Denton, Texas--Steve Miller and I chased across Oklahoma on Friday, racing the
upper low responsible for Thursday's tornadoes, and found ourselves surrounded by small,
tropical-style miniature supercells which produced dozens of brief, weak tornadoes. We
missed them all. What we finally caught a line of storms south of Bristow near I-44 on the
eastern edge of the surface low, well behind the storms which generated tornado warnings
near McAlester and other communities. We started an early drive from Amarillo, but we were
late for the best storms east of the metro area. Here's some of what we saw near Bristow:
Saturday is a needed down day. I plan to wash my incredibly dirty vehicle and replace an
antennae decapitated on Thursday by power lines which hung low over the road after the
tornadoes ripped through the poles. I didn't intend to collide with these wires; we
spotted them at the last moment and were thankful they only damaged a single antenna. I
anticipate other down-day activities like laundry, writing more detailed chase reports,
and catching up with some local friends.