Sunday, November 27, 2005 Tornado Northeast Of Erie, Kansas

Departed Pittsburg, Kansas: 2:30 P.M.
Arrived Pittsburg, Kansas: 5:30 P.M.
Total Time On Road: 3 Hours
Tornadoes: 01
Wallclouds: 01
Supercells: 02
Hail: None
Rain: None

My day started off thinking that most of today's tornadic storms would probably occur in western Missouri, and they would be moving very fast when they did develop. However, after keeping a close eye on my Nexrad weather radar computer at home, I noticed that storms were starting to fire in northeast Oklahoma, and then race north towards Montgomery County, Kansas.

I packed my chase gear into my car, and I headed towards an inital target of Walnut, Kansas. By the time I left Pittsburg, Kansas, a tornado warning had been issued for Montgomery and Neosho Counties in Kansas. A tornado had been reported to have touched down near Cherryvale, Kansas with this storm. Before I arrived in Walnut, the storm had weakened and all warnings for the storm had been cancelled.I wasn't going to give up so easy after going this far. I could still see another storm off to the soutwest of Walnut, and I drove west out of Walnut on Kansas Highway 146 to attempt to intercept this storm. Shortly after leaving Walnut, the National Weather Service in Wichita, Kansas had issued a Severe Thunderstorm Warning for the storm I was watching to my southwest.I found a tall hill to set up camp on, which is located 1/4 mile west of Udall Road on Kansas 146 Highway. I couldn't have asked for a better vantage point to witness what mother nature was about to unleash two miles west of this location. The Wichita National Weather Service shortly upgraded the Severe Thunderstorm Warning to a Tornado Warning for northwest Labette County and all of Neosho County.I could already see a wallcloud associated with this tornado warned storm, to my distant southwest. The storm was reported to be moving north around 50-60 MPH. I shot photos and video of the wallcloud and mini supercell as it raced to the north. When the wallcloud reached the vicinity of two miles west of my location, I witnessed for the first time in my life, a daytime tornado! The tornado started small with just a dusty debris cloud on the ground. By the time the tornado crossed Kansas Highway 146, it had grown in size and it was taking on a red color. The tornado continued northbound and I finally lost sight of it, as I was looking at it against the storm's downdraft.After the tornado moved out of my view, I proceeded to the area of Rooks Road and Kansas Highway 146. The tornado had crossed the highway just to the east of this location, and had just barely spared a house on the northeast corner of this intersecion.

Another house wasn't so lucky one mile south of this location. The tornado removed the roof and the north walls of this residence. The tornado also damaged a tin structure to the northwest of this house. Approximately 1/4 of a mile south of Rooks Road and Kansas Highway 146, on the east side of the road, the tornado had overturned a combine which had been located in a hay meadow at this location. The tornado also overturned two large round bales of hay at this location.
This was the only damage that I saw, as a result of this tornado. Overall, I just happened to be in the right place, at the right time. For a close-to-home storm chase, and being towards the end of November, I couldn't have asked for anymore than what this tornadic storm dished out.

Tuesday, September 13, 2005 Storm Chase Crawford County Kansas & Barton County Missouri

Departed Home : 4:00 P.M.
Arrived Back At Home: 9:00 P.M
Total Time: 5 Hours

Tornadoes: 0
Wall Clouds: 1 (Start To Finish)
Funnels: 0
Supercells: 1
Scenery: Awesome mammatus around sunset!!


At approximately 3:30 P.M., I was awoken from a sound sleep by my weather radio. A severe thunderstorm warning had been issued for Neosho County Kansas. I forced myself out of bed (I work the night shift) to take a gander at the weather radar. Nexrad weather radar showed a supercell storm in central Neosho County, and it was moving east-northeast. I decided to get my camera gear and weather radio together and I made a target of an area between Girard, Kansas and Walnut, Kansas.

