Forecast Ramblings & New Blogs

Thursday continues to look complex with the latest 12z model runs. Notably, there is a trend with the models in slowing and strengthening this upper system. That trend will be interesting to watch over the next few runs.

It looks like a pretty good severe weather event to be sure for the eastern part of the plains with many modes of severe weather...mostly squall line stuff. The better vertical wind profiles are up in Iowa, but instabilities are almost nil. Closer to the southern plains, everything looks more like a linear type of event with line segments evolving into a squall after dark.

However, I am liking the southern portion of the action around the Red River Valley where westerly mid level flow and a nealy-stationary dryline along with moderate instability would present the best opportunity for an isolated supercell in an environment favoring some deviant movement. If the model trends continue, then the area I would be interested in would shift into North Central Texas. Stay tuned.

Further ahead, I'm actually much more excited about Sunday's potential in SW TX. More on that down the road since that is still a long ways off.

I'm adding some blogs to the list on the right. Be sure to take a look at them as they have received Tailchaser Seal Of Approval....for whatever that's worth....about as much as the AMS Seal Of Approval. ;-). If you aren't on there, let me know.

4/26/08 Report & Pics

First of all, my apologies to all those who were trying to access my live chase page most of the day Saturday. My hosting provider finally responded and fixed the problem just in time for the chase. Rest assured, one more major problem like that and I'll be switching hosts. If anybody has any solid recommendations for a hosting provider that will support JBoss server, please let me know.

In any event, I had a fun little chase on the cells around Post and Jayton. Myself, David Drummond, and Jason Boggs enjoyed a nice little show including some pretty decent lightning. These were really nice storms considering dewpoints in the upper 40's.

Earlier, while I was sitting south of Lubbock, I was treated to a really great dust devil show. I've seen my share of them, but these weren't the garden variety ones. Several of them were intense, multi-vortex devils. One in particular had distinct "mini-tornadoes" inside the main circulation. Hence, multi-vortex. I've got the video to prove it. I was even live-streaming these dudes too. I hope somebody got to see them. :-)

I also got to see a big advantage of using amber lights. With David in front of me in a blinding rain/hail storm with his amber lights flashing, I could not make out his vehicle nor red tail lights at any appreciable distance. I could though see the ambers quite clearly. So, for the amber lightbar police out there, pull your head out before you suffocate. I'll be putting some on mine very soon.

The cellular amp worked great and I only dropped video connection about 3 times during the chase, but was able to instantly reconnect. I was pretty impressed. David served as a bit of a guinea pig as he was right behind me running the same data service without an amp. It was a convincing side-by-side comparison. My live chase page was reportedly working very well too. I've got a few things to tweak on it, but I'm pretty happy with it after the considerable effort put into it.

Overall, I'm technically in good shape as we get into May. I received the new Jotto desk and will intall that in the next couple of days. The only equipment problem I need to work on is a sticky mic switch.

Okay okay....pictures!!!!

I Think I'll Mozy On Out

I will be running my LIVE CHASE PAGE today. Check it out!

While not an ideal setup, it is worthy of my making a trip to Lubbock today and watch how this unfolds. The 12z models are indicating a little more sluggish moisture return today and one of those "just in time" setups. The problem is...will it be before or after sunset?

Storms will fire first along the front plowing into the TX PH. Other storms will fire further south along a weak dryline, but how far south and when are the questions. The thermodynamics are by far better by 00Z from Lubbock S and SE of there where lower to upper 50Td will exist. So, storms will have to fire that far south to really get my attention. But, will they fire while the sun is still up?

Once they do, it appears the whole area of the PH, W and NW TX will really blossom as the upper energy rolls in from about 00Z onwards. By that time, better moisture will be in place and certainly some severe storms as a result. I just hope to catch something during daylight hours.

If something can pop during non-vampire-friendly hours, then the westerly mid level flow atop S/SE boundary layer flow and a NW/SE oriented moisture and instability axis would encourage some devient movers.

So, a target? The 12z RUC is pegging Lubbock to Midland initially and 100-200 miles or so east of there for the best dynamics with a couple of big storms by 00Z from LBB to MAF. The NAM keeps storms north of LBB through 00z in an unfavorable thermodynamic environment. Although the RUC has been horrendous this year with precip forecasts, I have to go where there are better dynamics. So, until things become more apparent regarding moisture return and potential initiation, Lubbock makes sense at this point to go and hang out.

BELTON, TX UNDER THE GUN!!!!!

8:40 PM - I need to go offline for the rest of the evening. I expect to be chasing tomorrow myself down around Lubbock or maybe S/SE of there. I've saved a bunch of radar images of this evening's supercell and will try to post them later in the week.

8:35 PM UPDATE - Still a very dangerous and potentially tornadic storm moving southward. Hook approaching Hutto. However, outflow boundary appears to be surging southward ahead of the storm according to radar. So, the storm *might* becoming a bit more outflowish. The whole area along the front is starting to fill in now, so maybe we are seeing a transition to a line segment. This monster storm produced 4.5 inch hail earlier near Mountain Home.

8:10 PM - UPDATE - Supercell bewtween Georgetown and Granger is still very dangerous. New updraft exploding now over Wier according to VILs. Storm appears to be developing a bit west of due south. Round Rock to Hutto to Taylor are going to be in danger.

From KVUE.com :
Tornado-producing storms ripped through Bell County leaving baseball sized hail and damage behind. There were five tornado touchdowns reported in the area according to Bell County Sheriff's Dept. The first touchdown was confirmed by radar near Morgan’s Point. Another tornado landed in the vicinity of the Belton Wal-Mart, but no homes or businesses were reported damaged. Bell County Sheriff’s Department also reported a tornado crossing Holland’s Main Street.

AT 746 PM CDT...LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT REPORTED FUNNEL CLOUDS NEAR WALBURG...MOVING SOUTH AT 13 MPH.

7:50PM UPDATE: Strong rotation near the west side of Granger. NWS-SAT better get their act together. They finally reissued the TOR after the other one had expired for nearly 10 minutes.

7:40 PM UPDATE - Storm is nearly over the radar site. Radar from San Antonio shows the storm is organizing again and is still very dangerous...now NE of Georgetown approaching Weir and moving south. Rotation is still strong.

7:32PM UPDATE: Tornadic cell is looking abit more disorganized, but still moving southward into a favorable airmass. Continued updraft propogation noted very near I-35. Still awaiting updates. Will post a radar image of the storm as it was over Belton.

7:01 PM A DEVELOPING TORNADO WAS LOCATED 4 MILES NORTHWEST OF HOLLAND...MOVING SOUTH AT 21 MPH.

7:02 PM UPDATE - Tornadic storm still moving south with strong rotation. Awaiting reports on damage in Belton. It is densely populated and the tornado could have moved along and near I-35. In addition, baseball and softball hail pummeled Belton and I-35 likely resulting in extensive, severe damage to numerous vehicles. Again, still awaiting some sort of information feed.

