[Part 4 of 4] There’s a lot to unpack and interpret here. After narrowing and becoming a fuzzy, barely condensed vortex, the Wapanucka (Bromide) tornado approached closer, compelling my moving to the next hilltop south, where a safe pullout was available. The tornado narrowed further, but formed a clearly defined condensation cone above the ground. The circulation’s base struck a sheet-metal-clad building and several trees just west of the road, then crossed where I had been, with a remarkably loud roar. The tornado was weakening (lucky for the unwise drivers beneath!), and barely broke tree branches on the east side of the highway before it dissipated. Still, remaining large, flying objects made it hazardous. As we often see with tornado-debris sorting, the bigger pieces stayed in the stronger winds of the tornado itself, or fell out while centrifuged. Meanwhile, smaller, lighter objects (leaves, grass, sticks) flung further out into the west winds of the proximal rear-flank downdraft. Some of those sticks can be seen in the road, between me and where a carload of chasers knowingly, unsafely stopped, standing in the road, parked partly in the southbound lane, doors left open in the way of any escaping traffic. That ain’t the right way to document storms…because guess what: other people do exist. [Back to Part 1]
1 N Wapanucka OK (22 Apr 20) Looking N
34.3902, -96.4245
RADARWhirling past Wapanucka, Part 4
[Part 4 of 4] There’s a lot to unpack and interpret here. After narrowing and becoming a fuzzy, barely condensed vortex, the Wapanucka (Bromide) tornado approached closer, compelling my moving to the next hilltop south, where a safe pullout was available. The tornado narrowed further, but formed a clearly defined condensation cone above the ground. The circulation’s base struck a sheet-metal-clad building and several trees just west of the road, then crossed where I had been, with a remarkably loud roar. The tornado was weakening (lucky for the unwise drivers beneath!), and barely broke tree branches on the east side of the highway before it dissipated. Still, remaining large, flying objects made it hazardous. As we often see with tornado-debris sorting, the bigger pieces stayed in the stronger winds of the tornado itself, or fell out while centrifuged. Meanwhile, smaller, lighter objects (leaves, grass, sticks) flung further out into the west winds of the proximal rear-flank downdraft. Some of those sticks can be seen in the road, between me and where a carload of chasers knowingly, unsafely stopped, standing in the road, parked partly in the southbound lane, doors left open in the way of any escaping traffic. That ain’t the right way to document storms…because guess what: other people do exist. [Back to Part 1]
1 N Wapanucka OK (22 Apr 20) Looking N
34.3902, -96.4245
RADAR