Crazy Chase Day
Long report, so pop a cold one and get comfy. Pics are at the bottom if you just want the eye candy. :-)
In all the years I've chased, I've encountered some wild days. Yesterday's chase ranks towards the top to be certain. Jay McCoy and I chased together in the Texas Panhandle and W OK pretty much in Wheeler and Roger Mills counties. We saw many wall clouds including some that were rotating including a couple of violently rotating ones. We encountered numerous shear funnels and at least two bonafied well developed funnel clouds. The lightning was incredible as well with numerous close proximity hits and spectacular displays. It was wild!!
We elected not to go after the first storms that popped up near Canadian, TX and into NW OK. We stuck with a rapidly developing cell that popped up around Miami and appeared to remain a little more discreet. It continued to intensify and became severe warned as it moved near New Mobeetie into northern Wheeler county. The structure started getting it's act together with a beautiful, intense and sharply defined precip core. Just as it was getting organized and trying to develop a wall cloud, another cell that had fired SW merged with it temporarily disorganizing things.
We saw a rapidly developing supercell to the west of it along an obvious boundary. The cell was developing a classic hook on it as a result. I mentioned to Jay that it would produce a tornado. As we were about to give up on our original storm and trying to move westward towards the hooking storm, Jay noticed a rapid transformation with developing wall cloud on the storm we were leaving. This was an amazing and rapid evolution with every indication that we should pull over and gawk at it.
Sure enough, the wall cloud got organized and was exhibiting increasing rotation. We stayed with it as it was now moving east. At one point, we stopped at an intersection on Hwy 83 and watched very rapid and even violent rotation within the wall cloud and hooking precip core coming around behind it. We were in full video/camera mode watching it come together and expecting a tornado was imminent. It was incredible to watch!
One of the locals there in the parking lot with us repeatedly honked his horn which at first we ignored. He drove up next to us as we were fixated on the action in front of us. He finally convinced us to look west at a nice, well developed funnel cloud from the storm we were about to go after earlier!! LOL!! We quickly jumped into the behicle and got a vantage point to the west where we watched it dissipate...but got a couple of pics before it did. Our rotating storm we were on was now getting rain wrapped and moving off into questionable road networks. Drats!
For the next few hours, we would watch storms continuously develop hooks and develop new, wall clouds with various amounts of rotation. At one point when trying to get around one storm and into OK, we were sitting in the heavy precip core when we noticed a nice, slowly rotating funnel cloud nearly to the ground immediately to our north coming out of the precip shield.
We would end up in Roger Mills county in OK watching an incredible chain of storms each with wall clouds, suspicious lowerings, impressive shelf clouds with dizzying, rapid chaotic motions, and even some spectacular lightning which had joy and I cringing in the vehicle a few times. At one point after darkness fell, we watched one storm intensify and in the distance illuminated by lightning, we were observing what we though was certainly a fat little wedge tornado near Cheyenne, OK. We were at a distance though and could only see it with the lightning illumintating it, so we can't be 100% certain sicne we didn't discern power flashes with it. Interesting nonetheless.
Then some more drama was encountered when we punched the intense squall line along I-40 as we tried to get back to Amarillo. The rain and wind was so intense that it would sometimes completely obscure the highway...a total "white out" so to speak. No stripes or reflective markers could be seen. Throw in some insane lightning hitting all around us and it was pretty intenes to be certain. Thankfully, we made to Amarillo, tired but totally stoked after a wild, crazy, and fun day. :-)
To the pics!!
Just as the storm was getting cranked up. That little funnel feature to the left is NOT a true funnel cloud, but agitated scud under the rain-free base trying to form a wall cloud.
Looking really good at this point, but that precip core to the left is the little cell that would disrupt things.
A classic developing wall cloud which got Jay excited on this storm that we were about to abandon.
The fleeting funnel cloud on the cell further west. Amazingly, the rain curtains you see are from the storm we are on as it starts wrapping up into a hook.
This was south of Wheeler, TX with a beautiful scud cloud that quickly formed along the outflow/inflow interface that was the start of a new weakly rotating wall cloud.
An approaching storm in Roger Mills county, OK.
Impressive "convective" shelf cloud with a developing tornadic circulation (Dopplar indicated) further north where the road points to. This storm would quickly gain a tornado warning, but not sure if anything was observed.
A few minutes later as it moved over us.
I liked this shot with the developing wall cloud illuminated by lightning.
Now a few lightning pics to end. Not my best lightning stuff, but it's not bad.
