5/26/08: Tornadoes in Pratt, KS

Shari and I left OKC around 1030 hrs today enroute to the junction of US-283 & US-160 east of Meade via Woodward. Data was a problem again today, so once we got to target, we choose to head west to Meade for fuel. After finding a great place to sit east of Meade along US-54/400, we called Jay, who advised of a good-looking storm going up SW of Greensburg. So of course we headed that way.

When we got to Greensburg, it was clear that we’d be continuing east, so we did so, making several stops along the way to snap. Chaser convergence was becoming a problem. We actually found a paved road south off of US-54/400, so down it we went, a batch of other cars in tow. We drove down it 6-7 miles and got on the other side of the updraft base of a great-looking storm that refused to make a tornado. Somehow during the period, the data gods smiled down upon us and we were once again Internet-capable.

After the base passed us to the north along the highway, we made a break for it to see if we could avoid the gorilla hail that had been reported. We got tons of heavy rain and some small hail on our way back up to the highway. We headed east on the highway again toward Pratt.

Once we got into Pratt, we stopped for fuel again. I planned to go inside the store, but Shari said we needed to go NOW. When I got back into the car, I found out why: the storm had made another hook, which was rapidly approaching. We tore out of Pratt southbound along US-281 just in time to avoid the first of 2-3 brief tornadoes that touched down in the area.

Just south of town, while just entering the rain-free base area of the storm, we both observed rotating rain curtains just to our northeast along the roadway. We went a little further and turned around to watch. After not seeing anything for about 5 minutes, we went back north into town, observing some fresh tree damage.

Continuing east on 54/400, we planned to pick up K-61 to parallel the storm to the northeast. Unfortunately, the storm turned just enough right to nullify this option. So we continued east on US-54/400 with 4,000 other chasers, doing the photography thing along the way. Along the way, the storm apparently made another tornado. If it did, it was rain-wrapped, and there were so many chasers out that finding a reasonable place to take a picture was nearly impossible.

We finally broke off the storm around dark. The MCS to the east was in-between us and Wichita, so instead of trying to punch that, we stopped in the charming little town of Cheney, where we ate dinner at the cleanest Subway I have ever known.

After we finished up dinner, we got back on the road, only to find ourselves swallowed up by even heavier rainstorms than before. The rain was so heavy that it was nearly impossible to drive without getting killed. We stopped under the canopy of a gas station in Goddard and waited for the heaviest rain to pass. Then we continued back to OKC.

We stopped again not far inside Oklahoma so I could try taking some lightning pictures, none of which were spectacular (since I don’t have a fully manual shutter setting).