Truemors
I have only my cell phone to use for forecasting data, so today's chase is driven by less data and lower expectations. While nearing the town of Woodward, Oklahoma, I met up with two guys, Scott and Kent, from Salt Lake City. They asked me if they could tag along since they were new to chasing. We drove up to Liberal, Kansas to wait for storms but every storm we saw was unorganized. I believe the shear was slightly less than sufficient for supercells today.
As the day's sunlight drew to a close, we decided to drop further south to Borger, Texas for thunderstorms which had unobstructed access to moisture. As we signaled our turn, the "Dopplar On Wheels" (DOW) vehicle drove by. This was a breath of fresh excitement for this chaser, who was about ready to give up for the day. The DOW stopped to analyze cells, and we decided to push further south.
With a half hour of light remaining, we emerge from rain to see a high precipitation (or HP) supercell, a constant flicker of indigo-blue lightning in its depths. With no other storms to cut of its supply of warm, moist air, this storm is gorging itself. A tornado warning is active for this storm, but it cannot be seen as it could be surrounded by rain, which itself is surrendering to the setting sun. This storm chased the Tornado Intercept Vehicle as it tried to get tornado footage for its Discovery Channel show Storm Chasers.
Scott and Kent decide to head home, express their thanks for a fun time, and we part company. It is now nearly 10PM, and I now have a problem. This storm blocks my only efficient route home, so I'll have to travel down to Pampa and back through Dumas to get around this entire system. With a hotel hours away in Pratt, I won't be home until 4:30 in the morning.
There's something about driving very late at night that I've always loved. Watching stars and smelling the sweet, coor air; the occasional flicker of lightning in the distance. I used to listen to Art Bell this time of night, a sort of "X-Files" radio show which was fascinating and scary as Art explored stories of aliens, monsters, and mysterious bottomless holes in Russia.
At around four in the morning, I arrived at Greensburg. As I expected, the town was completely closed and the officer could not let me through. A local, he explained that there was a dirt road a mile to the south, but I may need 4WD to get through in places. "Four-wheeling at four in the morning," I said. The officer smiled, I thanked him, and took him up on his offer.
Dirt roads in the dark kept me awake as the truck splashed through streams of runoff. I slow the truck to examine each section of wash for deep holes obscured by mud, but thankfully each section is shallow. Greensburg got a lot of rain today, probably soaking everything indoors and out. Like most landmarks in town, the way back to the highway was marked with makeshift, spraypainted signs. I emerged at the eastern checkpoint, nodded to the officer, and returned to my hotel in Pratt.
I'll be sleeping in tomorrow, then returning to Greensburg to see how the city is being coordinated. As it turns out, what was once a park is now a town within a town.
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