Day 8 - Our Patience Pays Off - May 17, 2019

With the die cast for Dumas, there wasn’t much to do other than wait. Wait to see if the capping inversion could be overcome and supercells could develop.

The morning soundings did not paint a pretty picture for convection. From Midland, TX to Dodge City, KS, significant caps were in place, with lots of convective inhibition (atmospheric energy devoted to suppressing convection) above the surface.

Even North Platte, NE, which was in a highly favorable area for convection, had a lot of CINH. But storms were still likely there because the upper level flow and a warm front to help break the cap.

We set up shop in the dining area of the hotel in Dumas. Their hospitality was greatly appreciated. We spent the afternoon closely monitoring surface data (for evidence of the dry line bulge) and visible satellite imagery (for areas of cloud development). As we waited, storms developed in both of the other target areas.

This is where chasing gets tough. You spend most of your time waiting for things to develop. Someone described it as driving thousands of miles and spending hours upon hours for 30 minutes of action. Further complicating things were the reports and imagery of tornadoes coming from Nebraska. But, we stuck to our guns and stayed right where we were.

The waiting is the hardest part

The capping inversion held strong for most of the afternoon. Cumulus clouds would develop but could not grow very tall. The group was growing uneasy and increasingly frustrated. Near Childress, TX  one of the most pronounced dry line bulges I have ever seen (40 degree difference over a 30 mile distance, with strong southeasterly winds ahead of it) developed. Despite this, no storms fired in that area.

Finally, some cumulus clouds managed to develop in the vertical off to our north around 5:30. With the cap squashing everything else we had little choice but to go after it. Our initial destination was Perrtyon, TX.

Along the way we encountered the dry line. It was obvious, even without instrumentation. Behind it, there was hardly any dust or pollen in the air. Visibility was high. As we approached the boundary, you could see the haze and dust. It was most definitely a dry heat behind the boundary and a sauna ahead.

Green line is the dry line (radar is picking up dust and bugs). Returns west of Beaver became a tornadic storm. Returns near Cimarron, Montezuma, and Spearville are windmills.

Clouds struggled to maintain their depth in the capping inversion, but eventually one of them broke through and exploded into the vertical. With the wind shear present the storm rapidly transitioned to a rotating supercell.

Explosive development

We intercepted it west of Forgan, OK and watched a wall cloud develop at the base. A wall cloud is the precursor to funnels and tornadoes. It indicates that the circulation within the supercell is extending towards the ground.

The Wall Cloud

Within minutes, the wall cloud was rotating and a funnel cloud appeared. The storm was moving away from us to the north. We pursued it towards the Kansas border, watching as the funnel made its steady descent towards the ground. The contrast of the funnel with the background of the storm was fantastic. The condensation taking place within the funnel appeared white.

Finally, the funnel reached the ground. We had a tornado.

The Tornado

Savannah and friend (Photo; Savannah Tennyson)

While watching the tornado, we saw several pieces of severe-sized hail on the ground.

Oh, Hail. The alternating clear and cloudy portions indicate different types of growth within the storm. Quarter-size means it's severe.

We watched the tornado grow in size as it moved to the north. It was in an ideal location; there were no cities and almost nothing in terms of houses and farms in the area. The storm was carrying the storm away from us and we could go no further on the road we had taken. So we had to backtrack to highway 23 so that we could move north and reacquire the storm.

We reacquired the storm near Meade, KS where it produced another tornado. We watched that tornado disperse as it continued to move north.

Second Tornado. Photo: Greg Nordstrom

We continued through Fowler. Near Minneola, a tornado formed again. This time, it had a highly curved structure.

Third Tornado. Winds near the surface cause the circulation to bend. Photo: Greg Nordstrom

The sun was setting and visibility declined. But the tornado was still there and growing in size. We followed it for as long as possible before it became too dark to see. By that time we were 20 miles from Dodge City. Since it had been better than 8 hours since we ate, the group was quite hungry. We rolled into IHOP and put away quite a few eggs.

In the meantime, the chasing situation for Saturday had become much more favorable for us. A piece of upper-level energy was forecast to move across western Oklahoma late in the day. It might not spawn tornadic supercells, but it would produce storms. Plus, it was much closer than SE Texas.

After dinner, we made the trek to Woodward, OK. We got suites at the Holiday Inn Express and slept in preparation for the next day.

Besides the tornadoes and incredible structure, this chase was particularly satisfying. As a group, we stuck to our forecast target and did not deviate even though the SPC did not paint a very favorable picture.. Further, no one was injured or killed as a result of the storm which formed.

The NWS in Dodge City later rated the tornadoes as an EF3 and 2 EF2's

All three targets verified