In all the years I've chased, I've encountered some wild days. Yesterday's chase ranks towards the top to be certain. Jay McCoy and I chased together in the Texas Panhandle and W OK pretty much in Wheeler and Roger Mills counties. We saw many wall clouds including some that were rotating including a couple of violently rotating ones. We encountered numerous shear funnels and at least two bonafied well developed funnel clouds. The lightning was incredible as well with numerous close proximity hits and spectacular displays. It was wild!!
We elected not to go after the first storms that popped up near Canadian, TX and into NW OK. We stuck with a rapidly developing cell that popped up around Miami and appeared to remain a little more discreet. It continued to intensify and became severe warned as it moved near New Mobeetie into northern Wheeler county. The structure started getting it's act together with a beautiful, intense and sharply defined precip core. Just as it was getting organized and trying to develop a wall cloud, another cell that had fired SW merged with it temporarily disorganizing things.
We saw a rapidly developing supercell to the west of it along an obvious boundary. The cell was developing a classic hook on it as a result. I mentioned to Jay that it would produce a tornado. As we were about to give up on our original storm and trying to move westward towards the hooking storm, Jay noticed a rapid transformation with developing wall cloud on the storm we were leaving. This was an amazing and rapid evolution with every indication that we should pull over and gawk at it.
Sure enough, the wall cloud got organized and was exhibiting increasing rotation. We stayed with it as it was now moving east. At one point, we stopped at an intersection on Hwy 83 and watched very rapid and even violent rotation within the wall cloud and hooking precip core coming around behind it. We were in full video/camera mode watching it come together and expecting a tornado was imminent. It was incredible to watch!
One of the locals there in the parking lot with us repeatedly honked his horn which at first we ignored. He drove up next to us as we were fixated on the action in front of us. He finally convinced us to look west at a nice, well developed funnel cloud from the storm we were about to go after earlier!! LOL!! We quickly jumped into the behicle and got a vantage point to the west where we watched it dissipate...but got a couple of pics before it did. Our rotating storm we were on was now getting rain wrapped and moving off into questionable road networks. Drats!
For the next few hours, we would watch storms continuously develop hooks and develop new, wall clouds with various amounts of rotation. At one point when trying to get around one storm and into OK, we were sitting in the heavy precip core when we noticed a nice, slowly rotating funnel cloud nearly to the ground immediately to our north coming out of the precip shield.
We would end up in Roger Mills county in OK watching an incredible chain of storms each with wall clouds, suspicious lowerings, impressive shelf clouds with dizzying, rapid chaotic motions, and even some spectacular lightning which had joy and I cringing in the vehicle a few times. At one point after darkness fell, we watched one storm intensify and in the distance illuminated by lightning, we were observing what we though was certainly a fat little wedge tornado near Cheyenne, OK. We were at a distance though and could only see it with the lightning illumintating it, so we can't be 100% certain sicne we didn't discern power flashes with it. Interesting nonetheless.
Then some more drama was encountered when we punched the intense squall line along I-40 as we tried to get back to Amarillo. The rain and wind was so intense that it would sometimes completely obscure the highway...a total "white out" so to speak. No stripes or reflective markers could be seen. Throw in some insane lightning hitting all around us and it was pretty intenes to be certain. Thankfully, we made to Amarillo, tired but totally stoked after a wild, crazy, and fun day. :-)
To the pics!!
Just as the storm was getting cranked up. That little funnel feature to the left is NOT a true funnel cloud, but agitated scud under the rain-free base trying to form a wall cloud.
Looking really good at this point, but that precip core to the left is the little cell that would disrupt things.
A classic developing wall cloud which got Jay excited on this storm that we were about to abandon.
The fleeting funnel cloud on the cell further west. Amazingly, the rain curtains you see are from the storm we are on as it starts wrapping up into a hook.
This was south of Wheeler, TX with a beautiful scud cloud that quickly formed along the outflow/inflow interface that was the start of a new weakly rotating wall cloud.
An approaching storm in Roger Mills county, OK.
Impressive "convective" shelf cloud with a developing tornadic circulation (Dopplar indicated) further north where the road points to. This storm would quickly gain a tornado warning, but not sure if anything was observed.
A few minutes later as it moved over us.
I liked this shot with the developing wall cloud illuminated by lightning.
Now a few lightning pics to end. Not my best lightning stuff, but it's not bad.
posted by Steve Miller TX at 6/09/2008 07:36:00 PM
1 Comments:
Awesome shots, Steve. Lots of eye candy!
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