6:20PM MEDIA REPORTS TORNADO ON GROUND NEAR FIRE STATION 2 IN BELTON

AT 629 PM CDT...STORM SPOTTERS AND DOPPLER RADAR OBSERVED A TORNADO. THIS TORNADO WAS LOCATED NEAR BELTON...MOVING SOUTH AT 18 MPH. STORM SPOTTERS OBSERVED POWER FLASHES AT THE INTERSECTION OF HIGHWAY 190 AND INTERSTATE 35 AT 628 PM CDT...ASSOCIATED WITH A TORNADO ON THE GROUND.

AT 622 PM CDT...STORM SPOTTERS AND DOPPLER RADAR OBSERVED A TORNADO. THIS TORNADO WAS LOCATED IN BELTON...MOVING SOUTH AT 16 MPH.

AT 607 PM CDT...STORM SPOTTERS AND DOPPLER RADAR OBSERVED A TORNADO NEAR BELTON..MOVING SOUTH AT 16 MPH.

A Saturday Chase? Finally?

Well, glad I stayed home yesterday as I see I didn't miss much. LOL!! That was a brutal supercell up along I-70 yesterday and last night. I watched it along with Kory Hartman's streaming video which was a great way to spend an evening while working on a project. Anything south of I-70 remained firmly capped as the dryline, in my opinion and as I mentioned yesterday, just didn't have the "oomph" to punch the cap. I saw some Cu trying to go up near Pratt and in SW OK, but the attempt was pretty pitiful. The 850mb winds remained abit too veered for too long. So, on to tomorrow.

Latest 12z models indicate a decent potential for tomorrow. As to exactly where, that's anybody's guess right now. The main thing for now is that models are a tad more aggressive with return flow and dewpoints into the upper 50's and touching on 60. This isn't bad considering the surface temperatures are forecast to remain below 80F.

The veering profiles should be pretty awesome with SE low level flow quickly veering to SW and W at 700mb and 500mb respectively. SRH values should be 200+. A dryline is forecast to setup along the I-27 corridor down into SW TX. There is some indication that a weak warm front sill exist around the region anywhere from I-20 northward to the NW TX are with the GFS showing it further south...likely owing to it's 18Z precip breaking out there. The NAM breaks out precip later. Both models showing pretty good areal coverage of precip, so storms will definitely form and like a couple of days ago, could lay down a boundary to work with.

One place I would not want to play is the TX PH because of the cold front forecast to plunge south. The upper level pattern supports this idea, so I'm not considering that as a play...plus the thermodynamics just aren't that good compared to further south.

It's Saturday and I'm going to take full advantage of it and chase. I'm thinking it could be a sleeper event until the first TOR goes off. My thoughts at this time are Lubbock to San Angelo as the general target area simply because of so many variances....including moisture return. A good, hearty analysis in the morning over grits, eggs, bacon and coffee will definitely be in order before I apply for a line of credit to afford the gas to drive down there. :-) More in the morning.

Yesterday & Today

21z UPDATE: Dryline made it to around the HWY 183 corridor in OK where it appears to have stalled. I see two spots I like. Just W or SW of Pratt and in OK around Carnegie/Lawton. I think those are best spots for initiation based on recent surface analysis. I'm eyeing a little Cu in NW TX too, but I believe the cap just too strong. For me, too far east for a worknight. I'll wait and hope for Saturday's setup.

A big, hearty congratz goes out to my bud David Drummond and Graham Butler for a great chase yesterday intercepting two tornadoes. They live-streamed a nice tornado too...and the FIRST EVER live stream of a tornado in the Lubbock media market. Awesome!! Unfortunately, I was committed to a work-related project and wasn't able to cut out until around 4pm. Time and distance prevented me from joining in on the fun. I certainly hope the company understands the depth of my sacrifice and committment to them. :-)

It was a classic setup of a stationary outflow boundary/warm front with strong insolation on either side of it. Throw in some moderate instability and shear and presto...tornadic supercells. There were all sorts of purple polygons (tornado warnings) all along that boundary and warm front along the I-20 corridor. There was some damage in Snyder and around Morgan Mill in Erath county from tornadoes. I've not seen any official NWS reports concerning Snyder, just based of some chase reports. Some gorilla-sized hail up to softballs were reported near Lamesa causing severe damage according to David. The I-20 corridor so far this season has been repeatedly ravaged. Interestingly, DFW gort smacked again by a bow echo and a classic, well-pronounced comma-head vortex. I think they've had more significant severe weather this season than in the past several years.

An interesting thing to note too was the big "daisy cutter" bomb that mother nature dropped around Plainview. This "cold pool" bomb obliterated the atmosphere over the entire TX Panhandle and everything north of Hwy 180 in W TX. Dewpoints went from the 60's to upper 40's as a result thus crushing any hopes for chasing in these areas. That is one of the more extreme "turnovers" in the atmosphere I've seen. Jay and I dropped south west of Happy to see a very elevated storm that didn't last long. At least we had a good dinner in Canyon to offset the sting of missing the fun way further south.

On to today.....it looks like we get to play "pin the dryline on the weathermap". The models (12z RUC/NAM) want to shove it well into west-central Oklahoma by this afternoon and mix out the moisture along it due to a SWerly component of the 850mb winds. At this point, I'm not so sure it will make it that far east.

Upper level energy today will be back over Wyoming/Utah and making a move eastward. Interestingly, the models all show rapid cyclogenesis in the SE CO area late this afternoon...and this makes sense. With pressure falls that far behind the dryline, I find it hard to believe it will mix too far east before putting on the brakes. I would also think the 850mb winds would back pretty quickly too and reduce the moisture mixing out just ahead of it. It will be interesting to see how it unfolds. My thoughts are that the dryline will make it just to the TX/OK border today.

The other problem is a stout cap today with little in the way of upper level energy to help bust it. It looks like a situation where we need strong dryline convergence to get a parcel to bust through. That may indeed happen early on, but with the cyclogenesis ensuing later today further west, it's a classic ingredient for a crawfishing dryline (that meas a retreating dryline for you city folk) right about the time storms might pop. I'm a seasoned veteran when it comes to such scenarios watching many a storm quickly die as it loses the needed boundary layer convergence, in the absence of any notable upper air support, to help sustain it.

So, for me, I will likely stay home today...mainly because of gas being $3.50 or more. It certainly changes the decision equation for chasing setups with a high bust potential. If the scenario looks more favorable to sway my decision to chase, I'll update the blog this afternoon.

Beyond today, Saturday is offering an opportunity with dryline and WNW flow aloft atop SE flow at the surface. If we recover some dewpoints into the middle and upper 50's, this could be an interesting one for some monster hailers and incredible storm structure. Too many details this far out though yet to be resolved.

