June 4, 2005
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meteorologist & stormchaser J.R. Hehnly
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June 4, 2005 - South-central Oklahoma, Marlow Tornado

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Chase Route

I decided to stay in Oklahoma City for the duration of the day. I was scheduled to work all day, but had arranged to get off early to chase storms that would develop in Oklahoma. I left home at 4:15 headed southwest on I-44 but it soon became apparent that the storms were going to fire along and east of the interstate. I decided to take US 62 south through Newcastle and Blanchard to stay in front of the storms. We stopped a couple of times near Dibble to see which storm was going to become dominant and finally made a decision to get south toward the storm approaching the Marlow/Duncan area, this was about 5:30. By 6:00 we were hearing radio reports of a rotating wall cloud and funnel near Pumpkin Center, now 30 miles to our west. There was so much cloud debris and precipitation that we could not see any part of the base of the storm although we were now hearing of a large tornado on the ground. We finally got a good view of the storm just southwest of Marlow. The earlier tornado had dissipated, but the storm seemed to be reorganizing. It looked like every local in the county was out on Hwy 7 to see the storm. People were standing outside in the lightning yelling at their kids to stay in the car! We stayed just in front of the storm and traveled back east toward US 81. As we neared the highway the wall cloud wrapped back up and produced a funnel. From my vantage point I could not see any debris but scanner traffic was reporting power flashes at this time, indicating the tornado was in contact with the ground just west of Marlow. I was also hearing reports of large hail just to my west so I made the decision to go north through Marlow to get to Hwy 29 eastbound. I made it through just east of the approaching wall cloud and traveled east many miles in the powerful outflow blowing from the northwest. Fortunately the power lines were on the south side of the highway in case any of them snapped. After getting on the inflow side again we stopped for some more pictures. This time there were more chasers and media than locals, I think. We ended up at Interstate 35 near dark and decided to call it a day. On the way back I got some great lightning shots just south of Norman.

June 4, 2005 - South-central Oklahoma, Marlow Tornado 20050604_180936_thm.jpg
Storms to our west near intersection of Hwy 76 and Hwy 29, east of Bray

June 4, 2005 - South-central Oklahoma, Marlow Tornado 20050604_182444_thm.jpg June 4, 2005 - South-central Oklahoma, Marlow Tornado 20050604_183802_thm.jpg
Finally intercept storm 5 miles southwest of Marlow on Hwy 7

June 4, 2005 - South-central Oklahoma, Marlow Tornado 20050604_184228_thm.jpg June 4, 2005 - South-central Oklahoma, Marlow Tornado 20050604_184259_thm.jpg June 4, 2005 - South-central Oklahoma, Marlow Tornado 20050604_184331_thm.jpg
Near intersection of Hwy 7 and US 81, 4 miles south of Marlow
Looking northwest as wall cloud develops and moves toward Marlow

June 4, 2005 - South-central Oklahoma, Marlow Tornado 20050604_184343_thm.jpg June 4, 2005 - South-central Oklahoma, Marlow Tornado 20050604_184355_thm.jpg June 4, 2005 - South-central Oklahoma, Marlow Tornado 20050604_vid01_thm.jpg June 4, 2005 - South-central Oklahoma, Marlow Tornado 20050604_vid02_thm.jpg June 4, 2005 - South-central Oklahoma, Marlow Tornado 20050604_184408_thm.jpg
Funnel quickly develops to our northwest.

June 4, 2005 - South-central Oklahoma, Marlow Tornado 20050604_vid03_thm.jpg June 4, 2005 - South-central Oklahoma, Marlow Tornado 20050604_vid04_thm.jpg
Not wanting to get caught in the tennis ball sized hail reported west of Marlow I decided to take the 4 mile journey north through Marlow to get to eastbound Hwy 29. This put us in the path of the approaching wall cloud/funnel for a bit. It was a little hair raising trying to get east and in front of the system again!

June 4, 2005 - South-central Oklahoma, Marlow Tornado 20050604_191716_thm.jpg June 4, 2005 - South-central Oklahoma, Marlow Tornado 20050604_191915_thm.jpg
After traveling east on Hwy 29 we got some nice views of the storm, though it had become outflow dominant at this time. We stayed with it until we reached I-35 at darkness fell. At this point we called it a night and headed home.

June 4, 2005 - South-central Oklahoma, Marlow Tornado 20050604_205639_thm.jpg June 4, 2005 - South-central Oklahoma, Marlow Tornado 20050604_205758_thm.jpg June 4, 2005 - South-central Oklahoma, Marlow Tornado 20050604_210014_thm.jpg
June 4, 2005 - South-central Oklahoma, Marlow Tornado 20050604_210219_thm.jpg June 4, 2005 - South-central Oklahoma, Marlow Tornado 20050604_210311_thm.jpg June 4, 2005 - South-central Oklahoma, Marlow Tornado 20050604_210328_thm.jpg
9:00 at the Ladd Road exit on I-35
Storm to our west was giving an incredible lightning show. This was followed by some 50+ mph winds and pea to dime sized hail, bringing the interstate traffic to a standstill.



April 5, 2005 April 10, 2005 April 21, 2005 May 12, 2005 June 4, 2005 June 5, 2005 June 12, 2005 June 16, 2005 September 13, 2005


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