The Insane Start to 2019 Tours!
Wow, Wow, Wow! Just five and a half hours into the first day of 2019 tours the magic happened!
A short drive from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma to Seymour, TX, a quick bite of lunch, a quick fill up of gas drive south of town 10 miles and it happened. We chased all 7 days of of this non stop action tour! Here we go! Say hello to Tour 2!
As stated above, just five and half hours from departing the arrival hotel in OKC we scored our first tornado of the 2019 tour season. This would begin the chaos and insanity that will always be remembered as a year for the books! Very very few down days and so many tornadoes and amazing supercells! Meat and potatoes folks, Meat. And. Potatoes. Such a fresh breath of air from the tornado drought stricken 2018 season!
The first tornado of Tour 2 and 2019 Tours, 5 1/2 hours into the first day of the season. The day featured a stalled outflow boundary left behind from overnight storms draped across Northwest Texas, high instability, ample moisture and low level shear for tornadoes if a storm could remain on the boundary. Which it did! Boom baby!
Though the first tornado was such an amazing sight, the day would get EVEN BETTER!
After the first tornado the storm moved towards us even closer and started to really rotate hard!
After a long and drawn out tease from the storm trying to produce another tornado it got it done!
We were so close to this tornado! Such an amazing day!
The initial touchdown of tornado number 2!
The full view, The tornado was well within a mile of our location moving away from us. Another tour company also enjoying the event! Everyone was cheering with delight as the tornado reached towards the ground! Like we were at a sporting event!
The tornadoes on day 1 occurred very early in the afternoon, the rest of the day featured some nice storms and decent structure but the tornadoes stole the show! Everyone saw their first tornadoes and their dreams came true! An amazing first day!
The "famous" metal longhorn off HWY 380 in Texas, with a tornado warned High precipitation supercell lurking in the background during the first day of 2019 tours.
The next 6 days featured amazing storms and supercells. Here are some of the highlight photos taken during this tour!
Beautiful supercell with crazy anvil to ground lightning strike! Change of underwear was needed after this photo! Taken near Sudan, TX May 4, 2019
Massive hailstone we picked up off the side of the road shortly after the storm cleared the highway.
A massive tornado producing supercell near Tulia, Texas. Unfortunately, all the tornadoes were wrapped in rain and it was much too dangerous to go looking for them!
An amazing supercell at sunset near the New Mexico/Texas Border!
The same supercell but looking back at the wall cloud and vault region.
Waiting for storms to develop in New Mexico we visit the KFDX WSR- 88D Doppler Radar and teach everyone about our amazing network of weather radars in the United States and how they operate!
An amazing adventure for everyone! Some of the guests are already booked for 2020 and bringing their friends! Tour 2 got to see it all! From photogenic tornadoes, massive hail, epic supercells, lightning, it doesn't get any better! And for all the moments in-between we had fun, ate great food and explored the areas around us! Tour 2 set the pace for the 2019 season! Thanks for reading!
