2017 Storm Chase Day 5 - 6/30/17 - Lightning show in Oklahoma!

We had a great lightning show. More on that later.

I *hate* chasing in Oklahoma. Most people don't know this, but Oklahoma is one of the most densely populated states in tornado alley. Only Texas is more densely populated. I hate chasing in Texas as well. There's also a lot of trees in eastern Oklahoma.

I prefer to chase in the open plains where visibility is the best and the least property damage, and loss of life, can occur. And this would imply the best areas are Canada, the Dakotas, eastern Montana, northern Minnesota, western Nebraska, eastern Colorado, eastern Wyoming, western Kansas, the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles (OK, there is a part of OK that's good to chase in). Next time we just might chase in mid-July, where the storms fire up in Canada, the Dakotas, eastern Montana, and northern Minnesota. Plus, I've never chased in those areas at all. (I did chase in *western* Montana, in the Rocky Mountains--yes, you can get tornadoes in the mountains--but that's not the open plains).

That having been said, I don't get to choose where the tour goes. The tour goes where the strongest storms are expected for the day (specifically prioritizing any tornado threat). So I chased in Oklahoma. (The only exception is that the tour won't chase in cities--it's too dangerous).

Well, we got stuck in rush-hour traffic in Oklahoma City, and we missed the best part of the storms. But there were no tornadoes, so we didn't miss any of that. However, we did get there in time for one of the best lightning show I've ever seen! (There was one previously in an earlier chase that you might call better).

Unfortunately, Heidi's camera wasn't working with her lightning trigger, and mine can't use one. So I took my photos using my iPhone with an app called LightningCam 2. Here are a couple of those photos:

Here is the GPS track for the day. We logged over 700 miles in Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas.

Next up: New Mexico, Colorado, and a wrap-up of the entire chase week.

2017 Storm Chase Day 4 - 6/29/17 - Softball-sized hailer!

Two apologies: This blog is a day late because I slept in yesterday. Sue me. :-). Also, I'm going back on my word to dye my hair if we say tornadoes, like we did on Wednesday. This is because I really stole the idea from someone else we were chasing with, and out of respect for him, I withdrew my promise. Perhaps I'll shave my head, but that's not much different from what I have now.

What a hailer! We chased a tornado-warned supercell from beginning to end. At it's peak, it was generating softball-sized hail!

Here's my best photo of the updraft:

Here's my best photo of the hail. No, I didn't get a photo of a hailstone, but instead here's a picture of the hail core:

The green tint is not a flaw (or photoshop, none of my pics, unless I specifically state so, are photoshopped), but is actual softball-sized hail in the core of the storm.

Both of these photos were taken at the same vantage point. While we were there, a motorist stopped and asked me what was going on. I told her a tornado might form in the valley, and softball-sized hail was coming. She pointed out her house down the hill into the valley, and I told her to go home and shelter there. Although we didn't think a tornado would develop (it didn't), we thought soon the area would be pummeled with hail.

After she leaves, our nineteen-year-old boy (the one who had dyed his hair after seeing a tornado before, the one whose idea I didn't want to steal) turns to me and says, for everyone, including my wife, Heidi, to hear, "She was hot!"

Honestly, I hadn't noticed one way or the other. But now I'm thinking I'll get some grief from Heidi, but she had seen the whole thing, so she knew I didn't find her hot (and yes, she knows, but I'm clueless). Whew. She reminded me that she knows when I talk to a woman I'm attracted to (it's so obvious to her, but, oddly, not so much to me).

[[[UPDATE:

Back at the hotel, we were hit with a hailstorm. We found hailstones a little larger than quarter-sized. We also had a mild lightning show. Here's a pic taken from my iPhone using LightningCam 2:

]]]

Here is a GPS track of the day. There was a lot of driving that day.

Friday's target was Oklahoma. I *hate* chasing in Oklahoma. Honestly, if it were up to me, I wouldn't have bothered, but I'm glad we did, nonetheless. More on that in my next blog.