Convective Dyslexia, Today's Schizophrenia, & Tech Review

Yesterday was pretty much a wasted effort and a day off from work. Jay McCoy and I saw plenty of "dyslexic" storms. That is where the updrafts form on the opposite side of the precip core relative to storm motions. Cells moving N and NE would have some nice updraft bases and non-rotating wall clouds on the NW side with precip extending to the SE. The only thing I can figure out is that there was considerably weaker winds above 500mb from the west. With stronger 700-500mb flow, this would account for the bizarre storm structures. I'm not basing this on any data at this time, just a hunch and my observations. So, don't go pulling an "rdale" on me, ok? ;-)

We did finally manage to drive towards an incredible, explosive updraft moving up towards Cotton Center and Nazareth. This was a gorgeous, billowy cumulonimbus of the "nuclear explosion" variety. We were pumped as we drove towards it...seeing some very intersting scud features underneath it. Plus, it was the first storm we saw which actually looked normal with the updraft in the right spot. The radar presentation looked pretty good too with a little hook on the western flank.

Along the way, we stopped a couple of times to gawk at the sizable hail covering the ground up to golfballs considering some melting had occurred. We were hoping that as this big momma merged with some smaller supercells north of it, some caprock magic would happen. Nope. Just another spanking by mother nature as the storms congealed and killed each other. Soon afterward, we headed back to Amarillo feeling abit dejected after two straight days of being slapped around by mother nature. The only pics I took in the past two days were the explosive updraft yesterday. Ugh.

I also hope some of ya'll got to enjoy my live chase page. I forgot to update my chase status for awhile, so some of the streaming video didn't show up. But, you didn't miss much. :-)

On a side note, W TX and the PH region got a real good soaking from this system...the first time in almost a year. Many areas in the PH and W TX, particularly between Amarillo and Lubbock, have recieved upwards to 5 inches of rain this week. Farmers are rejoicing as are most folks out here. This should go a long ways to keeping the dryline from blasting east as much as we've seen this year. I'm hoping that this will bode well for chasing prospects closer to home.

We had a pretty good laugh riot sitting in Brownfield too. While David Drummond was streaming his video, I thought it would be funny to engage in some tomfoolery in front of his camera to help break up the bordom for anybody watching it. So, I strutted in front of the camera doing my best impersonation of a "super chaser" while adorning my Hooters t-shirt. Well, wouldn't you know it, at that exact time, David's TV station had his feed on the air! ROFL!!

I was abit embarrassed after the station called and informed him of the "incident" and mentioning some viewers calling in. In the end though, everybody got a good laugh out of it, including the station, thank goodness. I know David nearly asphyxiated he was laughing so hard. So, mission accomplished. :-) The question is...did the station's ratings go up or down because of it? LOL!! My next performance will be an interpretive dance routine performing the "Forbidden Sacred Dance Of Chaser Merriment".

I also can't help mention that with Jay at the wheel, we got pulled over by a DPS trooper. We were only doing 75 in a 70 according to the officer. He was very courteous as were we in return. We got a warning and were soon on our way. The trooper also got a detailed mesoscale analysis briefing complete with maps and satellite images. :-) We think it was an active drug interdiction task force effort as we saw alot of law enforcement on the road yesterday. Who knows.

For today? Good luck with that. It's a total mess. However, I am starting to like SW OK into NW TX and eastward to the I-35 corridor. A nice dry slot is working in from W/SW TX which should help get some insolation going. However, the system becomes vertically stacked with the upper low orienting right over the surface low.

Using the general Jon Davies formula for cold core tornadoes, I really think we'll see a couple of those not only near the surface low, but perhaps even NW of the surface low as the upper low catches up to it's surface counterpart. It's a very complex scenario to be certain. Further south of the surface low along the dryline, I'm sure we'll see at least a couple of traditional supercell tornadoes. It will be fun to watch and take notes today.

Technology wise, my new AT&T tilt phone had a little more learning curve, but it's working pretty well too. I'm happy with my decision to go with it. It too performed flawlessly yesterday. With the bluetooth working so well, I never had to touch the phone except to dial. Even then, with voice-activated dialing, that will become even less too. I'll be playing with that this week.

The Jawbone bluetooth headset performed very well yesterday. I'm happy with the results. It was quite comfortable wearing it most of the day. After setting it up correctly and syncing it with the phone, it quickly became second nature to use. Everybody I talked to said the voice quality was excellent...even with a window rolled down! That is ALOT of background noise and according to David, he couldn't hear it...until I stuck my head out the window. :-)

Speaking of sticking things out the window, check out Steve "OK" Miller's blog. Man, a rogue hailstone or even a bird could have ruined his day. So, kids, the lesson here is that if you are going to be a professional stuntman, at least wear safety gear! :-) I think he should do it right the next time and fully deploy himself ont he roof of the van. Fortunately for the guy in the pictures, he didn't have any amber lightbars. Then he'd REALLY catch grief from the stormchasing community! LOL!!