May 1st, 2008
Zack Biggs and I chase a beautiful LP Supercell from near Norman Oklahoma to North East of Oklahoma City. My favorite chase of all time!
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Zack and I had been looking forward to chasing on May 1st for a few days. We got a late start due to my work committments, and were worried we would miss the action. We intially targetted the Ardmore Oklahoma area, as we observed a lot of clearing on the visibile satellite. Shortly after crossing over the Red River, we started to clear out of the low clouds we had been in since leaving Dallas. Also, the humidity level was very high, with the air feeling juiced with energy.
Arriving in the Ardmore area, we were dissappointed to see no organized activity what so ever. Occassionally cells would shoot up, but they were very high based and died quickly. We decided to head up into the Arbuckly Mountains about an hour to the North so we could at least get some pictures.
As we got further the North, Zack noticed what appeared to be explosive development on the horizon. Thinking at first that we were seeing things, we soon realized that a large supercell was forming before our eyes. We found out later that the dry line, which had been retreating, bulged out East and gave us what we needed for our storm to form.
We passed through Paul's Valley, and into Norman as the cell continued to build. The updraft was amazing, and was churning up very quickly. When we got into Norman, we were able to see the rain free base of the storm. The storm also started taking on a very LP look, and was very striated. It was incredibly beautiful.
We passed into Oklahoma City, continuing to tail the storm as it moved slowly to the North East. We took I240, and then I40 so that we could get East of the storm and into a better viewing position. During this time, the storm was exhibiting a well defined rotating wall cloud. RFD winds would occassionally wrap around the storm causing us to think a tornado was imminent. However, as far as we could tell, one never did form.
We turned off of I40 North on 102 to catch up with the storm. The structure at this point was amazing, and I'm not sure that I will ever see anything quite as beautiful again. We stopped in a large field of wheat to film time lapse video and take photos. Unfortunately, I did not have the focus on my video camera locked, so it went in and out of focus. We continued North on 102 to stay with the storm. As we crested a hill with very little visiblity, we encountered a chaser hoard of at least 50 vehicles. Many people were standing in the middle of the road with no awareness of traffic coming at them. We pulled a bit beyond the hoard and stopped again to take pictures. The sun was hitting the storm and creating some wonderful lighting.
After this last stop, we turned off of 102 and onto I44, hoping to get some lightning pictures. The storm was at first very active, but we could not find anywhere to stop and shoot. When we did finally find a place to stop, the storm had died.
All in all, an amazing chase, and one that will be hard to top.
Read More--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Zack and I had been looking forward to chasing on May 1st for a few days. We got a late start due to my work committments, and were worried we would miss the action. We intially targetted the Ardmore Oklahoma area, as we observed a lot of clearing on the visibile satellite. Shortly after crossing over the Red River, we started to clear out of the low clouds we had been in since leaving Dallas. Also, the humidity level was very high, with the air feeling juiced with energy.
Arriving in the Ardmore area, we were dissappointed to see no organized activity what so ever. Occassionally cells would shoot up, but they were very high based and died quickly. We decided to head up into the Arbuckly Mountains about an hour to the North so we could at least get some pictures.
As we got further the North, Zack noticed what appeared to be explosive development on the horizon. Thinking at first that we were seeing things, we soon realized that a large supercell was forming before our eyes. We found out later that the dry line, which had been retreating, bulged out East and gave us what we needed for our storm to form.
We passed through Paul's Valley, and into Norman as the cell continued to build. The updraft was amazing, and was churning up very quickly. When we got into Norman, we were able to see the rain free base of the storm. The storm also started taking on a very LP look, and was very striated. It was incredibly beautiful.
We passed into Oklahoma City, continuing to tail the storm as it moved slowly to the North East. We took I240, and then I40 so that we could get East of the storm and into a better viewing position. During this time, the storm was exhibiting a well defined rotating wall cloud. RFD winds would occassionally wrap around the storm causing us to think a tornado was imminent. However, as far as we could tell, one never did form.
We turned off of I40 North on 102 to catch up with the storm. The structure at this point was amazing, and I'm not sure that I will ever see anything quite as beautiful again. We stopped in a large field of wheat to film time lapse video and take photos. Unfortunately, I did not have the focus on my video camera locked, so it went in and out of focus. We continued North on 102 to stay with the storm. As we crested a hill with very little visiblity, we encountered a chaser hoard of at least 50 vehicles. Many people were standing in the middle of the road with no awareness of traffic coming at them. We pulled a bit beyond the hoard and stopped again to take pictures. The sun was hitting the storm and creating some wonderful lighting.
After this last stop, we turned off of 102 and onto I44, hoping to get some lightning pictures. The storm was at first very active, but we could not find anywhere to stop and shoot. When we did finally find a place to stop, the storm had died.
All in all, an amazing chase, and one that will be hard to top.
