Okla-HAIL-Mo, May 16, 2010

Wow, what a wicked day for folks in the Oklahoma City area on Sunday 5/16. A massive hailstorm approached the area from the northwest in the mid-afternoon, dropping hailstones the size of softballs. Major damage was reported throughout the area, including smashed windows and windshields, large dents in vehicles, and some injuries.

My chase centered west of the hailstorm, in the Hinton and Binger, OK areas. The reason for this is I wanted to stay out of the huge hail, and photograph some interesting storm formations. The storms west of OKC were less-severe, but more photogenic.

Moving east from Amarillo, TX in the early afternoon, I was able to intercept a developing super-cell thunderstorm near Hinton around 3:30 p.m. This storm initially did not look threatening, however it quickly developed into a rotating super-cell, dropping golf ball sized hail, and a beautiful structure. I will be posting photos of this storm later today.

Today, Monday May 17, I will be chasing to the west of Amarillo, out toward Albuquerque, NM.

Stay tuned!

Chasing In Texas Oil Country

On Friday May 14, the chase centered around Kermit, Odessa and Midland, Texas with storms forming along a stationary front draped across the area along I-20 in the southwest part of the state. It was a good old fashioned Texas wild-goose-chase across the oil fields and several tornadoes were sighted by Roger Hill and Tony Laubach.

Coming in from the north, I had a long drive from Amarillo that morning so I positioned myself to catch the western-most storms in the line. Quite often, the storms forming at the end of the line can quickly produce tornadoes, and are sometimes quite photogenic as there are no storms behind them to interfere with light quality and contrast for photos and video.

This area of southwest Texas is dotted with oil drilling platforms and has the distinct odor of crude oil mixed with mesquite. An interesting smell, to be sure. The countryside is mostly flat, providing a great view of thunderstorm updraft bases for miles around.

Taking I-27 south to Lubbock and then proceeding southwest from there along smaller roads, I was able to intercept several thunderstorms. The weather situation in the area was dominated by a stationary front. North of the front, temperatures were in the 50s with fog and drizzle. South of the front, readings reached the upper 60s with high dewpoints. There was also a low-level jet of 30 knots crossing the front at a favorable angle. When you have dynamics like that, you can be fairly certain that storms will form.

Proceeding south toward Kermit, TX, I was able to navigate safely through one thunderstorm "hail core". A hail core is the part of a thunderstorm where the largest hail is falling, usually some distance away from the updraft. Hail was golf ball sized and my vehicle sustained several dings. Once south of the hail and rain, I sighted the storm's updraft base. I immediately recognized that the updraft was rotating and potentially tornadic. You can see the rotation in the images I've posted.

I encountered "chaser convergence" along Highway 115 near Kermit. The "TIV" or Tornado Intercept Vehicle (Tornado Tank) was there along with several of the Doppler-On-Wheels vehicles from various research teams including the National Science Foundation. Numerous amateur chasers were sighted along the roads as well. Fortunately, everyone played nice and I did not encounter any rude or unsafe chasers.

Locking in on the Kermit storm as the best looking one in the area, I decided to engage it. I positioned myself just north of I-20 and found good paved roads for a beautiful view of the storm structure, while staying out of the large hail that was falling. Visible to the northwest was the storm's rotating updraft which had "TVS" or Tornado Vortex Signatures embedded within the structure. A TVS is radar-indicated rotation. This was a classic super-cell updraft with strong inflow bands and beautiful sculpted striations, indicative of moderate wind shear.

After stopping four or five times at various points for photos, I disengaged around 4:30 p.m. CDT and began the long trek back up to Amarillo, where all my clothes were located! I arrived back at my hotel around midnight.

Folks, this is what serious storm chasing is all about. You get up early and forecast your target, then drive to get there, (four hours in this case). The chase lasted almost three hours, followed by a four hour drive back. Obviously, anticipation and positioning are key to avoiding long drives, but sometimes it cannot be avoided.

I've been out now since last Monday and running out of clean clothing. Today (Saturday May 15 will be a marginal day in the Amarillo area, however some storms may move out of New Mexico in the afternoon toward this area. Sunday 5/16 looks interesting east of here out toward Wichita Falls.

This has been a very successful week, however the weather pattern will be changing soon for the Great Plains. We are forecasting a high pressure ridge to move into the area next week, squelching the chances for severe thunderstorms.

