At 12:35pm, we left Norman and headed north on I-35.  Our initial destination was Medicine Lodge, KS.  A cirrus canopy shrouded the state the entire day keeping cells from forming in front of the dryline.   Therefore, we decided to stop along the way at a library, so we could view the latest data.  As we left Norman, the NWS-Norman comes over the SKYWARN net and informs everyone that NWS-Dodge City had issued a Tornado Warning on a cell moving at nearly 75mph. 

 

We exited I-35 and headed west towards Lamont, OK, on US-60, and arrived in Lamont about 3:00pm.  Departing Lamont on US-60, we decided to head farther west, between Medicine Lodge and Dodge City, KS, with a stop in Alva, OK, at a library.  Along the way, the cirrus shield appears to get thicker, so we change our target to Woodward, OK.  At 3:25pm, SPC issued a PDS-Tornado Watch for the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles and extreme western Oklahoma.

 

At 5:30pm, we stopped in Mooreland, OK, just west of Woodward for gas, pit stops, and data.  We found out that a squall line moving at 70mph was making its way into the state and was approaching Guymon, OK.  We decided to head out towards Gage, OK, on OK-15 and hit US-283 south because it parallels the OK-TX border.

 

At 6:28pm, Dusty, Kyle, and Nathan in the Blazer in front of us nearly nail a dog that was chasing a tumbleweed across the road in the middle of nowhere.

 

At about 7:05pm, we parked facing the squall line about 1/2 miles outside of Arnett to watch.  It's barreling along at about 70mph.  We sat there for a few minutes and watched the skies very carefully.  We began to notice a lowering cloud base and some rotation trying to organize.  The rotation was still present and became better organized with a wall cloud becoming more apparent.  A Tornado Warning was then issued for Ellis County, OK (our exact location).  About 7:20pm, we headed east on US-60 towards Harmon, OK.  We finally stopped and let the storm overtake us.  We experienced some small hail and 80mph winds.  Another Tornado Warning was issued for Dewey and Ellis Counties, OK.

 

At 7:49pm, we drove through Vici, OK, and saw some minor damage.  There were some good size tree limbs down and a big shed blown over onto a John Deere tractor.  As we continued east on US-60/OK-51 through Vici, we saw some sheet metal and shingles blow across the road in front of us.

 

We continued to drive east punching in and out of the squall line.  It started getting dark and hard to see, but we could see a textbook shelf cloud and outflow area on the backside of the squall line.  It was very impressive and very pretty.  We stopped in Oakwood, OK, at a gas station for a quick stop.  The chase was pretty much over at this point.  The worst had moved off to our north and east and was impossible to catch.  We ended the chase with a late night meal at a Pizza Hut in Watonga, OK.  We dropped south on I-40, headed east to OKC, and hit I-35 south to Norman.  We arrived back at the dorms about 12:000am.

 

 

SUMMARY:

Overall, I thought it was a very successful and awesome first chase.  No supercells developed, and it would have been great to chase one on my first trip.  By most chasers' standards, they would consider it a bust, but we did see one funnel and chased a textbook squall line.  It was actually a rare event, with all the storms moving near 75mph.

 

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