Storm Chase 2006 Highlights

[Paul Sherman]

Okay with only 2 months to go and the Storm Chase Forum up and running in about a months time Paul has asked me to put together a Chase Diary from last year, the original Reports were in the old part of the forum that lost all images when the servers were upgraded, so here are the Chase Logs in Date order.

MONDAY 1ST MAY 2006

Slight Risk area over Southern Oklahoma today but turned out to be a BSB (Blue Sky Bust) as the LLJ (Low Level Jet) was delayed and hence Storms failed to materialise until the early hours of the 2nd. Started out in Norman (Ok) and ended the day In Ardmore (Ok)

- Chase Team Drinking Buds with the SUV Chase Vehicle

- Where is Dorothy & Crep Rays

TUESDAY 2ND MAY 2006

Awoke at 4am in Ardmore by a Thunderstorm, nice alarm call. Blasted North on I35 Towards Oklahoma City and left behing the Severe T-Storms ongoing in Central Oklahoma. Our inital Target was somewhere around Elk City just on the TX & OK Panhandle border. Arrived at ELK City at about 230pm and awaited Dave Ewold and Hank Baker (Well Renowned US Chaser) seems we are in good hands today.

- Leaving Behind the Mammatus from Ongoing Severe Storms In S Oklahoma

- Chaser Caravan, Our Team with Dave Ewold and Hank Baker

SPC have upgraded todays risk to Moderate and issued a Tornado watch box for West Oklahoma and east Texas Panhandles, where we are. Cells started popping at 3pm around Pampa so we headed west and dropped south on Highway 83 towards Childress as this was where temps had hit 90f with 63f Dew Points, Initially targeted the Turkey (Tx) Cell which had become Supercellular (Ozzies 1st Ever) but it was apparant this had become affected by the Storms to it's south. Dave and Hank noticed a breakaway Cell to the East of Childress and blasted back east at speeds over 80mph on Farm Tracks, we had big trouble keeping up and masses of Storm Chasers started appearing. The cell to the east of Childress also became a Supercell with Rotating Wall clouds apparant and inflow bands. We then went North at Quinah and found ourselves in the Bears Cage of the Storm, the rotation at times was scary and we had Bolts of Lightning landing just feet away with ground thudding Thunder

- Inflow Dust blowing into the Supercell accross the road in front of Us

- Mammatus on the east side of the Childress Supercell

- Baron Radar showing the Supercells

It became apparant around 7pm that these storms were trying but not succeeding in becoming Tornadic due to Conflicting Aimasses, the Guthrie Storm about 80 miles to our South had robbed our Storm of the Potential energy, so close but no cigar.

So we retreated to Altus for the Night and shot this Rainbow

- 830pm Rainbow near Altus Airforce Base

WEDNESDAY 3RD MAY 2006

Well what can i say about today other than my best chase ever. We left Altus and got to Childress early to await initiation, we were joined by a few chasers and have now formed a Chase Convoy for the rest of the week, really nice guys Ryan Mcnamara a Skywarn Spotter from Arizona and two guys from Florida.

- Awaiting Initiation at the Kettle Stop in Childress

- Classic Supercell with Beavers Tail

- Mothership Supercell

We finally got in front of the Storm just North Of Snyder and got some Lightning Shots. But then the fun really began when we got to the Hotel, with lines of Supercells with Hook echoes slammed our location until the early hours, numerous times the Tornado Sirens came on in the little texan town of Snyder.

- Mothership with Lightning Underneath

THURSDAY 4TH MAY 2006

So Big day today what with Ozzies Birthday, No seriously another Moderate Risk and another event, this time a Landspout at 346pm which again is verified on the SPC Site, this was in the Early Stages of the Monster Mason County Supercell which we saw from Initiation until we left it at 8Pm. I have no camera pics of this just Video but Ozzie will post a pic for you all to see. So we left Snyder and headed South and East to our Target which was Sterling City just South of Interstate 20, this was where we thought initiation would kick off and we were spot on. As we got to Sterling City i took this shot of their Tornado Sirens.

- The Developing CU Field that would become the Monster Mason Co Supercell

We watched a few cells pop to our South and East near San Angelo and decided on what would become the Mason County Supercell, again the biggest and best Storm of the Day, With a little help from the Baron's sytsem once again

- Developing Wall Cloud just before the Brief Landspout that was 300 Metres in Front

And the Report from the SPC Site of the Landspout at 346pm

2146 3 N VICK CONCHO TX 3138 10009 BRIEF LANDSPOUT (SJT) - From SPC Site

Pushed further South and East at this time as Storm became a Right Mover and was heading to the South East, was getting really hard to Chase now as Road Options became very hard, but we managed to get to just North West of Brady (Tx) we were then sitting in the optimum position with rotating wall clouds and Mesos crossing the road in front of us, but she could'nt just manage to drop a Tube

- Inflow into the Growing Supercell

- Wall Cloud about to Drop a Tornado

- RFD Coming to get us from the left of the picture

- Service Station in Mason, with Gust Front and Hailcore approaching

- Ended up in Brady and took refuge from the Storms

FRIDAY 5TH MAY 2006

Friday 5th May 2006 was a crazy crazy day. We left Brady and went South and West to our Target area of Eldorado.