I left my residence in Pittsburg, Kansas at 4:00 P.M., and I headed west out of town. I caught site of the rain free base of the severe thunderstorm approximately three miles northwest of Girard, Kansas. I stopped to take some photographs of scud clouds being sucked into the updraft of the storm approximately 1/2 mile north of Kansas 47 Highway on North 120th Street. There was not a wallcloud at this point, but you could tell where the updraft was located under the rainfree base of the severe thunderstorm. Crawford County was placed under a Severe Thunderstorm warning for this storm.

I continued to travel northbound on North 120th Street and then I turned eastbound on West 630th Avenue, in order to stay to the east of the east moving supercell. I continued eastbound on West 630th Avenue until I stopped at Kansas 7 Highway, 1 mile north of Girard, Kansas, and West 630th Avenue to take some more photographs. The storm really started to get going at this point, and I saw a well defined rotating wallcloud approximately 1 1/2 miles to my west. A tornado warning was issued for Crawford County Kansas shortly after I arrived at this location. There were also a lot of low hanging scud clouds near the wallcloud, with a lot of vertical motion.

I continued east on East 630th Avenue, in order to stay in front of the tornado warned storm approaching my location from the west. The storm was moving east at about 25 MPH. I stopped again near East 630th Avenue and North 180th Street to take some photographs of the rapidly rotating wallcloud to my northwest. I called the National Weather Service in Springfield, Missouri to the report the rapidly rotating wallcloud. I continued east on East 630th Avenue and I turned north onto North 190th Street, as the wallcloud was drifting to the east-northeast. I turned east onto East 640th Avenue, which took me through the small town of Arma, Kansas. The tornado sirens were blasting away as I was passed through Arma.

I decided to stop at the intersection of East 640th Avenue and North 230th Street for some photographs of the wallcloud as it passed over the west edge of Arma. The wallcloud was still rotating vigorously as it passed directly over Arma, and continued on its trek east-northeast towards the small town of Mulberry, Kansas. I continued eastbound on East 640th Avenue towards Mulberry. I took some photographs of the rotating wallcloud from the west city limits of Mulberry, as I looked back to my west-northwest. The wallcloud continued to move east over the north part of Mulberry, Kansas.

As the wallcloud entered Barton County, Missouri, it had dissipated. I followed Missouri "P" and "K" Highways into Liberal, Missouri, where the wallcloud showed signs of reorganizing. I headed south out of Liberal, Missouri and turned back east on NW 20th Road. The wallcloud continued moving eastbound just to the south of the City of Liberal. When the wallcloud approached the area just north of NW 20th Road and NW 110th Lane, it started rapidly rotating once again with a lot of vertical motion in the area of the wallcloud. I photographed the wallcloud from this intersection.

I continued east on NW 20th Road until I stopped again for photographs at NW 20th Road and Missouri 43 Highway. The rotating wallcloud passed approximately 3/4 of a mile north of this intersection. I once again contacted the Springfield, Missouri National Weather Service to report what I was seeing at that time. The meteorologist at the weather service hinted that the low dewpoint depression in my current location was the likely cause for no tornadoes with this storm. I continued to parallel the wallcloud on NW 20th Road until the tornado warned supercell became outflow dominant to the west of the intersection of NW 20th Road and U.S. 71 Highway. The wallcloud completely dissipated, and the National Weather Service shortly cancelled the tornado warning for this storm.

This was an awesome mid September supercell storm, which presented a great chance for me to chase not very far from home. I didn't get to see any funnels or tornadoes, but I will take storm structure like what I got with this storm any day.

I decided to make a dash back to the area northwest of McCune, Kansas to await another tornado warned supercell in northern Montgomery County, Kansas. By the time I got approximately 8 miles northwest of McCune, Kansas, the sun was starting to set. I did get some great pictures of some mammatus clouds, along with the setting sun. The mammatus was located under the backsheared anvil of the Montgomery County tornado warned storm.

I stopped on a tall hill approximately 2 1/2 miles northwest of McCune, Kansas and played around with taking some lightning photos with my digital camera. I finally had a little luck with getting some of my better lightning pictures I have ever taken. Lightning photography is still a really new endeavor for me. Guess I have to start somewhere.

