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storm gallery: May 15, 2009
May 15, 2009: It seemed clear that there would be storms today, and that they would likely develop rapidly into a squall line once they fired. I thought about a couple of possible targets - the Texas panhandle, where storms could be more isolated on the dryline, and the Kansas-Oklahoma border near Alva, which was not an unreasonable drive (always a consideration) and also had enough upper-level support and huge convective potential to make me think something interesting might happen there. Eventually, there was a tornado reported in the panhandle, but I had cast my luck with northern Oklahoma. I've added a few pictures from May 16 - my drive home - at the end of this account.
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Click on the thumbnails to see a larger image, or view these photos as a gallery. From the gallery pages, click the "up" arrow to return to this index.
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| I went into Kansas at Hardtner, north of Alva, then went back just below the border to keep an eye on the sky. |
Small cumulus clouds were developing on the front, oriented southwest to northeast. |
With the exception of one Texas storm, the others started in east-central Kansas and zippered southwest. I went west of Medicine Lodge to have a look. |
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| There were a couple of reports of funnel clouds farther north. I was hoping my part of the line would have more isolated development. |
"My" cells took a while to get going, but this was a pretty sight. |
Another view as the growing cluster neared... |
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| Beams of light and pretty convection. |
I wasn't seeing much in the way of isolated storms on radar, and one promising one was too far north, so I dropped south to pursue a strong line segment. |
Quarter-size hail or bigger was reported in the storms. |
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| Nice mammatus were forming in the anvil. |
The line became more laminar as I headed east on Oklahoma Route 11. |
Here's a broader view of the layered gust front. |
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| Wheat and storm. It wasn't easy to find parking spaces to take pictures, as at least some of the Vortex 2 research caravan was also on this road. |
Another angle on the dramatic gust front. |
Sweeping in. |
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| Letting the line begin to overtake me, I saw the "whale's mouth." |
Looking to the north. |
A short time exposure blurs the clouds and reveals a quick lightning bolt in the rain. I let the line overtake me at I-35, then drove through it again to start my drive east and home. |
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| May 16: On my way home, I saw a tiny funnel out of a storm in Mississippi. I've enhanced the contrast. It wasn't tornadic - just one of those things. |
A beautiful storm May 16, as seen from Mobile, Alabama, welcomed me back to the southeast. |
As shot through my windshield May 16, a rainbow. I returned to Florida for what I hope will be a summer of good lightning storms. |
2009 reports and photos
go to the main gallery page | go to storm chasers
go to reports from 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1997
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