March 26, 2000

March 26, 2000- After getting off of work,which was around 2:00, I raced home to look on the computer to look at the HWO (Hazordous Weather Outlook) and look at the SPC Convective Outlooks and it said that I was in a moderate risk area. Soon after, storms fired up in northeastern Oklahoma and moved southeast. The line then formed southwest as it pushed towards the southeast. A good cell fired up in McIntosh county and spread into southern Muskogee county and quickly became severe. About 10 minutes went by as I watched the storm intensify on radar and soon after a tornado warning was issued for those two counties. The storm was moving SE at 30 miles an hour and was about to cross the border into Haskell county. I ran to my car and drove 20 minutes on Highway 9 to Stigler. When driving into Stigler, I saw a wall cloud that disappeared due to very high trees. After having to turn around, I finally recognized where I was at. It started to rain so I found Highway 82 that was in Stigler and drove south. After driving for about 5 miles I pulled over to get some snaps and was in great position as you could see the inflow going into the storm. I shot some video of it and proceeded back south until I reached Highway 31 there in Lequire. I turned left and drove east for a few miles and something grabbed my attention. I pulled over as I saw a low lying wall cloud just a couple of miles to my northwest. I started videotaping it ( later to find out it wasn't recording at all ) and got a few pictures of it. Knowing I was in the path of this storm and in danger I sped east. Shortly after, the tornado warning expired and the wall cloud had disappeared. I reached Highway 59 and drove north til I intercepted Highway 9 again and drove east as the squall line got closer. I drove to Fort Smith in heavy rain and decided to turn around. I drove back on Highway 9 until I reached Pocola. There I heard that a wall cloud was spotted at the intersection of Highway 9 and 59 south. So I decided to head south on Highway 112 towards Poteau. Just a few miles out of Poteau a tornado warning was issued for LeFlore county until 7:00. The rotation was centered about 3 miles to the NW of Wister. I was in great position. As I just entered Poteau, at 6:45, there was a report of a tornado on the ground 4 miles to the south of Heavener. I reported in and told them that I was on my way. I drove through Poteau and Heavener and came to the scene of destruction. There was no doubt about it in my mind that a tornado did touch down as a mobile home was wrapped around an Oak tree in the small town of Hodgen. Luckily, there was no one at the house at the time of the tornado. I reported the damage in and that's when I decided to call it a day. It was completely dark and it was just mountains south of my location. Overall the best chase day I had in a very long time. Pictures will become available when I can get my scanner to work. The next day the NWS out of Tulsa came and rated the tornado an F2. What a way to start the spring season!