3/10/2010 Chase

Steve and I headed out today around noon even though everything looked worse as the day went on. After heading up to Bartlesville, meeting up with Aaron, and waiting around for a while, we headed West to the storm by Perry and got some good shots/footage of a shelf cloud as it passed by. It was definitely cold core as we nearly froze our asses off when it passed by. The wind picked up and it dropped nearly 20 degrees down to 42 F. After it passed, we headed West again and saw the ground and houses covered with pea to dime size hail. On the way back to OKC Steve and I stopped just North of Stillwater as a smaller cell passed over. Some more cold wind and small hail later and we were on our way again. Overall not a bad day for a first outing.

Emerging from hibernation

Today likely will mark my first chase of the season. I'm kicking myself for not getting out on Monday, as I missed a great photogenic tornado close to home. Aside from recovering from the stomach flu, there was no good reason I shouldn't have been. We'll be heading for NE OK to SE KS, I pick Miami specifically, though the models keep moving the action to the East as time passes. I'll be keeping an eye on the low moving through tomorrow and although I'm not as excited as I was yesterday evening, I still feel there is a good chance of some descent storms later today. I just keep telling myself the models, especially the composite products, don't do as well with these early season cold systems. More in the morning.