May 8, 2000

may 8, 2000
sunset surprise in northwest oklahoma

Today we decided to break from tradition and intercept storms from the west. Although most chasers prefer to chase storms from the southeast due to better contrast and mobility, we wanted to be in the clear air west of the dryline in order to see developing storms better. One disadvantage of chasing storms from the west is that storms will be moving away from you, leaving little room for delays. So of course, we had several setbacks which kept us from getting east as quickly as we would have liked. First Jeff got pulled over by a Kansas State Trooper near Oakley KS. Then we decided to head down US 54 from Liberal KS to Guymon OK instead of continuing down US 83 to US 412. A freak gust of wind blew an antenna off the top of Jim's van in the Oklahoma Panhandle, which delayed us for another 15 minutes as Lauren and Ed searched for it along side of the road. Another delay came when Jim made an impromptu potty stop in Woodward OK. But the neat thing is every single one of these "setbacks" actually worked to our advantage, as we arrived in Orienta OK just in time to witness a thunderstorm mature just to our east. Had any one of these setbacks not occurred, we may have been clobbered by quarter to half dollar sized hail. And had we continued down US 83 instead of US 54, we would have missed seeing a dust devil with an intense, tight rotation (think of a mini version of the 1995 Pampa tornado, but without all the debris) in Guymon OK - as well as a horseshoe vortex east of Hardesty OK.

Shawn, Lauren, and Ed toss the football around at a rest stop east of Guymon OK waiting for storms to develop.

Lauren and Ed search for the antenna that was blown off the top of Jim's van by a freak gust of wind in Beaver County OK. After searching for about 15 minutes, they found the antenna and reattached it to the top of the van.

For a while this little mass of elevated convection appeared to be our only hope for seeing anything today. Problem was it had trouble getting a sustained updraft going and was racing off to our east away from us. It was beginning to appear that today would be a bust....

But once we got east of Woodward, we began seeing storms developing not far to our east. We stopped at a gas station in Orienta to watch this storm three miles to our east. It appeared to be dropping hail fairly close to us (notice the streaks of hail at the top of the frame), but we were not close enough to hear the "hail roar".

This storm put out some great CG's. But even with my video camera fully zoomed out, it was difficult to get very many lightning strikes on video as the bolts kept striking just to the left and right of the viewfinder. This image is actually of one CG that struck to the right of the viewfinder.

One of the few bolts I caught on video. It looks close but it struck about four miles away.

Oh no, Jay's truck has been hit!!! (No, Jay's truck is OK. That bolt was four miles way also)

Rain, hail, and low cloudiness wrapped around the storm as darkness set in, ending the show for us. Time to head to Enid to bed down for the night, where many travellers sought refuge from the stormy conditions.

Go on to the next page.

Shawn, Lauren, and Ed toss the football around at a rest stop east of Guymon OK waiting for storms to develop.
	Lauren and Ed search for the antenna that was blown off the top of Jim's van by a freak gust of wind in Beaver County OK. After searching for about 15 minutes, they found the antenna and reattached it to the top of the van.
For a while this little mass of elevated convection appeared to be our only hope for seeing anything today. Problem was it had trouble getting a sustained updraft going and was racing off to our east away from us. It was beginning to appear that today would be a bust....
	But once we got east of Woodward, we began seeing storms developing not far to our east. We stopped at a gas station in Orienta to watch this storm three miles to our east. It appeared to be dropping hail fairly close to us (notice the streaks of hail at the top of the frame), but we were not close enough to hear the "hail roar".
This storm put out some great CG's. But even with my video camera fully zoomed out, it was difficult to get very many lightning strikes on video as the bolts kept striking just to the left and right of the viewfinder. This image is actually of one CG that struck to the right of the viewfinder.
	One of the few bolts I caught on video. It looks close but it struck about four miles away.
Oh no, Jay's truck has been hit!!! (No, Jay's truck is OK. That bolt was four miles way also)
	Rain, hail, and low cloudiness wrapped around the storm as darkness set in, ending the show for us. Time to head to Enid to bed down for the night, where many travellers sought refuge from the stormy conditions.