May 19 2010 Surface Analysis

Vaughan Weather
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May 19 2010 Surface Analysis
May 19 2010 Surface Analysis

I spent much of the night and early morning hours of the 19th driving back into Oklahoma from Texas. I knew it was big day and wanted to start off in position ready to go.

I spent the night in Weatherford and basically awoke to find myself in perfect position.

I was sitting on the multipoint. In meteorology and math an area where three lines / boundaries / bodies intersect is usually called the triple point. In this case, it was more of a multipoint since the warm front was there, a thermal trof was right overhead, an outflow boundary from an MCS that blasted through around 7AM had stalled out and the moisture axis was also right on top. The only thing missing was the dryline itself which was still to the west and starting to bulge as it pressed east.

I spent most of the morning looking at maps, computer data and making sure I was making the right decision!

High risk days are hard to call, there is so much activity to be had, and it's easy to chase the wrong storm or to get pulled away because you think your missing a good storm only to have one better form right where you were before.

I decided I was playing the warm front and the boundaries. That was where all the best shear was and the storm chasers this day really split into three camps, those who chased west Oklahoma, those who chased central Oklahoma and those who were undecided in the middle.

I was in the Central Oklahoma camp and boy am I glad I chose to play where I did!

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Taken on: April 8, 2014
Sets appears in:   • May 19th 2010   
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