Break In The Action & Storm Reports
Yesterday provided a much needed "down day" to catch my breath after a daily whirlwind (pun intended) tou of the Texas Panhandle this past week. I didn't even get in the car yesterday to go anywhere. The funny (or sick) thing about it is that I continued to look at data hoping something might pop close to home. Somebody help me please! LOL!!
For today, I'm not expecting much if anything except for perhaps a storm off the Rotan Mesa region. I won't go more than a few miles from the house for anything....perhaps a lightning opportunity if it gets close to Amarillo. That's something I've been denied except for one instance back in April. I'd give just about anything to get an opportunity like David Drummond had a few nights ago. I'm indeed jealous. ;-)
One of the more pleasant things I've found this morning is that my tornado/landspout reports are in the SPC logs. In fact, the landspout Jay and I saw back on the 14th near Claude did in fact do some damage by destroying a carport, snapping an 8-inch diameter tree 2 feet above the ground, and blowing out the windows in the house. The photographic evidence mentioned I think is the picture I sent into them. I dunno. My initial phone report had it just north of Claude, so I wasn't too far off. :-) That is perhaps the toughest thing to do as a chaser/spotter is to know where you are at and the location of the phenomena you are reporting. I've had a habit of phoning in first and then scrambling to figure out exactly where I was at and the location of the event. I need to work on that.
http://www.spc.noaa.gov/climo/reports/080614_rpts.html
Then, the next day on the 15th, my landspout vorticies made it into the logs. If I counted each "touchdown", I could log 3-5 landspouts. Other "hybrid vortices" could account for another 5-10. This doesn't include the multitude of gustnadoes.
http://www.spc.noaa.gov/climo/reports/080615_rpts.html
So, I thought it pretty cool that if I had not been there to document those events, including the live streaming video, they would have never been recorded. I deserve a gold star! HA! lol ;-)
The only storm report missing was my gargantuan hail report 7 miles east of Muleshoe on the 17th...despite it being mentioned in some warning text. I even confirmed it later with the NWS. It's likely an unintentional oversight. I'll follow up on it though to try and get it entered. My main reason isn't for personal "fame and glory", but the fact that such reports are sometimes used by insurance companies and people filing hail damage claims. This is particularly true for farmers. I don't know if such reports, or lack of them, have any direct bearing on approving claims, but as unscrupulous as insurance companies are nowadays, I'd feel better having it entered. I'm hoping to get my archived live stream video of the event to help stake my claim.
Now, onto the crystal ball for chasing opportunities this week. The models are once again starting to setup a similar NW flow pattern with the better looking chances from Tuesday onward. I'm not anywhere close to calling it quits for 2008 yet.
So, let that NW flow conveyor belt of chaser ecstacy continue!! :-)
For today, I'm not expecting much if anything except for perhaps a storm off the Rotan Mesa region. I won't go more than a few miles from the house for anything....perhaps a lightning opportunity if it gets close to Amarillo. That's something I've been denied except for one instance back in April. I'd give just about anything to get an opportunity like David Drummond had a few nights ago. I'm indeed jealous. ;-)
One of the more pleasant things I've found this morning is that my tornado/landspout reports are in the SPC logs. In fact, the landspout Jay and I saw back on the 14th near Claude did in fact do some damage by destroying a carport, snapping an 8-inch diameter tree 2 feet above the ground, and blowing out the windows in the house. The photographic evidence mentioned I think is the picture I sent into them. I dunno. My initial phone report had it just north of Claude, so I wasn't too far off. :-) That is perhaps the toughest thing to do as a chaser/spotter is to know where you are at and the location of the phenomena you are reporting. I've had a habit of phoning in first and then scrambling to figure out exactly where I was at and the location of the event. I need to work on that.
http://www.spc.noaa.gov/climo/reports/080614_rpts.html
Then, the next day on the 15th, my landspout vorticies made it into the logs. If I counted each "touchdown", I could log 3-5 landspouts. Other "hybrid vortices" could account for another 5-10. This doesn't include the multitude of gustnadoes.
http://www.spc.noaa.gov/climo/reports/080615_rpts.html
So, I thought it pretty cool that if I had not been there to document those events, including the live streaming video, they would have never been recorded. I deserve a gold star! HA! lol ;-)
The only storm report missing was my gargantuan hail report 7 miles east of Muleshoe on the 17th...despite it being mentioned in some warning text. I even confirmed it later with the NWS. It's likely an unintentional oversight. I'll follow up on it though to try and get it entered. My main reason isn't for personal "fame and glory", but the fact that such reports are sometimes used by insurance companies and people filing hail damage claims. This is particularly true for farmers. I don't know if such reports, or lack of them, have any direct bearing on approving claims, but as unscrupulous as insurance companies are nowadays, I'd feel better having it entered. I'm hoping to get my archived live stream video of the event to help stake my claim.
Now, onto the crystal ball for chasing opportunities this week. The models are once again starting to setup a similar NW flow pattern with the better looking chances from Tuesday onward. I'm not anywhere close to calling it quits for 2008 yet.
So, let that NW flow conveyor belt of chaser ecstacy continue!! :-)
posted by Steve Miller TX at 6/22/2008 10:51:00 AM
2 Comments:
Not a bad year for you guys in the panhandle. You've seen structure MANY times this year I wish I could have seen just once.
Good call on the hail! I suspect many farmers did well on the High Plains this year, except for the few who took beating after beating on some gigantic hail. I hear wheat harvest is slow, and if u lived west of the dryline, you're hurting pretty bad.
Dick
Yeah, I was beginning to wonder if the TX PH was going to end up null and void for 2008. It's been a real dud of a chase season up until the middle of June. Not a bad way to end 2008. :-)
I've resubmitted my storm report. I hope they put it in the database. The wheat harvest in some areas was pretty good...especially the E TX PH into the W parts of OK. I'm not sure how E CO and KS did though as I really didn't make it up there this year much.
The other potentially big bumper crop is the cotton in W TX and S TX PH. Last year, it was quite a bountiful one. With all of the good rains in the past couple of weeks, it should get off to another great start.
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