Next week is up in the air, but mostly looks like a calm period. As we look at entering May, the medium range models have been very consistent for awhile showing a nice, broad upper trough pattern over the western CONUS and a resident dryline sloshing around tornado alley. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

A Caprock Humdinger

2030z UPDATE: The entire atmosphere north of Hwy 180 (south of LBB) has been smacked hard today. I watch and drool and cry as the tornadic supercells along the OFB on Hwy 180 march along...and I sit here in Amarillo. Dewpoints here and Hereford are in the upper 40's with 50's pretty common. It looks like hailers for my neck of the woods this go 'round. So, I'm not going to be in a hurry to get out of here nor make a long trip. There is still the smallest window of opportunity for a chase, but it's pretty slim. $3.50 gas here in Amarillo today makes it a easy decision to hang close to home given the situation.

1730Z UPDATE: Pretty messy out there. But, it's quite obvious that the area south of Lubbock along and just north of I-20 is the play of the day. Nice OB and prime, virgin airmass should result in some real beasts and tornadic supercells. Unfortunately for me, I'm committed to a client project and absolutely cannot hit the road until about 4pm. That sucks because the whole I-27 corridor region has been smacked by ongoing precip. Surface temp readings are in the upper 50's which will advect into the sunnier regions of the W TX PH and E NM. However, enough instability with such crazy veering profiles doesn't put that area closer to home out of play entirely. I will be out, but just closer to home. Wish me luck.

It's a fixin' to storm. Get granny ready for a run to the cellar. Makes sure there's plenty of vittles in there and candles too. Ma Nature is coming to the caprock today to unleash her fury upon the reddened earth dotted with pumpjacks and jackrabbits.

For this stormchaser, the maiden chase on the caprock is akin to an official ribbon cutting ceremony complete with all of the pomp and circumstance....and good BBQ :-) I just hope it pans out and not get washed out by extensive precip.

So far this morning, the precip has been practically nion-existant except along the RR Valley in SW OK along a warn front there. Said warm front blends into the area along I-20 near Midland. The million dollar question for today is where it will end up...AND when/where/how much precip we are going to get today in advance of the big show. It is apparent that the lead impulse is already in S NM, so the precip/grunge fest is about to ensue later this morning. RUC forecast is pretty consistent with the 00Z NAM and depicts an area W and SW of Lubbock to remain unmolested and heavy prcip N and NE of Lubbock. I've got nothing else to go with, so I'll bite.

That makes me think the precip-induced warm front will get as far north as Lubbock today. Thus, the best warm sector setup . However, the current warm front or a secondary one will translate/evolve over the PH too according to the RUC forecast. This makes some sense owing to the current position over the RR Valley. The only problem with the PH is the threat for widespread convection severely working over the atmosphere. But, if the dryline hangs further west by the TX/NM border, there might be enough insolation to make the W portions of the PH an interesting play.

After some elevated hailers early today, the second round could prove to be a pretty vicious one with monster hail and a few tornadoes...particularly along the warm front or any boundaries present. The 0-3km veering profiles and SRH will be quite strong and impressive. Look for some beautifully sculpted storms too.

So, off to work I go. There's still LOTS of detailed variables to play out today of the type models really can't resolve. Granny is eyeing this one though with a bit of suspicion. ;-)

I'll be out there unless it really goes to crap. Follow along on my LIVE CHASE PAGE which I've gotten spiffied up abit. It's still not perfect, but works pretty darned well in tests. I'm runing a stable GPS now, so my position should be pretty accurate and reliable. The live streaming video should be working great too as I'm running the strongest cellular amp available.

Bone Dry & Wednesday's Potential

Right now, a station in SE NM is reporting a temp of 84F with a dewpoint of -13. Throwing that in the humidity calculater = 0%. That's a whopping 97F dewpoint depression. That puts the LCLs in orbit with the space station. LOL!! Wink, Texas is abit more humid with 95F and -1F dewpoint. That's a whopping 1% humidity.

With all of this dry air in place, we should see some incredible drylines the rest of this season. It is going to be interesting to see how this plays out on Wednesday's setup. My thinking is such dry air could be a double-edged sword for chasing.....particularly in W TX and the PH. Any sort of slightly veered 850mb to 700mb winds would result in a thermonuclear cap and suppress convection like a Chinese riot squad thus needing a stronger impulse aloft to help bust it.

On the otherhand, the drier the air, the more dense it is. So, with much stronger/sharper drylines this season, the boundary layer convergence should be stronger. The drier air will also heat alot more than usual in comparison to the humid air to the east. I would expect this to result in stronger supercells along the dryline as well as stronger 0-3km lapse rates. More landspout opportunities perhaps?

I also wonder with stronger differential heating along the dryline, will there be more/better mesoscale lows and circulations developing along the dryline?

Lots of questions to ponder for sure. This will certainly be an interesting season for the caprock. Like I said, the first test comes this Wednesday.

The models so far are advertising a good setup for tornadic supercells. To some extent, it is starting to look similar to 5/15/03. I'm already targeting Stratford...lol. The one important ingredient will be plentiful moisture to work with as the PH gets it's first real honest-to-goodness moist upslope return flow of the storm season. With a warm front and merging dryline evolving over the PH and W TX with modest westerly flow aloft atop SErly flow at the surface, it looks like a prime setup. More later of course as we get closer.

Thursday has potential too as I see a trend in the models to slow the upper air progression and relaxing the amplitude abit. A rest period for Friday and then, Saturday is now starting to come into play with the latest model runs. The storm system mid week is not advertised to be as strong, so the warm, humid airmass won't go too far and return flow will be rapid. Stay tuned.!!

When Words Aren't Enough

$3.45 in Amarillo today. I'm certain $4 by mid May.

Alrighty then....

Well, an interesting little "test run" today. As I got near Canadian, the high-base towers going up looked fairly healthy. Although there was no radar around in precip mode, it looked like one cell got some hair on it's chest before it eventually evaporated. With a rapidly crawfishing dryline, the necessary surface convergence dwindled and thus the storm with it. Upper analysis shows that the upper air support was still pretty far west....lagging. At least I nailed my target dead on today as it erupted just about on top of Arnett. I shoulda got a lottery ticket on the way home. :-)

At least I got to evaluate all the new stuff I created. I discovered that the little java widget for uploading my GPS position failed around Pampa and would not work the rest of the evening. In fact, it did something to COM2 port as GR3 could see it, but would not stream anything from it. It also would not share that port. So, after already spending too much time on that, I'm going back to GPSGate. It's already proven and it's stable. I'll go back to doing java on the server side of things. :-)

Everything else seems to work great. I'm still tweaking the video streaming settings. Jay McCoy was monitoring it for me (thanks Jay!) and giving me some feedback. There seems to be a problem with the stream on the user's end freezing alot. It seemed to stop when I dropped the frame rate to 7. The problem is, I have no way of knowing how it comes across to the user when I'm out there. So, I won't know which setting to use. I'll try a compromise of 10fps and see if that works. At least I got to stream the season's first pretty sunset. lol

Anyway, I'm pretty happy with the way my live page is working out. After getting back to GPSGate, I think I'm ready for the potential chase-o-rama next week.

