AccuWeather broadcasts live as rotating wall cloud swirls over I-40 in Oklahoma
Storm chaser Tony Laubach was communicating live warnings on the AccuWeather network as a rotating wall cloud presented serious potential danger near the Oklahoma-Texas border.
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00:00 Tony Lawback is chasing this cell. He was in Elk City approaching Sayre right now into Beckham County.
00:06 And in this area, looking at the radar data out of Wichita Falls, you can see that there is a hook on this cell as well.
00:12 It's going to be very close to Interstate 40, which is what he's been traveling along.
00:16 So he's going to get a good view of this one.
00:18 Tony's camera will show what we're dealing with.
00:21 There we are. We're looking at a wall cloud.
00:23 So here we are with the wall cloud.
00:25 This is the view currently of this cell in Beckham County, Oklahoma.
00:29 And you can see this is in real time, so it's not faster.
00:33 We're not looking at a time lapse.
00:35 And you can see the rotation there.
00:37 So this is not a funnel cloud. It's a wall cloud.
00:39 But out of the base of this would be the potential funnel if it formed.
00:43 And you can see in the foreground the clouds are moving from left to right.
00:47 And in the background, the clouds are moving from right to left.
00:49 So clear rotation, still obvious from this perspective.
00:52 And you can see the overpass just kind of hidden under the word "Midwest" on the banner there.
00:57 That is likely Interstate 40.
01:03 That is I-40. You can see one of the Interstate signs there for an on-ramp
01:06 where you would travel under the Interstate and then hang a left to hop on one of the directions of travel.
01:12 But, again, we are looking at obvious rotation.
01:15 So it appears that we're looking probably from southeast to northwest from this view
01:21 given the fact that the foreground is moving left to right, the background is moving right to left.
01:25 So it's a lowering of the base. This is what we call a wall cloud.
01:28 And out of the base of this would be a possible tornado.
01:32 Do we have the ability to talk to Tony right now or is it--?
01:35 Okay, so we're just in video mode.
01:37 But Tony Lawback is the man behind the camera there.
01:40 So, Tony, you had a great look at a wall cloud there, a lowering of that base.
01:43 We see the obvious rotation. And you've put yourself in a good spot here.
01:48 Are we looking to the northwest?
01:52 Or maybe to the west?
01:54 I am--
01:56 I know the Interstate kind of kinks.
01:57 I would say I'm right on the north side of this.
02:00 Okay. All right.
02:01 Yeah, I'm right on the north side of this here, Jeff.
02:03 You kind of see the area of rotation is actually north of the Interstate.
02:06 So the way the Interstate kind of hooks in here, you kind of have a misconception as to exactly where you are.
02:11 But this has been rotating really, really good here for the last, I'd say, 5 or 10 minutes.
02:16 When we got off air from you, we were about 5 minutes from the exit we took here at Hext, H-E-X-T.
02:22 So very, very big rotation here, obvious rotation.
02:26 Hasn't put out any funnels.
02:28 There is kind of some lower contrast stuff here.
02:31 If you look on the right side of your screen, you kind of see buried in that kind of broad area.
02:36 You see the bright clouds in the foreground.
02:38 Then you get back a little bit to the darker clouds.
02:40 There is an area back in there that does kind of bowl down at times,
02:44 but it hasn't really produced anything I would say is imminently tornadic, Jeff.
02:48 But this is certainly going to be an issue for folks on I-40 right now.
02:52 I came in through the core of this.
02:54 I know this thing is worn for golf ball hail with that particular tornado warning.
02:57 Did not see any hail, but it's possible that already crossed the Interstate before I arrived
03:02 as a lot of folks were hiding under overpasses.
03:04 Folks, don't do that. Do not do that.
03:06 If you are in the area here between Eric and Sayre and you can get off the Interstate,
03:14 particularly if you're heading in the direction of this storm,
03:16 I would suggest you do that so you don't get stuck on the Interstate should this thing put down a tornado.
03:21 This is going to be a hazard for folks along I-40.
03:24 And, Tony, we have--
03:25 --tornado precautions.
03:27 Again, not a tornado ongoing right now, but certainly something to watch.
03:31 I didn't mean to cut you off there, Tony.
03:32 The audio just dropped for a mere second.
03:34 We have a good signal there from you, though.
03:36 And, well, you're in a good spot, Hex, here.
03:38 I'm impressed that the small community label pops up here.
03:42 So you really did shoot through the core of this storm.
03:44 You're on the west side of it, and you're right where this area of rotation--
03:49 --it looks like you can almost reach up and touch the base of that cloud there
03:52 with that rotating wall cloud right over, Hex, in west-central parts of Beckham--
03:58 --well, I guess it's a big county, so it's basically central parts of Beckham County, Oklahoma.
04:02 This is along I-40.
04:03 It's the first county into Oklahoma that you encounter if you're traveling from the Texas Panhandle into western Oklahoma there.
04:09 We're looking at this from the radar data that is sourced from the south.
04:12 So, Tony, thanks for that great shot there, that wall cloud.