Chase Account May 21-24, 2016 - DDC, KS Tornadoes 5-24-16

With one of the more active weeks in chasing for the Southern Plains for the week of May 21-26 (Saturday to Thursday) and a dryline that would be moving very little, I had decided on chasing Sunday(22nd) through Tuesday (24th) to chase. Monday and Tuesdays are the easiest for me to chase as those are days we have help out the house so I am not leaving the wife with the kids in the evening. Sunday was just to local not to chase. I passed on the other days due to distance and lower probabilities. I also had to lock in my days the week before so it kinda made it easy for me to just focus on those 3 and get what I could out of them. I was able to kick of the festivities for the week with an incredible view over Cadillac Ranch west of Amarillo on the 21st after the kids went to bed.

Sunday (22nd) was an alright chase with a tornado in the rain near Clarendon, TX, but definitely could have been better. I was dealing with a tire that I had got patched a few days before that leaked the entire chase. Every Time I stopped I got out in the rain and hook a pump to it to keep at safe levels. I made it through the chase without issue. First thing Monday morning I went and had it patched again, but it remained a concern for me. My new tires were not coming in till Tuesday afternoon, though I have yet to put them on a week later at this point. I just wanted the patch to get me through the next 2 days of chasing. That entire day felt like getting kicked in the kneecap.

Monday left a foul taste in my mouth as I ended up in the middle target area with area where storm went to die. Caught a fantastic storm at sunset with lightning, which was the only thing that made the drive home acceptable.

The burn from Monday (mainly the Woodward storm) left me focused on going wherever I needed for Tuesday's setup. The area with backed surface flow from around Garden City, KS down to Woodward, OK was the obvious area to target to me. Hodo's for that entire area looked pretty and just about everything but the 200mb was in the "you are going to get a tornado" category IMO. I initially set out Buffalo, OK, like hundreds others, from Amarillo headed up US 60 at about noon that day. After passing Canadian, TX, I began to favor KS a bit more. I had considered KS before I left and the satellite loop finally convinced me. I drove north through Lipscomb and then backtracked to Beaver and made my way to Meade, KS. Analyzing satellite loop, the same type of bulge that had kicked off the Scott City storm with a tornado was forming right over Meade, KS (SW of Dodge City).


I found a gas station a got the tank full for the impending chase. While at the gas station, me and the other chasers their were in awe of the tower going up over town. Some of the most impressive upward motion I had seen in quite some time. It was very clear this was "the" storm. While it had other towers north of it and some a ways SW, there was nothing south or southeast. I quickly got out east of town as I expected the storm to move east or northeast. I stopped by a pair of European guys in their 20's and chatted for a bit. The storm exhibited clear northward motion but I kept expecting it to turn more east at any time, but I blasted up to just past Fowler, KS and took Fowler Rd (30 Rd) north, which is 6 miles west of 283.

I tried to get my stream and dome cam functioning as a rain free base expanded and an RFD cut tried to poke in with a developing wall cloud. The stream just wouldn't connect. The dome cam I had thought overheated again so I kept checking it but was getting no response. I eventually gave up on getting either to work. Figured out after the chase why the dome cam never worked. The battery had become just dislodged enough not to turn on, but not where I could tell. Would have been great to have that video but was better I didn't have to deal with it during the chase on what would be soon muddy roads.

I pushed north 4 miles following the storm that was really beginning to spin. Saw my first other chasers at County Line Rd. Just a few though. We all pushed along right up behind a now pretty intense little wall cloud with occasion funnels, which may have touched down. I was sure this storm was going to turn east now, so I took a right turn on 'I-kid-you-not' Whirlwind Rd. That road forced me to go 3 miles east before turning north again. Putting me just 3 miles west of 283, yet I was still right up behind the action.

The first fully condensed tornado formed shortly after turning back north on 108 Rd. This first tornado was on the ground just a few minutes when another very nearby circulation put down a small tornado. This circulation was pulled around the main tornado and was eventually sucked into the larger tornado. The merger pretty much killed both tornadoes, the the main circulation quickly recovered turning into a large stovepipe that became very laminar and grey from my view from the south. It created some fantastic views as it matured. Just wished I had not ventured so far east at this point.

As I tracked north, this tornado continued to move further west as it went north till it moved back into the rain and roped. Before it finished, the new meso had dropped a few needles just north of me. This new meso soon wrapped up into another laminar cone and had another meso or 2 forming very close to it. The storm was incredible. It had a new wall cloud going long before the previous meso's tornado had even matured. The new meso, especially the one forming just east of 2nd primary tornado seemed to a have a few areas of rotation, even a anticyclonic one on the edge of it's RFD region. This could have been bolstered by the close proximity to the mature tornado just to it's west. When the 2ns primary tornado began to rope out, its circulation was sucked around the south side of the new meso area that had been dropping needle tornadoes. The needles had morphed into a stout cone under a now large wall cloud. This new tornado would be the one to track just west of Dodge City and eventually rope out NW of town.

I ran into a number of foreigners while sitting at the corner 108 Rd and Saddle Rd. It was quite a interesting experience considering on where I was in the US. We all had one goal out there and we were all beyond giddy at that point. Most chasers I had seen had been quite courteous giving how nasty the roads had got. After the 2nd main tornado faded, I took Saddle Rd east to 283, but going up 283 was never my idea as I figured the cops would shut it down. I took advantage of a paved road and blasted east to go around Dodge to the east side. I was able to get way out in front of the crowds.

