May-June Chase Reports:

Wow! It has been a long time since I last updated my chasing blog. May and June have been a plethora of extremes. Severe drought, insane heat waves, and even a few severe weather outbreaks. Due to commitments at work I missed out on majority of these chase opportunities. I was able to get a few chases through the months. Including a chase on my birthday.
Read the reports below.

5/19:

This was actually my first chase of May. It was probably one of the most successful this year, which that statement in itself is kinda sad. But a good chase nonetheless. I was unable to chase all day because of work,
Thunderstorms fired along the dryline/trough that was pushing through western OK.

Visible satellite showing storms erupting over western OK taken around 2:30. Fairly early for thunderstorms, this was the first wave of storms that day.

Storms redeveloped along the dryline later that evening, I was able to leave early and do some chasing. I left Wichita falls around 5pm. A severe thunderstorm was moving through Foard county.

Severe thunderstorm moving towards Vernon, TX. It was tracked to intersect with Vernon around 6pm. I was cutting it a little close.

 The storm is showing a nice hook echo and looks good on radar.

It looks even better in real life!

This was a very beautiful supercell

Nice RFD cut developing on this cell.

(Still captured from video) The strong RFD formed a few gustnadoes.

The storm is starting to look a little HPish

I head north out of Oklaunion to keep up with the storm. Driving north on 183. By this time the storm's updraft is mostly wrapped in rain, still a photogenic storm, however.

Still a picturesque storm.

This storm's inflow was really increasing we had sustained winds around 40mph and gusts as high as 60mph. High winds and a bone dry wheat field don't mix very well. It was very dusty which reduced the visibility of the updraft. You can see the very low tail cloud moving into what would be the location of the wall cloud. Low contrast, rain wrapped, and dusty makes it very difficult to identify features.

The storm is starting to head up into Oklahoma. I decide to hang back and watch it.

Classic HP supercell structure

This HP supercell is just chugging along. As it starts to cross the Red River it starts to show more tornadic characteristics including a few TVS's (Tornadic Vortex Signature)

A very low rotating wall cloud

(Still captured from video) A brief funnel formed just to the right of the lowering

I head north and get right in the inflow notch in the storm. I get just to the NW of the mesocyclone.

Nice shot of the meso from a different angle. It was a nice closing shot to a great chase

5/22

This was a day I couldn't help but chase. It was local, I was off work, and we had decent parameters. With over 6000 J/kg of CAPE I wasn't gonna sit this one out. I also had the pleasure to meet (and chase with) Ken Reynolds and his chase partner Jeramy Barker. We targeted Bowie, TX. I met up with Ken in Wichita Falls around 3pm. Around 3:20 storms start to fire up. We decide to head out.

First storm of the day. Development right over Jacksboro We start to head south on 281 towards Jacksboro.

The storm near Jacksboro starts to dissipate, but another storm to our east is intensifying over Bowie (our original target). We reach FM 174 and start to head east.

Storm near Bowie, TX about 35miles away. It is already showing supercell characteristics.

Updraft from the cell near Bowie.

On the way to Bowie. Nice couplet on this cell.

We reach Bowie but the cell has already moved away. We are now heading to Muenster.

Finally catching up to the storm for our first time today. If there was ever a problem with chasing in this area its the road networks. They kept us behind the storms all day.

Sitting just west of this cell as it enters Muenster. We decided to take a few pics of the structure. We decide to punch through the RFD to get under the main updraft.

In position now. You can see the storm still has a healthy shape to it and a mesocyclone signature as well.

Visually, it is less impressive. Very cold inflow and ragged choppy bases...

New meso forms rapidly to our northeast and starts to organize.

We move a little farther north to keep up with this storm and watch as several wall clouds form and dissipate. This one feature was rotating right above like everything else it fizzled out.

As the sun sets instability decreases and so does the storms intensity. The lack of road networks really kept us from getting in good position for majority of the chase, guess its just something to learn from.

5/23:

Another unexpected chase. I ended up leaving work around 6pm and intercepted a phenomenal LP supercell in Archer county. Well worth it!

Leaving work and heading down 79 towards Archer City

Look at this storm. I was almost convinced this was a tornadic storm. Radar scan shows a mesocyclone and TVS.

Base velocity shown nice low level rotation.

I reach Archer City and start to see some structure on this storm. The radar still has this storm holding it together.

Awesome storm updraft!

I head west on FM 210 to try to intercept, but unfortunately the roads aren't in my favor (again).

"LP look at me!"

Absolutely stunning LP supercell!

I decide that this is plenty. I watch as the storm starts to come towards me. This is personal favorite from this day.

The storm exits the instability axis and quickly withers away. It was incredible just how quickly the storm fell apart.

5/24:

A major severe weather outbreak was expected on May 24th. A very dangerous situation was developing over central and eastern OK. The storm prediction center was anticipating numerous supercell thunderstorms along a warmfront in southern KS and the dryline (infront of an advancing cold front) extending from the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles. Any storms that would form would be capable of producing winds in excess of 70mph, hail larger then baseballs, and dangerous long-lived tornadoes.

