Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Wednesday, May 23, 2007 Hillsboro, Kansas Wall Cloud
Arrived Pittsburg, Kansas: 11:00 P.M. May 23, 2007
Total Time On Road: 10 Hours
Total Miles:
Tornadoes: 00
Wall Clouds: 01
Supercells: 01
Hail: None
Flooding: None
Today started out with a Slight Risk of severe thunderstorms over Central Kansas, and my chase target of the day being Wichita, Kansas. The only problem with today was that I could not leave Pittsburg, Kansas until about 1:00 P.M. This put me in a bind for time, but I decided to make the trek to the Wichita area anyway, since I would still have plenty of daylight left to see storms. I'm glad I did decide to make this trip, as you will see later.
By the time I arrived in Wichita, the Wichita National Weather Service office issued tornado warnings for a storm cell to the southwest of Hutchinson, Kansas. I planned a route so that I could intercept this storm, to the northwest of Newton, Kansas. I first saw the wall cloud associated with this storm, near the intersection of Arrowhead Road and 27th Aveunue, or about 4 miles north of Hesston, Kansas. I took a few photographs and video of the wall cloud, until the mosquitoes and rain drove me on down the road. I was just about eaten alive :)
I stayed well ahead of the rotating updraft of this storm. I took more photographs of the wall cloud from near the intersection of 150th Road and Eagle Road or approximately 3 miles northeast of Goessel, Kansas. I continued to stay out in front of the storm, and I finally let it get much closer to me, about 4 miles south of Hillsboro, Kansas. I let the wall cloud/updraft get to within 1/4 mile of me at that intersection of 150th Street and Indigo Road, 4 miles south of Hillsboro.
I have never seen such awesome vertical motion of scud clouds being drawn into the updraft of a severe thunderstorm, than I saw with this storm. If anyone wants to watch some great video of this, just let me know. I was just amazed at what was happening just 1/4 mile away from me. I also noticed that the inflow winds into this storm was really cold, where it should have been very warm and moist winds. This is one storm that I will not forget for a very long time, as the vertical motion in the clouds at it's updraft was just jaw dropping.
I dropped back south from Hillsboro, Kansas, in hopes to get some good photographs of this storm's shelf cloud. I got a few photos of the shelf cloud, with the beautiful Kansas Flint Hills in the background.
The Kansas Flint Hills will always be one of my favorite places to chase severe thunderstorms. Those people who always say that Kansas is just an ugly blah State, have never apparently traveled through the rolling green carpet of the Kansas Flint Hills. Wow, what a chase!! No tornadoes today, but one awesome rotating supercell that more than made up for it.
Russel Parsons
Pittsburg, Kansas
Sunday, May 06, 2007
Sunday, May 06, 2007 Arcadia, Kansas Wall Cloud
Arrived Pittsburg, Kansas: 10:30 P.M. May 06, 2007
Total Time On Road: 5.5 Hours
Total Miles: 50
Tornadoes: 00
Wall Clouds: 02
Supercells: 02
Hail: Dime
Flooding: None
Today was more of a local storm spotting role, than that of a storm chase. Scattered storms started developing near Nevada, Missouri, and cumulus cloud towers were also developing in Western Crawford County, Kansas. I decided I would start driving west towards the cumulus towers located in the western part of the county. I wasn't really expecting much in the way of severe weather today, but even with the smallest chances of severe weather around home, you figure that I will be there.
I first witnessed a decent storm near Greenbush, Kansas. The updraft consisted of a large rain free base, but it never did develop a wall cloud. I played around with this storm until it finally weakened east of Walnut, Kansas. I decided to head towards another stronger storm near Arma, Kansas.
This storm had a small wall cloud that I witnessed between Mulberry and Arcadia, Kansas, near the Kansas/Missouri state line. I got some photographs of this wall cloud, and I noticed more storms developing to my southwest. I drove west out of Arcadia, Kansas, and I ran into some very heavy rainfall and dime sized hail approximately four miles west of town.
Storms continued to pop up to the southwest of my location, so I continued to get into a position to see what was going on with them. Mainly just heavy rain and small hail. The sun soon set, and I decided to stay out to keep an eye on one last strong storm cell that had moved north of Arma, Kansas. This cell had dropped some large hail over the town of Girard, Kansas, as it passed over.
Two miles north of Arma, Kansas, I pulled off of U.S. 69 highway, where I was keeping an eye on a wall cloud with a beaver's tail. I could not tell if it was rotating, since I could only see it during flashes of lightning. I did get some still photographs of the wall cloud, by leaving the shutter on my camera open and letting lightning light up the surroundings. Spotting after dark can be real tricky, but once again my XM WeatherWorx radar sitting beside me came in real handy!
This chase was really enjoyable, since I haven't chased this close to home for quite some time. I really wish we would get some of the good stuff around home every so often :) I was rewarded today with a small wall cloud, and some good old fashioned thunderstorms.
