2004 March 27
© Copyright 2004 Eric Nguyen
 
Back to 2004 Storm Documentation

Chase Area:  Western Oklahoma
Scott Currens and I left before noon and was targeting the dryline just north and south of Elk City, OK.  On our way out there we heard about the red box that was issued for all of W OK.  We also kept an eye on two cells that developed in the eastern TX Panhandle.  The northern storm became a supercell and produced a large tornado in Woodward county near Vici, and the southern one slowed down and became a supercell prior to reaching Elk City.  We caught up with the cell before it reached Elk City and observed great structure as well as a few tornadoes.

040327-m.gif (878 bytes)

Supercell Near Elk City, Oklahoma
We arrived in Elk City, Oklahoma, and observed a rotating supercell crossing I-40 heading slowly northeast.

040327-1b.jpg (21746 bytes)   040327-2b.jpg (22271 bytes)   040327-3b.jpg (23797 bytes)   040327-4b.jpg (21743 bytes)

Tornado #1
We followed the storm northeast to a town named Butler, Oklahoma, when we were surprised to see this storm produce a weak thin tornado.  This tornado lasted only a few minutes.

040327-5b.jpg (20146 bytes)   040327-6b.jpg (19453 bytes)   040327-7b.jpg (22082 bytes)

040327-8b.jpg (19567 bytes)   040327-9b.jpg (21427 bytes)   040327-10b.jpg (18926 bytes)

Tornado #2
After that meso occluded we observed a similar setup north of Custer City, Oklahoma.  We flanked the storm from the east as it began to produce a new tornado that also lasted several minutes.  We stopped across the street from a farm house with a family on the front porch asking if they should take cover.  I told them they were okay for the moment and to look on the other side of the house to view the tornado.  They were pretty excited when they saw it!   After that they took shelter to be on the safe side.

040327-11b.jpg (18939 bytes)   040327-12b.jpg (19753 bytes)   040327-13b.jpg (19784 bytes)   040327-14b.jpg (18622 bytes)

040327-15b.jpg (19491 bytes)   040327-16b.jpg (19581 bytes)   040327-17b.jpg (20021 bytes)   040327-18b.jpg (19457 bytes)

Tornado #3
Third tornado was even more of a surprise then the first two as the meso was completely occluded before it developed into a small cone and had vorticies on the ground observed a few chasers.  I was very surprised to see fast moving thin vorticies underneath this very elevated funnel.  When we went back and looked at the video we certainly confirmed that it was indeed a tornado.  This tornado was located near Thompson, Oklahoma.

040327-19b.jpg (21417 bytes)   040327-20b.jpg (21185 bytes)   040327-21b.jpg (21334 bytes)

Storm Structure
As we drove south to a new storm near Weatherford, Oklahoma, we looked back and saw the structure from our tornadic storm.

040327-22b.jpg (22479 bytes)   040327-23b.jpg (21025 bytes)   040327-24b.jpg (20507 bytes)   040327-25b.jpg (20146 bytes)

New Southern Tornadic Supercell
We watched as a strong RFD cut developed wrapping around the wallcloud to our north.  We were blasting east to flank it and get in position.   Once again, we observed another tornado, however, this one had a satellite funnel associated with it.  I'm not sure if it was anticyclonic or not, I'm assuming both were cyclonic.  Due to darkness it was more difficult to get good stills of this tornado.

040327-26b.jpg (21116 bytes)   040327-27b.jpg (21094 bytes)

040327-28b.jpg (20253 bytes)   040327-29b.jpg (19381 bytes)   040327-30b.jpg (20958 bytes)   040327-31b.jpg (20344 bytes)

A Last Look At Our Storm
The structure at nightfall was decent as we drove southeast back to Norman, Oklahoma.

040327-32b.jpg (21974 bytes)


© Copyright 2004 Eric Nguyen
 
Back to 2004 Storm Documentation
or
Back to Main Page