2006 Chase Logs

May 9th, 2006 - Southeast Oklahoma

Not only have my work schedule, classes, travel and expense cutbacks due to price of fuel left me out of many chases this Spring, but Mother Nature has refused to cooperate when I do have an opportunity to chase.

Finally !!!   Was able to catch a rain-wrapped tornado, or at least what appeared to be, near McAlester, OK.

Video clips are also available on the "videos" page.

Some of these photos are actually video captures from my Sony 340 video camera used as a "dash cam."

Today was a marginal chase day as far as tornadoes.  However, when one does have a chance to chase in May, one doesn't often pass it up.

I departed Norman at around 4:00pm and headed east on Highway 9 to Tecumseh, OK.  Storms began to build just East / Southeast of there, so after a few jogs in the road due to construction, I did manage to get on a healthy storm just east of Holdenville, OK.  The storm appeared to take on good structure and show signs of rotation, but poor road networks kept me from keeping up with the storm.

I finally found my way back to civilization (paved roads) and by then, a new cell was going up near McAlester, OK.  I took the Indian Nation Turnpike south to intercept this tornado-warned storm, but with so much rainfall, it was difficult to drive, let alone see anything. After fighting all the rain and hail, I managed to get to a high point where the rain let up and grabbed some video and photos of the tornado as it approached the McAlester area.  I believe the name of the town was Stringtown, or Springtown.  Will have to check the maps.   Inflow was incredible, as this photo illustrates.

As sunset approached, I opted for one more storm...  the "tail end Charlie" near the town of Atoka.  I finally observed a well-defined but rain-wrapped funnel cloud, but could not confirm if it was a tornado (touching the ground).

Finally, after being exhausted from driving through flooded roads, golf ball size hail and afternoon traffic, I headed back to Norman and caught a typical "chaser dinner"...   a quick stop burrito and a diet soda.  Yummy!

All in all, not a bad chase yet this year.   Storm structure was beautiful today.   Looks like a break is in store for the next few days.   Perhaps more exciting chases are in store in a week or two.

This is a sequence of video captures of what could be a tornado, or just an illusion of one.  The mystery remains.

With the terrain the way it is in eastern Oklahoma, it was difficult to determine and confirm if this funnel cloud was actually on the ground, but from studying the video over and over, it appears that there is a small debris cloud or dust at the base of this funnel.

"Possible" tornado, or at least a very defined funnel cloud looking east/northeast.  Still too hard to tell from a simple video capture.

Small funnel cloud continues?

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11/07/2006 - Orting, Washington

Unprecedented flooding has been occurring throughout the state of Washington, especially focusing on the Cascade Mountain Range and low-lying river valleys. Along with the very heavy rainfall, there have been some reports of small hail and lightning on the western-facing slopes of the Cascades. Many of the local Seattle-Tacoma TV stations have live, streaming video of this ongoing event, as more rain just continues on and on.

I managed to capture a few photos while going out on volunteer rescue efforts last night and earlier today.

Whole trees could be seen being swept down the Puyallup and Carbon Rivers, uprooted by the power of the raging flood waters!