May 18, 2010
Tornado Alley
Today was beginning to sound like it was going to be a really good day for the Texas panhandle. Ron and I had a look at the models and it seemed that there would be a supercell developing somewhere around the New Mexico-Texas stateline, northwest of Amarillo and northeast of Tucumcari, NM, near the Dalhart area. SPC had issued a slight risk with a 10% tornado outlook for the panhandle. The winds were coming from the south, drawing in the moisture return from the Gulf of Mexico, and bringing with it the energy needed for storm initiation. There was also a dryline bulge and a triple point low in the risk area. With the helicities, moisture, instability and kenetic energy, things were just bound to come together into the risk area during the afternoon and early evening hours. There would be a risk of slow moving supercells, and we were hoping that one of these magnificent storms would become a right-mover where the backing winds were screaming in. There was an upper level jet right exit region, combined with a low level jet. And just hopefully, that would create sufficient low level shear to cause the storm to rotate and, possibly, generate tornadogensis. There would be a slight cap, which was great because if there was no cap, all that energy would be released too soon and become wasted, which would then in turn cause this setup to not pan out. On the other hand, a really strong cap isn't good either because that would limit the energy from rising and causing storms, so basically, having a slight cap is much better. It would hold things off until the time was right, and then the atmosphere would explode. Now that is what I'm talkin' about! Just enough to tickle your chaser bone and get you all excited, right?
We departed from the Econo Lodge in Hobbs, then went to go grab a bite to eat at Casey's. This is a neat little diner, complete with loads of Coke memorabilia covering the walls inch by inch. David, from France, had managed to delay his flight to Thursday from Wednesday, which was indeed great news, because tomorrow there was a possible tornado outbreak for Oklahoma. At 2:15, our crew made a pit stop at a Stripes gas station in Muleshoe, where we filled up on gas, and Ron checked things out on his laptop again. With a setup like this, you have to be certain on your target and be on top of things all the time, otherwise it could go downhill very easily. He told us that a mesoscale discussion had been issued from Muleshoe to just north of the Texas panhandle. By now, the locals here at the gas station had started to worry after seeing us, which we were quite used to since it seems to happen every time we pull in somewhere. I noticed a sign that read "Hartline Heating & A/C" which had a tornado on it. An omen? I also saw a solar halo.
The southerly winds were coming in nicely now, slightly stronger than this morning. Then, the first tornado watch went up. Southeast Colorado. There was no way we were not going to fall for that one. We made a target and are sticking to it. We just knew that a tornado watch would be issued for our risk area later on. We continued our trek northward. Now, the strong southerly winds were blowing dust in the fields. Some of the cumulus had even started to curl, a sign that shear was evident. Ron had decided it was best to book our hotel rooms early, in Dumas, given that hotels seemed to fill up quickly during severe weather outbreaks.
By 3 o'clock, we had made it to Friona. A nice field of cumulus was developing. A powerful stench had filled our noses... we had just went by a rather large Texas-sized feed lot. Finally, at 3:45, the tornado watch we had been waiting for was issued. When we reached the town of Vega, we decided to have a bit of a break. It was now time to play the waiting game, in which a lot of patience is required.
I hung around the parking lot, surveying the sky and the air. It was clear we were not the only ones with this idea... more storm chasers had decided to do the same thing, a tour group's van was parked at the other end of the lot and some other chasers were walking around. I saw a gentleman talking to David, Ben and Jerry, and decided to go up and introduce myself. It turns out, I knew this fellow from online communication. His name was Aaron Estman, and it was clear he was also antsy about today's tornado chase. He, too, was thinking of heading north of here just up the highway. By mid afternoon, the cumulus field was thickening and tcu's had started to build. We decided it was time we head off again to get into position.
We headed north on highway 385 towards Channing, and by 4:40, the first storm had gone up. It was already at 45,000 feet and had a 1 inch hail signature on the mobile threat net. The cap was breaking!
This storm looked like it would be it... it was now starting to rotate at the mid levels and it grew to 50,000 feet with 2 inch hail. It was moving northeast at 22 mph, and there was a rotation couplet showing up on radar. 60,00 feet. The storm was now starting to show superceullar structure. It had also developed quite a precip core. We drove around in the hail for a little bit, taking back roads and turning around to get back to the main highway. The hail was turning the roads white, and it had managed to add a few more cracks to Scott's windshield. Now I was becoming worried we would actually lose the windshield and end the chase, so I got on the radio and said to Ron, "We're going to lose the windshield!" to which he replied, "Just follow me!" So we finally made it out of the core, with a few new cracks but intact, and were back on the highway. Once the rain and hail had cleared, we saw the rain free base and an area of rising rotating scud, with scud drawing into it on the right side. WALL CLOUD, YES! It rose, rotated, and became more intact and organised.
