Date: April 14, 2012
Time: Late afternoon
Place: Kingman, Pretty Prairie, Wichita, KS
Camera: T3i, Lumix
Warnings: TOR
Rating: S5

I have never been so nervous about storms in my whole life. This morning the Storm Prediction Center upgraded north-central Oklahoma and all of central Kansas to a high-risk. And we're going to be right in the middle of it on our 2nd ever storm chase. We started out around noon and headed north out of OKC on I-35 with an initial plan to stay in northen Oklahoma along the interstate (and cell coverage). Ominous southerly winds were incredibly strong and gusty. A low cloud ceiling added to my nervousness, since it meant we couldn't really see storms coming.

We ate lunch in Perry, OK and checked the radar/models. We had already missed storms in Kansas that started just after noon. Now new cells were blowing up in northwestern Oklahoma and heading into Kansas. We made the call to switch plans and target just west of Wichita along highway 54. Driving up through Wichita was incredibly nerve-racking. I was constantly worried that new cells were exploding right around us and I couldn't see them. But Toni kept a good eye on the radar and said we should target Kingman, KS. It appeared a supercell would track right through there in the next hour or so.

As we drove west out of Wichita, we got our first real look at the day's storms. Another supercell was crossing the highway about 30 miles ahead of is. We had a really neat view of the sun shining on the rear side of the main updraft and anvil. This storm was definitely tornado-warned, but we opted to wait near Kingman for the next storm in the line to arrive. This turned out to be a good call, as the northern cell began to fall apart while our storm got better and better organized.

We set up just outside of Kingman on an overpass embankment that gave an incredible view from horizon to horizon. As a bonus, we were ready and in position with about 45 minutes to spare. There was plenty of time for pictures, radar checks, and time lapse. Knowing we were well-prepared, had great visibility, and an easy escape route made all my nervousness dissappear. Watching the rain and thunder roll in was really relaxing actually. But soon the main event started. As the storm moved to the northeast, the rain bands eventually moved to our north and we had a clear view of an approaching wall cloud!

I'd never before had such a perfect and unobstructed view into a supercell's structure before. I was actually surprised by how broad and elongated the main updraft and associated wall cloud was. As it approached, there was never a clear focal point of circulation. Instead, multiple places along the updraft would briefly tighten, spin-up, and the dissipate. It was absolutely fascinating. Finally, after about 10 minutes of watching the supercell pass by, the RFD really started to wrap around from the back side. It was incredible to see the clear slot punch in and tighten the rotation. And then, sure enough, a funnel reached down and made contact with the ground about 3 miles away from us. It. Was. Incredible. And incredibly short -- lasting only about 15 seconds.

At first, we were the only people watching the storm from our location; but as it neared, chaser traffic picked up incredibly -- to the point that traffic jams started to form. As the storm started moving away from us to the north, we decided to head opposite the chaser traffic back east along 54, and then north along 14/17 towards Hutchinson. Luckily this ended up being a great move, and we were able to hop ahead of a lot of the traffic that got jammed along back roads near Pretty Prarie. Despite this, however, it didn't take long to realize that the storm was simply moving too fast to keep up with. As darkness neared, we called off the chase and had supper in Newton, KS.

It was at this point that the only real mistake of the day happened. We were pretty tired. We wanted to get to a hotel room. Wichita was the obvious choice. Sure there was an approaching supercell that already had a history of damaging tornadoes. But what were the odds that in a big city like Wichita, our hotel would get hit? So we booked our room. We drove south. We ignored the lightning and tornado warning updates posted on the interstate signs (awesome feature, btw). Toni said we had time. So we blasted to the east side of town and arrived at our hotel. Our rickedy-looking little four-room hotel.... From here I'm going to let the video below tell the story...