- Breaking through the Cap - Pileus Cap

At about 645pm a cell fired just North-East of San Angelo and we chose this as it had uninterupted southerly flow and once again we were on the Tail End Charlie. This thing just went BOOM Only problem was we only had about 45 minutes of Light left so we would have to be quick.

- Early Stages of the Coleman County Supercell

- Developing Convection

- Little House on the Prairie

It was'nt long before she became a Classic Mature Supercell trying hard to Produce, I have a Video grab of a white funnel cloud extending to the ground, this was reported later on the weather channel as a Significant Tornado in west Coleman County.

- Classic Supercell

- Surely It is going to produce now !!

We got to Brownwood after going through a place called Bangs which had larger than Baseball sized Hail, lots of shredded trees and took refuge in Brownwood, then the real fun began at around Midnight, a Bow echo came through and the Video footage i have got resembles hurricane force winds, our room was soaked with horizontal rain, after that i crashed out but ozzie stayed up and was rewarded with an Anvil Crawler Feast.

SATURDAY 6TH MAY 2006

Slight Risk area in the same region of Central Southern Texas, but only Pulse Storms and Outflow Dominant Storms that would grow big on radar and then just Crap Out and Collapse. Still got some Hail pics but nothing Inspiring.

- Hail Core rapidly approaching

- Supercell about 30 miles away

- Hail Hail Hail !!!

SUNDAY 7TH MAY 2006

Poistioning Day, No Severe Weather so drove Up to Amarillo (Texas)

Got treated to some overnight Storms dropping out of Kansas

MONDAY 8TH MAY 2006

Rest Day and preparation for Moderate Risk in Central and South Eastern Oklahoma 9th

TUESDAY 9TH MAY 2006

Quite literally an incredible chase day today. Our Position in Seminole had the very first severe cell of the day that popped overhead. Watched this cell with about 10 chase cars in a car park before it was apparant that a developing Supercell near Coalgate would be our play, only problem was just one road south and by the time we got to Coalgate we had to take cover from large hail, took refuge under a carport and then the Tornado Sirens were wailing for about 30 minutes, again have incredible video which i will post when i get a chance of this, a clearing to our south and looking above a church rapid rotation at about 6pm, SPC Has a report of a Tornado at that time as well, we blasted south to Atica and core punched the cell which had Mesos on the road in front of us, again took refuge at about 7pm under a Carport and then had amazing circulation and what looked like a massive white funnel cross the road in front of us, again SPC Have this reported as a Touchdown, today has been at times plain stupid of us to core punch, in the Bears Cage many times with ear splitting thunder and Tornados too close for comfort, but being within the circulation looking out and not looking in meant pictures hard to come by, currently at Durrant with a Supercell to our South doing damage to houses as it tracks east.

Pictures not great and very poor due to Temps at 85f and Dewpoints near 79f, just think of getting off a Aeroplane in Spain in August but 3 times worse, soo uncomfortable today.

- Must have been 15 Chase Cars in this Car Park !!

- Angry Rotating Wall Cloud in Coalgate (Oklahoma)

As darkness fell we called the Chase Off and a good thing too as just 25 miles to our South a Deadly F3 Tornado Claimed the lives of 3 people in Westminster (Texas) at Night!!

FRIDAY 12TH MAY 2006

Well after the Nightmare Moderate Risk Chase of Wednesday 10th May in Mississippi today was a re-positioning day as nothing whatsoever happened over here, so I drove the 500 miles back to North Texas, we are currently at Sherman (Very Apt) but just 15 miles South of here the Tuesday night an F3 Struck Westminster, so we stopped off for some damage pictures, remember Tuesday night we were only 25 miles North of this storm when carnage broke loose at 1030pm at night, very scary for the people there and an elderly couple and a 14 year old boy lost their life, the next pictures ar very humbling and show the danger and damage 1 of these things can do. This was a 7 mile track F3 Tornado with a 1/2 mile wide track.

- Tornado Started as an F2 Near Anna (Texas)

- Tornado Now F3 & Hitting the Farming Community of Westminster Tx

- This place had NO Tornado Sirens, amazing for 2006 !!

