Day #11 (Chase day): May 30, 2013

Starting point: Shamrock, Texas

Ending point: Norman, Oklahoma

Mileage traveled: 417 (Trip Total: 5288)

We set out in the morning from Shamrock towards our target area of Oklahoma City. Arriving in Oklahoma City we decided to head south because of the greater cape values and upper-atmosphere support for storms. To get to our target area we drove through Moore seeing the damage of the tornado the hit the area a little over a week ago. Arriving in Purcell we headed west to intercept a thunderstorm. Approximately 18 miles outside Purcell we saw multiple areas of rotation in the storm. As we tracked the storm east towards the Purcell area a possible tornado was seen, but touchdown could not be confirmed. After the storm got east of Purcell it started to strengthen and possibly developed another tornado. Rotation was seen in the clouds, but the storm was being rain wrapped. After this storm began to weaken we decided to head back to Purcell to wait for another storm pass by so to the south so we could safely view it. Tracking resumed heading towards Pauls Valley, Oklahoma. We ended up south of Davis on the edge of the core however the rotation indicated by radar quickly weakened as we reached the storm. Moving back north to Oklahoma City more cells began to develop and quickly intensified. These storms also showed some rotation and we watched a couple of wall clouds develop. We stopped and watch the storm for approximately 10 minutes until the southern side of it began to intensify. We drove a few move miles south to get out of the path and continued to watch rotation in the storm. After the storm was east of Interstate 35 we headed towards our final destination of Norman, Oklahoma. Overall, this was an awesome day for chasing with a lot of action.

We apologize there are no pictures with this post. We probably have over 3000 pictures from the storms we saw today. However, Dr. John Frye and Ms. Alisa Hass (the ones leading the trip) have a surprise planned for the team on Friday morning. We are going to be up and on the road by 8 am; one of our earliest days of the trip so far. We also may be chasing storms tomorrow afternoon as we start heading back towards Whitewater for a Saturday arrival.

NOTE: This is Dr. Frye, yes I am keeping you followers in suspense too. I will make sure I post pictures tomorrow evening of the surprise we have in store. Those of you back home that helped set it up please no comments revealing it.