9:30am – Late start to the day, but we are in the right position. Last chase day of the trip and the best opportunity for a good storm. Tomorrow we head home.
10:15am – Heading to Little Rock.
12:00pm – Quick lunch stop at Arby’s and back on the road.
2:00pm – Ice cream at Sonic in England, AR waiting for the front to get here.
3:15pm – In Hamnoke, AR hanging out.
4:25pm – Getting the jitters from sitting so long. Red Leader…stay on target…stay on target.
4:30pm – Moving north a little to stay off the boundary. Need to be ahead of these storms. Won’t be able to catch them once they fire.
6:00pm – Quick stop at Nick’s in Carlisle, MO for a BBQ sandwich.
6:20pm – Chase mode! It’s on.
8:00pm – Staying on our storm. Only play now that it’s getting dark. Pick a storm and roll the dice when they are this fast and this late in the day.
8:30pm – We are officially night chasing. Lightning is making cloud identification fairly easy.
8:40pm – Paul says he saw a power flash. Nobody else did. Not reporting.
9:00pm – TORNADO. I call it out the back left window on a lightning flash.
This tornado would later be called the Fair Oaks, AR tornado with one house destroyed and one police cruiser hit and damaged by the tornado.
(picture courtesy of a video capture from Laura Hedien of www.stormcloudsphotography.com)
9:05 to 9:15pm – We pull off the road two more times. Finally confirmed by rest of the group on power flashes. Staying with it.
9:55pm – Van 1 hit a down power line and took the roof rack off. Chase over.
10:45pm – Got the rack taken apart and put in Amy’s truck (she was chasing nearby). Switching our hotel to Jonesboro, AR.
