Sunday, June 24, 2012

06/03/12 Oklahoma Convection

Atomic bomb anvil as convection develops across the
Oklahoma panhandle west of Buffalo, OK...

On June 03, I left my hometown around dawn with an initial target of northeast Kansas near Emporia, KS as it appeared that this day would feature some severe convection in that area during the evening with supercells likely. Unfortunately, lingering morning convection to the south really killed any chance at a decent chase in that area so I spent most of this day traveling to Oklahoma in hopes to salvage the chase day with some convection along the dry line that would develop across the panhandle of Texas and specifically the panhandle of Oklahoma. Unfortunately, I was too far behind to catch some of the severe convection that did develop in that area. I was able to catch a glimpse of it however from a distance of the "atomic bomb" anvil off to my southwest as I crossed the border into Oklahoma. After realizing I was a too late to catch up to this convection I decided to grab a hotel room in Greensburg, KS and take a stroll around the town since I've never visited this town during my travels that was ravaged by a massive tornado in May 2007. I quickly called it a night to get rested up for a "travel day" to Wall, SD since there was no formidable severe weather in the forecast over the next couple of days. Kind of the norm for 2012 many would say when it comes to tornadoes. I've added a few photos of this "bust" below:

Crossing the OK/KS border along U.S. 183...
 Oklahoma wheat field with distant convection
firing along the dry line!
 Greensburg, KS sign on the outskirts of town...

The next day I traveled to Wall, SD to visit the Badlands of South Dakota and Mount Rushmore. That post is still to come...