3-23-09 Chase Recap

I decided to go ahead and pull the trigger on this chase about 4:00 yesterday. After looking over the RUC, radar, and mesonet, I decided to head west for Stillwater after work. I arrived in Stillwater just as a the storm I was planning to intercept went tornado warned in Logan county. I positioned myself east of the storm in Payne county, about 2 miles south of Stillwater, and prepared for the intercept. As the storm barreled into town, the inflow winds associated with it were intense. It was nearly impossible to stand up on my own. I'm not sure if I was supporting my tripod or if my tripod was supporting me. Either way neither myself or my camera hit the ground. As the storm came in I got a good look at the wall cloud that had been reported.(pictured above) There was very minimal if any rotation at this time.

After the storm rolled through Stillwater, I got back on 412 and followed it back into the Tulsa area. The storm stayed to my south until around Hallett where it crossed 412 and dropped around 1" hail on me for a few minutes.

Once the core passed, I booked it back to Tulsa so I could take Hwy 75 up to Skiatook for a second intercept. At this point the highway was a chaser caravan. Unfortunately, the storm decided to crap out about the time I took the turn north out of Tulsa.

Even though the storm had dropped below severe limits, I decided to go ahead and get some lightning shots. I stopped on the entrance ramp at Hwy 75 and 86th St. North and shot c.g. for a while but the storm just didn't want to do much. (pictured below)

Overall, it was a pretty fun chase and it provided some excitement to an otherwise boring Monday. One thing is for sure, I'm ready to chase a storm that doesn't move 50+ mph.