PERSONAL WEB PAGE OF DAVID J. WILLIAMS

 

STORM CHASE!

 

 

FOR SEVERAL YEARS, I HAVE BEEN INVOLVED IN STORMCHASING.  PART BUSINESS BUT MOSTLY HOBBY, I HAVE CHASED FOR KTUL-TV CHANNEL 8 AND KJRH-TV CHANNEL 2 IN TULSA, AND NOW CHASE FOR KOKI FOX23 IN TULSA.  MOST OF MY CHASING HAS BEEN WITH JON SLATER AND TAFT PRICE, BOTH TULSA TELEVISION METEOROLOGISTS.  MY VIDEO HAS BEEN SHOWN ON KTUL-TV, KJRH-TV, KOKI FOX23, KSHB-TV IN KANSAS CITY, ABC GOOD MORNING AMERICA, CNN, AND THE WEATHER CHANNEL.  ALL PHOTOS ON THIS PAGE ARE ©2002 DAVID J. WILLIAMS. 

 

 

Along with Meteorologist Taft Price, I witnessed a series of tornadoes touch down near and in Carrier, OK. Taft and I planned this particular chase for several days, and it did not disappoint. Unfortunately, though, the small Garfield County town suffered significant damage in Oklahoma's first major tornado episode of 1999.

 

 

APRIL 21, 1999 – CARRIER, OKLAHOMA (TAFT PRICE/DAVID WILLIAMS)

 

From simply one of my best chases, this is one of several tornadoes in Alfalfa and Grant Cos., Oklahoma, in May 1998. I figured that this was the time to get reasonably close to a tornado if I was going to do so, and this is looking northwest approximately 500 yards. At the time of this photo, the tornado was located near Byron, Oklahoma.

 

MAY 28, 1998BYRON, OKLAHOMA (DAVID WILLIAMS/THOMAS WILLIAMS)

 

Meteorologist Taft Price and I planned an attack early Sunday morning and departed for Medicine Lodge around noon. The dryline appeared on queue during the late afternoon just east of Medicine Lodge, and an eruption of storms followed. Taft and I witnessed several small tornadoes in Kingman County, including rare side by side twisters.

 

MAY 15, 1999KINGMAN COUNTY, KANSAS (TAFT PRICE/DAVID WILLIAMS)

 

 

On June 1, 1999 a cold front/trough pushed into an explosive eastern Oklahoma atmosphere. I proceeded eastward along the boundary after a tornado watch was issued mid-afternoon. I captured the below image of a tornado in Muskogee, OK as it ripped through the OG&E Power Plant.

 

 

JUNE 1, 1999MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA (DAVIDWILLIAMS)

 

 

Another tornado from May 28, 1998 – this one was near Wakita, Oklahoma, and was about 300 yards distance at the time of this photo.

 

 

MAY 28, 1998WAKITA, OKLAHOMA (DAVID WILLIAMS/THOMAS WILLIAMS)

 

This tornado occurred as part of a tornado outbreak over eastern Oklahoma on Memorial Day, 1997. At the time of the photograph, the tornado was located south of SH 116 between Sapulpa and Glenpool, Oklahoma. The tornado was rated F2, and was the first tornado ever imaged by Doppler on Wheels. Shortly afterwards, my camcorder ceased to operate.

 

MAY 26, 1997SAPULPA, OKLAHOMA (JON SLATER/DAVID WILLIAMS)

 

Was it a tornado or wasn't it? Well, I think it was, but this funnel near Wheeler, Texas was never officially logged as a tornado. The dust below the condensed feature was rising into the updraft, and it appears to have been a weak tornado.

 

MAY 1997 – WHEELER, TEXAS (JON SLATER/DAVID WILLIAMS)

 

This large funnel was never officially logged as a tornado, but nonetheless was well-defined and condensed almost to ground level. Another interesting feature of the image is the rainbow to the left of the funnel. This photograph was taken east of Morris, Oklahoma.

 

MAY 8, 1998MORRIS, OKLAHOMA (JON SLATER/DAVID WILLIAMS)

 

April 19, 2000 was a very complex day meteorologically. A deep surface low was located in northern Missouri with a warm front extending ESE toward the Mississippi. A convergence boundary extended off the low through Missouri and eastern Oklahoma. A second convergence boundary was located through central Oklahoma, with a dryline through south central Kansas and northwest Oklahoma. Finally, a cold front was draped across western Kansas. The question was whether or not the capping inversion would break and how far south that would occur. By late afternoon, a weak surface low had developed over south central Kansas, increasing convergence where the convergence boundary and the dryline intersected. The convergence, combined with upper level energy, broke the cap. Meteorologist Taft Price and I intercepted the developing storm as it exploded along the Oklahoma-Kansas border. Within minutes, a wall cloud had developed. By 7:45 we had a large funnel SW of Havana, KS. At 7:55pm, concurrently with a tornado warning by the NWS in Wichita, the tornado emerged just south of Havana. The initial tornado lasted about 5 minutes, with a dust bowl feature occurring much of that time. The sun was setting and we were out of road options as the storm raced northeast at 45mph. After dark, this same storm tore through Parsons, KS, causing millions of dollars in damage.

 

APRIL 19, 2000HAVANA, KANSAS (TAFT PRICE/DAVID WILLIAMS)

 

A photo from my early days of chasing, this was a bolt of lightning striking a shrub in Union County, New Mexico. Why? There are no trees. This chase covered 1100 miles and 21 hours. I arrived back home in eastern Oklahoma at 6:30am, and can honestly say that it was quite a long trip for lightning.

 

JUNE, 1997 – UNION COUNTY, NEW MEXICO (JON SLATER/DAVID WILLIAMS)

 

Another photo from Kingman County, Kansas – the 1st tornado of the day on May 16, 1999.

 

 

MAY 16, 1999KINGMAN COUNTY, KANSAS (TAFT PRICE/DAVID WILLIAMS)

 

Wall cloud from a  Meade, Kansas LP supercell. One reason that this storm (located in a low moisture environment) was so visually awesome was because it went up within the center of a deep surface low pressure system. This storm supposedly produced the only tornado in the Oklahoma Panhandle in 1997, but we only noted small funnels never approaching ground level.

 

JUNE 15, 1997MEADE, KANSAS (TAFT PRICE/DAVID WILLIAMS)

 

A frontal passage on May 11, combined with strong surface heating and high dew points, spawned severe thunderstorms during the late afternoon hours in eastern Oklahoma. While no tornadoes were logged by the National Weather Service, a rotating supercell near Chouteau produced funnels that may have briefly reached the ground.

 

MAY 11, 1999 – LOCUST GROVE, OKLAHOMA (DAVID WILLIAMS)

 

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© DAVID J. WILLIAMS 2002.  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.