MAY 24th
Gray County, TX
image from Kodak DC-260 image from Kodak DC-260 image from Kodak DC-260
image from Sony TRV-900 miniDV image from Kodak DC-260 image from Kodak DC-260
Our new storm tap's the boundary layer before our eye's. Then takes on a bell shape as a new beaver's tail begins to form to the north of it.
image from Sony TRV-900 miniDV image from Sony TRV-900 miniDV image from Sony TRV-900 miniDV
As we move to stay ahead of the storm it develops two beaver's tails and a wall-cloud at the meeting point. We're thinking "maybe, just maybe"!!
image from Sony TRV-900 miniDV image from Sony TRV-900 miniDV
image from Kodak DC-260 image from Kodak DC-260 image from Kodak DC-260
image from Kodak DC-260 image from Kodak DC-260
As it turned out our storm didn't tornado. It just decided to pose for us. Doesn't matter when you see a storm this gorgeous.
PANORAMA'S
image from Sony TRV-900 miniDV panned with VideoBrush Panorama
image from Sony TRV-900 miniDV panned with VideoBrush Panorama
THE CHASE ACCOUNT
The first 3 days of our 2nd chase week were spent wondering if we'd get any weather the whole week. For a couple of day's the models had been hinting at developing upslope in the TX/OK panhandles into SE Colorado and this scenario looked better on every run. On Tuesday I made the decision to leave mid-morning on Wednesday the 24th for Guymon, OK unless something changed my mind. On Wednesday morning the outlook continued to improve and my target still seemed ok so me and Ed Cohen loaded things up and headed NW on hwy 287 initially for Childress, TX and then north on hwy 83. Before we got to Wichita Falls Mike Cohen, Ed's brother, informed us that the SPC had upgraded north central OK to a moderate risk. With this in mind we decided to go north on hwy 183 toward Woodward, OK to hedge our bet a bit and then NW on hwy 270 into the OK panhandle for our initial target. While gassing at Woodward DOW 3 and TWC's van went by heading NW (I've lost track of how many times we've crossed paths this year). We proceeded NW on 270. Info was scarce but we soon learned of a tornado watch for our target area and a severe thunderstorm near Borger, TX. As we go closer to our target it was clear to our north in SW Kansas and it was obvious that we needed to head south and intercept the storms in TX. We plotted an intercept course down hwy 83 and then hwy 70 in TX. With the storms approaching from the west we took FM 283 SE toward Miami, TX. At this time a broad, rather high, circular base formed just ahead of the Pampa, TX. storm to our south. This was our target now. We watched as it tapped into the boundary layer and formed a bell shaped base and widened. We stayed ahead of this storm all the way to Shamrock, TX. where we gassed up and let the new MCS head off across Oklahoma and we headed to Amarillo for a good nights sleep and get ready for the next day.