Oh, my email is now working properly. I'll do my best to catch up on emails. If you sent one Sunday or Monday, I may not have gotten it. Please resend. :-)

Waving The Green Flag (I'm chasing today)

If I;ve said it a hundred times before, I'll say it again....watch my LIVE CHASE PAGE late this afternoon. The link is to your right. :-)

After a glance at the data and recent RUC, I'm going to head E or NE of Amarillo this afternoon to see what I can see. My "target" right now is Arnett, Oklahoma which is SW of Woodward near the TX/OK border. However, I will be closely watching where the mini-triple point sets up as the models nor myself are sure how the rapidly developing surface low over S Colorado and N/NE New Mexico will affect the mesoscale position of the surface features by this afternoon.

I do like the RUC position of surface features as I think they make more sense. I also like that it is trying to pool some 60Td in NW OK, although I think that's abit optimistic. I think mid 50's instead. I also believe that the 1630z SPC outlook isn't positioned correctly...considering how the front is already south of the slight risk into the N TX PH up into S Central KS. It appears to have a pretty good push. I expect they will shift it southward into NW OK at 20z and include the eastern border counties of the Texas Panhandle and the border counties of KS. We'll see.

But, it's safe to say that Amarillo to Woodward will have something pop. The second question is before or after sunset? If the moisture convergence and pooling is deep enough, along with strong insolation, then I think something will pop by 6pm. The surface flow convergence certainly looks strong enough.

I cannot ignore a setup with the mid and upper flow roughly parallel to the surface boundary/front with an approaching upper air system. Sure, the moisture isn't adequate for a sure bet of tornadoes, but I think there is a decent possibility of landspouts. Plus, I'm sure storm structure will be great along with a nice opportunity for some good lightning photography when it gets dark. Plus, there won't be a massive chaser convergence which is an added bonus. I'm not being pissy, just that it's nice to enjoy the storm to yourself every once in awhile without worrying about the stormchaser police monitoring lightbars and antenna counts. :-)

So, check out the live chase page and let me know how it goes this afternoon and evening. And don't be surprised if I totally bust and not see a darned thing either. LOL!! I want to field test a bunch of stuff in anticipation of the chase-o-rama setting up next week.

Live Chase Page v1.2 & Email Problems

http://texastailchaser.com/livechase/

I've added some things to it like auto-center on my GPS position and the ability to hide the radar overlay. The GPS stuff is updated to use my own little java gadget to upload my GPS location to my own server. I also got the video auto-refresh updated to limit the number of times it tries before prompting user. This will save much bandwidth for any pages left idle. I know the guys at SevereStudios.com will appreciate that. :-)

I am still continuing to have email problems. I can get access to the mailbox and even send emails to it. But for some bizarre reason, the emails are not getting pulled...or even there. I put in a ticket with the new hosting provider, but so far, their slow response (after claiming such wonderful technical support) isn't making me a happy camper. They know not who they test. ;-)

Hopefully, with a little luck, I'll be able to do a little field test tomorrow with my new technological creations. The dryline may hold closer to home and fire off a nice elevated severe storm if I'm lucky. These types of setups are usually good lightning producers if we can realize a little CAPE. We'll see. Next week could be quite a severe weather factory for the plains. Stay tuned.

Hosting Provider Migration

UPDATE: I seem to be having trouble getting the email server domain transferred. I hope to have that resolved this evening. If I don't respond to an email you've sent since yesterday (Sunday) by week's end, please resend. :-) I also noticed some of my blog pictures aren't loaded. I'll get that fixed too. Thanks for your patience!

For anybody that noticed some quirky things going on with my website the past 24 hours, I've been migrating to a mucho better hosting service. I've got my own private JBoss now so that I can really get into some deep server-side java stuff. This should free me up to do some neat things in the future. Visitors should also enjoy a little better performance as well as stability. Changes will be slow during chase season, but should see more this summer.

Taking a close look at the models, it appears Wednesday might be a structure day, but no tornadoes as the dewpoint spreads will be around 30F or more. I won't be going far to see them, but hopefully the dryline will park along the I-27 corridor so I can drive outside of town and gawk. After Wednesday, it appears we will have to wait until Saturday at the earliest and more likely Sunday-Tuesday. Next week could be a very active one. Stay tuned!!

DFW Summary & Looking Ahead

After excrutiating over my taxes, they are finally done. With the move and house sale along with investment activity, it was pretty painful trying to sort through all of the records and try to enter it in the correct place. The tax code is far too complex. At one point this morning, I was ready to arm my musket, put on my patriot hat, and march on D.C. to declare my independence. :-)

Anyway, the NWS released a nice summary of the storm events last week in northern Texas. They included the survey done in Collin County around Allen and southern fringe of McKinney, where I used to live. Check it out for the final report and nice graphic:

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/fwd/April0910/april0910.htm

Today is also the one-year anniversary where DFW dodged another potential significant tornado event. The NWS has a page about it:

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/fwd/torradar041307.htm

I have my own radar summary page too:

http://texastailchaser.com/special/20070413/

As far as the week ahead, chase opportunites startup Wednesday and get better this weekend into early next week. The problem we have is that the recent and current system flushed all of the moisture down to the equator (figuratively speaking....don't pull a rdale on me). It is going to take considerable time to get the GOM basin recovered. Moisture is going to be an issue for the next 7 days.

But, even with 50F dewpoint here in the PH, storms can be quite intense and photogenic. So even on Wednesday, we should have at least a slight chance. Thursday might be better for the eastern half of OK and TX where better moisture and strong upper dynamics will come into play. It will also be in the hiils and trees. I'll be quite content to wait for the Caprock to start popping soon. :-)

I'm also migrating my website to another hosting service that better supports MySQL and JBoss for some things I'm working on. So, if you see this blog or my other pages disappear, it will only be for a short while. It shouldn't, but you know how that goes.

Lastly, I finally cracked the wizardry and alchemy of getting a java app to work nicely with windows ports so that I can grab GPS data and upload it to my server for tracking purposes. It works great getting the data to my site. I just gotta configure it and format it to work with the GoogleMaps widget in my live chase page. Speaking of which, I'll be tweaking it over the next few days as well.

That's it from Amarillo.

Mother Nature Smacks Texas

What a wild and crazy day across my home state yesterday. After a round of some elevated hailers across the Panhandle, the atmosphere reached an explosive state by afternoon south of a warm front from the Permian Basin into the Arklatex.

A brutal monster of a supercell erputed near Sweetwater and twisted it's way to Texoma. It was a very impressive and powerful supercell on radar. Breckenridge, one of my favorite towns in Texas, took a hit as a significant tornado plowed through the south and east parts of town. It would continue to wreak havoc with a few more tornadoes before it crossed the Red River west of Sherman. As it approached the town of Whitesboro, where my sister and niece live, I was on the phone with them as they took shelter. I watched as the center of rotation on radar passed directly over them. A stormchaser reported seeing a tornado roughly NE of Whitesboro.