We drove further away from the precip core and tried to position ourselves to get a good view of the wall cloud. We pulled over and got out. The winds were still quite gusty, and the motion in the storm clouds was something to see. The clouds were lowering, becoming surface-based, and the wall cloud had tightened and the rotation intensified. The clouds continued to spin, dancing in harmony. It became more organised.
I looked behind me, in the other direction. Another area of interest took my eye. Beautiful striations (another meso) had quickly developed and another classic wall cloud was forming. Oh dear. We were now between TWO wall clouds!!! A couple for the Vortex 2 mobile mesonets drove by. Then... a thin rope appeared underneath. A thin rope fully condensed, with a slight bend in it, kicking up a debris cloud. TORNADO NUMBER ONE! I quickly snapped a couple pictures knowing that most tornadoes' life-spans were generally short-lived.
I turned around to keep my eye on the first wall cloud. OH MY GOD! It was closer to us than before... we were in its path. And it had the most insane twisted, swirling motion I have ever witnessed in my entire chasing career.
It spun around quicker and quicker. Ron said to me, "We may have to go in a ditch". I continued to watch in awe, as the wall cloud was now like a classic cinnimon bun swirl. A quick glance behind me... the area where the rope tornado had formed now had a fully developed wall cloud, with what appeared to be a cone-shaped bulge protruding from the middle of the wall cloud.
I quickly look around to the first wall cloud, still twisted and rotating. It was reving up, it was bound to produce something! I look behind me again. The second wall cloud lost its shape, but there was now a beautiful white beaver tail extending from the meso. I turn around again.
The first wall cloud now tightened its rotation and then we saw it... a debris swirl began to kick up dirt in the nearby field. It spun quickly, moving towards our vehicles. Ron said, "Ok let's get in the ditch", and, my heart racing, we ran to take cover. I looked behind me, the debris was still swirling, the clouds were still twisting... for something so weak as far as tornadoes go, it still seemed to feel rather significant... being outside, right beside it. I kneeled down in the small ditch and watched it, as it neared the highway. It missed the vehicles, and the debris swirl and condensation had disappeared.
It was clear we were now dealing with something big... this storm appeared to be of the high-precipitation type, and cyclic. A cyclic supercell usually means business, producing wall cloud after wall cloud and numerous tornadoes. And they can last quite a while. It was still early in the chase and we had witnessed two wall clouds and two tornadoes. What else was this day going to bring? Now, I was getting really pumped. I always loved intense chases, and this was definitely going to be one of them.
We all got back inside the vehicles and continued on. We had encountered some more rain, then a short while after, to our right, was another area of interest. We pulled over, but stayed inside the vehicles. Ben said "Look at the funnel!". At first I couldn't see it, so I bent over and leaned forward. David rolled the passenger side window down. There it was... a long pointy grey funnel halfway to the ground, hung over a barren wet field. It grew a little bit bigger and lasted for a couple minutes, so I continued to snap photos, hoping to create a sequence of its life-span. Ben had his hi-definition camcorder rolling. We didn't want to miss anything. As it started to retreat and disipate, another area of rotation started to organise behind it, off to the left.
As soon as the long funnel disipated, the new area of rotation had a small funnel forming. Oh man! This storm just keeps on going! It continued to grow longer... halfway to the ground... longer... the funnel goes on an angle and bends... longer... then its condensation reached the ground. YES! We had another tornado! It lasted for about a minute, before weakening.
After that, we continued on down the highway. The rain intensified, the storm was now wrapping in precipitation, and it was still cyclic. We looked off to our right, again, and saw a wall cloud with scud-like fingers hang close to the ground. After several minutes, it tightened, and appeared to look like a large cone shaped funnel, but not quite... in fact, it was almost hard to tell what it was... it was pretty narrow and quite long, and it seemed to have a tail drawing in moisture near the top of this funnel-shaped cloud. Tornado? Wall cloud? Scud bomb? Unfortunately the rain made it harder to descern what it truly was... the fields were wet, so if this was a tornado, there wouldn't be any debris seen swirling underneath it.
I zoomed in with my camera. It was surrounded by grey and was low in contrast, but it did appear to be reaching the ground, and it did have that cone shape to it. It did look sort of like a tornado, so perhaps it was another one? Somehow, this wouldn't surprise me. If it was, then it would make it number 5 for us so far. It then started to thin out, until all that was left was a long trail of scud. However, some of this left over mass appeared to be roping out instead. I haven't seen anything quite like this before. It looked like scud in a way, yet as it was dying, it was roping out.
