may 23, 2002
a different type of turkey tower

On the 19th, there was still no chaseable weather in the forseeable future, so the group all decided to call off the trip and head back home. But with severe weather finally returning to the Plains for several days beginning on the 23rd, Jay and Jeff decided to squeak out a few more chase days before finally calling it a vacation. What had been looking like a promising chase day for northwestern OK had been squashed by ongoing elevated convection throughout the morning and early afternoon. By early afternoon, it was looking like there was slight potential for an isolated LP or two in the undisturbed airmass of the TX panhandle. So Jay and Jeff left Norman at 3:30pm and headed west towards the TX panhandle to see....

...an isolated storm go up near Quitaque TX!!!
As the storm moved north-northeast closer to the photographer's location, the entire updraft base became visible.
With time, the updraft became more bell shaped....
...and its waist shrunk to 14 inches.
At 7:42pm, the updraft shriveled up and died. Jay and Jeff ended up watching this storm for over 30 minutes as it slowly drifted in their direction and produced numerous mid-level funnels.
A serene sunset east of Memphis TX capped off a rewarding chase day.

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