Daily Chase Account 01/05/2004

[Guest ChaserUK]

Well this is not exactly a chase account as I will be landing in Dallas at 21z this evening. That said, I might very well be landing into some residual storms/ rains left behind a cold front passing through the area as we speak. There was a squall line that passed through Dallas Fort Worth yesterday evening with large hail and 70mph winds. There was also a report of a cone tornado....the following report from Karen and Gene Rhoden...

CONE TORNADO SOUTHEAST OF PETROLIA, CLAY CO., TX.

Gene, myself and our guest Bill Murray witnessed the cone tornado in Clay County Tx. this afternoon. We were approaching the storm from the south - the Henryetta area - and drove north to within 2-3 miles of it when it began producing a large tornado. We were still driving towards the tornado as it was in progress. A very wide, large cone tornado - with condensation 90% of the way to the ground.

It began to lift as we arrived near it. Funnel remained for a long time within the RFD cascade - swirling away for a while. Beautiful white RFD cascade above us - boy there sure is no mistaking tornadic circulation and Rear Flank Downdraft features - truly amazing.

This was certainly no Sheriff/Spotternado. The real deal - and our first good tornadic storm of the season. Man I am glad to have seen this - I've had enough HP's this year to last me a lifetime.

My condolencies to Stu and SLT who missed this event today - hopefully you all saw some amazing storms anyways. On a brighter note - the forecast WILL be for a down period of about 1/2 weeks now after today - but after that I very much think we may enter into a traditional active late May - prime time.

That's all - images and full account will appear on www.stormskies.com as usual - although not for a few days.

Take care,

Karen Rhoden

Anyway, gotta dash.