Date: May 18, 2019
Time: 5:00 - 9:45 PM CDT
Place: Alva, Carmen, Helena, OK
Distance: 406 mi (314 positioning, 65 chasing, 27 to hotel)
Camera: T3i, GoPros5 & 7, Karma, Note5, Note9
Warnings: SVR
Rating: S3

Pre-Chase

10:20 AM - 2:45 PM CDT: After a fulfilling chase yesterday, it wouldn't be surprising if today weren't quite as interesting. Typically, storms would be too far east, or too messy, or the parameters would no longer overlap. That's mostly the case today, but there's some hint of potential down in SW Kansas or NW Oklahoma. The main feature holding my interest is a dryline bulge coming out of the Texas panhandle. Any storms that can develop there and move east may have just enough shear and moisture to put on an interesting show.

With that calibrated but hopeful forecast in mind, we started the drive south out of Kearney. Along the way, we passed many of our favorite Kansas chasing towns: Stockton, Hays, Rozel, Kinsley, and by 2:45 we arrived in Greensburg for gas. Locals were rightfully nervous seeing a bunch of chasers in the parking lot, but we had an eye further south -- not tempted by the early initiation ongoing to our west in Colorado.

2:45 - 5:10 PM CDT: At 4:17 heading east on Hwy 64 in Oklahoma, I couldn't resist a few minutes timelapsing next to a wonderful abandoned farmhouse west of Tegarden, OK. After the last 6 hours of driving, the quiet hum of insects and cows underneath agitated Cu created the perfect, cozy atmosphere. Even chatted with a local farmer for a couple minutes before pushing further east. Towers continued to grow taller and wider, and the first radar blips appeared as we paused at the 64/14 intersection west of Alva. The air felt primed and all signs pointed to perfect placement for initiation. And sure enough, at 5:10 a cell just to our southwest went SVR. Chase mode activated!

The Chase

5:10 - 6:15 PM CDT: First task was to get further downstream, both to give the storm time to mature and to get through Alva (never can tell how long it might take to navigate even a small town's stop signs and lights). We posted up about 4 miles north of town directly in the cell's path. And while it was nice to get the cameras and drone set up, for now the storm's appearance was gray and mushy. A left split separated and flew north, its updraft column a tight little barber pole. But otherwise, the view was underwhelming.

As forward flank precip encroached, we drifted onto the dirt grid between Alva and Capron. My hopes were still high, as we had a great navigation grid to work with and perfect position on the cell. But also, the storm was just looking more and more meh -- light rain and a few rumbles of thunder seemingly its biggest threats. Then, as I stood out in the gentle patters contemplating next steps, a low rumble grew on the horizon behind me. At first, I was perplexed as the rumble increased, but then suddenly a BNSF train appeared from a random thicket and tore past at 60 MPH. We hadn't noticed a rail line sliced diagonally through the dirt grid just down the road.

6:15 - 7:45 PM CDT: We needed a new target, and as luck would have it, the next cell down the dryline was exploding and just gone SVR. With a nice, casual storm motion of 20 MPH, we opted to cut south along the grid and hug pretty tight to the edge of the precip. A nice meso and rain free base lay to our SW, and the forward flank was quickly filling in and becoming opaque. Maybe this storm had the magic?

Near Carmen, we pulled off the road and started timelapsing -- perfect position just south of the forward flank core which was now an angry, thick turquoise. I expected the storm to continue on an ENE trajectory, but instead we got a rather unusual transition to outflow dominant structure. The western base seemed to shrivel a bit, whereas the forward flank blew up into an enormous shelf just to our north. It wasn't the usual RFD-gust-out situation I'm used to, rather the forward flank took over and became the dominant feature. We jogged a bit south of Carmen and then let the shelf slowly push over our location -- swallowed by the "whale's mouth."

7:45 - 9:45 PM CDT: It's never a good thing when chasers turn away from the storm to look at your passing car. Something really weird was happening with the Crosstrek's undercarriage, making the most bizarre, scratchy, train-chugging noise. And it was drawing attention.

Did you just drive past me and your car sounds odd?

lol

I was just about to ask if you heard us

As the whale's mouth fanned out to the southeast and we pursued, our noisy vehicle attracted lots of annoyed looks, including the attention of friend and fellow chaser Bill Giles (see previous FB texts). We met up on the grid near Helena and soaked in the incredible backlit structure of the dying storm: blues, yellows, and greens in peak performance as the whale's mouth grinned it's final form.

As "blue hour" deepened, we all found a nice pump jack pullout and caught closing timelapse for the evening. To our east, vestigial south-end rotation spun up little nubbin funnels in the departing whale's mouth. Then, back west, another round of storms fired and gave us a final lightning show to end the chase. As this last round of storms closed in, Bill had a momentary jolt of "where are my keys" adrenalin, but he finally found them just as the gust front hit our location. Time for a race to Enid for the night.

Post-Chase

9:45 PM - 1:00 AM CDT: Arriving in Enid just a few minutes ahead of the onrushing squall, we checked in and quickly dumped our equipment in the room. A nice display of sideways rain and sheet lightning soon pounded the hotel, but only lasted about 10 minutes before the line cruised on east. Bill asked if we were interested in grabbing dinner together, and so we all carpooled in the pleasant post-storm atmosphere to BWW for some beer and wings. It was a delight talking over past, present, and future chase plans, and after Toni finally finished her bone-in wings, we treked back to the hotel hopeful for future chase days to come.

Recap, Filmmaking Notes, and Lessons Learned