April 30th, 2004

SPC Risk: MODERATE (upgraded on day 1) - VERIFICATION
Chasers: Dean S, Ailie Gallant, Jose Galvez, Brian McKibben
Area Covered: I44 to I70 near TX border / I70 east to Waurika, then S to Ryan, OK
Miles Logged: 298.0
Largest Hail: quarter
Tornadoes: ziltcho!


Synopsis/Chase:
Left around noonish towards Lawton as 2500-3500 CAPE bubbled in areas near Wichita Falls, TX. Warm front extended NE from diffuse surface low SW of Wichita Falls through central OK. Warm sector dewpoints into the mid/upper 60s with decent sfc to 500mb wind fields in place. Generally 20-40 kts. Good stuff!

Supercells fired near the triple point NE, E and SE of Wichita Falls. We intercepted the cell ENE of Wichita Falls near Ryan, OK where it became outflow dominant, though earlier produced a nice cone tornado. Day late and a dollar short as the saying goes. Oh well! May just started... bring on the chases!

wall/shelf cloud just east of Ryan

wall cloud transitioning to shelf cloud

time series 2

our prize hailstone

shelf rolls over

storm becomes outflow dominant

closer look at shelf cloud

back to 2004 chase page