Our fourth and final tornado of the day was small but impactful, injuring a truck driver as it crossed Interstate 40 near McLoud, a minute or less before this photo. We had seen a monstrous EF5 event between Piedmont and El Reno from an earlier supercell, along with two of its satellite tornadoes, before attempting in futility to get to the infamous Goldsby supercell as it was producing its own violent (EF4) vortex south of Norman. Stymied by an I-35 traffic jam, instead we zigzagged northeastward to this relative opening I had remembered in the crosstimbers, and waited for the supercell—whatever was left after a collision with a large left-mover from Texas—to arrive here. In the narrow window after the supercell recovered from that storm merger, and before it ran out of favorable warm-sector air, this happened. As with our other tornadic supercell on this day, it was very deep and dark, making photography challenging.
2 SSW Dale OK (24 May 11) Looking NW
35.3654, -97.0545
RADARMcLoud I-40 Crosser
Our fourth and final tornado of the day was small but impactful, injuring a truck driver as it crossed Interstate 40 near McLoud, a minute or less before this photo. We had seen a monstrous EF5 event between Piedmont and El Reno from an earlier supercell, along with two of its satellite tornadoes, before attempting in futility to get to the infamous Goldsby supercell as it was producing its own violent (EF4) vortex south of Norman. Stymied by an I-35 traffic jam, instead we zigzagged northeastward to this relative opening I had remembered in the crosstimbers, and waited for the supercell—whatever was left after a collision with a large left-mover from Texas—to arrive here. In the narrow window after the supercell recovered from that storm merger, and before it ran out of favorable warm-sector air, this happened. As with our other tornadic supercell on this day, it was very deep and dark, making photography challenging.
2 SSW Dale OK (24 May 11) Looking NW
35.3654, -97.0545
RADAR