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2 0 0 7     S E V E R E  W E A T H E R  E V E N T S      5/5/07  5/06/07

May 5th High Risk Day and 6th Moderate Risk Day, 2007 

14.1 MB VIDEO CLIP

I left Tulsa, Ok later than anticipated on Saturday morning...XM antenna wasn't working properly so I had to place another one on...that old antenna has been through a lot though.  My target area was Buffalo, OK.  I made it to Buffalo just as the first wave was approaching and I let that storm pass it was very elongated, but indeed produced tornadoes up in Kansas. 

I waited on the (at the time) tail end Charlie and it was a beautiful storm so I decided to stay with that storm.

 It seemed like Deja-Vu following the same path that we had taken for the April 23rd event and saw those multitudes of tornadoes.  I stopped near Protection, Kansas and watch as the storm passed and the wall cloud approached it looked impressive at first and then looked a bit ragged as it approached my position,

then as it zipped off to the North and East it really started to tighten up, looked like a cinnamon roll.

I had to take 183 North (road options were very limited) and the storm updraft was leaving me to the Northeast .  As I headed North on 183, I could see fires in the distance and as I got closer the fires were from piles being burnt' at the homesteads and farms that had taken a direct hit from the night time Greensburg Tornado.  It is never easy to see this. 

Looking east I had a good visual underneath the rain free base as I paralleled the storm, suddenly, I saw a funnel developing and coming to the ground.  I turned east on the only county road just south of Greensburg and the only way to get to the storm and again to Hwy 64.  The funnel cloud was elongated dipping to the ground briefly and then ascending then dipping down again... The storm was just pulling it along.  

I will be posting a video clip this coming weekend of the tornado above.

That county roadwas a mess,  and nerve racking.  I lost sight of the tornado just before turning back to the North for Hwy 64.  And when I made it to Hwy 64 I flew east and caught a brief glimpse of a huge stove pipe on the ground to my far NorthEast and then it disappeared into rain.  By this time it was around 7:50PM and I had a long drive back to Woodward for the night.

I headed back West toward Greensburg and I was really apprehensive about trying to get through Greensburg at that late in the day, however my only other option was that horrible muddy county road to the South of Greensburg.  When I approached the road block they told me that a curfew was in place and my only option was the county road...luckily for me the highway patrol officer looked at his watch and I had two minutes until 8:00 and he said go on through.  I was the only car on the main road through Greensburg (Hwy 64) and I really wasn't prepared for what I saw.  I know everyone has seen the aerial shots on the news channels, but oh my God, it is incomprehensible to see the devastation first hand.  I drove slowly through town and took these shots.  I never stopped...the buildings...gone...the trees...the trees were destroyed...an eerie calm and sadness loomed...this was a demilitarize zone and everything was screaming help.

Please remember that 100% of all profits made on purchases from www.CafePress,com/tornadoes go directly to communities affected by severe weather and purchasing Weather Alert Radios.

Sean and Katie McMullen chased around Gread Bend this day and here is a video clip  9 MB Video Clip 5/5/07

May 6, 2007

I left Woodward about 11:00 am heading south on 34, storms had popped to the Southwest of Woodward and given the data all looked good for storm chasing this day.  The first storm that I intercepted was west of Vici, OK on 60

 it didn't look to impressive (later this storm went on to be tornado warned over Woodward, OK) so I went on to the next storm which was coming up west of Leedy, OK off of 47.

The next storm intercepted was west of Hammon, OK on 33

Then it just started getting really disorganized.  So I headed down to Elk City, the photos below are what I saw just to the North of Elk City off of 34.  I could tell the cell was collapsing and that it was turning into a major gust front...so I decided to return to Woodward for the night where I already had a room waiting.

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 XOXO to MRJMOCDJM&M