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gallery: May 23, 2011

May 23, 2011: I'll let the photos speak for themselves on this day, but with several friends, we targeted northwest Oklahoma and were rewarded with a tornado, a beautiful low-precipitation supercell, hail, flooding, and lightning. Share

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.

052311-01 052311-02 052311-03
23 MAY 2011 - Our group of chasers gets ready to depart Norman, Oklahoma. Photo by Chris Kridler, chriskridler.com 23 MAY 2011 - Mark Robinson has a skeptical air as I shoot him filming his "Storm Hunters" team. Photo by Chris Kridler, chriskridler.com 23 MAY 2011 - The turkey towers looked promising as we headed to our northwest Oklahoma target. Photo by Chris Kridler, chriskridler.com
052311-04 052311-05 052311-06
23 MAY 2011 - The clouds had a lot of vertical development. Photo by Chris Kridler, chriskridler.com 23 MAY 2011 - Pretty flowers, pretty clouds. Photo by Chris Kridler, chriskridler.com 23 MAY 2011 - We hung out in Fairview, looking at the developing clouds. Photo by Chris Kridler, chriskridler.com
052311-07 052311-08 052311-09
23 MAY 2011 - Brad and Dave don't know which way to go. Photo by Chris Kridler, chriskridler.com 23 MAY 2011 - We chose a storm to pursue. It had a high base. Photo by Chris Kridler, chriskridler.com 23 MAY 2011 - The storm formed an elongated funnel cloud. Photo by Chris Kridler, chriskridler.com
052311-10 052311-11 052311-12
23 MAY 2011 - The tornado touched down northwest of Okeene with a swirl of dust. I called 911 to report it. Photo by Chris Kridler, chriskridler.com 23 MAY 2011 - The swirl of dust/tornado persisted for a couple of minutes. Photo by Chris Kridler, chriskridler.com 23 MAY 2011 - The storm that produced the tornado. Photo by Chris Kridler, chriskridler.com
052311-13 052311-14 052311-16
23 MAY 2011 - We stopped between the weak storm that produced the tornado and this new convection to the south. Photo by Chris Kridler, chriskridler.com 23 MAY 2011 - We pondered which storm to go after. It was good to be out of the rain, which had dogged the chase. Photo by Chris Kridler, chriskridler.com 23 MAY 2011 - Our old storm lacked vigor. Photo by Chris Kridler, chriskridler.com
052311-17 052311-18 052311-19
23 MAY 2011 - Dark rain, golden wheat. Photo by Chris Kridler, chriskridler.com 23 MAY 2011 - I filmed the growing storm to the south. Photo by Chris Kridler, chriskridler.com 23 MAY 2011 - We dashed south toward the beautiful storm. Photo by Chris Kridler, chriskridler.com
052311-20 052311-21 052311-22
23 MAY 2011 - Another view. Photo by Chris Kridler, chriskridler.com 23 MAY 2011 - The storm, south of Watonga, Oklahoma, had hard convection and signs of rotation. Photo by Chris Kridler, chriskridler.com 23 MAY 2011 - What a gorgeous storm! Photo by Chris Kridler, chriskridler.com
052311-23 052311-24 052311-25
23 MAY 2011 - That storm also lost strength, but I decided to intercept one of several others in Kingfisher. Photo by Chris Kridler, chriskridler.com 23 MAY 2011 - Ominous, isn't it? Though it had rotation on radar, it appeared dominated by cold outflow winds. Photo by Chris Kridler, chriskridler.com 23 MAY 2011 - Another view of the encroaching storm in Kingfisher. Photo by Chris Kridler, chriskridler.com
052311-26 052311-28 052311-29
23 MAY 2011 - Here it comes! I hoped to intercept the big hail and found a good shelter under a bank drive-through. Photo by Chris Kridler, chriskridler.com 23 MAY 2011 - Another shot of the storm coming into Kingfisher. Photo by Chris Kridler, chriskridler.com 23 MAY 2011 - The biggest hail I saw was a few half-dollars. Photo by Chris Kridler, chriskridler.com
052311-30 052311-31 052311-32
23 MAY 2011 - There was lots of flooding suddenly in Kingfisher. Photo by Chris Kridler, chriskridler.com 23 MAY 2011 - Nice mammatus showed up after the first wave of hail went through. Photo by Chris Kridler, chriskridler.com 23 MAY 2011 - I met up with friends, and we saw some great anvil crawlers as we traveled north. Photo by Chris Kridler, chriskridler.com
052311-33 052311-34 052311-35
23 MAY 2011 - More lightning. Photo by Chris Kridler, chriskridler.com 23 MAY 2011 - The lightning lit up the rain. Photo by Chris Kridler, chriskridler.com 23 MAY 2011 - The lightning danced. Photo by Chris Kridler, chriskridler.com
052311-36 052311-37 052311-38
23 MAY 2011 - A streak of car lights with lightning. Photo by Chris Kridler, chriskridler.com 23 MAY 2011 - I loved this spectacular crawler. Photo by Chris Kridler, chriskridler.com 23 MAY 2011 - I pushed up the ASA on the camera to get this gloomy shot of mammatus. Photo by Chris Kridler, chriskridler.com

2011 reports and photos

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