Target Area: Blackwell, Oklahoma to Arkansas City, Kansas
Chase Area: Arkansas City/Oxford, Kansas
Observations: two supercells
Distance: 330 miles
Time: ~7.5 hours
Chase Team: Car 1 - Jeff Snyder, Gabe Garfield, and Heather Campbell; Car 2 - Dan Dawson and myself
SPC Convective Outlook: Slight Risk (Click to see SPC products, data, and storm reports)
Chase Setup: A deep, upper-level trough was centered over the Texas Panhandle. A surface low was located over far south central Kansas while a cold front/dryline extended southward from the surface low. A warm front extended east and southeast from the surface low. Surface-based CAPE was generally under 1000 J kg-1 over southeast Kansas and northern Oklahoma. However, 0 to 6 km bulk shear was greater than 60 knots in south central Kansas.
Chase Log: Not much to say about this day; another low expectations, marginal fall day. We watched some cumulus bubble up along the front along the central Kansas/Oklahoma border, but the clouds had trouble getting root and really growing.
We did get on a supercell just east of Arkansas City, and it did have some decent rotation, but the base was very smooth and it never really lowered. The supercell eventually became linear, but we got on another cell nearby and followed it until sunset. This second supercell was not very impressive either, but about what we expected.