Target Area: Kansas/Oklahoma border, east of Arkansas City, Kansas and north of Bartlesville, Oklahoma
Chase Area: Bartlesville, Oklahoma and up north to southeastern Kansas
Observations: squall line and a burning tree
Distance: 470 miles
Time: 10.5 hours
Chase Team: Car 1 - Dean Narramore, Rob Warren, Esther White, and myself; Car 2 - Rob Lee, Pete Argyle, and Becky Hewins
SPC Convective Outlook: Slight Risk (upgraded to Moderate) (Click to see SPC products, data, and storm reports)
Chase Setup: Strong forcing associated with a surface low in southwestern Kansas looked like it would spark supercell development near a dryline through central Oklahoma. Lack of moisture appeared to be problematic, however.
Chase Log: The storms started firing earlier than I had hoped they would. They quickly formed a squall line from northeastern Oklahoma to southeastern Kansas, so the most excitement we got was a little pea-sized hail, cool squall line clouds, and some fires.
When we came back that night, we saw a few fires near the interstate and one cool but scary-looking tree that was just smoldering and crumbling. It was too windy and dry south of the squall line. Sadly, when we got closer to home, we saw some fires in Oklahoma City and realized that they had hit some residential parts of Midwest City.