5/15 Pics, May Fizzle, David Drummond Video
I caught the big beast near Pampa, TX after getting there about 15 minutes after the visible tornadoes. I had hoped to leave work a little earlier. Ugh. Still, this was one helluva HP supercell that was rotating like a merry-go-round. There were all sorts of mid level bands streaking cyclonically into it. Pretty impressive!
Amarillo NWS is on top of things and already published a summary with pics HERE.
This was about the time of the last reported tornado. I was looking north into the wrapping precip core so if it was in there, I couldn't see it. The lower cloud mass was rotating pretty good.
Looking west as Pampa was under assault form high winds and baseball hail.
Approaching Lefors, Tx.
Just north of McLean as it tries to organize one more time...good rotation to the right of the green hail core.
Now we enter into a classic late July upper air pattern. A strong anticyclone aloft sets up over the plains bringing the chase season to a brutal and decisive end for awhile. And to add MORE insult to injury, a pronounced upper level low, very similar to a TUTT low, parks itself over the northern GOM and meanders around for quite awhile. In fact, believe it or not, a weak tropical depression is even forecast to form!!!!! This is like something out of a science fiction novel. Un-be-lievable! The result is that even with some glimmer of hope of some semblence of SW flow by next wekend, the TUTT-ish upper low will in effect seal off any sort of return flow from the GOM.
I'm thinking we'll be out of commission for at least two weeks regarding any good setups. There will be some opportunities for severe storms somwhere between TX and Canada, but it will overall be very slim pickin's for chasing and most likely high based stuff...for what little does form. Once again, May ends up in the crapper. Hopefully the atmosphere will complete it's cycle of identity crisis by the end of May and set us up nicely for June....the best month for Panhandle magic!
Lastly, my friend David Drummond captured some INCREDIBLE video of a tank battery fire and violent explosion near Lamesa, TX. It's being shown all over the globe by now and rightfully so. Even more incredible is that a large iron valve impacted his vehicle and knocking it out of commission. He's one lucky fella as are the courageous fire fighters that were even closer. This is certainly a classic video clip that will be around for many years to come and seen on various programs even longer than that. His work will join the ranks of other famous video captures we've all seen numerous times over the years. Congrats David! :-) Here are his two blog entries of both real time and slo-mo video clips:
http://daviddrummond.com/blog/2009/05/15/lamesa-tx-tank-battery-fire-explosion/
http://daviddrummond.com/blog/2009/05/16/lamesa-tx-tank-battery-fire-in-slow-motion/
Amarillo NWS is on top of things and already published a summary with pics HERE.
This was about the time of the last reported tornado. I was looking north into the wrapping precip core so if it was in there, I couldn't see it. The lower cloud mass was rotating pretty good.
Looking west as Pampa was under assault form high winds and baseball hail.
Approaching Lefors, Tx.
Just north of McLean as it tries to organize one more time...good rotation to the right of the green hail core.
Now we enter into a classic late July upper air pattern. A strong anticyclone aloft sets up over the plains bringing the chase season to a brutal and decisive end for awhile. And to add MORE insult to injury, a pronounced upper level low, very similar to a TUTT low, parks itself over the northern GOM and meanders around for quite awhile. In fact, believe it or not, a weak tropical depression is even forecast to form!!!!! This is like something out of a science fiction novel. Un-be-lievable! The result is that even with some glimmer of hope of some semblence of SW flow by next wekend, the TUTT-ish upper low will in effect seal off any sort of return flow from the GOM.
I'm thinking we'll be out of commission for at least two weeks regarding any good setups. There will be some opportunities for severe storms somwhere between TX and Canada, but it will overall be very slim pickin's for chasing and most likely high based stuff...for what little does form. Once again, May ends up in the crapper. Hopefully the atmosphere will complete it's cycle of identity crisis by the end of May and set us up nicely for June....the best month for Panhandle magic!
Lastly, my friend David Drummond captured some INCREDIBLE video of a tank battery fire and violent explosion near Lamesa, TX. It's being shown all over the globe by now and rightfully so. Even more incredible is that a large iron valve impacted his vehicle and knocking it out of commission. He's one lucky fella as are the courageous fire fighters that were even closer. This is certainly a classic video clip that will be around for many years to come and seen on various programs even longer than that. His work will join the ranks of other famous video captures we've all seen numerous times over the years. Congrats David! :-) Here are his two blog entries of both real time and slo-mo video clips:
http://daviddrummond.com/blog/2009/05/15/lamesa-tx-tank-battery-fire-explosion/
http://daviddrummond.com/blog/2009/05/16/lamesa-tx-tank-battery-fire-in-slow-motion/
posted by Steve Miller TX at 5/16/2009 05:59:00 PM
3 Comments:
Definitely something nasty looking hiding back in the precip there. We were watching this on radar at the station while Lubbock got pounded with Macrobursts yesterday.
Thanks for the comments on the fire video. Sorry for you guys, but I actually need a 2-3 week downtime to get switched out on chase vehicles! The timing of this could not have been better.
Great shots! I was on the other side.
-Steve
That storm WAS a beast!
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