March 4th, 2004

SPC Risk: HIGH - VERIFICATION
Chasers: Dean, Brian McKibben
Area Covered: I35 OKC to Gainsville, TX
Miles Logged: 239.0
Largest Hail: none
Tornadoes: none


Synopsis/Chase:
Strong upper low parked over Northern Mexico combined with strong mid/upper jet energy helped rapidly deepen a surface low over West Texas. Warm front extended from the surface low ENEward from near Altus to OKC to Tulsa area and continued to lift slowly NWward as the strong surface low raced NE at over 60mph! 62-68F dewpoints defined the warm sector. Very unusal for this early in the season, but lack of insolation limited CAPE to the 1000 J/KG range. Strong 0-1km shear was present as SE surface winds carried gulf moisture landward, but 850-500mb winds were largly unidirectional between 18Z-0Z, thus severe storms assumed squall line position rather quickly and stayed that way for the duration. A nice setup for squall line embedded circulations, but not for discrete tornadic supercells as advertised by the SPC. I think the HIGH RISK was a bit overdone, but not totally unrealistic given the strong wind fields.

We travelled south on I35 to Gainsville, TX, but turned back to the north as we realized the squall line was knocking on our western doorstep! Exited Airport Rd near Pauls Valley and got good pictures of the leading edge of 60+mph winds visible by intense and ominous rain shafts!! I estimated the ground speed of this beast at about 60mph or more! Got a couple more pictures at peak onslaught intensity and that's about it. Lasted all but 5 minutes with winds peaking around 60-70 mph in my estimation.





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