Day 9 - The Mothership - May 18, 2019

Since it was close to 2AM before we ended our day, we decided to sleep in a bit. Once again, the folks at the Holiday Inn Express were understanding and let us hang out in their breakfast area. We were not alone in this; some fellow chasers from the University of Oklahoma hung out with us. The students exchanged stories with them and enjoyed the interaction.

A quick analysis revealed that today’s storms were less likely to produce tornadoes than Friday’s storms. This was due to a reduced supply of moisture and instability. Storms from the Ft. Stockton area had grown into a squall line and were absorbing much of the resources for storms in our area 

Enhanced risk over our target area. Had it not been for the storms to the south, it would have been a bigger day.

We didn’t have to wait as long for storms to develop today, though. We were out the door shortly after we finished lunch (at Ramiro’s; really good Mexican cuisine and they don’t spare the salsa, chips, and cheese dip). Storms had begun to develop to our north. We made it Alva, OK cleaned the windows on the van, and waited for the storms.

The storms produced some heavy rain and nickel-sized hail, but that was about it. We left those storms behind and moved towards Helena to get ahead of a much more robust cell. It did not disappoint.

The Mothership Photo: Hunter Reeves

The cloud pictured above is known as a shelf cloud. It’s bark is far worse than its bite. It forms when rain-cooled air spreads outward ahead of a storm. You can experience strong, gusty winds with its passage, but that is about it.

The Whale's Mouth. Indicates the turbulence associated with outflow ahead of the storm. Photo: Hunter Reeves

Obligatory Shelfie. Photo: Maddie Bernabei

Collapsing thunderstorm with mammatus

We stayed with the storm, pausing occasionally to take pictures of the shelf cloud. When it became clear that the storm was running its course, we retired to Enid to enjoy a fine Italian meal

The storm had not paused, however, In fact, the outflow from the storm had led to the formation of new storms and a squall line. The squall line was non-severe, but it was producing very heavy rain. We were unable to avoid the rain. It kept us company all the way to Kingfisher before we got south of it. A full moon led to some stunning views of the storm in our rearview mirror.

We arrived in Yukon for the last two nights of the trip. The next day would be a rest day ahead of the final show on Monday.