In addition, I will be making an attempt at chasing on Sunday somewhere along the I-70 corridor in Northern Kansas. Recent models show the cap eroding around 3p

Just wanted to drop a quick line and let everyone know that I will be attending the 2011 Douglas County Severe Weather Symposium in Lawrence this Saturday.

February 27th, 2011- Grainola, Oklahoma Supercell/ Tornadoes

Where to begin... this had looked like springs first glimmer of hope for sometime on the models. (A February chase day, could it be?!?) Myself, as well as Tyler Burg and Cody Ervin had been anxious to chase. The night before... the setup looked pretty bad and we all decided to give it one last chance, and get online to see what things would look like in the morning. After reviewing the 12z NAM, RUC, and HRRR the decision was made to go ahead and chase giving the instability was looking better than previously forecast and the short range models were consistently firing convection in SE KS near the Coffeyville area. We headed out and met Tyler in Nebraska City before continuing south on Highway 75. We stopped for some Taco Bell in Topeka for lunch and then again continued south on 75. During this time an MD was issued for most of SC and SE KS up towards the Kansas City area mentioning elevated storms north of the warmfront. We had been in dense fog most of the morning and werre anxious to break into clear skies. A severe storm had fired near Whichita and we decided to head West on US54 to see what it looked like. As we approached the storm (still in dense fog) spirits were pretty low do to the bad visibility and the unorganized nature of the storms on radar. After some rain and thunder we decided to head south out of Eureka towards the KS/OK border and get into the better air. An area of enhanced cu was forming down near the Ponca City area and we figured this would be our storm. Eventually these too fizzled as convection was firing out west on the dryline surge in W OK and SW KS. We headed west on US 160. One storm near Medicine Lodge was trying, while a storm further south in Oklahoma also looked to be intensifying. We reached Wellington and gassed up, as the storm in Kansas was dying. This made the choice pretty easy. Get to the tail end charlie in Oklahoma. We headed south on US 81, eventually getting back on I-35 south of the OK border. We got off on SR-11 (sentimental memories from May 10th's High Risk last year) and headed west to Deer Creek, OK. The structure when we popped out of the rain near Deer Creek let us know we were in business and the chase was on!

We continued west through the town of Deer Creek, eventually finding a dirt road to stop on SW of town and watch the storm evolve. I missed that constant rumble of thunder inside of a growing updraft so much. As the storm approached the structure continued to improve!

...and improve further!

As the RFD punched around the developing wall cloud, some choatic but not very organized rotation started to occur. I though the wall cloud with the circular 'vault' looked pretty cool in the early spring lighting.

Heres another image... shortly after this we decided to head east towards Blackwell to stay ahead of this supercell.

In addition, heres a timelapse video sequence that shows you how rapidly this thing changed before our eyes. Great structure for February and we were certainly glad we had decided to make the trip down. (Video is Cody Irvin's)

We headed east through Blackwell, and eventually north and east further on some mud/ gravel roads. Struggling to keep up with the still tornado warned storm as it moved into a worse road network. Just east of Grainola, OK. The RFD punched in rather hard, and a brief funnel was observed in the intense motion at the leading edge of the RFD cut. TORNADO! IN February no less! haha.

It was certainly one of the more impressive RFD notches I've seen! And the inflow band wrapping into the storm ahead of it, combined with the amazing pre-sunset lighting only made it more incredible!

We struggled to keep up with the storm on the winding dirt roads of the Kaw Indian Reservation as the light lowered. The storm produced a another funnel (and tornado) as we neared the KS/OK border region. I dont have a photo as I was driving at the time. Review Tyler Burg's account for images of that second tornado. Here is one last image of the updraft and RFD cut in the lowering light as we fell well behind the storm.

We drove through some hail fog (video below) and ended the day with some dinner in Chanute, Kansas before the lonely ride home.

All in all, a great chase day for February! Hope you enjoy the images and video. We are monitoring this weekend for the outside shot at some chasing!