April 21, 1999 - Storm Chase

Team 1:  Rob Ferguson and Putnam Reiter
Team 2:  Jay Holsenbeck
Target Area:  Western Oklahoma
Departure Time:  15:30
Return Time:  21:45
Miles Driven:  281

Left for Weatherford around 15:30, Wednesday afternoon.  At Weatherford went on to Burns Flat to sit with a friend.  Noted cumulus developing rapidly along the dryline both north and south of I-40.  Towering cumulus was occurring south of I-40 and eventually got storm development in southwestern Oklahoma.  Decided to get on storms near Snyder, so committed south.  While traveling south noted very strong development to our north.  This storm would end up producing the Carrier tornado.

Just north of Roosevelt, got on the storm that had moved north of Snyder.  We noted curvature in the cloud deck and associated wall cloud.  Saw a mid level funnel and hopefully the pictures turn out.  Area moved just south of us and became disorganized.  We continued south on Highway 183 through Roosevelt to Snyder.  As we came into Snyder we noted a small precipitation area approaching.  Got south of Snyder and turned back as hail started falling.  Got to shelter and watched one inch hail occur for about 3-4 minutes.

Left Snyder around 19:00 and drove towards Lawton on Highway 62.  Storm was moving northeast, so was able to keep the updraft area in sight.  As we approach Lawton, storm became very disorganized.  Decided to call the chase and get something to eat.

Observations:

Engaged Storm:  Yes, just north of Roosevelt, Oklahoma.
Funnel:  Kind of, mid-level activity.
Hail (larger than 0.75 inches):  Yes, measured 1.00 inch.
Tornado:  No
Wall Cloud:  Yes
Wind above 58mph:  No

Lessons Learned:
Storms in southern Oklahoma had good structure, but dryline retreated and storms died.  Best activity and actual tornado was in northern Oklahoma.  Storms were multicellular, creating a variety of problems.  The least of which is that we got into the hail core.  Storms were elevated and never got into the surface boundary layer.  Activity near Enid apparently did so, allowing for continue severe weather for several hours.

Credits:
Thanks to Brad Stanley and Marc Foster for data support.