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Today had the potential for some serious "violencia." The day earlier
was pretty exciting, and we knew the setup for May 4 would be awesome,
as well. SPC had issued a High Risk from NW KS, NW MO, south to the
Arklatex, and eastward almost ot Tennessee. The dryline was located
across central Kansas and central Oklahoma and was progged to make a
major push east when an incredibly strong jet streak swept through the
Souther Plains during mid-afternoon. The day just had "B A D" written
all over it.
This day would wind up being one of the biggest days in what came to be known as the Extended Outbreak of May 2003.
Intended Target: Coffeyville, KS
Actual Target: Shawnee, OK
| Chase Partners: |
Kyle Mozley
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Location:
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Eastern Oklahoma
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Miles Travelled:
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375
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Total Time:
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8 Hours
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Due to the major risk of severe weather in Oklahoma, I was called and
put under operations for KOTV today, so we had to abandon our plan for
Coffeyville. I was the furthest south chaser, so I was setup along
I-40 to get anything south of Tulsa.
We left Norman at noon and headed for Shawnee.
Shortly after we left, a PDS Tornado Watch was issued for eastern
Oklahoma. We arrived in Shawnee, gassed up, and bought some tapes for
the camcorder. We headed east a few miles on I-40 and turned north
onto OK-99. We parked on a county road with a clear view in all
directions to watch for initiation. We stayed in this spot for a good
30 minutes to an hour. We watched several towers build, but they kept
getting sheared apart. We headed north to Prague and parked in the
high school parking to lot observe for a while. Northing really built
here either. We waited and watched the dryline pass, which was marked
by a pronounced clearing line. We then proceeded east towards Okemah
staying just ahead of the dryline and axis of instability. We took
I-40 east to Henryetta and ate at Arby's getting far enough ahead of
the dryline to wait for some action
While in Henryetta, a supercell began to build to
our SW. We jumped back on I-40 eastbound towards Checotah hoping to
get in front of and south of the storm when it passed I-40. The storm
began a splitting process and we drove through the northern precip
core. We could see a wall cloud and rain-free base begin to organize
to our southwest. About the same time, a Tornado Warning was issued
for a spotter-reported tornado on the ground near South Coffeyville, OK
(i.e., INTENDED TARGET AREA). We continued to follow the north storm
hoping to emerge to it's east.
We eventually came out of the storm in Checotah.
We received some pretty heavy rain on I-40 along with some pea- to
dime-size hail. We turned north on US-69 and continued to follow the
storm hoping to intercept it again just north of Muskogee, OK. The
storm began to build rapidly. We came into Muskogee but got cut off by
traffic and road construction. Once the storm reached US-69, it built
up speed and took off to the NE at about 75mph. This is no
exaggeration. I think the warning that was issued had the storm moving
at 85mph.
We broke off the chase once we were between
Muskogee and US-412. Our storm eventually sped off and combined with
another cell in Ottowa County in far NE OK. The merged storm produced
a tornado that completely leveled Pierce City, MO. We arrived back in
Tulsa to drop off some video at work, then stopped by my parents' house
for dinner. We arrived back in Norman about 10:30pm.
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