What a WILD and crazy day yesterday chasing up in the TX/OK PH around Perryton and Balko. I gave up on the "Hwy 287" beast as it was exploding near Groom/Goodnight. I was only about 30 miles away from it, but kept staring down those 40-50 degree dewpoint depressions it was moving into. All of the mesoscale parameters were more favorable up in the NE TX PH. So much for that forecasting, eh? LOL! I'm still glad I made the choice though.
The best way I can describe my chase yesterday was a "festival of vortices" dancing around everywhere. If I use the most liberal tornado countinng methodologies out there, I saw at least 25-30. :-) In reality, I saw ALOT of weak to strong gustnadoes, RFD dirt plumes, 2-3 landspouts, perhaps a brief tornado or two which I'll classify more as "hybrids" between a gustnado and tornado/landspout. The latter I'm defining as moderate/strong rotation on the ground with rotation in the cloud base above it...but no discernable connection in between. That does not mean there wasn't though, but not to imply there was either. For the skeptics and stormchaser police out there, remember, mother nature doesn't always follow our rules and doesn't like to fit in a neat little box of definitions we conjure up in our minds. ;-)
In any event, it was pretty crazy and fun!! I was able to run my live chase cam a good part of the time when the action was at it's most intense. However, I have an obvious short in the firewire connector on my camera. It would cut out out everytime I'd pan it enough to cause tension on the connector from the cord. Frustrating. It was running long enough though for the NWS in Amarillo to see what I was seeing in regards to the spinups and vortices. They were watching for a good while in fact. I was on the phone with them too on occasion describing other things I was witnessing such as storm behavior and characteristics and better detailing what they were seeing on the video. Through these discussions, they went ahead and classified one of the more robust vortices/landspouts a brief tornado. I saw a couple of storm reports from the event of power lines and maybe a pole or two being downed in these same areas. So, there was damage done.
One of the more intense moments was when the notch of the hooking supercell started closing in around me SW of Booker, TX. As I was about to make good my escape, a couple of strong vortices sprouted up in a freshly harvested wheat field next to me. They quickly spun up and became tightly spinning, tubular, snakelike vortices no more than about 10-20 feet wide. They quickly grew in height to about 100 feet or more and "danced" with each other. All of this happened within seconds as I hastened my escape while watching them in the rearview mirror. Whew!
Anyway, the storm became outflow dominant as it couldn't move south fast enough to keep up with it. I think it also moved into drier air in addition to the dryline or surface convergance backing off a bit from it. I got a good rainbow pic off it as it dwindled. I also discovered a cool little county park/lake SE of Perryton called "Wolf Creek County Park". It's kind of odd as you drive down into a little valley which is full of big, old oak trees. It's quite a distinct contrast from the flat, semi-arid grasslands in that region. The lake looked full and even "fishy". I intend to pay a more extended visit there sometime.
Today, it's another chase day. Three in a row! Yipee! :-) I haven't decided on a target just yet as it's a complex situation unfolding.I'm thinking Plainview to Childress right now. Parameters look good for another round of severe, but I fear it will quccikly go linear and squally. We shall see. I'll be monitoring it closely.
OK, time for some pics! They don't capture the vortices however because I was concentrating on streaming video, talking to the NWS and running my VX-2100...all the while watching radar and plotting my routes. That's alot of work. :-) I'll try to do some video captures later and hopefully get some archive footage from the severestudios guys. Don't hold your breath in me getting that done anytime soon. ;-)
The "287 Beast" around Groom/Goodnight before I drove away from it.
My view north as I came through Perryton. Stormwood commenced. ;-)
Detect any rotation? And yes, it had this ragged appearence. This is looking NW as I sat a few miles north of Booker into the OK Panhandle. Stormwood is now stormgasm.
First big dust plume getting kicked up by RFD and lifted towards the updraft base. This would be close to Balko, OK.
It intensifies with a bit of a twisty motion on the right starting up with some rotation in the cloud base. Things got crazy soon after this and I didn't use the still camera much. Mainly busy with video, streaming, and chatting with the NWS.
Another of the sudden, strong RFD dust plumes that would kick up and then rotate...underneath a pretty good rotating cloud base. This is SW of Booker.
Same feature a few minutes later with more brief little "spinups" underneath the rotating cloud base.
Another in a series of little "spinups".
A parting shot.
