Oklahoma Supercell at Sunset

Tour Type: Tour 2
Chase Date: 2008 APR 21
Target Area: Central Oklahoma
Images: 5

Our target area for the day was Chickasha, Oklahoma about 45 miles south of Oklahoma City (our starting location).   The day would prove to have many challenges, including a very warm layer of warm air aloft that would prevent supercell formation for much of the day.

Further challenges included our forecast not agreeing with the official convective forecast from the Storm Predication Center.   The SPC had noted a slight risk for thunderstorms mainly for NE Oklahoma and eastern Kansas.   Our forecast was form any possible chance of storms to form much further south along the I-35 to I-44 corridors in south central Oklahoma.

Our mobile weather station noted a relatively dry dew point temperature of only 44 F to 46 F throughout the afternoon hours in Chickasha.  With any chance of a dry punch to help aid a weakening cap we opted to drive across the dry line several times and note any locations of drier air that was further to the west and we finally ended up in mid-60s dewpoints near Purcell, Oklahoma while watching a growing CU field and hoping that one of the mini towers that we were watching back to the west would finally break through a cap that seemed to be made of forged steel.

With only an hour until sunset we finally saw a tower rise up and begin spreading out into an anvil, but the mid-level winds quickly toppled it and as it spread out another tower began to climb up and finally we had a very nice supercell that was being beautifully lit by the setting sun.

The storm quickly went severe warned and was producing golf ball sized hail.    We drove into Lindsay to top off the fuel tank and then followed the storm across State Highway 19 with a perfect view of the updraft base just to our east.   Unfortunately there was not a lot of lightning associated with this storm, which is needed to help illuminated the base of the storm at night, so we decided to stay a few miles to the west (storm motion was E-NE).

We did get into some small hail, but while attempting a few lightning photographs Brian positioned knelt down while messing with this camera and somehow managed to find a hail stone that was just about golf ball size in the grass.   We then noticed several spots on a gravel drive where hail had fallen, but had already melted.

In summary, it was a nice treat to get a beautifully sculpted rotating supercell on the first day of the tour and we’re looking forward to an exciting week during Tour 2, 2008.

Storm Chasing Photos

Convective Outlooks and Mesoscale Disscussions

Highlight Video