After approximately 18 major chases, this is my first ever chase log. I decided to write one mainly
for my future learning, but also in case anyone else is interested.
Route:
I-35 north to US 60 west to hw 74 north to hw 11 east back to I-35, the backtracked on hw 11 west to US
81 north into Kansas to US 166 east to I-35 north to US 160 east to US 77 south to US 166 east to hw 15
south back into Oklahoma, hw 15 changes to hw 18 cont. south to county road E0100 towards Foraker, OK,
then county road N3610 south to US 60 east to hw 99 south to US 64 west to I-35 south back to
Norman.
total trip: appx. 465 miles and 8 1/2 hrs
May 8, 2003 will be a chase day I won't soon forget. Making a quick forecast after a morning final I
target Blackwell, OK because of an intense low pressure system still sitting over the western plains,
good moisture, SE winds, a bit of a deformed dryline in north central Oklahoma, and a developing cumulus
field right along I-35. My friend, Josh Copeland, and I take off, make it to Blackwell, then I stupidly
ditch my target to head up to a little SW of Witchita to try and catch some developing storms. Once
there, come to the reality storms are moving too fast to catch and decide to drop back into OK to get out
in front of a storm that had fired just SW of Ponca City (probably 10-15 miles south of my original
target). We drive south through Grainola, OK and take a gravel county road east towards Foraker, OK.
Storm structure at this time is still extremely hard to see because of the ridiculous amount of haze. We
drive east until we get to another gravel county road. Praying it was the one on my map that takes us to
US 60, we take our chance and go south. With our speed limited, weather radio out of range, and the rain
shield on top of us I was beginning to worry we wouldn't be able to get in front of this storm. Still
not being able to see the storm, now because of the rain, our due south county roady begins to wind.
About this time, Josh is finally able to get a signal on the radio and a torando warning is put out due
to intense rotation 5 miles NE of Fairfax, heading NE at 35 mph. Josh, with map in hand, politely lets
me know that we are going to run directly into it. I begin going faster and our road winds more and
more, the rain is heavier, and I still can't see anything. Finally after one more wind, I come to a dead stop. The
rain had all but stopped and a 1/2 mile to our east in open farmland a tornado was there. I rolled down the
windows so Josh could film, and we also hear something that sounds like a gushing waterfall. The sight
was beautiful. With Josh filming, I continue south on our gravel road and finally come to US 60. I head
west for a second then stop so we could film. I called the local sheriff's office to notify them of the
tornado's path. We then drive east on US 60 as the storm is going ENE, we are in perfect position at
this point, almost due south of the tornado. During the excitement, Josh loses his cap, but we even have
time to drive back and pick it up and still film the whole time. The only bad thing was the incredible
haze which made for bad contrast at times. As the tornado continued ENE, we stayed and watched a new area of
circulation form, put down two funnels, one of which appears to touch the ground, even on video. After
this circulation dies, we decide to head home.
Note:
A short radar loop can be accessed on the previous page.
Note:
I read on a news story that a farmer's ranch was destroyed along with many cattle and a little ways
up the road 3 horses were killed. My sympathy goes out to all who were victims in some way from this
devastating event. Even storms in open country effect people. Hopefully chasers, including myself, will
be able to learn more and more from these storms and keep being able to help the NWS put out better and
better tornado warnings.