Russel Parsons
Pittsburg, Kansas
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Wednesday, April 25, 2007 Centrailia, Oklahoma Wall Cloud
Arrived Pittsburg, Kansas: 0:00 P.M. April 25, 2007
Total Time On Road:
Total Miles:
Tornadoes: 00
Wall Clouds: 02
Supercells: 01
Hail: Dime
Flooding: None
Today started out as one of those days of, do I go chasing or not? The Storm Prediction Center painted a Slight Risk of severe thunderstorms across Eastern Kansas and Oklahoma. I knew that if severe weather materialized, I would not have to travel very far from home to see it.
I started out by going west towards Parsons, Kansas, where I found some Wifi internet and kept an eye on what was going on in Northeast Oklahoma. I finally made the decision to head south down U.S. 59 highway towards Oklahoma. I took a bunch of graveled back roads into Oklahoma, which did slow me down quite a bit. By the time I had I had gotten to Oklahoma State highway 10, I had my eye on a storm to the south and east of Nowata, Oklahoma that had finally went severe.
I ran into some very heavy rainfall and dime sized hail at the intersection of Oklahoma highway 28 and U.S. 60 highway. I decided to go eastbound on U.S. 60 highway to escape the core of this low topped supercell thunderstorm. Approximately 12 miles east of Nowata, Oklahoma, I ran out of the rain and hail as I continued eastbound. I looked to my south, and I saw a large wall cloud moving to the north-northeast. I pulled over on U.S. 60 highway to view the wall cloud. I stopped and said hello to a couple of chaser/spotters in a black pickup (sorry I didn't get their names). I decided to get on down the road, so I could stay in front of the wall cloud.
I turned north off of U.S. 60 highway onto NS4320 Road at Estella, Okalhoma, until the wall cloud once again came into view. Near EW0200 Road, I stopped and took some video and photographs of the well defined rotating wall cloud. After sitting here for a few minutes a man and little girl on an four wheel ATV came up to the other side of the fence along the road, and asked me what I was doing. I showed them the wall cloud (less than 1/4 mile away) I was looking at, and I told them that it could drop a tornado at any time. They decided to get the heck out of there, and seek cover. They had no idea that they were under a tornado warning, and the man had been driving the four wheeler towards the wall cloud when I first saw him.
The wall cloud tried to spin up a funnel cloud approximately 2 miles southeast of Centrailia, Oklahoma.
I continued to stay in front of the mini supercell and wall cloud, but the wall cloud never stayed very defined after this. It went through some cycles, and I didn't get to take anymore photos of the updraft/wall cloud until I got about two miles noth of Welch, Oklahoma, on U.S 59 highway. The storm finally died down quite a bit after I last saw a small wall cloud on the east side of Chetopa, Kansas. I continued following the storm, until I core punched it south of Hallowell, Kansas. The core of the storm only contained very heavy rainfall and 30-35 MPH wind gusts, at this point.
For a backyard chase, I was really happy with the success that I had today. I wasn't really expecting all that much, but the chase was well worth it. This has been one of two local chases so far this year around home, and it's nice to finally not have to drive hundreds of miles to see the good stuff :)
Russel Parsons
Pittsburg, Kansas
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Tuesday, April 24, 2007 Nickerson & Sterling, Kansas Tornado
Total Time On Road: 16 Hours
Total Miles: 648
Tornadoes: 01
Wall Clouds: 02
Supercells: 02
Hail: Nickel
Flooding: None
Russel Parsons
Pittsburg, Kansas
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Saturday, April 21, 2007 Storm Chasing Near Amarillo, Texas
Total Time On Road: 26 Hours
Total Miles: ~950
Tornadoes: 01
Wall Clouds: 01
Supercells: 02
Hail: Golfball
Flooding: None
Fellow storm chaser Joey Ketchum and I left
This was my first chase with a group of storm chasers in one vehicle, as I haven’t had a regular storm chase partner since the early 1990’s, when I was attending the
We all made the choice to hang around the east side of
We decided to head back through
We continued northbound on 809 Highway and we paralleled the storm that was to the west of our location. We stopped and took some photographs and video of the developing wall cloud a couple of times, but the storm never really did get its act together. The one thing I did notice while photographing the storm was the very strong inflow winds (~35-45 MPH). I was attacked by large tumble weeds and sand each time I got out of the vehicle. The most we saw from this storm was a nice wall cloud near 809 Highway and CR-22. We continued northbound on 809 Highway, got back onto Interstate 40 and then drove eastbound.
