06/02/10 Chase...

Severe thunderstorms form along a weak cold front extending down into north western, TX.

A cold front was forecast to make its way through our forecast area. The NWS and SPC issued a slight risk for portions of western north, TX. Moderate instability and lift associated with the weakening cold front spawned off a few isolated severe thunderstorms. I was at work until 6:00 on Wednesday. Although I wasn't expecting much from this chase (maybe a few CG lightning strikes) I was pleasantly surprised. A nice structured severe thunderstorm moved through Crowell, TX and I was able to capture some of its beauty. Here is the report.

Thanks for the support.

-Ben

06/02/10:

I manage to leave Wichita Falls around 6:15 and I blast north to Vernon, TX. On my way there I can already see some mature thunderstorms from my location.

Under the anvil of a severe thunderstorm in Guthrie, TX. These storms were moving at on 10kts.


Radar image showing the thunderstorms in Foard co. My GPS signal is the dot in a circle. I'm still pretty far off.

On the way up there I notice what appears to be inflow bands moving into this storm.

This storm didn't look too impressive on radar. I finally reach my target area and I am pleasantly surprised.

A nice photogenic storm! Not to mention, it was near a field with bales of hay.

Structure, hay bales, and a CG lightning barrage. Not too bad.

The storm started to get a lowering on it. While it wasn't rotating there was some definite rising motion.

Radar scan.

Velocity scan. Not much rotation in this storm.

I love picturesque scenes like this. This photo just screams "Texas"!

Very nice structure on this storm. Looks like another lowering struggling in the precip core.

Closer look, nice lowering with rapid left to right movement.

I used a little wider angle to accompany the wall cloud with the "stacked plates" structure in the frame.

Got to love those Texas storms!

CG strike out of the middle levels of the storm.

Most of the time the cold front will undercut the warm, moist, unstable air choking the thunderstorm. Unfortunately that is what happened.

Radar shows the storm starting to bow out, a sign of an outflow dominant storm.

Wide angle structure shot. This storm is very outflowish and I can feel cold air at this point.

It quickly becomes unorganized after sunset, but I am still left with some mamatamus clouds and another lightning strike.

Another excellent thunderstorm. But this looks like the last chase for a while. All of the storms look like they will be in the north. And it also looks like summer is coming earlier this year. High temperatures towards the end of the week are expected to reach 103 degrees Fahrenheit (105 heat index)! You can see more info by visiting this link.