2011-06-14 Norman OK Microburst

A downburst strikes the north side of Norman, OK on 14 June 2011 at about 7:30 p.m. We went up to the North Base near Max Westheimer airport to shoot some time lapse footage of a developing supercell west of town, only to have it drop a microburst that surged southeastward over us. RaXPol was, semi-coincidentally, deployed nearby, and collected data during the event. In less than three minutes, we went from light rain to 70+ mph winds, golf ball-sized hail, and near-zero visibility. The doors of several airplane hangars at Max Westheimer airport blew off, and one disintegrated as it blew across the field in front of us.

We got lucky. Damage on the east side of Norman was reported to have been much, much worse - windows blown out, fences blown down, and chimneys collapsed.

I may have jumped the gun by labeling this a "microburst" when I uploaded my video; evidently NWS is avoiding that terminology until they do a damage survey. The velocity presentation from the Will Rogers TDWR, however, showed a semi-circular gust front surging toward Norman from the storm in question. (Update: On 15 June, NWS designated this event a downburst/microburst, based on damage survey and radar data: http://www.srh.noaa.gov/oun/?n=events...)

http://tornatrix.net/?p=628

The radar in the video is the Rapid-Scan, X-band, Polarimetric, mobile Doppler radar (RaXPol for short.) You can read more about RaXPol here: http://tornatrix.net/?p=54

The "storm chasers" in this video hold M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in meteorology and have nine years' experience (each) in storm research. All know how to conduct themselves safely in and around severe weather.