Then, a very powerful squall lines developed later that night and bulldozed across the norther part of the state. This mini-derecho produced incredible amounts of severe damage mostly around the DFW Metroplex. It even eclipsed the big derecho event back in 1996. The NWS is busy performing damage surveys, but I strongly suspect two or three embedded tornadoes in the squall line are responsible for the worst damage. Still, straight line winds were measured at 75+ mph at several locations. I suspect some localized downbursts exceeded 100mph. I look forward to the official NWS assessment.

One of the best reports of the event I've seen so far is by the Dallas Morning News (click here). They have lots of pictures and photos as a well written summary of all of the damage. Initial estimates are $20 million in damage and expected to go much higher. Other notable news coverage is KXAS TV (click here)

As I'm writing this, the NWS reports are coming in. An EF1 tornado is confirmed in DeSoto and in Johnson County. They are still putting together their information, and I'm sure they will be working tomorrow too. Here is a great radar presentation of the events:

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/fwd/April0910/april0910.htm

I'm going to repost the reports since URLs tend to change. As always, a great report. I'll report any additional survey reports in seperate blog post.

DFW METRO

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENTNATIONAL
WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX
845 PM CDT THU APR 10 2008

...PRELIMINARY RESULTS OF DAMAGE SURVEYS IN TARRANT...COLLIN...DALLAS...AND JOHNSON COUNTIES FROM EARLY MORNING STORMS ON APRIL10TH...

A SURVEY TEAM FROM THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN FORT WORTH SURVEYED DAMAGE THURSDAY AFTERNOON FROM THUNDERSTORMS IN THE DALLAS-FORT WORTH METROPLEX EARLIER TODAY. THE WIDESPREAD WIND DAMAGE RESULTED FROM AN INTENSE LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS THAT DEVELOPED INTO A BOW ECHO AS IT APPROACHED THE METROPLEX. THE TERM BOW ECHO DESCRIBES THE RADAR PRESENTATION OF THE STORMS...WHICH ACCELERATES OR BOWS OUT AS A RESULT OF THE STRONG WINDS.

WHILE MOST OF THE DAMAGE SURVEYED SUGGESTED STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS OF 70 TO 75 MPH...AT LEAST TWO TORNADOES OCCURRED WITH AN INTENSE CIRCULATION ACROSS NORTHEAST JOHNSON COUNTY AND SOUTHERN DALLAS COUNTY.

THE JOHNSON COUNTY TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN NORTH OF ALVARADO NEAR HAPPY HILL AT APPROXIMATELY 330 AM CDT AND TRAVELED NORTHEAST FOR APPROXIMATELY 3 MILES TO PLEASANT POINT. SEVERAL HOMES SUSTAINED SIGNIFICANT ROOF DAMAGE...AND AT LEAST THREE HOMES WERE CONSIDERED TOTAL LOSSES. MANY SHEDS...DETACHED GARAGES...AND OTHER SMALL OUTBUILDINGS WERE DAMAGED OR DESTROYED. SEVERAL TREES WERE UPROOTED...AND AT LEAST TWO FELL ONTO HOMES. POWER LINES WERE DOWNED THROUGHOUT THE AREA. THIS TORNADO IS RATED EF-1 WITH ESTIMATED WINDSPEEDS OF 90 TO 95 MPH. THE PATH WIDTH IS ESTIMATED TO BE APPROXIMATELY 50 YARDS WIDE.

THE SECOND TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN IN DESOTO AT APPROXIMATELY 4 AM IN THE CENTRAL PORTION OF THE CITY ALONG MEADOWBROOK ROAD JUST WEST OF HAMPTON ROAD AND TRAVELED EAST-NORTHEAST TO NEAR THE EASTERN LIMITS OF THE CITY JUST NORTH OF WINTERGREEN ROAD. AGAIN...SEVERAL HOMES HAD SUBSTANTIAL ROOF DAMAGE...WITH ONE HOME NEAR THE BEGINNING OF THE TRACK LOSING THE MAJORITY OF THE ROOF. MANY DOWNED TREES WERE OBSERVED ALONG WITH DAMAGE TO SHEDS AND OUTBUILDINGS. POWER POLES AND POWER LINES WERE ALSO DOWNED. THIS TORNADO IS ALSO RATED EF-1 WITH ESTIMATED WIND SPEEDS OF 95 MPH AND A PATH WIDTH OF 40 YARDS.

MORE ISOLATED DAMAGE WAS REPORTED SOUTHWEST OF THE TORNADO ACROSS SOUTHWEST SECTIONS OF DESOTO...BUT THIS DAMAGE WAS MORE SCATTERED INNATURE AND APPEARS TO BE THE RESULT OF STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS.

THE SURVEY TEAM ALSO SURVEYED DAMAGE IN THE MID CITIES AREA AND INTOSOUTHWEST COLLIN COUNTY IN PLANO. WHILE MUCH OF THE OBSERVED DAMAGE IS CONSISTENT WITH HIGH-END STRAIGHT LINE WINDS OF 75 TO 80MPH

...ADDITIONAL INFORMATION IS BEING GATHERED FROM THESE AREAS FROMEMERGENCY MANAGEMENT OFFICIALS AND EYEWITNESS ACCOUNTS...AND THIS ASSESSMENT SHOULD BE CONSIDERED PRELIMINARY.

THIS DAMAGING LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS WAS PART OF ONE OF THE MOST ACTIVE 24-HOUR PERIODS IN RECENT NORTH TEXAS WEATHER HISTORY. WE WILL CONTINUE REVIEWING THE METEOROLOGICAL DATA AND THE DAMAGE ACROSS OUR AREA TO DOCUMENT AS FULLY AS POSSIBLE THE IMPACTS OF THIS SIGNIFICANT EVENT. WE WILL PREPARE AND DISTRIBUTE ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS AS THE INFORMATION BECOMES AVAILABLE.

$$BUNTING

======================================================================

STEPHENS/PALO PINTO COUNTIES

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX
545 PM CDT THU APR 10 2008

...PRELIMINARY RESULTS OF STEPHENS/PALO PINTO COUNTY DAMAGE SURVEY...
ON TUESDAY APRIL 10...STAFF FROM THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN FORT
WORTH TOURED DAMAGE AREAS IN STEPHENS AND PALO PINTO COUNTIES.
PRELIMINARY FINDINGS FROM EACH SURVEY ARE GIVEN BELOW.