- Car Picked up from the Highway and Dumped in a Field

SUNDAY 14TH MAY 2006

Sunday see's a Slight Risk in Western Texas or extreme South-Eastern New Mexico, so a 646km Hike West of here tomorrow to land somewhere between Odessa (Tx) and Clovis (New Mexico) Will update in the morning here or afternoon where you are. Not long in the trip left now just 5 days so time is running out, Again this May is running drastically below normal for Severe Storms as Low pressure areas have just not streamed across the area. But our first 6 days were so memorable for Supercells and one i won't forget.

No Chance for Pictures today, as Storm just too Messy and Fast Moving

We blasted south from Sherman (Tx) and went for the cells near Brady, got to San Antonio and then went for a Strenthening line of cells that were moving South, got pulled over by the Sheriff in Marble Falls and got a Citation for speeding 80mph in a 70mph zone, god knows how i am supposed to appear in Court on 24th May in Marble Falls but hey ho!! Went through some amazing storms and almost got blown off the road, now sitting in Corpus Christi on the Gulf of Mexico coast in the Raddison Hotel drinking beers watching the Storms go out to Sea, our Hotel is on the Beach and is soooo expensive, but after that drive today it is worth it believe me.

And the last 4 days of the Tour were under the Dreaded Death Ridge, so will leave you with a picture of Corpus Christie on the Gulf Of Mexico Coast

So to Sum up Chase Season of 2006, simple really the first 10 days were awe Inspiring with no less than 14 Supercells.

This and 2005 have been the 2 worst Seasons for over 20 years, so 2007 should be a humdinger.

Lessons Learned this year, NEVER Chase further east than Louisiana, that Chase on the 10th May was the worst ever but all in all the Barons is a must have piece of kit.

Hope you enjoyed this recovered thread as the pictures were lost

Regards

Paul Sherman

[Andy Bown]

- Service Station in Mason, with Gust Front and Hailcore approaching

WOW !

Looking forward to this years reports and progress Paul/Nick.

[Paul Sherman]

Thanks Andy, Will try not to scare the S*** out of Nick and break him in gently, he came to a Stormchasers BBQ Last weekend with me ( Global Warming is great for that kind of thing) and got to see the Barons system and its capabilities and he is well impressed, cant wait to get his hands on it, will defo get more Structure shots this year.

Paul Sherman

[pottyprof]

Super account there Paul.. Can't wait for this years reports and pics..

Is there any chance of uploading any of the video clips from last year so any of our new members could see how close the lightning was??

[Paul Sherman]

Yeah,

Will try to dig that out Paul, think i might be able to copy over the old file. Remember Turn your Volume Up

Paul S

Found 2 of them

Close Lightning Strike

http://netweather.tv/chase2006/paul/MOVIE0003.asf

San Angelo Landspout

http://netweather.tv/chase2006/paul/MOVIE0002.asf

[pottyprof]

Thanks Paul.. I still think that first one is soooo funny.. Wow what a crack of thunder..

Hope there's loads more stuff this year..

[*AL*]

Absolutely amazing, loved reading your reports last year.I really do have to do this trip at least once in my life!

[Paul]

This year could be the year for you - one place remains in the team!!! PM me or Paul Sherman for more info.

[Mad Murdoch]

great read paul.. looking forward to the pictures of this years visits

if i had the money i would be there. its my ultimate dream and will do it one day...

[Kent Snow]

Fantastic account of last years trip Paul.

Looking forward to this years. Hope its a cracker.

[*AL*]

This year could be the year for you - one place remains in the team!!! PM me or Paul Sherman for more info.

Unfortunately my problem is time off from work which is not possible this year.

[Nick F]

Thanks for reviving the photos for last year's chase thread Paul. Great photos, but actually being there and savouring the charged atmosphere of a storm and it's potential to drop severe weather will be a whole new level for me in a few months' time, think there'll be some adreneline rushes for me for the first few severe storms experiencing large hail, severe lightning, etc - and maybe the odd tornado!

[pottyprof]

Thanks for reviving the photos for last year's chase thread Paul. Great photos, but actually being there and savouring the charged atmosphere of a storm and it's potential to drop severe weather will be a whole new level for me in a few months' time, think there'll be some adreneline rushes for me for the first few severe storms experiencing large hail, severe lightning, etc - and maybe the odd tornado!

Do we get chance to auction your underpants for Comic Relief?? Paul.. help me out here..

[*Stormforce~beka*]

Do we get chance to auction your underpants for Comic Relief?? Paul.. help me out here..

0r 0n ebay?? The first vide0 is great PauI and i I0ve the chatter 0n the end and the beginning - makes y0u feeI m0re Iike y0u are there s0 d0nt cut th0se bits 0ut!!! Ieave it running s0 we have m0re!