06/13/10 Chase...

SPC Day 1 Outlook. SLIGHT risk over the TX and OK panhandles, north western OK, and the majority of KS.

06/13/10:

With the closing of the "official" chase season creeping up on us, I start to get a little desperate. I was originally targeting the TX/OK panhandles. but got suckered in along the dryline bulge in western, TX. I still managed to get some decent photos, however.

Thanks for the support.

-Ben

SPC tornado graphic. Note the 5% area over my original target.


SPC Hail graphic.



SPC High Wind graphic.




Right before I head out for the chase the SPC issues a mesoscale discussion. You can see the upper level trough, the residual outflow from earlier convection, and the dryline this makes up the triple point.

They replace the MCD with a tornado watch.

While out driving to my target area, a severe thunderstorm explodes over Dickens county. Intriguing! I get suckered in to shift my target to Paducah, TX.

On my way to Paducah! This storm had trouble staying organized.

Starts to look a little better now...

And I can see a little structure.

Driving right under the anvil here. You can start to see a little more structure and a base.

Almost there...

Spoke too soon! I reach a road block. The quickest route west and the bridge is out! The Paducah fire department was reporting penny size hail at this point.

Luckily there was a detour and these storm were only moving at 12kts. The detour takes me about 10min out of the way.

Finally reach Paducah. Now the storm is a multi cell mess that is trying to split. You can see a nice core here, though.

The storm starts to split, which was pretty cool to witness.

Velocity scans show a broad area of weak rotation.

The Core!

A wider shot to include some structure.

The northern cell starts to produce some serious precip. Nice rain "foot" on the leading edge.

This storm put on an awesome CG show while I was trying to set up my camera. By the time I got it all ready it stopped the CG barrage. But it still had a few strikes left.

100% crop of the previous frame. There was a tree that was struck less than a mile from my location. You can see the bolt goes behind the hill.

The storm has turned outflow dominant...

And merges into a line

I decide to bail on the storm and head back home.

On the way back. I had to grab this shot of the sprinkler system.

I probably should have payed more attention. The OFB (outflow boundary) extends down through the TX panhandle and the storm starts to reorganize.

Back in pursuit! This cell starts to look better.

Storm starts to split again.

I settle for the southern split and it starts to drop some precip. This was taken in Odell.

This was cool seeing the outflow winds stir up some dust in the field less than a mile away.

Wider shot.

The storm goes linear again and is moving into OK.

Head back home another cell pops up on the OFB. The sun is starting to set and the storms will die out pretty quickly.

I decide to watch the storm from a gas station near Vernon, TX. Not a bad way to end the day.


Storm reports for 06/13/10. There were only 7 tornado reports in the TX/OK panhandles.

Maybe the High pressure ridge will break down and we will have a few severe storms by the end of the month. Only time will tell.