Northeastern Oklahoma: May 22, 2019

I stayed home in Oklahoma just about all day. I initially thought I would target the KS/OK border area today, north of Tulsa, but after witnessing flooded roads and reviewing Google Maps, I decided against it. There were too many roads closed, bridges out, detours and washed out muddy roads to feel confident enough to chase there. I figured that western Missouri was too far to go, so what did they leave me with? I was very skeptical about sustained convective initiation south/southwest of Oklahoma City, especially after seeing the 17z OUN sounding. I decided to hang back and wait. I even toyed with the idea of not chasing at all, especially since the last higher-end chase day was a complete fiasco in Oklahoma.

The issuance of a Particularly Dangerous Situation (PDS) Tornado Watch was it. Not only did I disagree with the watch, not feeling that “several strong tornadoes likely” would verify, but I knew that even if a storm did manage to develop, it would not be a fun chase at all. I avoid storm chasing in metro areas, but especially anywhere remotely close to Oklahoma City.

By mid-afternoon, I was growing increasingly intrigued by storms that were initiating just east of Shawnee. They started to have that curved look, the thing you start seeing in many tornado outbreaks. For whatever reason, I waited until just about the last minute and finally walked out the door around 4 p.m. Luckily I only hit a few bouts of traffic, as if I had waited much longer, the chase might have been completely lost.

The plan was to go about an hour east on I-40. It was a straight shot and it looked like I had enough time to get there. I saw two dueling supercells riding along I-40 and I was able to catch up, as the storms weren’t moving very fast. Once I got to Okemah, I had a visual on a very low, grungy wall cloud, just to the southeast of I-40. Vehicles were stopping and traffic was slowing, but thankfully I did not see anyone parked under underpasses and most people pulled off the road as they got closer to the mesocyclone.

I noticed a few brief funnels/tornadoes, but for the record, I’ll consider it one tornado. It just happened to be skipping along. I had a video camera going on my roof, but due to raindrops and haze/smoke, as well as not being super close, the video didn’t clearly pick up on any of this activity.

 

The wall cloud, very clearly rotating, passed over I-40 in front of me and then I decided to pull over The video above is just a brief clip, but it’s probably the only interesting video that I captured. I sped up the video to 4x to enhance the rotation. I could feel the rush of the air with my windows open as the wall cloud passed nearly overhead. I don’t often get this close to a tornadic supercell and it’s probably fortunate that it wasn’t producing a tornado at the time, as I-40 might have been blocked off. Shades of Mayflower crossed my mind, except this time, I stopped on the interstate prior to the storm passing over.

I managed to take one picture and it shows the grungy wall cloud, which was literally on the cusp of tornadogenesis. Just a couple of minutes later, a firm stovepipe tornado was in progress. I have little doubt that it was a significant (EF-2+) tornado. As the tornado continued, I got off I-40 and maneuvered my way north and east, only catching brief glimpses of the tornado. As I got closer, trees became more of an issue, as well as muddy/rough roads. I-40 wasn’t an option, as the storm motion was toward the northeast and I-40 was just about due east.

I continued northeast along back roads and near Okmulgee, it looked like the supercell might be cycling. The original tornado had lifted and another low-hanging wall cloud popped up to its immediate east. That’s about all she wrote, though, as once I got to Pumpkin Center and hit some really awful roads (large pot holes, mud, etc.), and saw that I was approaching a larger population area, I bailed. That was it. I almost thought about trying to rush toward the storms east of Stillwater, but I’d had enough. Sometimes it’s good to just call of a chase, while you’re ahead. 

Video was recording for the whole event on my roof, but as I wandered northeast of I-40, trees and powerlines obscured view about 90% of the time, so the video is not worth sharing. This low resolution screen capture is the only image that’s worth showing of the tornado:

 

If the forecast leading up to the chase wasn’t grueling enough, on the way back home, I saw the debris signature of another significant tornado, passing just north of Joplin. The devestating EF-5 tornado that struck Joplin in 2011 also happened on May 22nd. It was a challenging day. Chasing in the woods of eastern Oklahoma, fighting with a tough forecast and then watching tornadoes do damage. It was very sobering. The tornado north of Joplin was probably a long-tracker and legitimately large from the photos I saw. A lot of times when a tornado is labeled “large,” it’s really not, but in this case, it most certainly was.

First tornadoes I’ve witnessed in northeastern Oklahoma. I wouldn’t mind if they are the last. A grueling, challenging day. Very sad thoughts for the Joplin/southwestern Missouri area and other communities hit. I don’t chase for this. I’d much rather they all stay over open land.

— Quincy Vagell (@stormchaserQ) May 23, 2019

I’ll count this as a two tornado event in northeastern Oklahoma, my first tornadoes in that part of the state. As I mentioned on Twitter, I don’t mind if they are my last. Over time, I grow less and less fond of tornadoes doing damage in wooded, populated areas. I think most of us would rather chase out over open country, where it’s easier to chase, safer, storms are usually more photogenic and usually less destructive.

With that said, it was a fairly quick, local chase. Even though I didn’t leave Oklahoma City until about 4 p.m., I was back around 9 p.m. and logged one of my shorted distances driving for a storm chase so far this year.