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Far SW Oklahoma - 11 March 2001
The day began with a slight risk over most of central Oklahoma and into Texas. The SPC also forecast a 15% chance of damaging hail and a 2% chance of tornadoes in most of Texas and the extreme southern part of Oklahoma around Waurika. CAPE values and dewpoints were rising there as the clouds burned off and allowed temperatures to rise into the 70s. Dustin called me up at 1:30 and we shared some ideas of what might happen and when it would happen. We decided to leave OU at 3:00 and head down toward the Duncan, OK area and see what was happening there. We were both excited as this was my first chase and the first chase of the spring season. We may have been a little too excited, though!
Conditions in Norman were not favorable for any sort of convective development. According to the thermometer on Dusty's Chevy Blazer, the temperature was 57 degrees and it was drizzly and foggy. We left with a Rand McNally Atlas, a weather radio, Dusty's digital camera and my new zoom camera. We tried to memorize surface ob's and satellite photos before we left to help us down the road. Being our first time out in this part of Oklahoma, we didn't have a good idea of what routes to take. We left at 3:00 CST and decided to take I-35 south of Norman to Highway 29, just south of Paul's Valley. The fog and low clouds prevailed as we headed west on 29 toward Marlow. We could see damage from the huge ice storm Oklahoma had back in February as we drove down the road. Right before we reached Clear Creek between Bray and Marlow, the sky cleared! (We thought that the timing of that was ironic) The temperature instantly rose from 57 to 62 and stayed above the 60 mark for the rest of the chase.
After a quick food and bathroom stop in Marlow, we then decided to take US 81 south toward Duncan. US 81 wasn't like any other US highways we had been on, because at some points the speed limit was posted at 70! Along the way we saw some cumulus clouds trying to grow, but our vision was limited for there were other clouds blocking the view. We didn't think much would happen there and we continued south. At Comanche, we made a quick call back to OU to see if the radar showed anything forming. Nothing. It was 65 degrees and clear, and nothing was building. The weather radio said that storms would begin at 6:00 between Wichita Falls and Archer City in Texas. That was roughly the area we thought things would happen, but we had hoped for things to begin a little sooner. The sun would set by 6:30. It was nearly 5 at this point, and we were losing daylight. At Waurika, after still not seeing anything promising, I convinced Dusty to continue south, and we took 81 to US 70 west and then OK 79 south.
It was here where I decided to take a picture right before we crossed the Red River into Texas with my head out of the window as we did 65 mph down Highway 79. I had my OU hat on, and about five seconds after Dusty told me not to lose my hat, I did. We could see for miles in either direction, and no cars were coming, so we backed up on the bridge to where I lost my hat and recovered it. After we crossed the bridge, we stopped at a nice pull-off in front of the Texas Welcome sign. Dusty had never been to Texas, so we got some pictures. We also had a nice view of the sky, and noticed storms building to the east of Wichita Falls near Henrietta, TX. It was 6:00 and the sun was beginning to set, and we made a tough decision and decided to head back. It was painful knowing that those storms were building, yet it was too late to safely chase them. We got a couple of pictures of those clouds and then a couple of nice sunset pictures, but basically, it was a bust.
We then headed back toward Duncan for a bite to eat, and decided to take 81 up to Chickasha and hit Highway 9 back to Norman. This proved faster, and next time we need to be in that area, we're taking 81 the whole way. I-44 is toll, and 81 is 70 mph most of the way, so we figured out a good route for next time. However, on the way back we drove through some fog, which was rather thick at times. We got back at 9:00 CST and assessed what happened. The storms we saw just south of the Red River formed as a cluster and then spread out into a line of three main cells. The northernmost cell died quickly, but not before producing 3/4" inch hail in Addington, one of the towns we passed through. The other two produced nickel-sized hail along the Red River. A separate line formed west of Oklahoma City, producing a severe thunderstorm warning in Chickasha an hour after we passed through there. Another warning was issued for Southern McClain County and Garvin County later that night. Only one tornado warning was produced, and that was in Val Verde County, Texas at midnight.
All in all, it was a fun chase. I got to see parts of Oklahoma that I had never seen before. It was also my first, so it was a good experience. I don't regret going out at all, and hopefully the pictures that we did get will be good.
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