Western Oklahoma Tornadic Supercells 5/23/2024 — Bryce Kintigh

Published on May 23, 2024

A Slight Risk area was painted over the Central and Southern Plains on May 23, 2024. The best dynamics appeared to be across Western and Southwest Oklahoma, along with a secondary area in Western Nebraska. We chose the Western Oklahoma regime area for the target.

Initial target area was Sayre, Oklahoma. The first storm of the day went up near Childress, Texas with northeast motion taking it into Southwest Oklahoma. A second storm developed near Wellington, Texas with northeast motion taking it to Erick, Oklahoma. As the storm to the southwest of Erick was the closer storm, we chose that one initially.

Severe storm near Erick, Oklahoma. #okwx

Quarter sized hail covering the road 3 south of Erick, OK. #okwx 05:05 PM @NWSNorman — Quarter sized hail covering the road 3 south of Erick, OK. Several hailstones larger than golfballs were also noted shortly after.

Hail3 miles south of Erick, Oklahoma compared to a golfball. @NWSNorman 05:18 PM #okwx — Hail 3 miles south of Erick, Oklahoma compared to a golfball. @NWSNorman 05:18 PM #okwx

Mesocyclone of the severe storm producing 2″ hail just south of Erick, Oklahoma. #okwx

Decent structure on the storm near Erick, Oklahoma.. #okwx @NWSNorman — Decent structure on the storm near Erick, Oklahoma. The storm exhibited moments of strong rotation, prompting a Tornado Warning.

Timelapse of the Tornado-Warned storm near Erick, Oklahoma before it dissipated.

Looking right up the mesocyclone of the Sayre, Oklahoma supercell. #okwx @NWSNorman

Tornado warned storm over Sayre, Oklahoma. Live stream at live.highwaysandhailstones.com #okwx @NWSNorman

The Erick/Sayre storm rapidly dissipated, so we dropped south to the prolific tornado producing storm near Duke, Oklahoma.

Tornado warned supercell viewed from south of Altus, Oklahoma. #okwx

The storm itself was a beast. A high-precipitation supercell producing a long-track, at times stationary tornado. By the time we approached the storm, the tornadic portion was very wrapped in rain and it was impossible to see anything.

It was a fun chase – just should have swapped storms about 45 minutes before we did – we had hope in the first supercell but all hope was dashed.

Onward and upward to the next storm!

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