I headed back towards Pittsburg, Kansas and home. As I was on my way home, I got hammered by 50-60 MPH winds with a severe thunderstorm warned storm that was moving east through Crawford County. Overall, I couldn't haved asked for a better close to home storm chase, especially in the middle of September.

Thursday, June 30, 2005 Storm Chase Labette & Crawford County Kansas

This post will be updated as soon as possible.

Saturday, June 04, 2005 Storm Chase Northeast/East Central Kansas

Departed Pittsburg, Ks.: 11:00 A.M.
Arrived Pittsburg, Ks.: 12:00 A.M.
Total Time On Road: 13 Hours
Total Chase Miles: 500

Tornadoes: 0
Supercells: 2
Hail: Penny
Wind: 45-50 MPH
Shelf Cloud: 1
Scenery: Unlimited


My dad and I left Pittsburg, Kansas around 1100 hrs, with a target area to the southeast of Emporia, Kansas. We grabbed some data from wifi at a truck stop (Beto Jct.), located at the junction of I-35 and U.S. 75 Highways. We decided to travel west through Emporia, and then north to Council Grove. Stopped downtown Council Grove to get some radar data using wifi. I decided I didn't really want to chase anything north of I-70 today, so we turned around and headed back south, as lone cell (at the time I checked radar anyway) was popping in NE Butler county and heading northeast toward Emporia area.

By the time we got far enough south, cells started to become linear, however got a couple of pix of the north side of the decent looking Butler County storm we were after. We headed back home, after enjoying the beauty of the Kansas Flint Hills(worth the trip), and even got hailed on in Greenwood County by a severe storm(lots of marginally svr wind too).

Got home around midnight after driving a total of 500 miles. Overall, somewhat disappointing day, as I was expecting more supercells, but nontheless not a bust. I did get to see severe weather, which I enjoyed just the same. There will always be a next time.

Russel Parsons
Pittsburg, Kansas

Friday, June 03, 2005 Storm Chase Near Chanute, Kansas

This storm chase account will be added here, as soon as time permits.

Thursday, April 21, 2005 Eastern Kansas Chase

Total Miles: 350
Tornadoes: 0
Wall Clouds: 1 (Cyclic)
Hail: Golfball
Wind: None

Well, I drove 350 miles today, and all the action ended up less than two miles south of my home. Oh well, it happens to the best. I started the day around 11:30 am and headed west out of Pittsburg, Kansas to my target area of Yates Center, Kansas. Around 3:30 pm I was sitting in Yates Center checking data, and noticed winds at my location were out of the west soutwest (Not a good thing). I made the decision to head east towards Iola, Kansas. I checked data again in Iola, Kansas and Allen County had just been included in the Kansas City area Tornado Watch. My next decision was the biggest mistake I had made all day.

I headed north out of Iola on US 169 towards Osawatomie, Kansas, thinking that I could possibly catch up with the Tornado Warned storms in central Missouri. I would have caught up with those storms, but the road network east of Osawatomie pretty much screwed me over. The only county road that would take me straight to the Missouri state line was closed for construction. At this point, I thought my chase day was a bust for sure. I finally made it to US 69 higway, but the Central Missouri storms had already booked it to my north and east and out of my reach. I made the decision to head home on US 69 highway.

As I travelled south, the huge supercells in Neosho County became more and more visible. I stopped in Pleasonton, Kansas to check data using wifi, and Nexrad was showing an awsome hook on the storm in central Neosho County. My only hope of seeing anything with this storm was hauling butt south and possibly core puching the storm.

I continued travelling south on US 69 and when I arrived in Ft. Scott, Kansas they were already sounding their storm sirens. In continued south through town, knowing that the Bourbon County tornado warned storm's inflow would soon be cut off from supercell in Neosho County. I followed State Highway 7 south through Girard, Kansas and finally saw my first wall cloud of the day to my southwest from the intersection of state highway 7 and 126. Get this, I made my way south by slipping past all the large hail and rain with these storms, so no core punch (driving through heavy rain and large hail to get to other side of storm) was necessary afterall.

