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So, first, all the way back to last Thursday, and what turned out to be our last storm chase. The weather setup was very similar to the previous day's, but maybe a bit further south, so, after breakfast at Burger King (complete with a horrible driver who decided to back out of the exit, almost hitting the rental as we were exiting), we set out on a trip to drift towards southern Kansas. Eventually upon talking with Clark, it seemed back a bit west of our location was where to be.
So we made our way to Wichita and waited. And waited. And then some more waiting ensued :-)
I took a nap while Chris and Josh wandered Best Buy and Game Stop, and we just generally lazed around.
My friend from OU, Eddie, was on his way up for a chase, and wanted to meet up with us. By probably around 5:30, storms finally started growing a bit more stout, and tornado warnings were issued to our north.
Eddie quickly ditched his car at the Wal Mart and we hit the road for intercept.
Turned out there were actually quite a few storms to pick from. About 45 miles north of Wichita, we make our choice on a nice developing one and pulled up to the east.
Well, time after time, the main storm outflow would surge ahead and start messing up the inflow, so our storms wouldn't hold their areas of rotation very long.
There was still quite a bit of impressive rotation on the gust front (it looked a couple times like a new meso might form), and some stunning scenes... but the theme all evening seemed to be the storms struggling just when they were ready to go.
At one point while observing from the east the lightning got really insane. We had been standing outside the car taking pictures, but we bailed to the car faster than a bullet, especially since we were the tallest objects around! We eventually went back towards the interstate for a bit more safety. Probably had about 15 lightning strikes with instantaneous lightning and the little pop before the strike within a half hour. Pretty nuts!
Eventually our storms pushed closer to us. At the same time a storm back near Wichita started to look better.
So back down the Turnpike one more time!
However, as we drove... well, the storm really wasn't looking so enticing. And it was getting near dark. And Me, Josh, and Chris just really didn't have much interest left in tracking tough nighttime storms. We went out hoping for a daytime storm so we could stop and enjoy and videotape. Plus, we needed to get back to Tulsa. Eddie on the other hand wanted to keep chasing after dark, as he felt the storms would get better nocturnally.
So the plan became to drop Eddie off and head home.
We get back into town fine and are making our turn into the Wal Mart....... when the tornado sirens go off!
Eddie pulls up radar data on his phone, and, lo and behold, the storm coming up into Wichita looked like a beast.
We had to chase it. Not only because it wasn't dark yet and it was right there in front of us... but because if we stayed put, we'd be quite near the path of the most dangerous stuff.
So we booked east out of town in pouring rain, trying to get far enough ahead so we could safely cut south in front of it and not get any hail.
Finally we did. It was darker than dark looking, but only probably 8:00. Some VERY heavy precip to be sure.
We plowed south, and finally it starts to lighten up and the base becomes visible off to the west.
Eddie said it looked fantastic. I never really got a good look, but it was definitely ominous.
Soon the theme kicked in, and it started to wrap with precipitation and weaken as the outflow kicked out ahead again.
Blah.
However, a second strong precipitation area developed a few miles to the south with more rotation getting active down there, so we dropped a bit further down to intercept right as sunlight was really waning.
Quite an impressive structure for a few minutes... and then, of course, the outflow came out ahead again.
And that was all she wrote.
We made our way back up to the Wal Mart to drop Eddie off and start the long drive home.
For once I didn't have to drive through storms that much on the way home (A WELCOME TREAT!), but I did get kinda tired towards the end. We ended up making it into Tulsa maybe about 1 AM.
We were beat.
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.. oh, btw, a check of storm reports when I got home...
That evening a tornado passed within 5 miles of the hotel we stayed in the night before. DOH!
Man, that's how it goes somedays!
But we were quite glad to be back in our home away from home.
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Friday we stuck around here and played LOTS of Nuclear War (a card game Jim has which is quite addicting). I really don't remember much else at all happening!
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Saturday we set aside to either see some friends or take a scenic drive. There was also a slight chance of storms... but it was like a gajillion miles away in the Texas Panhandle... so we passed on that(and didn't miss much). Since the friends seemed busy, we decided to try to take a scenic trip up into NE Oklahoma.
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Then we went down towards a very large lake created by a dam on the Grand River nearer Arkansas. We set out to make our way down a peninsula that juts out into the very center of the lake, and stop and take some pictures.
Unfortunately it was all resorts down there (how weird a spot for that!?!), and we failed to find any great place (a bathroom stop in one of the resorts proved the high point).
After crossing the lake and going through the interesting Oklahoma town of Grove, we set out south towards a very scenic area of greater hills.
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It was a very nice drive as evening set in. The road (Oklahoma 11) paralleled the Illinois River Valley and had a lot of rises and falls and a few bluffs cut out by the road. It reminded us all of something you might see in North Carolina or Tennessee.
