Beautiful Supercell near Boone, OK

Chase Recap:

This day started late, as storms fired in the mid to late afternoon. I got off work around 4 pm and headed down the turnpike to Chickasha and west hoping to intercept a cell near Hobart. The hail falling from it was huge, with reports of 3.5″ hail.

Supercell near Boone

I went west on US62 to 62/281 and headed south. I took the long way around this storm as I didn’t want to crater my windshield. I thought I could beat the hail ahead of the storm, so I took one of the dirt roads across to highway 58. I ran into some small pieces of hail falling, but stayed away from the big stuff.

I shot south on SH-58 with hail falling, and then west on SH-19 to SH-115 where I found a spot to park and watch the storm.

Watching storm near Saddle Mountain

I sat near the 115/19 intersection, watching the storm cycle. After a few minutes, the storm started developing a wall cloud. There seemed to even be a dust whirl under it, persistent for a few minutes.

The storm eventually dropped a funnel and looked like it might get it’s act together before ultimately falling apart.

Storm loses to the cap

I decided to head down SH-115 and witnessed some amazing structure on this storm before heading down to Meers. I took the east paved road out of Meers to US 62. I stopped for gas at US-62, and the storm pretty much evaporated while I was filling up my truck.

Links

• National Weather Service write up from May 23rd, 2011 record hail event