Storm Chase Details
Chase Date: March 26, 2017
Miles Logged: 357
States Chased: OK
Tornadoes Witnessed: 2
Severe Risks: SPC Outlooks
Chase Recap:
Started off the morning in Tishomingo at the Blue River where I camped the night prior, waking up to cold and dry temperatures but a nice layer of dew on the tent. Moisture was always a concern for this system, but waking up nearly in the target area seems to motivate one to chase. Oh and a moderate risk.
Packing up camp and heading out to Chase
We packed up our camp then JR and I headed in our separate vehicles to Ardmore. Then we continued on west to Waurika where the starts start firing literally over us. The first storm we let go and kept after the second storm as it struggled west of 35. Kenzie and her friends Ethan, Alex and Jack had broken down, so I picked them up and after a short delay to move gear around, we were back on I-35 north towards Pauls Valley.
We ended up back on the “north” storm, the first one that went up, and it became tornado warned. While nothing ever touched down, we had a good rotating wall cloud for awhile before LCL’s seemed to become a problem again.
Ada Oklahoma Tornado
The “south” storm was again pulsing up and had a pretty large hail core, so I dropped back and got into position to intercept that one.
Just west of Ada the south storm underwent a splitting process and it was pretty obvious on radar, so we decided to stick with it, eventhough I was pondering dropping off completely and heading home.
We headed into Ada through some hail up to nickel size, stopped quickly for a bathroom break and then decided to head south as the storm seemed to be wrapping up on radar. Norman NWS issued a tornado warning on it, so we dropped south of town and observed the first tornado(es?) right along the south side of town along Highway 3. We continued east on Old highway 3, observing more tornadoes before navigating through the rough terrain and poor road network.
Hail near Holdenville
We eventually gave up after getting cored by hail south of Holdenville. We headed back to Norman on state highway 9.
