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Last Updated on Wednesday, 27 January 2010 14:43 Written by Roger Hill

2009

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February 10th was a surprise set up for this early in the year. Moisture surging northward into southern Oklahoma and north Texas, with strong heating ahead of the dryline and advancing upper level system would set the stage for significant convection this day. We ended up near the Wichita Falls, Texas area via Oklahoma by 4 PM to find the action farther north near and north of Oklahoma City. Storms farther south were fairly linear as strong forcing along the dryline was occurring. We stayed put, near Henrietta, Texas in hope for something to fire ahead of the line or at the tail end, and move into an environment conducive to rotating storms. We were not disappointed. A cluster of towering cumulus developed ahead of the line south of Bowie, Texas, and matured into a magnificent supercell that produced a tornado near Ringgold, Texas. As it crossed the Red River north of St Jo, TX I got a great shot of the developing wedge that would later cause the death and destruction in Lone Grove, Oklahoma. Very successful first chase of the year, but with sad results of the EF4 tornado tearing through Lone Grove. Please click on a photo for a larger image.

Here is a 2 minute video from this chase: FEB 10 LONE GROVE, OK VIDEO (14 MB)

Linear storms developing near Throckmorton, Texas.	Severe, but linear storms near Wichita Falls, Texas.
Wall cloud in an HP type storm showed some promise and moderate rotation near Wichita Falls, Texas.	Looking south into the core and shelf cloud on this HP type storm near Wichita Falls, Texas.
Cluster of towering cumulus near Bowie, Texas that the Lone Grove Oklahoma supercell would form from.	Lone Grove supercell as it matured near Ringgold, Texas. It was tornado warned here.
Another shot as the supercell was due west of me now with a pregnant base.	First tornado touches down east of Ringgold, Texas.
Chunks of debris still floating in the air as it lifted.	Within minutes it would touchdown again northeast of Ringgold, Texas.
Lone Grove, Oklahoma tornado with complete supercell structure. Taken from north of St Jo, Texas along the Red River looking north.	Zoomed in shot of the tornado.
We couldn't stay up with it so we enjoyed the lightning and storm structure.	Magnificent structure from what would become a major disaster as the EF4 tornado ripped through Lone Grove, Oklahoma.