...STEPHENS COUNTY..
BASED ON GROUND AND AERIAL SURVEYS OF THE DAMAGE AREA...IT APPEARS
TWO TORNADOES OCCURRED IN STEPHENS COUNTY. THE FIRST TORNADO
DEVELOPED ALONG FARM ROAD 576 EAST OF THE EOLIAN COMMUNITY. TREES
AND A SHED WERE DAMAGED WEST OF THE INTERSECTION OF F.M. 576 AND
F.M. 3418. A LARGE METAL BUILDING WAS DAMAGED ALONG F.M. 3418 AND
SEVERAL LARGE STORAGE CONTAINERS WERE BLOWN ACROSS THE ROAD. THIS
TORNADO WILL BE RATED AS AN EF-0 WITH WINDS OF AROUND 80-85 MPH.
PATH LENGTH WAS 2.3 MILES AND AVERAGE PATH WIDTH AROUND 75 YARDS.
THE SECOND DAMAGE SWATH STARTED APPROXIMATELY 1/2 MILE WEST OF U.S.
183 AND SOUTH OF F.M. 2231. POWER POLE DAMAGE WAS NOTED ALONG F.M.
2231 AND U.S. 183. ROOF AND BARN DAMAGE OCCURRED ALONG U.S. 183 AS
WELL.

THE MOST SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE OCCURRED AT AND JUST WEST OF THE
STEPHENS COUNTY AIRPORT. SEVERAL HOMES HAD CONSIDERABLE DAMAGE
ALONG COUNTY ROAD 150. SEVERAL OF THE AIRPORT BUILDINGS HAD OVERHEAD
DOORS BLOWN IN...ROOF DAMAGE...AND DAMAGE TO SOME OF THE GIRDERS.


NORTHEAST OF THE AIRPORT...ADDITIONAL DAMAGE TO POWER POLES WAS
NOTED NEAR THE EASTERN END OF F.M. 2231. THE DAMAGE SWATH
CONTINUED ACROSS U.S. 180 BETWEEN HIGHWAYS 67 AND 207. DAMAGE TO
MOBILE HOMES...ROOFS...POWER POLES...AND STORAGE BUILDINGS OCCURRED
IN THIS AREA. THIS TORNADO WILL BE RATED AS AN UPPER-END EF-1 WITH
WINDS NEAR 110 MPH. PATH LENGTH WAS 7.1 MILES...AND THE AVERAGE PATH
WIDTH WAS AROUND 400 YARDS.


...PALO PINTO COUNTY...

BASED ON A SURVEY OF THE DAMAGE NEAR THE ORAN COMMUNITY IN NORTHEAST


PALO PINTO COUNTY...IT WAS DETERMINED THAT A TORNADO AFFECTED THIS
AREA. THE DAMAGE SWATH BEGAN JUST WEST OF ORAN. SEVERAL TREES WERE
UPROOTED OR HAD LARGE LIMBS SNAPPED. A FEW HOMES IN ORAN HAD PORTIONS
OF ROOFS REMOVED. EAST OF ORAN ON F.M. 52...POWER POLES WERE SNAPPED.
THIS TORNADO WILL BE RATED AN EF-1 WITH WINDS OF 85-90 MPH. PATH
LENGTH WAS 1.6 MILES AND AVERAGE PATH WIDTH WAS 100 YARDS.


THIS SUPERCELL THUNDERSTORM WAS PART OF ONE OF THE MOST ACTIVE 24-
HOUR PERIODS IN RECENT NORTH TEXAS WEATHER HISTORY. WE WILL CONTINUE
REVIEWING THE METEOROLOGICAL DATA AND THE DAMAGE ACROSS OUR AREA TO
DOCUMENT AS FULLY AS POSSIBLE THE IMPACTS OF THIS SIGNIFICANT EVENT.
WE WILL PREPARE AND DISTRIBUTE ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS AS THE
INFORMATION BECOMES AVAILABLE.

$$

WOODALL

========================================================================

Here are the official storm reports...and interesting read. I've only included the more significant reports.

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...SUMMARY OF REPORTS
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX
1105 AM CDT THU APR 10 2008

..TIME.. ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE.. ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..



0516 PM TORNADO 3 S BRECKENRIDGE 32.71N 98.91W
04/09/2008 STEPHENS TX NWS EMPLOYEE

OVERTURNED SEMI ON US 183 3 MI SOUTH OF BRECKENRIDGE.
NUMEROUS TREES AND POWERPOLES DOWN. ROOF OFF HOUSE
AT CR 150 AND US 183. FOLLOWUP FROM PREVIOUS REPORTS.
DAMAGE SURVEY UNDERWAY THURSDAY MORNING.



0520 PM TORNADO 1 E BRECKENRIDGE 32.76N 98.90W
04/09/2008 STEPHENS TX NWS EMPLOYEE

PARTIAL ROOF DAMAGE EAST SIDE OF TOWN ALONG HWY 180.
DAMAGE FROM S OF TOWN TO HIGHWAY 67



0650 PM TORNADO GRAFORD 32.94N 98.25W
04/09/2008 PALO PINTO TX BROADCAST MEDIA

TORNADO TOUCHDOWN NEAR GRAFORD. RELAYED BY MEDIA.



0655 PM TSTM WND DMG 5 E GRAFORD 32.94N 98.16W
04/09/2008 PALO PINTO TX BROADCAST MEDIA

DAMAGE IN ORAN AT ORAN AND JOHNSON ROADS. RELAYED BY
MEDIA



0720 PM HAIL 5 SE BRIDGEPORT 33.16N 97.70W
04/09/2008 E2.75 INCH WISE TX PUBLIC

BASEBALL HAIL NEAR BALSORA. CORRECTED TIME.



0752 PM HAIL DECATUR 33.23N 97.59W
04/09/2008 E2.50 INCH WISE TX AMATEUR RADIO

REPORTED BY AMATEUR RADIO SPOTTERS



0222 AM TSTM WND DMG COMANCHE 31.90N 98.60W
04/10/2008 COMANCHE TX LAW ENFORCEMENT

COMPLETE ROOF LOSS ON A BUILDING IN DOWNTOWN COMANCHE



0240 AM TSTM WND DMG 5 NE MORGAN MILL 32.44N 98.10W
04/10/2008 ERATH TX TRAINED SPOTTER

LARGE TREE BLOWN ONTO A HOME IN EXTREME NORTHEAST ERATH
COUNTY



0245 AM TSTM WND DMG LIPAN 32.52N 98.05W
04/10/2008 HOOD TX TRAINED SPOTTER

ROOF PARTIALLY BLOWN OFF A HOUSE



0245 AM TSTM WND DMG 5 N STEPHENVILLE 32.29N 98.22W
04/10/2008 ERATH TX LAW ENFORCEMENT

STRUCTURAL DAMAGE REPORTED 5 MILES NORTH OF STEPHENVILLE
ALONG 108 AND 426. ALSO NUMEROUS TREES DOWN ACROSS THE
COUNTY



0255 AM TSTM WND DMG 10 SW BENBROOK 32.58N 97.58W
04/10/2008 PARKER TX NWS EMPLOYEE

BEDROOM WINDOWS BLOWN INTO HOUSE.