Wild Day In Oklahoma, May 10 2010

Good Day Everyone. Monday May 10, 2010 will go down as an infamous day in Oklahoma tornado history. Thanks to a powerful low pressure system with strong dynamics, high dewpoints and good wind shear, we had numerous strong thunderstorms with tornadoes across northern Oklahoma. Unfortunately, several people lost their lives. My chase day began in Goodland, KS and ended in Wichita, KS. A five-hour drive out I-70 and then down I-35 brought me in range of one of the strongest storms by 4 p.m. I moved in from the north to get position in "The Notch", which is an area on the leading edge of the storm with strong air inflow. Since I was coming in from the north, my best chance to see any tornadoes would be in the notch.

I got there in the nick of time and found myself directly under the mesocyclone, or the strongest area of rotation. To my great relief there was only one other chaser there! The tornado was rain-wrapped by that time, and thus invisible. Finding myself in the perfect position to get run over by the tornado, I skedaddled to the south to try and get around the southern edge of the thunderstorm and perhaps glimpse a tornado from the south. Moving back off the country roads to I-35, I headed out of the storm just before ten tractor-trailers were blown off the roadway. I quickly turned to see the dissipating tornado and then started back north on I-35, stopping to assist several truckers whose rigs were overturned. Several trees had been uprooted as well. This damage was done either by a tornado, or the extremely strong rear-flank downdraft winds coming around the south side of the storm.

Needless to say, it was a very exciting 30 minutes! Fortunately none of the truckers I encountered were injured. Several trucks had blown over onto other vehicles, but everyone was fine. Today I head out of Wichita for the Tulsa area to play along the existing frontal boundary. There will be favorable conditions for a few super-cells today.

Stay tuned and stay safe!

The Hunt Begins 2010

Hello fellow storm enthusiasts. Here we are at the end of March, and storm chasers are eagerly outfitting their vehicles, scheduling time off and studying long-range forecasting models in anticipation for an active chase season. We don't actually know for sure what 2010 will hold in terms of the number of tornadoes we will experience, which brings up the main point of this post.

There are all kinds of storm chasers out there. Many are in the hobby exclusively to see tornadoes. Granted, tornadoes could be considered the holy grail of storm chasing. However, if you are considering investing in photography equipment, wireless internet, laptop computers and other gear, just to see tornadoes, I would suggest that you are missing out on many other fascinating aspects of storm chasing.

In my 10 years as a chaser, I've seen perhaps 30 tornadoes. By the standards of some chasers, that's not very many. However, I do not chase storms exclusively to see tornadoes. Severe thunderstorms hold many treasures for the chaser who can appreciate the storm as an entity unto itself.

When I locate a chase-worthy thunderstorm, I look forward to the wide variety of features that I am about to experience. Being a meteorologist, I am first interested in the structure of the storm. This is best observed from several miles away. Quite often you can see striations and rotation as the storm begins to take shape. The sheer enormity of some thunderstorms is enough to spark a huge thrill of amazement. I enjoy studying how each storm is "put together". That is, how the individual elements have come together to make this giant, booming convective engine.

No two thunderstorms have ever been, nor will ever be, identical. They're all different and hold their own unique treasures. One good-sized thunderstorm could supply all the electric power needed by the United States for three or four days. Watching nature's fireworks and attempting to comprehend the power behind a single lightning stroke can be an electrifying endeavor.

Then there's the hail, the wind, the sound and the feel of being in close proximity to one of the planet's most amazing displays of atmospheric aesthetics. Just standing in the wind as the air around you is being pulled up into a thunderstorm updraft makes your senses tingle. Seeing the rain pour down, drenching parched earth and returning life to a dried out cornfield is an exhilarating experience. And if you've ever held a grapefruit-sized hailstone in your hand and felt its weight, and realized where it's been and how many times it was lifted into the sky to attain that size, you know what I'm talking about. Thunderstorms are amazing, frightening and awe-inspiring.

I will tell you that there is nothing like the thrill of seeing a tornado close-up. But I will venture forth the suggestion that tornado-hunting should not be your sole endeavor if you're going out to chase thunderstorms. Tornadoes are rare and special, but so are the other aspects of severe weather, and thunderstorms should be appreciated in their entirety, for the powerful and beautiful phenomena they are.

Happy, and SAFE, chasing!

-Steve Hamilton 3/28/2010