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FEBRUARY 5
Central / Eastern Arkansas
SPC Risk: HIGH
909 miles traveled
0 tornadoes observed
Left Norman in anticipation of a very early season high risk from SPC; found myself at the Mississippi River in far southeast Arkansas. That storm crossed the river before I could get a good visual on it. I did not witness the deadly tornado in Atkins, AR on this day, but I was stuck on I-40 in some of the aftermath. It was a tragic and grisly scene. It appeared that motorists drove directly into a large rain-wrapped tornado. A very sad thing to see. Click here to see a video of this tornado, courtesy of ViolentPlains.com. Click here to see video of a small tornado in Southaven, Mississippi, taken by a resident there.
MARCH 2
Southwest Oklahoma
SPC Risk: SLIGHT
287 miles traveled
0 tornadoes observed
SPC had a slight risk out for much of Oklahoma; observed several weak wall clouds that weren’t even close to tornadogenesis. The one tornado in the state on this day was in Blaine County, 100 miles to our north. Did, however, observe 42 roadkilled skunks on this day. That ought to count for something.
MARCH 30
Western Oklahoma
SPC Risk: SLIGHT
262 miles traveled
0 tornadoes observed
Took a chance and went after western Oklahoma on this Sunday afternoon, wary of the convection not getting its act together until after dark. Had several severe thunderstorms go up near Cordell in Washita County. Nothing made it to tornado levels, but did photograph some interesting storm structure.
APRIL 3
Southern Oklahoma
SPC Risk: MODERATE
248 miles traveled
0 tornadoes observed
Left Norman in anticipation of SPC’s moderate risk for the southern part of the state; Took I-44 to OK-81 south to Waurika, then east to I-35 in Love County. Lots of chaser convergence at a gas station, watching the oncoming storm that had been dropping huge hail just over the Red River in Texas. The storm had several areas of circulation, but fizzled out as it headed east.
APRIL 23
Northern Texas
SPC Risk: MODERATE
522 miles traveled
0 tornadoes observed
Headed to northwest Texas, in SPC’s moderate risk area. Storms were ongoing all over Oklahoma and Texas in the morning, which probably had some lessening effect on the main show convection in the afternoon. I headed south through Seymour and Throckmorton, to Breckenridge. There was a NASTY storm on radar just to the west, in Stephens County, with multiple low-level locks and a perennial tornado warning. Unfortunately, the several tornadoes this monster dropped were too far to my south and too bloody rain-wrapped to get visuals. I did, however, catch a nice lightning strike. Encountered small hail in Jacksboro during a gas stop on the trek home.
MAY 1
Central Oklahoma
SPC Risk: SLIGHT
68 miles traveled
0 tornadoes observed
After leaving work at 6 pm, Allison Guthrie and I rushed up I-35 to an exploding supercell heading towards Moore, OK. Video clip below is the rapid low-level rotation that nearly yielded a tornado near Sunnylane & I-240. Note the locals in Moore rushing for cover. Can’t blame them, this would have been the fourth tornado to hit them in only ten years. The storm system eventually produced a small tornado in northeast Oklahoma City, and several large, damaging tornadoes north of Tulsa.
MAY 6
Northwest Texas
SPC Risk: SLIGHT
509 miles traveled
1(?) tornado observed (see below)
Headed towards Childress, Paducah, and eventually Matador, Texas, in anticipation of the highest tornado risk in the slight risk area. The storms went HP and linear way in advance of when I thought they would, and once that happened, I turned around and headed for home. I also almost hit a roadrunner with my car. Interesting. In Childress County, I spotted a strange lowering way off to the west around 6:30 pm, in an area that according to Mobile Threat Net had a low-level lock with 80 mph shear. Could this have possibly been a tornado? It was probably just low-hanging scud, but with it being in a rotating area, it just might be viable. Make your own judgment from the pics below. The one on the right is the same pic, with contrast greatly adjusted.
 
MAY 10
Northeast Oklahoma
SPC Risk: MODERATE
353 miles traveled
1 tornado observed
After deciding not to venture into the forests and horrible road network of the state of Arkansas, where a lot of today’s action was, I made a play on Tornado Watch #293 from SPC, which covered much of northeast Oklahoma. Storms fired in the I-69 corridor north of I-40, and I intercepted the “tail-end Charlie” storm in Rogers County, between I-44 and Pryor. After pulling under a gas station overhang due to hail, I got back on OK-20 and rotation, along with a funnel cloud, appeared directly overhead. The funnel dissipated quickly, and I did not get it on film, but the video link below shows rapid rotation and debris in the air, indicative of a small tornado touchdown. A tornado warning was promptly issued for Rogers County after I called it into NWS Tulsa.
MAY 24
Northern Oklahoma
SPC Risk: SLIGHT
261 miles traveled
6 tornadoes observed
An incredible tornado day in northern Oklahoma. SPC had issued a tornado watch very early in the day, just after noon. Jenni Walker and I raced up I-35 to Perry, where a large supercell was ongoing just to the west. We headed west to Covington and back down to the Logan County line on OK-74. Besides KFOR’s satellite truck, we were the first on the scene, but huge chaser convergence wasn’t far behind. This storm dropped numerous rain-wrapped tornadoes in southern Garfield County, including a mile-wide multiple vortex monster that can be seen in the video. This video was also aired on KOCO-TV in Oklahoma City. The contrast is regrettably low because of all the rain. I have provided several still photos here with the contrast adjusted slightly to make the tornadoes more visible.
 
 
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