June 15, 2023

Statistics

Initial Target

Start

End

Storm Intercepts

Tornadoes

Hail

Wind

Features

Miles

Wheeler, TX

Amarillo, TX 10:42 AM 6/15/2023

Elk City, OK 9:27 PM 6/15/2023

Roll, OK; Foss, OK

0.5"

0 mph

Tornado, Wall Cloud, Gust Front

420

Summary

Dryline play off the TX Caprock into W OK. Targeted Wheeler, TX for afternoon tornadic supercells. Retargeted Roll, OK after watching cu field, then back to Wheeler noting dryline initiation, which subsequently died. Targeted Hollis, OK noting cell developing in favorable environment, but aborted intercept due to capping problems. Retargeted Roll, OK to catch Tail End Charlie on line unzipping from OK Panhandle southward, noting new developing supercell and small, not fully condensed tornado west of town. Chased supercell structure and MCS gust front southeast toward Foss before ending chase at dusk south of Elk City.

Crew and Equipment

Chase partners: Jennifer Brindley Ubl. Equipment: Sony AX100, Canon 60D with EFS 10-22, Samsung S9.

Video

Map

Details

June 15 looked to be the biggest day of a multi-day Plains run with Jennifer Brindley Ubl. We hoped to catcha Tail-End-Charlie storm off the dryline setting up along the TX/OK border, our initial target was Wheeler, TX.

Food Truck
Amarillo, TX
11:27 AM

Starting in Amarillo, we were already pretty close to our target, so we had a late checkout and then headed over to a great local food truck that had some vegan options.

11:27 AM

We got breakfast and lunch to go and then mozied east and north to Wheeler where we refuled and bumped into Erik Fox and co. Then we setup just west of town by a pond to watch bubbling cumulus. Watching visibile satellite, we could see cumulus were also percolating well to our east in Oklahoma, and I was worried that we might be too far west. The convection allow models initially fired Ardmore, OK, and this verified, but we decided to let this storm go, thinking more robust potentially tornadic cells would come off the dryline to the west later. That was ultimately the case with the Armore cell struggling.

Roll, OK Cemetary
4 miles ESE of Crawford, OK
3:53 PM

We drove up to Roll, OK and watched the sky from a cemetary west of town where we ate our vegan food truck lunch, an did exercises to blow of steam.

The cumulus field at Roll, OK thinned out. Meanwhile the dryline was unzipping from the OK Panhandle southward. We thought these cells would quickly congeal into "squidge". Additional towering cumulus was bubbling on the dryline from Childress north to I-40. We raced back toward our original target, driving in a giant circle. These southern cells fizzled in the capped air, however. Then a cell was developed near Childress and the airmass looked quite favorable ahead of it with strong to extreme instability and what was forecast to be favorable SRH later in the evening. We retargeted for Hollis, OK to head the storm off, but about halfway there we aborted the intercept. This cell looked like it too had fizzled, and we thought we'd arrive to an orphan anvil. Tail-End-Charlie on the line to the north had confirmed tornadoes, and this cell looked to continue, so we turned around and headed back to Roll yet again, our second big circle of the day.

A new cell fired south and slightly ahead of the line, and rapidly took on supercellular characteristics. We went west out of Roll for the intercept, stopping after a few miles, just down the road from the cemetary where we had been waiting earlier. A dark grey gust front and base emerged from the murk to the west.

Developing Tornado
3 miles ESE of Crawford, OK
6:37 PM

A wall cloud formed in the center of the base, appeared to occlude and wrap up. Then a snake funnel appeared in the center of this. It condensed more than half way to the ground, but ground contact was difficult to confirm from our vantage point and was later confirmed by video and other chasers.

A filament of condensation filled in within the column, quite low to the ground. It's enough for me to count it as a tornado, as the vortex likely extends up from the surface.

The base started to fill in with rain as it congealed with the larger line of storms. Penny sized hail was pinging off the van and we were starting to lose our view as it approached, so we began running east and south to stay ahead of what we thought would be a developing derecho.

HP Supercell
5 miles SSE of Butler, OK
7:44 PM

We drove over the Foss Lake causeway, getting dramatic views of a gnarly gust front and inflow band to our west.

Approaching Gust Front
1 miles SSE of Foss, OK
7:55 PM

We knew we couldn't stay ahead of the line forever, and didn't want to try either, so we decided to let it overtake us at Foss on I-40. We stopped for gas, and then used the canopy above the pumps to ride out the storm.

Sunset Gust Front
1 miles S of Foss, OK
8:00 PM

A photogenic gust front in evening light went overhead followed by strong winds that were probably below severe thresholds. A family at the adjacent pumps that didn't speak English well was worried. Brindley tried to reassure them and gave directions before they continued on toward OKC.

Rainbow
1 miles S of Foss, OK
8:10 PM

Rainbows abounded as the line moved off of us and the sun returned.

Sunset Convection
5 miles E of Carter, OK
8:44 PM

We booked a room in Elk City for the night, calling to make sure they still had power first, and then we went south out of town to shoot some photogenic convection in the setting sunlight. Storms looked like they were dying all around though, probably being munched by the capped air. We shot timelapse until dusk and then headed back to Elk City.

8:45 PM

Conclusion

June 15 wound up being our best chase of the trip, with a likely weak tornado and nicely backlit funnel, dramatic structure, and photogenic sunset convection. We drove in a couple big circles and missed a few tornadoes to the north, but were able to pull it off in the end well enough. Starting the day off with a vegan food truck in Amarillo definitely got us going in the right direction too.

Lessons Learned

Follow the trends of the capping inversion’s strength and location to avoid chasing orphan anvils too far south.

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