Sunday 14 Oct 2007 storm chase: SW Oklahoma

Kenny, Shawn, Craig, and I (and James, Tiffany, and Leo the dog, in a follow car) went southwest on Sunday in pursuit of storms. OUN was pretty interested in the setup -- a short-wave trough coming out of the rockies, 60-65F surface moisture, dryline/cold front advancing east from panhandles, and air temps 80-85F. Surface CAPE of ~ 2kj/kg, 0-3 km shear of 150-200 j/kg, and deep-layer shear of 40-50 kts, all colocated in sw Oklahoma, resulting in a mid-afternoon local-office upgrade of the categorical risk to MDT. We departed OUN about 1815 UTC, drove to our target area around Altus (with a visit from big brother, the OK Highway Patrol), and watched several storms initiate from the Arby's parking lot in Altus. After it appeared storms were organizing, we edged west, then north, of town to watch them better. As expected, initiation was discrete, but the storms quickly (in no more than 20-30 mins, less than we had hoped) formed a squall line. Here are two pics from our day.