April 26, 1999 - Storm Chase

Team 1:  Rob Ferguson and Putnam Reiter
Target Area:  Hinton, Oklahoma
Departure Time:  19:48
Return Time:  21:50
Miles Driven:  100

Watched storms on RADAR develop Monday afternoon into the evening.  Saw two cells in Blaine County and decided to go after them.  Traveled west on I-40, was near Yukon when the first tornado warning came out.  Visibility was great given time of day and sun location.  Unfortunately the storm was a southeast mover, so had to adjust 90 degrees.  Got behind the storm near Hinton and saw wall cloud activity.  By this point sunlight was fading.  Stayed with the storm as we traveled east/south on Highway 37.  Got into Cogar, where we encountered hail covering the ground.  Did not stop to measure hail size.

Went east on Highway 152 out of Cogar.  Tried to stay with the storm, but road options made it difficult.  Additionally, the storm was now a right mover and heading nearly due south.  Lacking south options, elected to head home.  Did not get to see many cloud features when we got close.  The most impressive stuff was benign and noted from 20-30 miles away from the storm.

Observations:

Engaged Storm:  Yes, near Hinton, Oklahoma
Funnel:  No
Hail (larger than 0.75 inches):  Yes, hail covering the ground in Cogar, probably 0.80 when we arrived.  Hail fog from Hinton to Cogar along Highway 37 and a little east on Highway 152.
Tornado:  No
Wall Cloud:  Yes
Wind above 58mph:  No

Lessons Learned:
Road choices and storm motion are very important.  Not sure if we had any better options than what we took.  Time of day (sun low in the west) might warrant a western approach even with a south mover.  Difficult to say, emphasizes the point of understanding deviant motion from the standard southwest-northeast teachings.

Credits:
Thanks to Marc Foster for data support, despite my biting his head off for just trying to help.