Chase Log: October 14th, 2007
Click on any of the SPC products below (Convective Outlooks, Watches, or MCDs) to see the SPC's "Severe Thunderstorm Events" page pertaining to this event.
Total Distance: 340 miles
Target Area: Near Altus, OK
Chase Area: S of Hobart to SW of Anadarko
Maximum SPC Risk category: Slight
Watches:
Mesoscale Discussions (MCDs):
A disappointing day for me, given that I wasn't expecting such a relatively solid line of convection to be the mode that far south. I waited with my 'usual' chase group down in Snyder, before we shifted northward to ~2mi west of Roosevelt, where we parked and watched the convection approach from the west. There looked to be a few times during which the convection attempted to break up, but quasi-linear mode dominated. We saw the apparent tornado down there, but I'm not comfortable enough to call that a tornado YET... There was a lot of rising dust along the gust front W and SW of Roosevelt, and we noted rapid cloud-base rotation occurring along/above this gust front. I suppose a vortex may have wrapped up along the gust front and become defined enough to be called a tornado, though. I'll have to review my video... One of the local OKC TV stations has a closer view of this than did we. Our first reaction was to call it a gustnado, but, I suppose, I may concede it was a tornado after further review given that it was beneath some pretty good cloud-base rotation. At any rate, after we felt extremely cold outflow at our position just west of Roosevelt, I pretty much knew it was game over. Given the analyzed boundary layer RH, I certainly wasn't expecting to face such cold outflow. I can only think that some drier air moved in just above the surface, leading to enhanced evaporational cooling. That cold outflow had to originate from somewhere...
On a more positive note, the scenes were pretty spectacular down there... Nice color with a setting sun, and very nice terrain. If nothing else, I hope I have some nice photographs.