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Too bad there wasn't any spectacular place to pull over and get better pictures. And Jim was driving... and as we hit the southern end of the scenic road, a highway checkpoint was setup. Turns out Jim didn't have current insurance paperwork in the glovebox. Blah. The positive luck (he got a warning) tempered by the negative (really soured the nice drive) seemed to be the story of the day. We got back around 10 and played more games.
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Sunday was another day back around the house in Tulsa. We all talked to our dad's on Father's Day and I got to watch the end of the US Open golf tournament on the phone with my dad (a tradition we always have had... and it was an exciting tournament too!). Other than that, the day was mostly... yeah, you guessed it... Nuclear War!
By late evening, though, storms started to roll in. We were actually in a moderate risk for severe weather all day, but the big threat was wind and hail, not tornadoes.
The storms started to pop... maybe about 5:00... nearby avoided Tulsa through the evening. Finally we decided it was a good chance to go down the street and take some lightning pictures from a hill.
I enjoyed that a lot :-)
It took a while for me or Jim to find decent camera settings, but Chris was reeling off good shots without even using a tripod!
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Finally I got mine set well... wouldn't you know it, but within a few minutes a bank of lower clouds (the outflow boundary) moved in and mucked up the picture opportunities.
So more Nuclear War!
I did head out after Jim had gone to bed to try a few more pictures as there were some decent gaps in the clouds again. But it was like trying to shoot fish in the ocean, as there were storms in every direction. Set the camera up and hope!
I spent probably a good hour trying. I got a few fair ones. But in the time I was out there, first thunder started as a faint rumble in the distance... then it became more noticeable... and finally it started to rain and rumble good. I eventually did pack it in as the rain ended my show.
By that time it was probably 2 AM. But what a gully washer of a storm it was. More constant lightning, and the wind flailing like crazy.
Finally it let up... but not before delivering a good 2"+ of rain throughout the area, with some more localized flooding.
A good ol' early summer overnight squall line that I love in these parts!
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Monday was dreary. Lots of movies and sleep. And Nuclear War after Jim got home, of course :-)
We ate at some restaurant called Bill & Ruths. Nice little place!
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And that brings me to this past day. One final day for to enjoy, though we also had to start organizing to leave. Beyond that, just a day to kick back and enjoy. One more trip to Schlotzsky's for lunch and then we planned a good dinner at a local bbq place in Broken Arrow. Place turned out to be fair food and nice surroundings, but a bit expensive. Oh well, still a good final evening together.
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And now we tidy up things to get ready to depart. I'm sad it's over already, and I really look forward to another trip out here next year. Josh and Chris certainly enjoyed relaxing around the house quite a bit, and that was fine by me too :-)
Assuming I have the money and time, I plan to come back next year... and maybe I'll get a bit more chasing in too. (btw, let me know if you are a friend and might like to go, it's a lot of fun, and I'd be happy to have you along)
Anyways, some final stats...
Storm chases: 4
Miles driven: 3,349 (not including our trip Sunday, which Jim drove)
Estimated cost: should be somewhere between $700 - $900 each
Tornadoes seen: 2 nighttime ones last Wednesday
Surprisingly we didn't get to see any hail at all... well, there's still a chase some storm could roll through in the morning... but otherwise, shocking little. I hear it's also been more rainy in Orlando, too. I'm mighty happy I get to return to that!
There have been slight risks of storms each day since last Thursday... but we haven't chased any more because the setup hasn't really been that impressive to me... has panned out to be the right choice since we haven't missed any tornadoes in the area. Maybe if we went up north for longer we could have seen more. I'm not sure we wanted to do that much more driving though!
Mostly, I really don't look forward to going back home. I miss it out here, and I'm not looking forward to getting back to find a backlog of work.
I think Josh and Chris are more ready to go. I'm sure they've become pretty bored by now!
I am, however, really glad that I was able to come out and handle the rigors of heavy driving once again. I have been feeling a bit old and lethargic recently, and it was reassuring that I still at least have that skill!
A great thanks to Jim for being the most spectacular host in the world. He is such a kind guy for letting us invade his casa for the past 2 weeks. He's been constantly attentive to anything we might need, hanging out with us, and putting up with us! ^^
Friends like that make me want to move my butt back out here!!!
Anyways, so what do I leave thinking?
I'm thinking about how it's a different world out here. The attitudes are different. Life itself is different. It seems like a lot of the contrast comes from weather. In the southeast, it feels like we've moved in and taken hold of our land. Out here everything feels so temporary. The weather is so changing and so powerful. It feels like life is a little more difficult and a little more precious all at the same time. It's a bit more of an adventure out here.
And it's so much more laid back. So friendly. And so filled with a flourishing nature to life (except in winter).
It may be about 1300 miles between Orlando and Oklahoma, but it feels like forever.
I'll probably make one more post about the trip home tomorrow, and then it's back to the everyday grind. Oh well, it could be worse :-)
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