This afternoon, we “ferried” to Amarillo. On the way, heavy fog kept us going at a slow place. It was actually kind of scary there for a bit because we really couldn’t see the exits off the interstate (we took I-40 west from Clinton). In any event, we eventually got out of the murk just west of Groom, Texas (where the tall cross south of the interstate is stationed). We arrived in Amarillo and had a quick lunch at the local Wendy’s. After, we made a quick jaunt down to our target town, Tulia.
Upon arriving in Tulia, we waited for a while ('e ol' "hurry up and wait") and hoped that convection would form. To our southwest, we saw some hints of lift approaching the area: a band of relatively thick cirrostratus began to initiate showers in the dry air to our southwest. We reasoned that this was a pretty good sign, since the surface observations where these showers were occurring was characaterized by temps in the 90s and dewpoints in the mid-upper 30s! So, it seemed likely that condensation was occurring fairly high in the atmosphere (where temps were in the mid-upper 30s). After what seemed like an eternity, weak convection actually did develop, albeit slowly. The FC decided to target Silverton, Texas (to the east of Tulia) to put us in a central location, since convection was forming southwest and southeast of us (the latter along a warm front).
We lingered in Tulia for quite a while waiting for storms to show signs of rotation, but the deep-layer shear was apparently too weak to promote a quick transition from multicell to supercell. The FCs sent the teams northward toward a cell that showed some promise, but asked that the teams not go too far because of the potential for development in a cluster of cells to our southeast. Well, it seemed as though they did go too far: we were out of radio range. The FCs had a slight "panic" moment: they thought things were going to go bonkers to our east while all the teams scanned the piddly storm to our north. We (the FCs and I) were still in centrally-located Silverton, so we raised the mast for better communication (the mast is about 20 feet tall). About 5 minutes later, a strong gust of wind almost toppled the FC vehicle (which, by the way, is a converted ambulance). Fortunately, the FC vehicle did not turn over and the other teams began to make their way south. The FCs then targeted Turkey, Texas for the new storm, and everyone made their way eastward.
It was clear from the look of the storms that there simply wasn't enough moisture for tornadoes. The cloud bases were extremely high -- they seemed to go halfway up the troposphere. Not good for tornadoes. Nevertheless, they produced an excessive amount inter-cloud lightning, which was nice. We saw a mid-level funnel near Quitaque, which was pretty cool. Since it was getting dark, the FC called off the chase and we stayed the night in Childress.
Upon arriving in Childress, Sean Waugh, Brian Baker and I went east of town to shoot lightning. The lightning was really spectacular: a large number of cloud-to-ground strokes, inter-cloud flashes, and anvil crawlers kept us entertained for about an hour. They got some great shots, but I didn't have a tripod, so none of mine turned out. Still fun, though!
The armada waits for convection in Tulia, Texas.
David Dowell monitors convective trends.
Our high-based storm with a mid-level funnel.
See, I think you would have seen tornadoes yesterday had you gone to Taco Villa in AMA instead of Wendy's. One thing has nothing to do with the other, but just my 2 cents :)
ReplyDeleteSince your vehicle is a converted ambulance, you could see if they still have the difibulators in there and make some lightning on a day when you're dealing with the death ridge. Might be fun!
I saw some pictures of the lightning last night. Made me jealous. Oh well!