June 8, 1995

Vortex NOAA Aircraft Mission #26

Flight ID:

950608I

Flight Track:


Click image for full resolution.

Flight Crew:

Chief Scientist: Watson/Ziegler         Flight Director:  Damiano
Doppler Radar:   Shepherd/Trapp         Pilots:           Tenneson/Kennedy
                                                          Omara
Cloud Physics:   ---                    Data Technician:  McMillan
Radiometer:      ---                    Systems Engineer: Barr
Observers:       Windler (REU)          Navigator:        Strong
Observers:       Francis                Flight Engineer:  Bast
Observers:       Brand (media), Manis (media)

Takeoff Time: 1835 UTC                  Landing Time: 0253 UTC
Official Mission Duration: 8.5 hrs
Mission Breakdown VORTEX: 8.5 hrs       ARM: 0.0 hrs
Number of Data Tapes Used:  Radar: 2    Cloud Physics: 0        Video: 3

Data Systems Log
Radar Data System Log   Time On(UTC)    Time Off(UTC)   Comments
                                                        Problems with TA
Tape #1                 1849                            Begin LF
                                        2032            Stop recording
                                                        Board replacement
                                                        rebotting
Tape #2                 2048                            Begin LF & TA
                                        0239            End recording

Cloud Physics Log       Time On(UTC)    Time Off(UTC)   Comments
                        1845            0230

ETL Radiometer Log      Time On (UTC)   Time Off (UTC)  Comments
                        1845            0230

Summary:

"A day that will live in VORTEX infamy"

Based on very large CAPEs, an east-west outflow boundary, and an adequate wind profile, the forecast was for supercells in far northwest Oklahoma.
The P-3 departed OKC at 1835 UTC; the Electra at 1905 UTC. Initially, the FC suggested we find the dryline as the triple point of the E-W boundary and dryline was said to be in the northern Texas panhandle. We flew west at 500' AGL along 36N encountering only the frontal/outflow boundary near Sunray, TX.
Convection had already begun northeast of Perryton, TX so we proceeded to the VORTEX target storm which was already a supercell when we arrived. Due to radar problems, we could not begin radar legs until 2050 UTC. We executed only 7 passes before the FC aborted operations on this storm as it gradually lost its supercell characteristics and became just a rainy glob.
We then proceeded southwest along a line of echoes to the 'tail-end Charlie' near Clarendon, TX south of I-40. Both the P-3 and Electra set up radar tracks (2238 UTC) on this storm as the ground teams took 2 hours to ramble south to it. First tornado was reported near Kellerville, TX at 0000 UTC.
It appeared that this tornado was on the ground for some 40 minutes. A tornado was reported near Briscoe, TX; a very large tornado was reported at 0048 UTC near Allison, TX which was on the ground for more than one hour. Due to haze, we were not able to see any of these tornadoes. The evolution of the hooks, inflow notches, and echo weak holes (EWHs) from this storm will be studied for some time. Several mesocyclones were observed within the same thunderstorm complex at the same time. There were several EWHs on LF radar at the same time.
The Electra was rocked by severe turbulence at 0010 UTC resulting in several injuries, one requiring medical attention. We encountered very strong up and downdrafts at 1500'AGL in the inflow region at 0026 UTC. The remainder of the radar legs were performed at 10,000' AGL. Twenty-six radar legs were completed. We returned to OKC at 0253 UTC, consuming 8.4 hours in a very successful season.

Irv Watson