Saturday, March 26, 2016

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








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