0300 AM TSTM WND DMG GLEN ROSE 32.24N 97.75W
04/10/2008 SOMERVELL TX LAW ENFORCEMENT

NUMEROUS STRUCTURES DAMAGED



0309 AM TSTM WND DMG GLEN ROSE 32.24N 97.75W
04/10/2008 SOMERVELL TX AMATEUR RADIO

LARGE TREE DOWN IN GLEN ROSE



0311 AM TSTM WND DMG ALEDO 32.70N 97.60W
04/10/2008 PARKER TX PUBLIC

HOME SUSTAINED DAMAGE...DEBRIS THROUGH WINDOWS



0316 AM TSTM WND GST FORT WORTH 32.75N 97.34W
04/10/2008 M63 MPH TARRANT TX OTHER FEDERAL

MEASURED GUST AT KNFW - JOINT RESERVE BASE



0317 AM TSTM WND DMG 1 S SAGINAW 32.85N 97.37W
04/10/2008 TARRANT TX NWS EMPLOYEE

DEL MONTE PLANT SUFFERED ROOF DAMAGE AND EMPTY TRAILERS
TURNED OVER



0321 AM TSTM WND GST 5 N FORT WORTH 32.83N 97.34W
04/10/2008 M69 MPH TARRANT TX ASOS

PEAK GUST MEASURED AT FORT WORTH MEACHAM (KFTW)



0330 AM TSTM WND DMG BURLESON 32.53N 97.33W
04/10/2008 JOHNSON TX SELECT

NUMEROUS POWER FLASHES IN BURLESON. POWER POLES DOWN



0330 AM TSTM WND DMG 8 NE KEENE 32.48N 97.23W
04/10/2008 JOHNSON TX EMERGENCY MNGR

WIDESPREAD DAMAGE BETWEEN I-35 AND LILLIAN. NUMEROUS
ROOFS TORN OFF HOUSES AND NUMEROUS TREES DOWN.
(now a confirmed tornado)



0332 AM TSTM WND DMG DALLAS 32.79N 96.77W
04/10/2008 DALLAS TX EMERGENCY MNGR

LARGE TOWERING TREE SPLIT TO BASE IN NORTH DALLAS



0335 AM TSTM WND DMG EULESS 32.85N 97.08W
04/10/2008 TARRANT TX PUBLIC

ROOF OFF APARTMENT COMPLEX IN EULESS ALONG SAGEBRUSH



0340 AM TSTM WND GST 3 SE GRAPEVINE 32.90N 97.04W
04/10/2008 M75 MPH TARRANT TX ASOS

WIND GUST MEASURED AT DFW INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT



0350 AM TSTM WND DMG IRVING 32.86N 96.97W
04/10/2008 DALLAS TX AMATEUR RADIO

3 LARGE TRANSMITTER TOWERS DOWN NEAR INTERSTATE 635 AND
MACARTHUR



0352 AM TSTM WND DMG DESOTO 32.60N 96.86W
04/10/2008 DALLAS TX AMATEUR RADIO

CARS ON ROOFS AND SEVERAL COLLAPSED BUILDINGS AT CORNER
OF HAMPTON AND WINTER GREEN IN DESOTO
(now a confirmed tornado)



0402 AM TSTM WND GST WACO 31.57N 97.18W
04/10/2008 M66 MPH MCLENNAN TX ASOS

KACT ASOS MEASURED GUST TO 57 KNOTS



0403 AM TSTM WND GST MCKINNEY 33.20N 96.65W
04/10/2008 E65 MPH COLLIN TX AMATEUR RADIO

65MPH WIND IN MCKINNEY ALSO HALF INCH HAIL



0410 AM TSTM WND DMG HILLSBORO 32.01N 97.12W
04/10/2008 HILL TX LAW ENFORCEMENT

LARGE TREE DOWN OVER COUNTY ROAD 4281



0410 AM TSTM WND DMG 5 S SHERMAN 33.55N 96.61W
04/10/2008 GRAYSON TX LAW ENFORCEMENT

POWERLINES AND TREES DOWN



0413 AM TSTM WND DMG TEMPLE 31.10N 97.36W
04/10/2008 BELL TX TRAINED SPOTTER

ROOF TORN OFF SEVERAL STRUCTURES AT THE INTERSECTION OF
CALHOUN AND 13TH ST



0417 AM TSTM WND GST MCKINNEY 33.20N 96.65W
04/10/2008 E87 MPH COLLIN TX AMATEUR RADIO

EAST SIDE OF MCKINNEY



0431 AM TSTM WND DMG ADDISON 32.96N 96.84W
04/10/2008 DALLAS TX PUBLIC

DAMAGE TO SEVERAL CARPORTS AND 1-FT. DIAMETER TREE
KNOCKED DOWN.



0445 AM TSTM WND DMG HUBBARD 31.85N 96.80W
04/10/2008 HILL TX LAW ENFORCEMENT

POWERLINE DOWN OVER INTERSECTION OF PECAN AND SE 2ND.



0515 AM TSTM WND DMG COOPER 33.37N 95.69W
04/10/2008 DELTA TX LAW ENFORCEMENT

SEVERAL TREES AND LARGE LIMBS DOWN ACROSS COUNTY



0516 AM TSTM WND DMG TERRELL 32.73N 96.29W
04/10/2008 KAUFMAN TX LAW ENFORCEMENT

ONE LARGE TIN BUILDING ON MR. B`S BLVD.



0530 AM TSTM WND DMG FAIRFIELD 31.72N 96.17W
04/10/2008 FREESTONE TX LAW ENFORCEMENT

LARGE TREES DOWN ACROSS COUNTY



0540 AM TSTM WND DMG EDGEWOOD 32.69N 95.88W
04/10/2008 VAN ZANDT TX EMERGENCY MNGR

TREES DOWN. RELAYED VIA AMATEUR RADIO

---

Tornado Emergency

...TORNADO EMERGENCY FOR STEPHENS COUNTY AND THE CITY OFBRECKENRIDGE...AT 520 PM CDT...A LARGE...VIOLENT TORNADO WAS ON THE GROUND JUST SOUTH OF BRECKENRIDGE...MOVING EAST AT 31 MPH.PEOPLE IN AND JUST SOUTH OF BRECKENRIDGE SHOULD BE IN SHELTER IMMEDIATELY! THIS IS A LIFE-THREATENING SITUATION.

No Go For Me

Sitting here in Amarillo with a ton of work in my face and 40F outside just doesn't get me very excited. It's been nice though to get some good rains, heavy thunder, and some scattered pea hail (golfballs east towards Groom though). Considering that my target is Big Spring, Texas, I would have to leave now to make it in time. If by some miracle the warm front pops up to Lubbock or the dryline with some instability gets to Clovis, I might jet out the door. But, this is wishcast disillusioned by SDS I fear. :-) April isn't even half way over yet, so there is no dispair yet.

That area from Midland to Snyder to Sonora looks prime today based on latest analysis and RUC model. David Drummond will be down there today, and I'm sure we'll be seeing streaming video of a tornado from him later this afternoon.

North Texas, including DFW needs to be on their toes later tonight, but I think by that time, it will be a big squall event with an embedded tornado or two in the line along the warm front axis. I don't see a big tornado event in N TX. Tomorrow however, the Mississippi valley is going to be under the gun. Those poor folks are going to catch hell.

