Tour 1B Chase Day 12 Report And Pictures

[Paul Sherman]

Crack on

[TornadoJo]

Yesterday the remaining members of Tour 1 - Stu, Anya, Craig, Claire, Trevor and Jo - decided to chase........ At the airport.

Here's the days briefing.

Edited May 12, 2011 by TornadoJo

[Neilsouth]

^ Bit Dark , thanks for the youtube video though

[duckeyh]

The team expertly postioned themselves in the South West corner of the DFW car rentals to wait for the storm to roll in

followed by surround sound thunder and lightening

Edited May 12, 2011 by duckeyh

[TornadoJo]

We started our chase day in the Best Western, Irving to discuss our strategy for the day.

Anya suggested out first chase target as the Car Rental Car Park at DFW. We jumped on the shuttle from the hotel and made our way to the top floor.

Armed with the car rental radar screen and mobile phone compasses we decided our best view point would be from the south west corner.

We repositioned ourselves and waited patiently, checking the radar every 5 mins or so.

Soon things started to look good. The sky was getting darker and planes were making hard turns immediately after takeoff.

CGs began striking to our west.

As the squall line drew closer we saw the base encroaching upon us and what we believe to be a gust front.

Things got very bad, very quickly. We were soon being slammed with torrential rain, straight line winds, bullet thunder and lightening coming from all directions.

This went on for over an hour.

As soon as we realised a gap in the line was approaching we headed into car rentals to catch the coach to terminal D.

We had identified our next target as Gate 16 in terminal D.

We rushed through security and were soon repositioned. The storm was still taking a rest so we determined this was an excellent time for lunch.

Just as the storm ramped up again we finished lunch. Upon consulting the radar and SPC it was apparent storm direction has changed slightly so we repositioned one again to Gate D20. We stayed here for the rest of the afternoon being treated to a lightening show. The runways were actually close for some time in the afternoon.

The payoff for these storms was a delayed flight for most of us but this was definitely worth it.

A successful day’s chase in all.

Edited May 12, 2011 by TornadoJo

[duckeyh]

after 4 hours of CG's and Thunder, the sun finally set on Tour 1

Edited May 12, 2011 by duckeyh

[icbinb]

Even the timing of the bus ride to the terminal was planned around a break in the storms! I think we were all happy to exchange that show for a four hour late departure.

We started by doing shuttle runs into the building to check the radar as the storms were out to our south west. The MCS then made a lurch east towards to us, and we saw the gust front coming towards us. Managed a few pics before we got battered by the wind and rain, then the lightning show started. We were pretty much surrounded by cells not knowing which way to look. One particularly close CG had us all with stupid grins on our faces while the Car Rental staff looked on bemused.

During a brief lull in the MCS, we darted to the terminal building where we quickly checked in, then proceeded to a westerly facing window. Very few planes took off or landed for several hours while the storms lingered. After a visit to the bar to celebrate our success, we spotted some beautiful mammatus to finish the day. Pics to follow when I'm a bit less tired!

[craig1uk]

Armed with only an iphone, I largely just took the storm in, and enjoyed it immensley, we had a great laugh on the roof of that car park, some of the bombs that were going on around us were spectacular ! And what a display at sunset, wow !

Great end to tour 1

[Supercell]

Glad the extra day paid off for you all. Expert planning and positioning. B)

Take note, Paul :lol:

[TornadoJo]

Terminal Target Maps -

[multi cellular thunderstorm]

I'm pleased you got some action before coming home, great write-up Jo lol, in Pauls style.

Nice pics Craig and Clare.

[duckeyh]

and some more mammatus from another perspective as the sun went down

[Supercell]

How fitting an end. A beautiful scene as the sun sets on tour one.

Edited May 12, 2011 by Supercell

[John Hanrahan]

Great report and pics guys. Glad you are all back safe

[Paul Sherman]

Brilliant

I have officially been sacked from Tour Leader after this chase target verified, were the Vills and Couplets Maxed you did not specify :lol:

Love you guys to death

Paul S

[TornadoJo]

:rofl: Brilliant :rofl: I have officially been sacked from Tour Leader after this chase target verified, were the Vills and Couplets Maxed you did not specify :lol: Love you guys to death Paul S

They may well have been according to some people *roll eyes*. Sadly our radar was limited so it's hard to say.

LOL. Hope you guys are having fun.

More Pics to come from me at the weekend.

Jo

-x-

Edited May 13, 2011 by TornadoJo

[Dorsetbred]

Brilliant

I have officially been sacked from Tour Leader after this chase target verified, were the Vills and Couplets Maxed you did not specify :lol:

Love you guys to death

Paul S

Sorry Paul, gotta earn your stripes with us, so Jo is in command next time, when we position the "jockeys seat" on the front fender, as it'll be small we position Jo in it armed with Baron's, she can lead the way.

The vills were well max'd, and quickly. It did take a while for the couplets to join until they were max'd though.

That girl's got a real ability to sniff out storms

Edited May 13, 2011 by Dorsetbred

[AudMun]

A cracking day, hell of a way to finish off! The planning, positioning and teamwork couldn't have gone better!

Celebrated as a team with a good meal and a raised glass and then off to the best seats in the house to watch the show continue.

Most of Netweather Chase Team 1B

A short video that, if nothing else, shows how strong the wind was!

and a beautiful sunset to finish it all off.....

All in all, one hell of a tour with it's highs and lows and unexpected happenings.

SAM

Edited May 14, 2011 by AudMun

[Dorsetbred]

Just started to go through some images, and can add these as the squall line came through, and photo's taken at the airport as the line continued to pass through.

The odd circular effect on the airport shots was due to the BA lounge tinted & angled glass generating reflection.

So, the squall line comes through

All the above taken from the "trunk" of the hire car in pouring rain

So on to the airport

Will post some after storm shots soon as I get to them

A taster as the trailing edge of the squall line finally departs

Edited May 19, 2011 by Dorsetbred

[John Hanrahan]

Wow. Are these video grabs? Quality is brilliant if they are.

[Dorsetbred]

Wow. Are these video grabs? Quality is brilliant if they are.

No camera shots, I've yet to get to the video

[icbinb]

Finally got round to sorting some photos of an awesome day.

[icbinb]

Finally got round to sorting pics of this memorable day.