I knew storms would be near Oklahoma City (OKC) when I left Norman earlier in the day. I made only a brief trip to the southeast to the town of Chickasha. My target area was the general area around Chickasha.

Bunches of smaller cumulus were blocking my view of the development about 15 miles to my north, and I didn’t have a satellite view that would match to counties to tell where the initial development was occuring.  I finally realized I was slightly off and actually needed to be closer to Minco and Union City. As I was headed north to correct, the new storm to my north was tornado warned.

These top four images show my progress eastward down the famous Route 66 through Yukon and Bethany on the northeast side of metro OKC.

In all of these pictures you can see a wallcloud and small funnels hanging down as I was just a mile or so due west of these lowerings. I was listening to Ch 9 blow by blow coverage with spotters reporting in on the radio as I went east.

Pretty much game over for me as the RFD (rear flank downdraft) wraps around the inflow area and cuts off my view.  This storm was dropping up to 1’ foot deep hail, and in some places the individual size was up to baseballs. Many vehicles were damaged. I heard on the radio that some of the hail drifts were so deep that even SUV’s had to be towed out! This storm never produced a tornado even though it was close for awhile. Another storm formed near Chickasha as I left. I believe it also had a TVS at times. I believe the consensus was that there just wasn’t enough low levels winds to make a tornado.  Lucky for residents of Oklahoma City...this time.

More of the joys of chasing in the city. I believe here I have diverted north on I44. It would have been foolhardy to try and punch through the potentially tornadic wraparound over a city in the middle of rush hour.  At the time there was every reason to believe that this storm was just about to drop a large tornado. Had I chosen to do this there is a very good chance I would have gotten stuck in a traffic jam just as the tornado was bearing down on me. In this picture I am stopped in rush hour traffic. This is one reason you don’t chase in the city.  Not only is it dangerous, but it is extremely frustrating!

I44 is finally moving again! Here I continue my diversion. You can still see the hail drifts on the side of the road although with the picture contrast it is hard to see.

© All images on this site Copyright  Bill Tabor unless otherwise noted