Arrived Pittsburg, Kansas: 1:01 A.M. (Next Day)
Total Hours On Road: 15 Hours 21 Minutes
Total Miles Traveled: 757 Miles
2008 Mazda 5 Black SUV
Tornadoes: 00
Funnel Clouds: 00
Wall Clouds: 02
Hail: Penny
Flooding: Yes
Wow, what a great day to start my 2008 storm chase season, I woke up this morning with a moderate risk of severe thunderstorms over all of Eastern Oklahoma and extreme Northeast Texas. This same area also had a 10% hatched tornado outlook put out by the Storm Prediction Center.
I picked up my rental car and I got all my equipment set up. This would be my first chase using my AT&T mobile internet data card for my laptop. This card allows me to stay connected to the internet while I'm on the road. I use the internet to retrieve my weather radar and the pertinent data I need while in my vehicle. Technology has came a long way. I used to use a paper road atlas and a weather radio as my storm chasing equipment. I now use a GPS unit and maps on my laptop computer, and almost live weather radar using GrLevel 3.
My plan today was to get an early start on my trip to Southeastern Oklahoma. Mother Nature changed my plans after she decided to form a couple of tornado warned storms west of my hometown of McCune, Kansas. I decided to head west of Pittsburg, Kansas, where I live, to intercept this particular storm. I got my first view of the updraft/inflow area of this storm in Eastern Labette County, Kansas or about 3 1/2 miles Northwest of McCune, Kansas. This location was 2 1/2 miles west of where I grew up watching storms roll in all the time. I photographed some scud clouds that were being sucked up into the updraft of the thunderstorm, but I did not see a wall cloud or any rotation at this time.
I followed the tornado warned storm northeast through rural Crawford County, Kansas. The storm finally produced a rotating wall cloud just northwest of Arma, Kansas, where I stopped to take a few photographs.
I received a telephone call on my cellphone from the Cable News Network (CNN) weather center, wanting to known what I was seeing at my location. The CNN weather center had gotten my contact information from the spotternetwork.org website. The "Spotternetwork" shows my location as a storm spotter on a map, with my location on the map being updated about every minute.I followed the updraft portion of this severe thunderstorm to the Arcadia, Kansas area, where I had lost my internet data connection on my laptop computer. The thunderstorm eventually moved off into Southwest Missouri and had showed less rotation in the upper parts of the storm. I decided to grab some lunch in Pittsburg, Kansas, and head south to my original target of Southeast Oklahoma. While on my way from Arcadia, Kansas to Pittsburg, Kansas, I had a rough time of making my way around many of the rural flooded roads.
I met up with fellow chaser Tyler Costantini in Baxter Springs, Kansas. We caravaned to Atoka, Oklahoma where we met up with chasers Chris Wilburn and Bart Comstock. By this time, a tornado warned storm was showing strong rotation to our southwest. I decided to cut away from the chaser caravan and I continued down Highway 69. My reasoning for this was to slip in behind the supercell thunderstorm to view the updraft region of the thunderstorm. The other chasers in the caravan decided to "core punch" the storm and I wanted no part of that. My idea of storm chasing does not involve hail damage to the vehicle I'm driving. It just doesn't make much sense to take a risk like that, which could very easily result in a broken windshield.
Near Caddo, Oklahoma, I caught my first glimpse of a large wall cloud that was associated with this storm. It was about 4-5 miles east of me, so I played catch up through some back roads. The hilly terrain with quite a few trees everywhere made it rough to view the wall cloud. By the time I got close enough to take any photos, the wall cloud dissipated. I did get a few photos of a small wall cloud between Hugo and Soper, Oklahoma.
It was getting darker by the minute, and I decided to head back home. The terrain in Southeast Oklahoma makes it really rough to keep up with storms in this area.Wow, what a trip. I chased in some areas I've never been before, in Southeast Oklahoma. I also got to see a tornado warned storm earlier in the morning close to home. This chase trip was well worth it, and I go to use my AT&T data card for the first time in the field. Having internet beside me has changed chasing some, but you still have to know what you are doing to catch the big storms out there.
Russel Parsons
Pittsburg, Kansas
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