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| Written by Dick McGowan | |||
| Monday, 07 November 2011 23:28 | |||
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TVN deployed from Norman where we headed to our first storm of the day just south of Duke, OK. It had a rapidly rotating wall cloud, but quickly dissipated and another supercell blew up just west of Frederick, OK, where we headed east to intercept it. As we approached the town of Tipton, OK, a rock-solid, back-sheared updraft was just above us, but the hail core temporarily shrouded our view. As we drove through Tipton, OK very large hail was observed up to the size of tennis balls and the rain began to clear as we moved east. Just as we passed through Tipton, rain cleared-- and out of nowhere, a large stovepipe tornado emerged out of the rain, 1/4 of a mile away, directly to our south! We then crept up to it and tried to judge its movement, thinking it would move more northeast than north at first. After quickly analyzing, however, it was clear the track was going to be further west, and move due north, so we blasted back west and intercepted the strong tornado, on the outer edge, (seen in the video) as it crossed the highway immediately east of Tipton.
We then turned back around where we turned north on a muddy road and noticed our friend Andy Gabrielson close to the tornado. We observed him backing up and noticed a sudden jerk in his vehicle, and his vehicle subsequently rolled (as you'll see in the video). Our demeanors went from extreme excitement, to pure panic as we just watched our good friend roll his vehicle (which was not from the tornado). TVN flew up to him as fast as we could and, thankfully, Andy only had a couple of cuts on him and we were able to pull him out, and continuing the chase.
After that, we observed a large tornado to our east, as we raced to catch back up to the storm, where we witnessed at least 4 more tornadoes, one within a 1/4 mile. Reed said this was one of the best intercepts to date! Tornadoes in November, in Oklahoma, are pretty rare-- the last in 2005--and photogenic tornadoes in November are almost unheard of! This will definitely go down as one of my favorite chase days ever and my first intercept driving into a strong/violent tornado in Dominator 2! Stay tuned for more pictures and video as this is only just the beginning!
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