2003-05-13
People: TELEX 2003 Crew
Miles: 115
Time: approx 11:00pm to 5:15am CDT
May 13th was the first time the TELEX 2003 NSSL mobile ballooning crew was deployed. We drove south from Norman at 11:00pm CDT, and tried to launch east of Chickasha twice, on HW 76, but aborted due to various reasons. Later, at about 3:00am, two balloons with attached electric field meters and sounders were launched North of Minco, just a few miles North of the Canadian River on HW 81. At this launch location, small hail was observed for a brief time, but the lightning was a spectacular sight. Overall, a line of severe thunderstorms was oriented NW to SE in Central Oklahoma for much of the night, with storm motion to the SE while line motion was quasi-stationary.