Hello from Norman, Oklahoma!

We started the morning off in Vernon, TX with no real chase plans for the day. The tornado risk was in central and northern Kansas which put us way too far from the target so we decided not to chase. Instead we decided to head back to Mangum, OK to look for any tornado damage, assess where we saw it cross the road, and also be a bit touristy and visit the Wichita Mountains.

We found several areas of damage on the north and west side of Mangum. It appears the town suffered more of a glancing blow and that the tornado passed just to the north of the town. Thankfully this meant the worst case scenario didn't pan out for the folks of Mangum, however, several homes were damaged.

We wanted to reassess where we were when the tornado crossed through the town. We were northbound approaching the tornado on the 283. As it crossed the road, we were roughly around E County Rd 1470 (or just north of there) and the damage further north on the road was at E County Rd 1460. That put us within about 0.75-1 mile or less from the tornado as it crossed the 283.

Rough track of the May 20 Mangum, OK tornado based on what we saw and damage as well as our path we took tracking it.

From there we went and visited the Wichita Mountains; specifically a spot that Kyle Brittain recommended called Charon's Garden/Treature Lake Trailhead in Indiahoma. It was absolutely beautiful. We spent some time there taking pictures and enjoying the scenery before making our way to Norman, OK.

We went out for dinner at Saltgrass to get our tornado steaks! We're now forecasting and decided our play for tomorrow. Looks like plenty of chasing left on this trip...

NWS SPC outlook for tomorrow, May 22.