May 25, 1999 Kenneth Chase Stupidity

On this day, I got a very late start chasing after I got off work in Norman at 6:00 P.M. I quickly drove south to Lawton and then west toward Altus. Since the storm was moving to the south-southeast toward the Red River, I adjusted my attempt to intercept the storm to Frederick (FDR). Later, at about 8:27 P.M., I was approaching FDR from the east. Here is a radar image of that time.

All of the images from this day are poor quality video captures taken from my handheld 8 mm camcorder video. The images are horrible, but better than nothing. These first two images are looking south toward a wallcloud at 8:29PM as I approached Frederick. (Click on image to enlarge)

Next two images from 8:34 P.M. as I tried to get to Hwy 183 so I could go south. It was a race that I wouldn't end up winning.

By 8:36P.M., the wallcloud had developed a very classic "wallcloud look" including the tail cloud. From my viewing position, I could not see the rotation being reported by spotters.

After reaching Hwy 183, I headed south but was unable to get south before the storm dumped golfball sized hail on me.

(summary revised/radar images added 11-23-2004)