itself was still obscured by rain. It was almost mother natures way of saying "drum roll please" before entering on stage.

I couldn't get over the thunderous roar. It was on par, if not louder than the Stanton, Nebraska EF4 I witnessed on June 16th, 2014. I kept saying "You can hear the roar!" "Listen to the roar!" Then finally. The tornado showed its ugly face. Its massive in size. At least a half mile wide tornado as it briefly pokes out of the rain.

All of the crap I went through. Almost losing my job, feeling like falling asleep at the wheel, and grinding it from Ohio to Colorado, clear to Texas. All for this right here! Absolutely epic, and violent tornado in an open field, not tearing any town apart. I jump up and down screaming in victory. The coolest park? I randomly found my chase partners Stephen Jones, and Alex Bartholomew on the same road as me and we are parked side by side watching this epic beast! I scurry back into my car and parallel the tornado on the road. But, it takes a hard right turn. But I had good situation awareness and noticed the shift. So I slow to a stop as propane tanks explode inside the tornado!

I snapped this wide angle shot right as the tanks exploded. This video grab does it no justice as to how close we were to the tornado. But this video grab does!

My chase partner Stephen Jones zips by and we play leap frog until we get within 100 yards of the violent tornado.

As if this tornado couldn't get anymore awesome, it did the fastest break down I have ever seen to a multi vortex tornado. With three vorticies dancing around in the field beside us. But then.....BOOM! CRASH! Softball size hail begins to fall!!!! Although we aren't any where near the core, the RFD is so strong its hurling softballs around the back side of the tornado from the core.

My ears are ringing the hail is so loud. Hail stones were so big, they were hitting the ground and bouncing above my car, and as I continue North then begin my trek East to get back into position a baseball size hail stones slams into my windshield, breaking it. Followed by another one that seemed tennis ball size causing another spiderweb across the top part of my window. I didn't bring enough with me to replace the windshield so I couldn't lose it. I pulled off and face the back of my car into the hail. If I lost my back window, it'd be more expensive, but I could still drive home. I quickly analyzed roads and booked it back West, then North and then back East out of Altus, Oklahoma. This was a risky maneuver as it'd put me into the bears cage and North of the tornado. But it was my only option at getting back ahead of this 40mph moving tornado.

Winds roaring towards the field beside me, I know there is still something on the ground as I creep along interstate 62 West of Snyder, Oklahoma. The only other person I passed was Reed Timmer and Sean Schofer in Dominator 3. I guess I was doing something right? I hurry around them and continue creeping down the highway. Then. The wind shift and I see the rain bands clear revealing a tornado literally 50 yards ahead in the highway median. I slam on my breaks screeching to a hault and back up just a tad. This heavily rain wrapped tornado which I thought at the time was still the Elmer tornado, turned out to be a satellite tornado.

This tornado either lifted or got so rain wrapped I couldn't see it anymore after it crossed the interstate. I finally cleared the precip and we got to Lawton to decide our next move. I saw another tornadic supercell to the South (which ended up producing a beautiful tornado) but I decided against going because I was so tired at this point. I did however follow the still tornado warned storms up I-44 to Chickasha where I pulled over and assess the damage to my car from hail. I got out and saw a hail dent the size of damn near a bowling ball (my friends are convinced that its a record size hail dent) and I wear it with pride. All throughout my car baseball to softball size hail dents can be found. I got extremely lucky as a baseball size hail dent is visible just above my drivers side window. If my side windows were any bigger disaster would have struck as my drivers side window would have been busted, leaving my completely exposed to hail and flying debris.

Conclusion:

Hands down my best chase to date. Yes that's including the Pilger, Nebraska tornado. Made a perfect forecast this day, grinded out a brutal drive, got within a football field of a violent tornado, and topped off with massive, windshield busting hail. It doesn't get any better than that!

Footage:
Aaron's View
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1T232wibP20

Stephen's View
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKIMw5DJvOY

Storm Reports