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