| All rights reserved. |
6/07/09 Oregon, Missouri Supercell
 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |
I have chased for 8 years and take pride in the fact that I have only been
hit by hail twice and one of those was on purpose to punch the core of a
storm to get to a tornadic one. Well that all changed on 6/07/09.
This really was a freak deal that was perfectly timed for us to get hit. The
storm was tornado warned and we approached it from the southeast. We
could see a big bowl shaped mesocyclone from the highway, but I could tell
it wasn't close to the tornadic stage yet. There were no lowerings and it
just had the look of the early stage of a good supercell getting organized
quickly. We decided to move off the highway west towards it because we
were about 10 miles away. I wanted to get a feel for the rotation and
vertical motion we were dealing with. The road SUCK in northwest
Missouri. I've been spoiled growing up in the plains with square mile grid
roads. To the right is the bowl shaped mesocyclone as we approached.
hit by hail twice and one of those was on purpose to punch the core of a
storm to get to a tornadic one. Well that all changed on 6/07/09.
This really was a freak deal that was perfectly timed for us to get hit. The
storm was tornado warned and we approached it from the southeast. We
could see a big bowl shaped mesocyclone from the highway, but I could tell
it wasn't close to the tornadic stage yet. There were no lowerings and it
just had the look of the early stage of a good supercell getting organized
quickly. We decided to move off the highway west towards it because we
were about 10 miles away. I wanted to get a feel for the rotation and
vertical motion we were dealing with. The road SUCK in northwest
Missouri. I've been spoiled growing up in the plains with square mile grid
roads. To the right is the bowl shaped mesocyclone as we approached.
| Oregon, Missouri Gorilla hail 6/07/09 |
| poor quality picture of mesocyclone taken with my cell phone as we approached |
So we take the next logical step and go park southeast of the mesocyclone because the storm was
moving east - northeast. We were probably three miles way from the mesocyclone shooting video and
taking picture outside the car when all of a sudden I caught a baseball fall to the ground out of the corner
of my eye. I've seen this several times and it will make you get your ass in gear quicker than anything
else when chasing. Eric saw it to, so we threw our stuff in the car, turned around really quick and I told
him haul ass south to get away from it. By the time we had turned around there were baseball and
softballs falling regularly around us. There was never any rain or hail shaft visible, it just started and I'm
pretty sure how and why it did.
The storm had been moving east and RIGHT as we got on it and got out of the car (I switch over from
radar to navigating software once I get on a storm especially when I'm on back roads. I've been on tons
of storms that make right turns and they usually turn 35 degrees tops to the right. I swear this storm
made a 90 degree turn.
I can't find it on the National Weather Service page any more, but it shows the largest hail right on and
north of Oregon, which is exactly where we happened to be. I called in my report and said we were about
two miles north of Oregon and there was lots of baseball hail after announcing I was a storm chaser.
Anyway, on this survey page NWS did they showed the satellite image and this storm had an over
shooting top that was 60,000ft high and reached into the stratosphere. That is like two Mt Everest on top
of each other. The vertical motions in the updraft holding this hail aloft allowing it to get big exceeded
100mph. That is a very strong updraft. Simon Brewer said he measured a 5.25" stone and saw larger, but
couldn't get to them. You can't get out in that kind of hail. It kills cattle. A softball size hail stone to the
head can kill you. It is very serious and you absolutely don't want to get out of the car.
I watched my video a couple days ago and saw that it isn't that good. I had my camera recording and
laying in my map for 95% of the time because I was running the navigating software trying to tell Eric
where to go so the hail would stop. I couldn't figure out why it wasn't stopping since I hadn't seen radar
and figured out it was moving right at us so we were essential keeping ourselves in the hail core.
I think the mesocyclone just started lofting out monster hail from 30,000 - 50,000ft. immediately after the
storm turned right and the wind shear changed. I don't know what else could have happened because it
came out of no where.
Below are pictures and a short video clip. We got extremely lucky and got minimal damage, although you
don't get to see the roof which has some good dents in it too.
moving east - northeast. We were probably three miles way from the mesocyclone shooting video and
taking picture outside the car when all of a sudden I caught a baseball fall to the ground out of the corner
of my eye. I've seen this several times and it will make you get your ass in gear quicker than anything
else when chasing. Eric saw it to, so we threw our stuff in the car, turned around really quick and I told
him haul ass south to get away from it. By the time we had turned around there were baseball and
softballs falling regularly around us. There was never any rain or hail shaft visible, it just started and I'm
pretty sure how and why it did.
The storm had been moving east and RIGHT as we got on it and got out of the car (I switch over from
radar to navigating software once I get on a storm especially when I'm on back roads. I've been on tons
of storms that make right turns and they usually turn 35 degrees tops to the right. I swear this storm
made a 90 degree turn.
I can't find it on the National Weather Service page any more, but it shows the largest hail right on and
north of Oregon, which is exactly where we happened to be. I called in my report and said we were about
two miles north of Oregon and there was lots of baseball hail after announcing I was a storm chaser.
Anyway, on this survey page NWS did they showed the satellite image and this storm had an over
shooting top that was 60,000ft high and reached into the stratosphere. That is like two Mt Everest on top
of each other. The vertical motions in the updraft holding this hail aloft allowing it to get big exceeded
100mph. That is a very strong updraft. Simon Brewer said he measured a 5.25" stone and saw larger, but
couldn't get to them. You can't get out in that kind of hail. It kills cattle. A softball size hail stone to the
head can kill you. It is very serious and you absolutely don't want to get out of the car.
I watched my video a couple days ago and saw that it isn't that good. I had my camera recording and
laying in my map for 95% of the time because I was running the navigating software trying to tell Eric
where to go so the hail would stop. I couldn't figure out why it wasn't stopping since I hadn't seen radar
and figured out it was moving right at us so we were essential keeping ourselves in the hail core.
I think the mesocyclone just started lofting out monster hail from 30,000 - 50,000ft. immediately after the
storm turned right and the wind shear changed. I don't know what else could have happened because it
came out of no where.
Below are pictures and a short video clip. We got extremely lucky and got minimal damage, although you
don't get to see the roof which has some good dents in it too.
| my beautiful car two days earlier |
| Hail Damage Pics Below |
I have some other pics but this will do for now. As you can see we got
pretty damn lucky. There are some huge dents, but there is only like 7
or 8 of them. It could have totalled my car. A nice lady let us pull in her
front yard and take shelter under a big oak tree which I'm sure saved
us some dents.
pretty damn lucky. There are some huge dents, but there is only like 7
or 8 of them. It could have totalled my car. A nice lady let us pull in her
front yard and take shelter under a big oak tree which I'm sure saved
us some dents.