Central Oklahoma Surprise 03/21/2012

After noticing that some low-topped storms were on the way to developing, and with minimum equipment on board (iPhone and DSLR) I (Gene) left Cordell shortly before 1:00 CDT heading out east on SR 152 to observe what might happen - expecting a bit of hail and maybe a funnel-cloud or two.  On the road a few miles east of Cordell, it became apparent visually and was confirmed by radar that a storm moving NW from the Carnegie-Ft. Cobb area was gaining strength so it was a go for Eakly and points south to intercept.  Noted a few strokes of lightning while on the way.  Upon reaching the SR 58 junction I headed south toward Alfalfa and set up to watch about a mile south of the little town.  As the storm strengthened further, a rather ragged wall-cloud began to come together.

View to the W from 1 mile S of Alfalfa at 1:29 CDT:

Video of Tornado Near Willow, OK 03/18/2012

Video of Tornado W of Mangum, OK near Reed 03/18/2012

Late Winter SE TX Panhandle/SW Oklahoma Chase 03/18/2012

The WXtreme Chase Team together with Jason Caster, Brendon Lindsey, Sarah Manners and Ashley Mills staged initially in Shamrock, TX for some potential dry-line action.  After spending some time in McLean hoping storms would fire to our W or SW we eventually decided to head toward some development to our S.  After watching a small, strongly rotating tower continue to struggle with the cap NW of Wellington we made the decision to intercept the storms already in progress moving NE from the Childress area.  Although the radar returns looked pretty messy at this point our view of the back-shear on the south-western most storm gave us the impression that this might be the storm of the day.  (Two storms further south in TX had gone tornado warned, but had yet to produce anything more than funnel clouds.)

View of the developing storm near Childress at 5:15 CDT: