A very early start today in Denver, Colorado as we have about a 10hour drive ahead of us to the Oklahoma City, OK area.
We were all up about 5am to get ready for a 6am departure. Skies were clear, but it was cool in the Mile High City of Denver. Only 11°C.
Good weather wise now as we get into Kansas with generally clear skies, but things are expected to change later this afternoon through Oklahoma. We knew we were in for some severe weather, but what transpired through the day was not something we ever imagined.... keep reading!!!
This is what the National Weather Service is saying....
Have a plan for action! Confidence is increasing that very severe storms will develop across mainly central Oklahoma later today. Giant hail to softballs, tornadoes, damaging winds, and flooding are possible with the strongest storms. The Oklahoma City metro area will experience the worst weather 4-7 pm. Storms will likely transition from a hail/tornado threat to a wind/flooding threat during the evening hours
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RGZuVHZ1MQ&feature=player_embedded
Here is SPC's forecast discussion for the Oklahoma and Kansas region....
NOTE: A BIT TECHNICAL
ANOTHER VERY VOLATILE ENVIRONMENT IS IN PLACE ACROSS PARTS OF THE
SOUTHERN PLAINS AND MID MS VALLEY TODAY. WIDESPREAD VERY STEEP MID
LEVEL LAPSE RATES AND DEWPOINTS IN THE UPPER 60S/LOWER 70S ARE
RESULTING IN THE POTENTIAL FOR AFTERNOON MLCAPE VALUES OVER 4000
J/KG. THIS AIR MASS IS CURRENTLY CAPPED...AND THE CAP SHOULD
RESTRAIN DEEP CONVECTION THROUGH MUCH OF THE DAY ALLOWING STRONG
HEATING.
BY MID/LATE AFTERNOON...A SHORTWAVE TROUGH INDICATED IN WATER VAPOR
IMAGERY OVER THE TX PANHANDLE...ALONG WITH A SECOND AND STRONGER
TROUGH OVER CO...WILL APPROACH THE REGION. THIS WILL RAPIDLY WEAKEN
THE CAP AND ALLOW EXPLOSIVE THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT ALONG THE
DRYLINE OVER WEST-CENTRAL OK...AND ALONG THE COLD FRONT EXTENDING
FROM CENTRAL OK INTO SOUTHWEST MO. DEEP LAYER EFFECTIVE SHEAR
VALUES ARE FAVORABLE FOR SUPERCELL STORMS CAPABLE OF VERY LARGE
HAIL...DAMAGING WINDS...AND TORNADOES. SHEAR VECTORS PERPENDICULAR
TO THE N-S DRYLINE OVER CENTRAL OK WILL FAVOR DISCRETE STORM
STRUCTURES. ALL 12Z MODEL GUIDANCE INDICATES RAPID INTENSIFICATION
OF THE LOW LEVEL JET OVER CENTRAL OK BY EVENING AS THE UPPER TROUGH
APPROACHES. GIVEN THESE PARAMETERS...IT APPEARS THE THREAT OF A FEW
STRONG/VIOLENT TORNADOES ARE IN PLACE. HAVE INCREASED SEVERE
PROBABILITIES OVER THIS REGION...AND PORTIONS OF CENTRAL/EASTERN OK
WILL BE CONSIDERED FOR AN UPGRADE TO HIGH RISK AT 20Z IF
SHORTER-TERM MESOSCALE MODELS MAINTAIN THIS SCENARIO.
DURING THE EVENING...NUMEROUS THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO CONGEAL
INTO A FAST-MOVING MCS THAT TRACKS NORTHEASTWARD ACROSS NORTHEAST OK
INTO SOUTHWEST KS. HIGH CAPE VALUES AND AN INCREASING LOW LEVEL JET
WILL PROMOTE THE POTENTIAL FOR WIDESPREAD WIND DAMAGE...ALONG WITH
LARGE HAIL AND ISOLATED TORNADOES.
Storm initiation was expected around 4-6pm and that is exactly what happened. Towers started to go up just north and also to the west of Oklahoma City as we chose are target of El Reno.
It was literally a chaser convergence all over the area.
We located a spot on a side road with a gorgeous cloud structure moving in....
At the time there were clear skies right over our heads, but that didn't last long as the circulation moved in quite quickly. Winds were howling as they were drawn into the storm. As it drew closer we were blasted by inflow winds with gusts likely over 80km/h. As cars were flying by we were slandblasted by dirt on the road.
Winds continued to literally roar past us as we now were able to see a huge wedge tornado appear behind a group of trees in the distance.
This thing was massive. It was hard to see at first, but once it fully emerged behind the trees and with some lightning lighting it up from behind....
Here is a screen capture from the video I took.
Here are two screen captures from the video above....
No sooner than we got our tornado and were celebrating with high fives and cheers did we have to pack up and get the "hell outta dodge" so to speak. It became quickly apparent that the tornado had taken a turn and was heading straight for us.
As we sped down the road with directions from Mike Phelps.... tensions started to run high as we quickly realized we were under the circulation core or MesoCyclone.
It was not an easy task at getting out of there either.... as everyone else was doing the same thing.
As we were stopped at a crossroad Shannon Prentice calmly said... "Hey guys... don't look out to your right".
Of course, after hearing that we all looked out the right side.
There was a twister not 100yards away from us in the field. Tiny satellite twisters were swirling about right in front of us going up and coming down. We were literally right in the circulation.
Finally on the Interstate and hopefully getting out of harms way, only it was a standstill. State police had the roads blocked in both directions.
You could hardly see 20 feet in front of you and the wind was blasting us front the left side at least 100km/h. Marble sized hail was also pelting the truck.
This was truly the most terrifying experience because you couldn't see if the tornado was coming or not. We had to entirely rely on radar signatures.
After about 5 minutes of a standstill, state police started letting cars through....Didn't get more than 1/2 mile before turning around. This was only because Mike Phelps radioed our truck saying
"If we go any further we will die". Those are words I will never forget.
Luckily traffic was stopped again by state police. Once we started to go we realized that the tornado went right in front of us. There were overturned trucks, debris everywhere, road signs were bent or blown off. I was in awe as I looked around. There were even horses in the middle of the interstate from a nearby farm.
The following pictures were taken from Shannon Prentice in our truck.
Unfortunately we were not in the clear yet. Data was sketchy at this time, so it was hard to rely on Radar. Chris Scott, a meteorologist at The Weather Network messaged me saying storms were back building in the area and turning south.
With what little data connection we could get, radar continually showed multiple circulation cores all around us.
Now another issue to deal with was the flash flooding across the area. Along with tornado warnings, flash flood warnings were also issued for the entire region with 4-6inches of rain expected.
They weren't kidding as fields were entirely flooded, roads and parking lots were under water.
Once things began to clear up a tad, we drove through the path the tornado took. Roofs were ripped off houses, large trees were entirely uprooted, power lines were down. There was even the strong smell of gas at times.
It was hard to really comprehend what really had happened as it was literally like a near death experience to me. It wasn't until the National Weather Surface released a damage path map, and we calculated where we were stopped on the interstate that we realized we were literally stopped right beside where the tornado had traversed the interstate for a bit.