In order to stay east and south of the rotating wall cloud, I headed east on K-126 Highway and then shortly I head back south to get a better vantage point. I ended up on K-103 Highway to the east of Weir, Kansas, and pretty much followed the wall cloud and Meso circulation into Missouri, near Asbury, Missouri.

I got some good still photos and video of the wall clouds I saw today. I followed the wall cloud to a location just southeast of Nashville, Missouri, on 43 highway. It was getting too dark for me to continue, so I headed for home. I will have a more complete chase account and photos posted on this chase, hopfully in a couple of days. The still photos can be seen here.

Russel Parsons
Pittsburg, Kansas

Tuesday, April 05, 2005 Storm Chase Northeast Oklahoma

Begin Miles: 139,035
End Miles: 139,326
Total Miles: 291

On Tuesday, 04-05-2005, at 12:15 P.M., I decided to head towards Northeast Oklahoma on my first storm chase of the 2005 severe weather season. I left Pittsburg, Kansas, heading south on U.S. 69 Highway towards Chouteau, Oklahoma, my chase target for the day. The Storm Prediction Center put most of Southeast Kansas and Eastern Oklahoma under a Slight Risk for severe thunderstorms. I thought there would be a better chance of some isolated tornadoes in Eastern Oklahoma.

I arrived in Pryor, Oklahoma at approximately 3:19 P.M. Using wifi I connected to the internet near the McDonalds in that town. After checking data, I found that the dryline/trough had exploded with severe storms along a north/south line located just to the west of Tulsa. Tulsa County was under a severe thunderstorm warning at this time. I decided that I would drive back north to Adair, Oklahoma and then head west. This decision was based on staying away from the Tulsa metro area and a decent road network to the west of Adair.

In hopes of letting the Tulsa and Washington County storms come to me, I setup in the very Southeast corner of Nowata County, near the small town of Alluwe, Oklahoma. I was noticing some mammatus clouds starting to form overhead, and at 4:22 P.M. The National Weather Service in Tulsa issued a Tornado Warning for Washington County. Strong rotation was indicated with this storm, which was moving Northeast at approximately 35 MPH. This was the storm I was currently watching to my west/southwest. I could see the rain free base from my location, but my location was still too far east to see anything else of importance. I decided to head west, but Lake Oologah was between me and the storm.

I intercepted this tornado warned storm approximately 1 1/2 miles northwest of Delaware, Oklahoma. At this time, no tornadoes had been spotted, but spotters had witnessed some rotation earlier with this storm. The severe weather statement at this time was saying that the area of rotation was approximately 5 miles east of Bartlesville, Oklahoma, which was the area I was currently located. All I saw with this storm was a rain free base, and some general lowerings near the updraft. I did not see any rotation with this part of the storm, and the storm shortly thereafter started to die. The possible rotation may have been rain-wrapped, making it very hard for me to see from my vantage point. I was located to the southeast of the rain free base, and I was looking towards the northwest. This storm fell apart, so I headed off to intercept the next severe storm, located in Rogers County, to my southeast.

I intercepted the Rogers County storm at a location approximately 2 miles west of Hollow, Oklahoma. Nowata and Craig Counties were put under a severe thunderstorm warning with large hail and high winds expected. I received penny size hail at my location, but not a lot of wind. The cloud-to-ground lightning definitately made up for the lack of severe winds. After this storm tracked off to the Northeast, I proceeded eastbound on Oklahoma 10 highway. I took some decent pictures of some cloud lowerings on the back side of this severe thunderstorm, but I did not see any rotation within the lowerings. Everything was clearing up behind this line of storms, so I decided to head back home.

I stopped to the west of Hallowell, Kansas on my way home to take pictures of the most awesome rainbow I have seen in a long time. In my opinion, a chase isn't complete without seeing a rainbow. Overall, I believe this chase was successful. I was on the 1st and only tornado warned storm located in Northeast Oklahoma. I'm looking forward to more of this throughout the 2005 chase season.

Russel Parsons
Pittsburg, Kansas