Storm Chase Log: October 14, 2007 (SW OK Supercell)
Posted: Mon Oct 15, 2007 11:37 am
Pretty awesome day for Tommy Winning and I, as we were on the Altus/Martha storm from shortly after initiation. We witnessed a very impressive sequence of storm organization from east of Martha, where the storm transitioned rapidly from a rather disorganized cluster with multiple precip cores to a nice supercell with a crazy beaver tail and nice wall cloud. All of these were shot with a wide-angle lens, many from within a half mile, as we're pretty much structure freaks.
5:23PM, East of Martha.
5:45PM, near Martha.
5:46PM; check out that inflow band!
5:53PM. The rotation seemed to tighten up pretty nicely very near to Martha, and for a minute we were concerned that it was going to drop a tornado right in town.
It was about this time that a HUGE amount of dust began to get kicked up as the RFD winds started to really come into play.
5:58-6:04PM. We held our ground east of Martha as the rotation approached, and passed just to our north. We could see visible cloud base rotation, including a couple of brief funnel clouds, before we jetted east as the stronger winds approached.
6:06-6:11PM. We scooted east for about a mile, witnessing a gustnado through the windshield, before pulling to a stop in front of a couple of houses. We watched the meso from about a third/half of a mile to its south, amid gusty (and cool), but not-too-intense RFD winds which never got above 40mph. At one point one of the homeowners came outside to ask us what was going on; it must be kind of freaky to see a couple of storm chasers screech to a halt in front of your house in the middle of a storm and start filming lol.
6:40PM. After letting it pass us by, we jogged E and N to HWY 19, before we caught a glimpse of the meso to our NE. It was nicely supplemented by a rainbow and an orange glow from the setting sun.
It was at this point that we basically called off the chase due to darkness, although we did see something interesting to the W of Roosevelt very close to dusk but cannot confirm anything at this time. The first half of the ride home was a really rough one, with very heavy rain and gusty winds, but we managed to the thread the hailcore needle and make it back to Norman unscathed. All around a fantastic 'second season' chase, and one I won't soon forget! Questions and comments are always welcomed.
5:23PM, East of Martha.
5:45PM, near Martha.
5:46PM; check out that inflow band!
5:53PM. The rotation seemed to tighten up pretty nicely very near to Martha, and for a minute we were concerned that it was going to drop a tornado right in town.
It was about this time that a HUGE amount of dust began to get kicked up as the RFD winds started to really come into play.
5:58-6:04PM. We held our ground east of Martha as the rotation approached, and passed just to our north. We could see visible cloud base rotation, including a couple of brief funnel clouds, before we jetted east as the stronger winds approached.
6:06-6:11PM. We scooted east for about a mile, witnessing a gustnado through the windshield, before pulling to a stop in front of a couple of houses. We watched the meso from about a third/half of a mile to its south, amid gusty (and cool), but not-too-intense RFD winds which never got above 40mph. At one point one of the homeowners came outside to ask us what was going on; it must be kind of freaky to see a couple of storm chasers screech to a halt in front of your house in the middle of a storm and start filming lol.
6:40PM. After letting it pass us by, we jogged E and N to HWY 19, before we caught a glimpse of the meso to our NE. It was nicely supplemented by a rainbow and an orange glow from the setting sun.
It was at this point that we basically called off the chase due to darkness, although we did see something interesting to the W of Roosevelt very close to dusk but cannot confirm anything at this time. The first half of the ride home was a really rough one, with very heavy rain and gusty winds, but we managed to the thread the hailcore needle and make it back to Norman unscathed. All around a fantastic 'second season' chase, and one I won't soon forget! Questions and comments are always welcomed.