The best way I can describe my chase yesterday was a "festival of vortices" dancing around everywhere. If I use the most liberal tornado countinng methodologies out there, I saw at least 25-30. :-) In reality, I saw ALOT of weak to strong gustnadoes, RFD dirt plumes, 2-3 landspouts, perhaps a brief tornado or two which I'll classify more as "hybrids" between a gustnado and tornado/landspout. The latter I'm defining as moderate/strong rotation on the ground with rotation in the cloud base above it...but no discernable connection in between. That does not mean there wasn't though, but not to imply there was either. For the skeptics and stormchaser police out there, remember, mother nature doesn't always follow our rules and doesn't like to fit in a neat little box of definitions we conjure up in our minds. ;-)
In any event, it was pretty crazy and fun!! I was able to run my live chase cam a good part of the time when the action was at it's most intense. However, I have an obvious short in the firewire connector on my camera. It would cut out out everytime I'd pan it enough to cause tension on the connector from the cord. Frustrating. It was running long enough though for the NWS in Amarillo to see what I was seeing in regards to the spinups and vortices. They were watching for a good while in fact. I was on the phone with them too on occasion describing other things I was witnessing such as storm behavior and characteristics and better detailing what they were seeing on the video. Through these discussions, they went ahead and classified one of the more robust vortices/landspouts a brief tornado. I saw a couple of storm reports from the event of power lines and maybe a pole or two being downed in these same areas. So, there was damage done.
One of the more intense moments was when the notch of the hooking supercell started closing in around me SW of Booker, TX. As I was about to make good my escape, a couple of strong vortices sprouted up in a freshly harvested wheat field next to me. They quickly spun up and became tightly spinning, tubular, snakelike vortices no more than about 10-20 feet wide. They quickly grew in height to about 100 feet or more and "danced" with each other. All of this happened within seconds as I hastened my escape while watching them in the rearview mirror. Whew!
Anyway, the storm became outflow dominant as it couldn't move south fast enough to keep up with it. I think it also moved into drier air in addition to the dryline or surface convergance backing off a bit from it. I got a good rainbow pic off it as it dwindled. I also discovered a cool little county park/lake SE of Perryton called "Wolf Creek County Park". It's kind of odd as you drive down into a little valley which is full of big, old oak trees. It's quite a distinct contrast from the flat, semi-arid grasslands in that region. The lake looked full and even "fishy". I intend to pay a more extended visit there sometime.
Today, it's another chase day. Three in a row! Yipee! :-) I haven't decided on a target just yet as it's a complex situation unfolding.I'm thinking Plainview to Childress right now. Parameters look good for another round of severe, but I fear it will quccikly go linear and squally. We shall see. I'll be monitoring it closely.
OK, time for some pics! They don't capture the vortices however because I was concentrating on streaming video, talking to the NWS and running my VX-2100...all the while watching radar and plotting my routes. That's alot of work. :-) I'll try to do some video captures later and hopefully get some archive footage from the severestudios guys. Don't hold your breath in me getting that done anytime soon. ;-)
The "287 Beast" around Groom/Goodnight before I drove away from it.
My view north as I came through Perryton. Stormwood commenced. ;-)
Detect any rotation? And yes, it had this ragged appearence. This is looking NW as I sat a few miles north of Booker into the OK Panhandle. Stormwood is now stormgasm.
First big dust plume getting kicked up by RFD and lifted towards the updraft base. This would be close to Balko, OK.
It intensifies with a bit of a twisty motion on the right starting up with some rotation in the cloud base. Things got crazy soon after this and I didn't use the still camera much. Mainly busy with video, streaming, and chatting with the NWS.
Another of the sudden, strong RFD dust plumes that would kick up and then rotate...underneath a pretty good rotating cloud base. This is SW of Booker.
Same feature a few minutes later with more brief little "spinups" underneath the rotating cloud base.
Another in a series of little "spinups".
A parting shot.
posted by Steve Miller TX at 6/16/2008 11:26:00 AM
5 Comments:
Great shots, Steve! I was watching this on your live camera, great stuff.
Great shots. I live in Perryton but was at youth camp. Do you know of anyone who was on the Childress storm? I'd like their take on the storm. I got a pic of a funnel over Childress from about 15-20 miles away. The damage in town was something from the wind damage/tornado damage to the hail damage.
My mom lives in Childress and called me Sunday night saying she thought the house was hit by a tornado and that she had windows out. I left youth camp and spent all day Monday helping her get things cleaned up.
Thanks Mr. McGowan. That's a nice compliment coming from such a photog as yourself. Thanks! :-)
Terry, thanks too. I do not know of any chasers on the Childress storm. I too would love to have read a report on it. I was very close in deciding to intercept it. it would hbe cool if you could post the photo. I think the NWS would be interested in it too. My friend Jay as a relative that lives in Childress and she reported the same thing. Windows out and trees down.
The NWS in Lubbock did a damage survey determining it was a severe macroburst...straight-line winds. Read more here:
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/docs/sr-getprodversion.php?pil=pns&sid=lub&format=PRETTY
got one pic on my blog.
www.youthminister2000.blog.com
Wow, Terry. That is a very cool picture! Based on the NWS pictures on the website I've linked below, this is a very severe wet macroburst....although it looks like a tornado. This is one of the most classic photos of such an event I've seen....more rare than a tornado. So, congrats on your catch. :-) I would suggest sending it to the NWS-LBB who did the survey there.
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/lub/events/2008/20080615_childress/index.php
http://www.mesonet.ttu.edu/cases/ChildressDownburst_061508/ChildressSummary.html
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