Hello from Woodward, Oklahoma!

A lot of driving again today, but, what else is new when you're storm chasing. We started the morning off in Higginsville, Missouri then met up with Scott and Dave in Emporia, Kansas. From there we started making our way southwest into southwest Kansas. The day had marginal risks but was worth the chase.

We met up with storms in the Guymon, Oklahoma area (in the Oklahoma Panhandle) where we stayed and watched them for a bit. They were all very high based which was the worry for today. A storm down near Stinnett, Texas was starting to look more promising so we started south toward Spearman, Texas to meet up with the storm. We got there and again, it looked very high based so we hung around for a while and watched the beautiful lightning display for a while.

Supercell at sunset south of Spearman, Texas on May 15, 2017.

The sun began to set and the storm was dying so we started east to get our hotel for the night. As we did so, Brad noticed a lowering on the storm so we pulled over to watch. We were quite far by this point but sure enough, it developed a very distinct funnel. We were too far away to tell if it touched down but chasers who were closer only reported the funnel. We can thank the low level jet kicking in for that brief funnel cloud.

We're now spending the night in Woodward, Oklahoma getting ready for a decent chase day tomorrow. The Storm Prediction Center has already issued an ENHANCED RISK for tomorrow and everything is looking favourable for severe storms.

SPC Day 2 categorical outlook is a Slight Risk (valid for May 16, 2017).

We don't anticipate having to travel too far from this area. Any issues for storms tomorrow just include some capping concerns but other than that, the setup looks to be in our favour. Being close to the potential target area tomorrow will allow for us to catch up on some sleep.