I made it all the way up to 3 miles north of DDC to Garnett Rd and 283. I blasted back west from there and was treated to another fantastic view of 2 tornadoes on the ground again (for at least the 3rd time that day) there north of DDC. I made a push west to the next paved road, not realizing the storm had finally turned NE. Storms were getting pretty cluttered so the life of this storm was definitely in danger. as the tornado moved north, I pushed further west to 110 Rd, which is paved, to follow it north. I only made it 5 miles north following the tornado before running into the damage at the landfill, which a propane tank was spewing gas from the middle of the road. A number of chasers decided to drive passed the tank and continue. I decided my chase was down but continued to watch the tornado move off to the NE. Before completely giving up I dropped a few miles back south and watched another pair of tornadoes. I was soon back on the road south only to be blocked by a number of people doing 7 point turns on the road trying to avoid the incoming hail from a left split. I knew there was nowhere to run so I punched on through storm. I ended up with 4 new dents and a nice star on my already cracked window. 

Nothing on radar was super appealing so I began to track SW and quickly began to find damage. I waited for a few minutes for the storm to reorganize, but it never happened. I kinda got stuck where I pulled up the road out west of the damage, but was real lucky and was able to free myself. All that chasing then getting stuck after the chase would have made sense. Expecting lots of Damage just west of Dodge, I went all the way west to Cimarron and south from there. Power was out all the way out there too. As I drove south the sky really began to light up so I started looking for a windmill. I was able to find one in the midst of a wind farm. Was a complete of a chase as I could have ever have hoped for. Only a few snafu's but nothing too bad. I started my trek back to Amarillo, which I got home just at 12:30 am.

Here is my video of highlight clips from the DDC storm:

Here is my timelapsed video of the entire chase by DDC:

Clips from the May 22nd chase and Clarendon, TX tornado:

Chase route while on the storm:

Roof Rack LED spot lights (2005 Hyundai Tucson)

To add to the LED bar I put in my bumper of my 2005 Tucson, I added a couple 18w LED spot lights to my custom fairing I built onto my roof rack. There has been no noticeable increased wind noise or glare on the window since they are placed far enough back. They really add good higher light and should be really fun when inside intense thunderstorms.

El Nino, Tornadoes, and the 2016 chase season...

First off I will say most correlations with how the storm season will go and what El Nino is doing are very weak. This blog is just to point out some of the more interesting correlations with this El Nino and ones of the past. Also my focus is the Southern Plains, West of I-35 and South of I-70/I-80. This is for the Plains chasers.

One of my favorite correlations, that always catches my eye, is the coming out of El Nino and getting to neutral by mid year. Certain years really stick out there - 1995, 2007, 2010. All were huge years for the Southern Plains, especially the the TX Panhandle. 3 years that any chaser would take in a heartbeat. Currently it looks like our El Nino that is ongoing should follow this path and will be neutral by mid year. If anything will speak well about our upcoming season, that should get you excited. 

(all images are clickable and will enlarge)

Annual tornado map for 1995:

Annual tornado map for 2007:

Annual tornado map for 2010:

It is about more than just the number of tornadoes, but also the quality of chaseable tornadoes. That includes if they are photogenic and number of tornadoes days. All of those years were great in those aspects. 1995 may have been all in June, but it was a hell of a June. 2007 was done on May 5, but just about every week between end of Feb till then was very active. 2010 waited till late April, but offered numerous tornado days all over the Plains.

There are some other variables at play though, that should be mentioned. 1995, 2007, and 2010 never reached the strength that the 2015-2016 El Nino has. They were all moderate to weak El Ninos. It can definitely be a factor to consider. Other years that have reached the strong category include the springs of '73, '83, and '98. Below are the annual plots for those years.

Annual tornado map for 1973:























Annual tornado map for 1983:

Annual tornado map for 1998:

Those 3 years are not near as promising, especially 1998 which is down right ugly! It just shows how fickle it can be. There are also other patterns that play into or have even bigger effects than El Nino, but overall should spell good news for the Southern Plains. The drought is gone and should not be returning anytime soon with El Nino around. That alone should make for a decent year, but let's hope for a 95, 07, 10 and not a 73, 83, or 98. I will add that 2003 can be grouped in with the 95, 07, & 10 group. All I remember about 2003 is that it was the last High Risk for the TX Panhandle (May 15) and that OKC had a rough year.

This is a discussion that happens every year at this time. SDS makes you look for anything to hold on to. I guess we will see in July how it turned out. Most of my projects are done and I am ready for the new year.

LED Lightbar on 2005 Hyundai Tucson

Decided after seeing how useful a lightbar like this can be for storm chasing on a friend's truck. I broke down and bought a cheap one of ebay. This one actually - http://tiny.cc/lightbarebay. I went with the curved to get a better spread of light and to match the curve of the bumper better. The quality of that lightbar actually ended up much better quality than I expected. I still have 2 smaller spotlight led bars to add more coverage in the ditches to help light up deer and other animals. The main use of these lights will be for at dusk and after dark on dirt roads, which is where you end up storm chasing a lot. Nearly hit a number of animals at that time of day and this could help with that. Those roads can be difficult to see even without the animals running around.

I measured the gap in the lower air inlet on my 2005 Hyundai Tucson to be about 25", so I decided to settle on a 22" light bar due to the mounts. Turn out the one I bought was just small enough to fit. You will want to take your headlights out for the install. You can run the wiring right through the grill. I bought this wiring kit just to make the install a bit faster - http://tiny.cc/wiringkitebay. There are actually good option to run the wires through some rubber seals out in the wheel well and in through the firewall if you want a clean install. If you have the none 4x4 model like me, you should have plenty of spaces to put the switch in, like pictured below. That switch is for amber lights currently but I will be changing out that switch and adding others for the light bar and other ambers flashers.

Will be building my new camera dome and will be posting updates on the build soon.