18.05.2025: Wichita Falls, TX - Woodward, OK - Arnett, OK - Wichita Falls, TX (521 miles)
Rating:
We wanted to head towards Kansas today, as there is a moderate risk in place for up there.
During the 3 hours drive north, starting from Wichita Falls, we get concerned about a dense
low cloud field which covers large parts of the moderare risk area: Some cloud cover until mid-day is acceptable, as it prevents sometimes deep mixing of good surface dew points. But if these clouds persist after 2pm or even after 3pm, concerns about daytime surface heating appear. Not to mention the issue of taking photos of storm towers hidden by a closed low- or mid-level cloud layer. That's why we stop in Woodward and take a lunch break. At 4pm we spot an agitated cumulus field near Miami, TX at the dryline:  Immediately we drive towards these clouds into the town of Arnett and find this sky:  This is going to make it! Everything looks perfect, cloud tops, radar echos, sky. We are getting extatic, while this thing in front of us starts rotating:  No, not really! Is it true or are we in some kind of a wicked dream?   No, this is real this time, tornado touch-down!   This day alone is worth all the preparations, the flight, the drives:  Look how it rips through the vegetation:  For a moment, the funnel gets transparent and reveals the many little vortices it is made of:  Time-lapse video of this water vapor piece-of-art in the sky, we are speechless: There is a second tornado coming down closer to Arnett:   Oh, did we mention the hail that was falling two miles north of our location?    |