I'm eyeing another round of elevated severe storms with more of a hail threat for the Amarillo area tonight ad the best energy comes in along with a warm, moist low level jet above the colder surface layer.

After today's round, the next chase opportunity is 9-10 days out at the earliest according to the medium range models. This will give me some time to work on my live chase page and some other stuff. Heck, a camping/fishing trip maybe in the cards for me this weekend. I'm itching to get down to Alan Henry to stalk some monster bass as the spawn should be starting bringing up some big hawgs into the shallows and creeks.

Good luck to all those going out today.

04/07/08 Report & Pics

I'm short on time this evening with preparing for a possible chase tomorrow. But, in short....

Jay McCoy and I intercepted the Red River tornadic supercells yesterday. We were under the meso navigating through the hook on the a supercell as the first tornado warning was issued on it. We were in excellent position to observe a strongly rotating wall cloud with repeated attempts to tornado with several little funnels. We were mesemerized by the storm's power and energy as well as confused as to why a tornado didn't form. All of the scud tags and rotation was very very close to the ground.

We repositioned towards Electra watching the original wall cloud and unaware that a bigger wallcloud was behind us. In fact, we unknowingly drove under it and encountered a strong 180 degree windshift and strong inflow. This storm had two distinct mesos with pronounced rotation at the same time within a short distance of each other!!

We got on the southern fringe of Electra and watched the big, violently rotating wall cloud just W and WNW of Electra. This was part of a "barrel" updraft which was rotating as far up as we could see. It reminded me abit of the Kent County 6/12/05 structure as it occluded and wrapped in on itself. We saw at least 3 distinct truncated funnel clouds that were impressive and looked like they would tornado...and then rapidly dissipate. Finally, a long, slender tornado suddenly appeared and snaked around on the ground for about 15 seconds before dissipating. The entire wall cloud and rotation soon became rain wrapped and we lost all visibility. But, I understand a nice tornado developed deep into the rain after we lost view of it.

After getting suckered across Big Red by a nice updraft which died, we dropped south and watched some ominous activity of the supercell encroaching on Wichita Falls. Luckily for residents, a bigger and stronger storm in Archer County to the south killed it with outflow. We made haste on 281 to get in front of the more southern beast. After skirting a vicious hail core just to our west, we emerged to view one of the most spectacular storm structures you could hope to see. This thing was spinning like a top up into the anvil. Pics below.

The streaming video was very successful!! According to the guys at StreamingStudios.com, there were 460 streams of my video. Yowsa. According to alot of feedback I've received, the quality was excellent and the stream rarely went down. All of the rotation, funnels and brief tornado came across nicely. I look forward to making this a regular part of my chasing in the future. The guys at SevereStudios are trying to post an archive of my streamed video from yesterday. I'll post the link here when/if they do.

The coolest part of yesterday's chase was being able to phone in live reports to Rick Smith of the NWS in Norman. He was able to bring up the streaming video in time to see the big wall cloud and brief tornado near Electra as I was on the phone with him. I was relaying reports to him for about 20 minutes. I certainly hope this helped with the warning process yesterday. Perhaps this will become a powerful new tool used by the NWS to augment the warning process. I certainly hope so. I also heard from the NWS in Fort Worth who also watched part of the live stream.

It was great to have the ability to let people take a virtual ride with us on a stormchase. Thanks to everybody for watching as well as the great feedback. I will be working on improving that as well as my live chase page.

Now for some pics!!!

The rotating wall cloud just after the first tornado warning is issued. We are looking SE.


Strongly rotating wall cloud just WNW of Electra. No, I didn't snap a pic of the tornado as I was videoing, working the streaming stuff, and talking with the NWS.


The last gasp of the cell after it had produced the tornado. It's still rotating, but much higher based.


The same cell as it weakens. The strong wind shear is quite evident by the nearly-horizontal updraft.


A left-splitting cell coming across the Red River as we are headed back south into the action.


The "big momma" in Archer County.






The waning Archer County cell to our east as we head home to Amarillo.

NEW LIVE CHASE PAGE!!!!

http://texastailchaser.com/livechase

UPDATE: I've got the code working now to display my position on the GoogleMap. I am using GPSGate to do that. I need to configure my laptop in order to use GPSGate and all of the apps that run GPS. Wish me luck. :-) If it works, then you'll see my position update every 10 seconds instead of the 2 minuite3s on SpotterNetwork. Headed out shortly with Jay McCoy on I-40.

I've been trying to hatch this thing all weekend. It's my first attempt at using the GoogleMaps API to do something I've had in the back of my mind for awhile. It overlays radar images from the NWS on top of an embedded GoogleMaps interface centered on the radar location along with a radius line of the radar's range. The only problem is that there is no way right now to make the radar image opaque, so it covers up the map. There is talk of enabling that feature soon. The goal is to be able to overlay my current position on the map updated every couple of minutes similar to Spotter Network except with radar.

Additionally, my streaming live video from the field will be displayed on the same page. It is really cool! David Drummond and Steve Miller OK are streaming too. Dick McGowan has done it before in the past, so be sure to watch for his this year as well. Additional streaming video can be found at Severe Studios. It's the wave of the future. ;-)

Back to my little project. I've been working on a bug to update my position on the google map. So, it may not be working for tomorrow's big event. I'm working on that though and it should be running soon...and maybe even by tomorrow if I'm lucky.

Additonal features will include a little blog "ticker" that will update important events in the field and my current thoughts. That will come sometime this week. Other things are in the works, but it's a big, super-duper secret. Beware the guys in suits and sunglasses and speaking into their cufflinks. LOL!!! It's nothing earth-shattering, but some cool little gadgets and widgets as well as some enhancements.

For now, I'm hitting the sack. It looks like a big day tomorrow.

Chase is on

After much gnashing of teeth, Jay McCoy and I will be heading down towards Childress/Paducah area. Latest model guidance favors this area with triple point and dryline bulge. I think moisture will be pretty thin, so the LCLs will likely be too high for a tornado threat as storms will tend to produce alot of cold outflow. Additionally, the low level inflow may not be very strong. On eother concern will be the southward progress of the front. I'm gambling on strong insolation on both sides of it with the developing surface wave to impede it's progress for a few hours. We shall see. Still, overall dynamics favor rotating storms and nicely sculpted supercells.

I know some are scratching their heads over the target area, but there is a pretty good chunk of energy coming into New Mexico later today and this evening which the NAM model has struggled with until this morning. Kudos to the GFS. It seems they have all caught onto it and the result is a dryline/triple point further west than the initial NAM forecast (and the model-regurgitating forecasters). This energy should aid in storm enhancement as well as locally backing the flow near the triple point. Anywhere from the I-20 corridor to the Red River will have potential through 00Z.

I will be updating on my live chase blog: http://www.texastailchaser.com/tailcaster/

I WILL ALSO BE DOING LIVE STREAMING!!! :-) http://live.severestudios.com/steve.millerTX.asx

Additonal updates on the live chase blog this afternoon.