June 4,
2005
Storm Chase
Central Oklahoma
Editor: Putnam
E. Reiter
Forecast/Setup -
Risk Area: Moderate Risk -
Enhanced with 10% hatched area on tornado prob graphic
Initial Target Area: Enid, Oklahoma
Setup seemed rather classic
for a severe weather event in Oklahoma. Upper system lifting east-northeast
during the day across Kansas with warm and moist air in-place across the
warm sector. The models did a decent job showing the setup for this day and
we were pleasantly surprised given the slow year and that it was June.
Storms developed the night
before in parts of Kansas and Oklahoma with a supercell tracking along the
OK/KS border. This was one reason for the northern Oklahoma target for us.
Models consistently progged very favorable instability parameters given
strong surface heating. Directional and speed shear looked good with one
big drawback and that was veered winds in north-central Oklahoma. Some
models indicate that the winds would back during the late afternoon and
others kept them southwest.
The cap was forecast to be
quite strong during the day and many forecasters felt it might keep
convection from developing. When all was said and done this turned out to
be quite wrong. The cap was completely eroded resulting in storms from
Kansas City to Abilene, Texas. In Oklahoma storms initially developed near
Lawton in a zone of moisture convergence ahead of the dryline. In this area
the winds had backed, while in north-central Oklahoma winds remained veered
west of I-35. Storms became discrete with one becoming a supercell. Other
storms developed in central Oklahoma and took on more of an elevated
nature. Until about 6pm north-central Oklahoma remained quite. Shortly
after 6pm the convergence area (well removed from the dryline) along I-35
breached the cap with a squall line developing.
The supercell in south-central
Oklahoma moved slowly along Highway 7 producing a confirmed tornado near
Pumpkin Center. Other brief tornadoes might have occurred near Marlow.
After that time, the storm did not produce any more tornadoes, but remained
a rather efficient hail producer. Storms farther north remained elevated
and mainly hail producers. The exception is storms in north-central
Oklahoma, which produced wind damage in Tulsa as the line moved east.
SPC Products: SWO
Day 1
Graphics:
Risk Area
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Tornado Prob
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Damaging Wind Prob
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Hail Prob
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Storm Plot
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LSRs
Surface
Maps:
Temperature
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Dewpoint
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Wind Speed
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CAPE -
LI
Text
Products:
Watches
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Mesoscale Discussions
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Warning Decision Updates
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Tornado Warnings
Soundings:
Norman
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18z Norman
Mesoeta
00z Initialization:
Surface Pressure
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Convective Inhibition
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850mb Temperatures
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850mb Dewpoints
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850mb Windspeed
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850mb Vertical Velocity
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850mb Relative Humidity
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700mb Wind
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700mb Temperatures
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700mb Relative Humidity
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700mb Vertical Velocity
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500mb Vertical Velocity
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500mb Temperature
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500mb Vorticity
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500mb Wind
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500mb Relative Humidity
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250mb Wind
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250mb Relative Humidity
The Chase -
Team 1 - David Underwood, Ray
Hardy, Rob Ferguson, and Putnam Reiter
Miles Driven - 180
Departure Time - 14:00 CDT
Return Time - 21:00 CDT
Chase Track
We left Oklahoma City and
headed north on Highway 74 to Highway 33 west. We got to Kingfisher and sat
to watch the clouds. We sat and sat and sat.
Since we had data, we watched
the activity develop in southern Oklahoma. Resisting the urge to head that
way, we followed our chase rule and stayed in Kingfisher. We noted several
areas of towering cumulus, but none did much more than tower. We watched
the winds and noted the lack of backing. The convergence area on east
started to look pretty good and we knew that would be the show at some
point. We headed east on Highway 33 and sat on Highway 74 and watched the
clouds. About this time we heard about the tornado near Pumpkin Center. We
decided that storm would probably be the main show as nothing was going in
our area. We headed south towards Oklahoma City to intercept the Pumpkin
Center storm. As got into the city we noted several storm clusters had
developed. Seeing that one looked to be discrete and getting organized we
changed plans and headed east in north Oklahoma City. We got to I-35 and
went north to Guthrie. About this time we saw the line developing and
realized the event was over.
We sat near Guthrie and
watched the clouds. The storms down south looked impressive but figured it
was too strong to be a tornado producer. We also noted storms near I-20 in
Texas. This was important to us as it indicated that the cap was too weak
and is why we got a squall line.
We sat for about twenty
minutes and then headed back home.
Lessons Learned -
Nothing to note here, we got
suckered along with half the chaser world to northern Oklahoma. I guess it
could be said we didn't forecast very well, but those things are 20/20
hindsight. I guess it makes us feel better that the majority of the chasing
world ended up in this area also. Although I'm sure many more people were
in the high risk in Kasnas.
Multimedia -
None
Encounters -
Engaged Storm: None
Tornado:
Funnel:
Hail (larger than 0.75 inches):
Wall Cloud:
Wind (above 57.4 mph):
