APRIL 20, 2004 Drumright, OK Storms Chase 

Not a whole lot to this chase.  Set out around noon toward a target area of Tulsa, Oklahoma.  I took I-40 west to Hwy 75 North through Okmulgee.  From hwy 75 took hwy 117 west to Sapulpa, OK.  I was beginning to think about going further north and try and get on the storms that had been ongoing through Osage county but decided on some new storms that were developing to the southwest.  I took route 66 southwest through Kellyville.  Then took a right on hwy 48 north.  And then took a left onto hwy 33 west toward Drumright/Cushing.  After some trees and hills i was finally able to spot the base of the storm.  It wasnt that impressive at first sight but did seem to be intensifying. I continued west through Drumright just a couple miles when i found a nice vantage point on a hill.  The storm was definately not all that yet but it had potential...i decided to stick with it.   After a while i headed back east through Drumright...  It was at this point the craziness and fun of storm chasing kicked in.  There was a storm that looked good to my southwest and then there was the storm i had been on just to my east but looking like it was losing intensity.  After driving about 10 miles toward the southwest storm i turned back around and headed for the eastern storm that was now bearing down on Tulsa.  Back past Drumright at around 5:45pm i was looking due east after coming up to a hill and suddenly i was looking at a meso-cyclone.  The storm was definately intensifying as just been there for a few minutes i could see a definate increase in rotation from barely percievable to looking like it was about to drop a tornado any second.  There were several funnels all around the edge of the meso-cyclone spinning around as though on a merry-go-round.  The cloud motion was incredible!  At one point there was a neat little spinning eddy that was rising on the side of the updraft...probably a failed attempt a tornadogenesis.  The awesome cloud motion continued for 10 minutes then slowly subsided.  I headed further east.

Drumright, OK Wall Cloud Video

Along the way into Tulsa there were several tornado warning and i myself saw several lowerings and possible funnel clouds.  When i got into Tulsa it went crazy.  TV reports had a tornado going through the city but due to the hilly nature of the area i was unable to see anything definative.  Since it was dark by this point i decided to head home as this was solo chase and solo nighttime chasing isnt very safe. On the way southeast from Tulsa i was able to see some really neat storm structure illuminated by lightning.  You could see the meso-cyclone still looking pretty well maintained all the way through Muskogee....too bad it was at dark!