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DAY 6: Wichita, Kansas to Henryetta, Oklahoma
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In September of 2025, my work is generating the most income it ever has in my career. Yet, I'm being forced to shut down my successul operation, against my will, due to one cause alone: 95% of that revenue is being stolen by piracy and copyright infringement. I've lost more than $1 million to copyright infringement in the last 15 years, and it's finally brought an end to my professional storm chasing operation. Do not be misled by the lies of infringers, anti-copyright activists and organized piracy cartels. This page is a detailed, evidenced account of my battle I had to undertake to just barely stay in business, and eventually could not overcome. It's a problem faced by all of my colleagues and most other creators in the field. |
After Saturday's chase, I had stopped for the night in Hillsboro, Kansas, anticipating a target in Missouri on Sunday. However, reviewing data when I awoke in the morning revealed that I would be heading south rather than northeast. I made it to Wichita just as a supercell storm was getting established to the southwest. I expected this storm to gradually turn right and go through the heart of Wichita, possibly becoming tornadic as it did. For this reason, I did not want to intercept the storm right away, rather choosing to stay on the east side of the city and wait for the storm to come to me. I also did not want to have to traverse the metro area traffic to follow the storm.
The storm went tornadic quickly, much sooner than I'd anticipated, dropping several tornadoes to the southwest of Wichita. Just as it entered the city limits, it transitioned to a messy HP storm with convection on its southern flank. This was a good thing for Wichita, which I believe narrowly dodged a major bullet with this storm evolving as it did. By the time it reached my position on the east side of town, it looked like a monster, but with no strong circulation apparent either visually or on radar. I took this shot just before bailing to the east to avoid getting caught in large hail:
The rest of the day was spent dropping south on successive storms all the way to I-40 in Oklahoma, each of which either went outflow dominant or dissipated as I approached them. The final shot of the day was this storm in Henryetta, Oklahoma along I-40 that previously produced violent tornadoes, one of which struck Shawnee:
I stopped briefly in Tulsa to visit with Greg McLaughlin, Terrence Cook and crew, then resumed the trek northeast as I needed to be back in St. Louis for work Tuesday. I chose to target Missouri on Monday, since it was the only logistically possible one given my schedule. I stopped for the night in Joplin.
NEXT PLAINS CHASE: Kansas supercell, May 27 >
Is Joplin still on the map after the destruction a couple of years ago?
- Posted by Linda A. | | |
It is, Linda. The only town I know of that has been wiped off the map by a tornado was Manchester, South Dakota (population 6).
- Posted by Tim | | |
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