Background:

I decided that I would take my time and head into Norman and check out the SPC offices and take some pictures and generally take my time. Around noon, I started to head south of Norman and the winds suddenly began to hit the truck. Whoa!. I pulled over at the next stop and downloaded some data. The whole system changed. The winds were backing and instability was rocketing. This was tornado weather again. After making a few phone calls, getting some more video tape (allready gone through about 12 tapes) and having a quick bite, I had my plan. Patrick Kerrin did some great analysis for me and said that I really had 2 choices, Ardmore or where I was.

Chase:

I parked for another hour when a moderate risk went out with a 15% chance of tornadoes. I noticed 2 cells going up. One to my west and one to the southwest.

I had to make a choice. Take Ardmore (first pic above) which was Patrick's call or take the western cell (last 2 pics above). I decided to take the western cell as it was less of a drive and I could set up better.

I headed north to about 15 miles south of Noble when a tornado warning was issued for the cell I was tracking. I got into position and began to film a beautiful wall cloud forming. This storm was slightly disorganized but began to get it's act together.

The wall cloud began to really crank up and tracked about 2 miles to my north when it began to produce whispy funnels. These were actually touching the ground, thus tornado, but only one video I have seen really shows this. There was no real condensation to the ground but there was evidence of contact. In the second and third picture below you can see the whispy funnel snaking to the ground.

Although not the nicest looking tornado, it was a surprise for the day and blew my whole day off theory. A few minutes later, I noticed another wall cloud forming. This was turning into a cyclical supercell. Perfect. A ragged funnel formed on the second wall cloud and it really looked like it touched down but no evidence was found.

As this wall cloud really began to get cranked up, I noticed that it was coming very close to me. As I began to film and take stills, I noticed this wall cloud really get cranked to the point I thought I was too close.

NEW

By the 3rd picture a small funnel extended from the rotating wall cloud and I saw it aimed toward my location. As if was only 1/4 mile away, this was too close and I took off south for safety. This wall cloud was one of the prettiest I have ever seen. I got into a good postion about 4 mins later and filmed the backside of the wall cloud. Very turbulent skies to say the least.

I continued to track the second wall cloud and it produced a few more funnels but was looking to weaken slightly.

I decided to leave this storm and head south to the Ardmore cell. As I got into the region, I heard reports of a nice truck tornado had formed. Damn, should have listened to Patrick but I was happy with my results. I came upon some cars that had hidden under the overpass in a scramble but I could not see any visible damage around.

I followed this storms for a while and met up with some storm chasing tours and got hit by golf ball hail but dark was coming and the light show escorted me into McAlester. After looking at the models in the hotel room and seeing that a period of sunny skies and no severe weather, I decided to call it a vacation and head home. I had really good results with 4 tornadoes and some perfect storms. My forecasting really increased this year and the results showed it.

Special thanks to Ron Gravelle, Patrick Kerrin, George Kourounis for nowcasting help. A really big thanks to David and Gayla Drummond and Chris Bradley for hooking up during the week to chase together. Made for a great vacation. Cannot wait till 2002.

All Photos and information unless otherwise noted are copyrighted 2001 by Dave Patrick.  Any use other than authorized by me is against the law.  If you wish to contact me regarding use of these photos, please e-mail me. Images unaltered digitally (except where stated)