A mesoscale discussion was issued for our target area. Supercells were to develop along the dryline between 3-5pm. Surface dewpoints in the 70's, MLCAPE around 2500 J/kg, and midlevel flow of 40kts would be the perfect ingredients for destructive supercells.

Around 3:00pm several cumulus towers start to accelerate. It was just a matter of time before they break out the cap.

Storm just in their infancy start forming all around Wichita falls. These storms had explosive development.

15minutes later a mature storm forms and is already starting to take on supercell characteristics

Storm just to the west of Metro Photo. It has a distinguished anvil and a decent looking updraft with rotation in the mid levels.

Nice radar shape on this storm. With almost a hook echo. This storm is just to our southwest.

Velocity scans also show an area of rotation, although it is fairly weak.

The storm just misses us and passes to our north. We still had a nice view of the updraft base.

I am at work and unable to chase. But during my work hours several thunderstorms errupt over Oklahoma and a few go on to produce tornadoes. More information on the outbreak can be found here. http://www.srh.noaa.gov/oun/?n=events-20110524

I am finally off work and we now get to chase. I meet up with a friend and fellow photographer and we blast east towards Ringgold. But unfortunately the storms are moving over 40mph and we can't catch them.

We decide to head back to Wichita Falls. While there are no storms anywhere around we still experience some interesting weather on the way back...

As this cold front pushed through it pulled a large amount of blowing dust and gusty winds

Back at the parking lot in Metro Photo as the dust cloud engulfs the city. This was not a good situation to be wearing contacts, LOL.

A friend and fellow chaser Jeremy Wilson got some incredible footage of the Chickasha, OK tornado on his chase. You can see his video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avszUNRkV8I

My chase video for 5/19, 5/22, 5/23, and 5/24:

6/14:

I had no plans to chase this day. The parameters weren't terribly impressive for photogenic storms, not to mention it was also my birthday. But as we reached closing time at Metro I was checking the radar and noticed some storms had fired along the dryline. There's nothing quite like a birthday chase.

I got all my gear together and decide to head towards Iowa Park hoping something will fire along the dryline by the time I get there.

Interestingly nothing forms to my west. There are storms to my northwest and storms to the southwest, but nothing infront of me. I decide to head towards the northern cell it looks more impressive on radar.

Visually the storm looks good. Elevated, but still had some rotation in the mid levels. I also noticed that the downdraft on this storm was coming down--hard.

I get into a better position for some stills, but on the way up to the storm I notice and interesting feature hugging the ground...

Wow! This was a real treat. This was a very strong microburst. You can see the end of the microburst all the way on the left side of the frame. This is where the wind has spread out from the FFD (on the right side of the frame) judging by the motion on this I estimated around 70mph.

While this storm was very elevated it still had some very photogenic structure.

The storm moves quickly to the north.

From this distance I was able to get more of the whole storm. Even though the radar scans were showing it getting weaker it still looked pretty organized.

Storm to the south...

A storm starts to develop just to my west. I was hoping for another microburst with some cool structure, but I did not get that with this storm.

Did get a nice sunset, however.

The storms to our south looked really good in the golden sunset light.

This storm had awesome mammatus clouds.

Well the storm baisically dies out, but I grab one last shot before heading back home. All in all a great surprise chase on my birthday.

6/18:

I finally had a day for chasing. I was off work at 2:00 and brought my gear to work. This way if any storms fired up I would be ready and just head toward the storm. Around 1:30 a cu field developed to the east of Wichita Falls. Severe thunderstorms were expected to develop along the dryline/trough east of I-44.

Just before 4:00 storms begin to fire. I start heading for Henrietta to get ready for initiation.

 I get to Henrietta and the first storm goes.

 

 I arrive in Ringgold and the storms start to split. now I need to decide if I want to head north or wait for the southern cell. I was worried that the northern cell would consume the southern split.

 

This was a view of the northern cell. It had a pretty good looking core.

The storms merge together and loose organization.

 

 Very intense looking core in this photo. You can actually see the edge of the rainfoot just to the right of the main downdraft. Perhaps there was a microburst.

 

 Another cell develops to the south and I abandon this storm.

 

 This was the updraft to the southern cell. Not to bad lookin'.

 

 Getting caught up to the storm now. It looks like its intensifying

 This storm starts to really step up. From my observation point I could see an incredible downburst on this storm. The storm was tracking towards Muenster, TX.

 

 Incredible downburst/hailcore and rainbow.

 

 Wider angle of the storm.

 

 The storm had several attempts at organizing, but it never got things going.

 

 Velocity scan showing strong straightline winds over the town of Muenster, TX. The microburst looked like it would do some damage.

 

 Driving into the city limits of Muenster I came across this. A bent over road sign. "Wow! These winds had to be 70mph" I thought to myself

 "Oh, man! These winds had to be around 90+mph!!!"

 

After seeing all this damage I knew the roads would be closed and would not be able to catch up to the storm. I decided to turn around and head for home. Another great chase.