April 25, 1999 - Storm Chase

Team 1:  Rob Ferguson, Marc Foster, and Putnam Reiter
Target Area:  Southwest Oklahoma
Departure Time:  11:45
Return Time:  20:50
Miles Driven:  150

Left Oklahoma City for Lawton around noon.  Got to Lawton and met at KSWO-TV for weather briefing.  Issue of the day was convection that had moved across the area over night.  Not just one or two rounds, but three to four moved across Oklahoma.  Additionally, four rounds moved across central Texas during the same time period.  A mesoscale vorticity center developed in central Texas with the surface analysis showing a meso low in north Texas.

Surface winds in Oklahoma were weak and variable.  Surface flow eventually became southerly across the area as surface low in Colorado intensified.  Clear skies made it through the western row of counties in Oklahoma, courtesy of the mid-level dryslot.  This feature was not able to erode clouds much farther into Oklahoma.  Even though the panhandle area was clear, temperatures only approached the low 70s.

We waited until 19:30 to see if something might go.  Decided to give up and head home.

Observations:

Engaged Storm:  No
Funnel:  No
Hail (larger than 0.75 inches):  No
Tornado:  No
Wall Cloud:  No
Wind above 58mph:  No

Lessons Learned:
We knew the day was not favorable.  NWS and SPC discussion were of great help.  We decided to go just in case.  Also, had little else to do on a Sunday.  The main correction might be to better assimilate atmospheric events relative to previous storm days.  May 7, 1995, came up several times, but eventually determined that the low cloud top rainfall that occurred back then should not be compared to this day.