Storm Chase Details
Chase Recap:
An epic day of tornadoes west of Lubbock near Morton and we’d miss them due to scheduling constraints.
Morning Visible Satellite Loop (10am CDT/15Z)
I was not sold that I’d be chasing, but the consultant we were working with on a project with work cancelled on us. With a very visible/obvious outflow boundary across the Texas panhandle, I’d look at chasing. Chance also had an issue with his work, so we were able to leave Norman and head southwest as we both had an afternoon available.
We headed down I-44 with an original target near Childress. We’d adjust from there. The hope was to get something near Matador or just west of there towards Lubbock.
Afternoon Visible Satellite Loop
As we continued on, it looked more and more like we’d need to get way west of Lubbock, into New Mexico.
18Z SPC Mesoanalysis
NSSL LIDAR Sounding from Brownfield Texas
This sounding was posted to twitter as part of the NSSL project. The environment looked reasonably primed for a supercell or two along the boundary and likely tornadoes if things did go crazy. As the stable air carved out the Texas panhandle, it appeared storms were going to initiate along the west side of the boundary near Portales.
Stopping in Childress
With storms going up in New Mexico and the time constraints on getting back, we were not looking forward to going all the way to New Mexico. Chance had to be in Tulsa bright and early and a drive back from the NM border
We sat in Childress and watched all of the tornadoes on live streams just a couple hours west of us. There was plenty of time for us to get out there, but our own unwillingness to drive out there cost us a double-digit tornado count on the Morton supercell.