This was the point that Chris and I both quit getting live weather radar updates. We later found out that this was due to a National Weather Service weather feed problem, but at the time we wasn’t sure what had happened. As we neared Interstate 40 and
We stopped just to the west of
We decided to stay to the northwest of
A tornadic supercell was located to our southeast, as we drove east through
After we dropped everyone off, Joey and I got back into
Russel Parsons
Pittsburg, Kansas
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Wednesday, March 28, 2007 Wedge Tornado Between Booker, Texas And Beaver, Oklahoma
Total Time On Road: 17.5 Hours
Total Miles: 900
Tornadoes: 01
Wall Clouds: 01
Supercells: 01
Hail: None
Flooding: None
I left Pittsburg, Kansas at 9:27 A.M. this morning, in route to my my chase target of Pratt, Kansas. The 8:00 A.M. Storm Prediction Center convective outlook showed a "Moderate Risk" of severe thunderstorms over most of Western and West-Central Kansas, therefore my chase target would be within this "Moderate Risk" area. Between Parsons, Kansas and Wichita, Kansas I drove through some areas of heavy drizzle and very low cloudiness. This kind of worried me, since I know we needed some clear skies to usher in the heat to fuel the storms later in the afternoon.
I arrived in Pratt, Kansas at 1:30 P.M. where I borrowed wifi internet from the Day's Inn motel located on the east side of town. I also grabbed a bite to eat, while I still had the chance. While checking data, I noticed that the Storm Prediction Center had issued a "Particularly Dangerous Situation (PDS) Tornado Watch for all of the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles. The western edge of the Tornado Watch reached the Texas and New Mexico state line, which told me that the supercell thunderstorms that will fire this afternoon, will be much farther west than I had planned on.
I made the decision to continue southwest from Pratt, Kansas, and try to get as far west as possible. I drove west out of Pratt, and turned south at Greensburg, Kansas. I continued south through Coldwater, Kansas until I came to Woodward, Oklahoma. Before entering Woodward at 5:02 P.M., I scoped out the wind farm on the north edge of town. I got gasoline again and left Woodward south on 34 highway. Some small storms were starting to fire southeast of Amarillo, Texas, so I stayed on my current southwest trek. I turned west on U.S. 60 highway and eventually made my way to Canadian, Texas at 6:35 P.M.
After fueling up in Canadian, Texas, I made the decision to go after a supercell thunderstorm that started getting much stronger to my northwest. The storm was moving almost due north approximately 10-15 miles northwest of Canadian, Texas. I left Canadian on U.S. 83 highway, and then turned northbound on Texas State 23 highway. By the time I reached 23 highway and Uncle Sam Road at 7:20 P.M., a large wall cloud came into view to the north of that location.
This wall cloud continued moving north, just to the east of the highway I was on. I drove by Booker, Texas, and I stopped about a mile north of the town on 23 highway. I was talking to my nowcaster, Joey Ketchum, on the phone, when he said that he had just heard that a tornado had been spotted on the storm I was chasing. About the time he told me this, I looked again, and I saw the beginning of a large wedge tornado start to take shape. I first saw the tornado approximately 2-3 miles northeast of Booker, Texas. The tornado continued its trek to the north-northeast mainly across open countryside.
My only option of getting some decent video and photos of the tornado would be to race east, and capture it crossing the road in front of me. I did not get anymore opportunities to photograph the large tornado while I drove north on 23 highway. I got to U.S. 270/412 highway, and I turned eastbound. I continued about 4-5 miles east on this highway, where I pulled over and photographed the tornado after it had already crossed the highway. The following photographs are of the tornado after it crossed the highway, and it started getting smaller. Before crossing U.S. 270/412 highway, the large tornado caused two fatalities. According to reports the two individuals were seeking shelter from the tornado inside their residence.
After getting these photographs, the sun was going down fast, and it was soon dark. I decided to wait at the intersection of U.S. 270 and U.S. 64 highway east of Forgan, Oklahoma, in order to let the tornadic supercell storm pass U.S. 64 highway before I headed for home. I'm glad I waited, as I would have likely drove straight into the tornado as it crossed the highway east of that location. It caused damage to trees and power lines along U.S. 64 highway, approximately 10 miles east of U.S. 270 highway.
This day started out with my target being Pratt, Kansas. This target soon changed when the dryline decided to setup along the Texas/ New Mexico and Kansas/Colorado borders. I ended up much farther southwest than I expected to be, but overall it was a great chase. I saw a large wedge tornado, which was a first for me. A "Wedge" is informal storm observers' slang for a tornado which looks wider than the distance from ground to ambient cloud base.
This day ended at 3:03 A.M., when I arrived back at home in Pittsburg, Kansas. The extra distance that I traveled was well worth it, after I did get to see only my second daytime tornado. I didn't get into a position to get a lot of photographs and video, but I got just enough to make me happy. This was also my first storm chase in the infamous Texas/Oklahoma panhandles. A special thanks to nowcaster and fellow chaser Joey Ketchum. I couldn't have bagged this one without your help. Also thanks to XM WeatherWorx. This was my first chase with live weather radar beside me in the vehicle. It was rather helpful in keeping track of this giant storm.
Russel Parsons
Pittsburg, Kansas