We continued down highway 87, as with many other chasers including Vortex 2. We encountered yet more rain, and some hail mixed in with it. Some hail was still on the roadway, making it seem more like a winter scene.
We could hardly see ahead through the precipitation. Through the rain, we could see the edge of the storm in the distance now, and there appeared to be yet another wall cloud developing. As we drove down a little more, Ron pointed out a darker, wedge-shaped area just behind some trees, of what appeared to be a wide weak tornado. It was hard to tell for sure though if it was indeed a tornado, with all the rain wrapping around, and I could barely see it clearly through the cracks in the windshield.
At 6 o'clock we encountered some more hail, just bigger than marble size. Fifteen minutes later, we decided to pull off the highway and have a look around. It was still hailing, but not as much. We could see a new meso just ahead of us, and a wall cloud developed in the distance. Then the hail started to really come down. Ron, who was outside of his car, got caught in the hail and ran to take cover. We drove ahead again to get out of the hail. The core just kept creeping up on us!
We pulled over and Ben and I huddled near the van because there was still a bit of hail falling. The wall cloud was still there, this time it was more of a bowl shape, and became more visible. The meso appeared more photogenic, with striations, and it had a bit of greenage. Then, Ben exclaimed "Ouch!". He got pinged in the head by a 1 inch spikey hail stone. Some of the stones falling were about 2 inches big now, and it was starting to come down harder, so we piled into the van quickly. The wall cloud we were watching was now wrapped in rain and hail, which made it hard to see. Scott had his window rolled and so did David, then David exclaimed "Whoa!" and jumped back in his seat. Scott started laughing. Somehow, by some unknown reason, one hail stone managed to fly in Scott's window, zoom straight past him and David and out David's window!
We got ahead of the core again and got out. The meso was still fairly bowl shaped and seemed to have some sort of beaver tail underneath it, which then eventually attached itself to the meso's base. I said to Ron, "This is the best chase of my life so far!". A pickup truck pulled off the highway just ahead of us, and a person got out of the passenger side. He approached Ron and asked him what the storm was doing.
We got into the vehicles once again and continued towards Dumas. A few minutes later, we saw a small fully condensed dark grey tornado form briefly just ahead of us, which appeared to be just on the outskirts of town.
Our storm was now beginning to right-turn and it had yet another hook forming on radar. As we neared the town of Dumas, I realized that the meso was now situated right over town and a wall cloud had formed. Oh no! Please spare the town! And we had rooms booked there for the night too! At 6:20, we went through Dumas, and the loud tornado sirens were blaring away. It was creepy. I rolled some video as we went through.
We made it through Dumas, which had quite a bit of traffic, a mix of locals and chasers. We saw more meso structure, and our position landed us pretty much right in the hook according to the mobile threat net. We got out and watched as the clouds were turning right above our heads. Ben noticed a flock of birds flying up in the clouds... the winds or updrafts up there appeared to be sucking the birds right into the storm! We took more pictures of the meso before Ron yelled to us that the rear flank was coming in. That meant strong gusty winds. We quickly loaded the van then continued down highway 152.
As if I hadn't seen so many wall clouds, another one decided to show up, this time on my right side at 6:40. I looked out the window which was streaked with rain, and noticed an area of greenage underneath another developing wall cloud. It continued to organise until it became a fully fledged merry-go-round wall cloud!
It kept rotating, then it began to tighten as we neared Stinnett. It tightened up so much that it became more like a column. The wall cloud seemed to split, then what looked like a wider tornado developed from it, wrapped in precip (thanks to Tony Laubach who took video of this, which confirmed what I was seeing).
We cleared the precip once more and pulled over one last time. I took some pictures of more structure, but it appeared our storm was beginning to lose its punch. Ron mentioned to us that the rear flank was weakening and that we should call it a day. We saw so much action today, that I was starting to lose count of all the wall clouds and tornadoes we saw.
We turned around and headed back to Dumas, where we pulled into an Econo Lodge. Ron apparently seemed pretty happy... he finally managed to get a nice crack in his windshield from the hail. He's been wanting to replace the windshield for a while because it had all sorts of chips and scuff marks in it.
As we all turned in for the night after dinner, Dumas was once again under a tornado warning. I heard hail and went outside. Marble sized hail was starting to accumulate in the parking lot. I continued to keep an eye on things, given how the day went, then after it was over, I went to bed. Tired but very, very euphoric.
