Happy birthday to me! This was the second, and most photogenic, of at least three tornadoes that I witnessed from a supercell interacting with an outflow boundary–my first birthday tornadoes in over a quarter-century of active storm observing. It was no easy feat, either, given the hilly and sometimes forested terrain of this part of southeastern Oklahoma. Fortunately, we found an open-field clearing just in time. During the tornado’s short lifespan, it maintained this classically funnel-shaped form. Mutiple-vortex tendrils continually formed, snaking around the tornado’s base and one another, as if spun by a giant puppet-master.
1 SE Hickory OK (21 May 11) Looking NE
34.5418, -96.8488