May 1st Central Oklahoma Tornado Warned Supercell
This was a nice backyard chase. Around 4 PM a cirrus deck drifted
overhead and killed off the developing CU so I figured this day was a
bust. I drove home without setting up my truck since it looked like
nothing was going to happen. On the way home I noticed the cirrus deck
was moving out and some more CU were developing. Thinking that the
dryline was retreating I gave it little thought (found out later that
the dryline actually stalled just in time for development). 30 Minutes
after I got home I went out to get the mail and noticed towers going up
pretty much above my house. I watched for a while and when I noticed
the towers start to explode at an insane rate I finally got the gear in
the truck and headed off, of course with little gas but I had enough to
get me to the action area.
I pulled off of I-240 in Midwest City and was right under the meso. It
had some crazy motion and good rotation from time to time. I really
thought it was going to drop a tube on Midwest City but thank goodness
that it didn't. I followed it up Anderson Road and stopped to watch
some more intense rotation right around the area that damage would be
reported later. I fell behind on the storm when I finally had to stop
for gas in Jones. When I got back on the road I ended up catching up a
bit, good enough to see the base. It started to look elevated and not
as good so I called off the chase due to the way it looked and it was
getting dark. That point I found myself all the way in Wellston and
realized I had over an hour drive back home, the funny thing about that
was when I was watching the storm I really had no idea I ended up that
far.