Storm Chase Details
Chase Date: April 20, 2014
Miles Logged: 669
States Chased: OK, TX
Largest Hail Encountered: 2"
Severe Risks: SPC Outlooks
Chase Recap:
Low Expectations
I had very low expectations for this day. I was pleasantly surprised with some of the best structure on a storm I have ever seen. Neither of us in the car had very much confidence in the day. I kept thinking “Why are you chasing today?” on the drive out.
First Storm
We approached our first storm of the day near Memphis, TX and watched as it pulsed. The updraft did not do an adequate job of sustaining. I took a look under the updraft and core near Estelline and found some pea sized hail. The storm appeared to have significantly weakened, so we headed west towards a storm coming out of Silverton. That storm also failed to sustained, and we gave up well before we got to Turkey and had turned around.
Tornado Report
Because of the river and road network, we didn’t find ourselves immediately on the storm. After some navigating, we were able to catch back up to it north of Childress. The storm seemed to have taken a right turn with a single updraft becoming dominant. We found hail as big as 2″. As we were measuring hail, a tornado was reported with the storm, but we were in the wrong spot to see a tornado.
Structure near Eldorado, OK
We headed east and had to battle the road network along the river. Highway 6 was the only place to cross the river, so we used it to cross into Oklahoma.
The storm was luckily moving very slow (15 MPH) and we were able to keep in front of it and get back for some great structure shots.
Shelf cloud
The storm was moving slowly (15 MPH) and this allowed us to stay ahead of it. We were able to setup multiple times for photos with tripods. As it moved east, it became a more pronounced shelf cloud.
Eventually, we made it to US 283 and decided to drop south. There were storms coming up behind this one that we wanted to make a play on. We needed to get gas, so we stopped in Vernon. After filling up, we found some hail just south of Quanah before calling the chase. A great chase from a day that didn’t look very promising to begin with.
