Hail-producing supercells developing in the Plains

AccuWeather

AccuWeather's Tony Laubach reported live from the storm chase in Oklahoma on the evening of May 23 as storms started firing up.

Transcript

00:00 An AccuWeather's meteorologist Tony Laubach is storm chasing for us.

00:05 He is on the west side of Oklahoma City already tracking some severe weather as we see this

00:10 thunderstorm starting to fire up.

00:13 Tony?

00:15 Yeah Melissa, we are expecting a busy evening here.

00:18 I want to start with something non-weather related.

00:20 If anybody is listening to us at any of the truck stops on eastbound I-40 heading into

00:24 Oklahoma City, they're past the Cherokee Travel Center in Calumet, Oklahoma.

00:29 There is a large vehicle fire in the eastbound lanes that has got the entire roadblock.

00:35 Emergency crews just rolled on that and I passed it going westbound.

00:38 So if you're at any of our truck stops there and you're watching us on air and you're about

00:42 to hit the road, hang out for a little bit.

00:44 You're probably not going to get too far heading east toward Oklahoma City near the Calumet

00:48 area.

00:49 On that note, let's get you into the weather because that's the important part here.

00:51 I'm going to take you to radar here.

00:53 You're driving with us here as we are heading west away from the storm that just rolled

00:57 through the Oklahoma City metro area.

00:59 Northunderstorm warning on that one.

01:01 That one actually came through the metro, produced mostly up to quarter size, but we

01:05 did get a golf ball size hail report out of the north side of Oklahoma City near the downtown

01:10 area as that storm lifted off to the north.

01:12 That just scooted by the Edmond area, so Arcadia, Luther, you are on that.

01:16 That storm has weakened a little bit.

01:19 I barely kind of just coasted around that as I worked my way out west.

01:23 But we are going to take you out west because that really is going to be where the big show

01:26 is, especially across southwest Oklahoma, south of I-40, right along the Texas-Oklahoma

01:31 border.

01:32 We've got several storms, two of which are severe right now.

01:35 And these are the supercells that we've been talking about for the last couple hours that

01:38 we were waiting to develop.

01:39 Already well underway.

01:40 We've seen already up to two inch hail reported with the southern storm on the Texas side,

01:45 south of Wellington.

01:46 And then folks in Eric about to get rocked with possibly some one inch hail on that.

01:51 So those are the storms that I am currently targeting.

01:54 Right now about an hour or so away, which is why I'm doing what we like to call the

01:58 drive lives here so we can keep ourselves moving as we're heading west to get on those

02:02 storms because we believe those are going to be the biggest threat, that storm over

02:05 Oklahoma City.

02:06 A little bit of a surprise developing well out ahead of the dry line, but again, gives

02:10 you an idea of just how volatile and dynamic this atmosphere is out this way.

02:15 I do think, though, folks, the good news, damaging winds and large hail, if you want

02:19 to call it good news, likely going to be the biggest threat.

02:21 I would not be surprised to see baseball sized hail or bigger reported in a couple of these

02:24 storms once they really get going.

02:26 But we do have that tornado watch.

02:28 You saw that earlier.

02:30 Southwest Oklahoma does not include the Oklahoma City metro area at this point, but that is

02:34 a concerning issue that we could see a couple of tornadoes with a couple of these storms.

02:38 So something we're going to be tracking throughout the night tonight.

02:41 So certainly be aware across western and southwestern Oklahoma.

02:45 Expect more watches to be issued later.

02:46 All right.

02:48 Weather and traffic from Tony.

02:49 We appreciate that report there and be safe as you head west.

02:52 Big hail, up to two inch diameter hail reported with one of those storms there in two parts

02:57 of west Texas.

02:58 And again, as you mentioned, golf ball sized hail also in the bag for others a little bit

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