Reports & Pictures Chase Day 12 - Tx Panhandle

[Paul Sherman]

Defintaley in my top 20 for Chases this one. Probably the best Mesocyclone and Double Mesocyclone I have EVER Seen.

Started in DFW With a long trip NW To Amarillo, I targeted just west of Amarillo in the hopes that a Supercell or two could pop up in front of the New Mexico Storms over the Mountains. At 5pm a Tcu was building to our West so we went about 25 miles west of Amarillo to a little place called Adrian, the Supercell of the day literally went up above our heads, small hail was falling as this little LP Cell was getting going. At 630pm there were 2 cells that were on a sparring match tranferring energy between each other, Storm Motions were very hard to decipher so I went back 12 miles to Vega and we sat East for about 90 minutes watching the two Storms fight it out, I knew one would ultimately win in the end and so it was the Northern Storm killed the Southern Storm stone dead and a full blown Classic Supercell took shape in front of us about 12 miles to our West. The Storm started to drop a Wall Cloud and great Mesocyclone structure with a Cinnamon Swirl effect. The Supercell then decided to move South at a snails pace. It then went Tornado warned at around 815pm and numerous Funnel clouds were noted, then at about 839pm a Cone Tornado rapidly developed and hit the ground, we got video of this. We then went West on the Service road and then the fun really began, I knew we could not beat it to the Southern Road so took about 1 Mile of Golf Ball Sized Hail, the roads were sheet ice, I overdid the turn and spun 360 degrees and somehow ended up pointing South, over the overpass we went and then out of the hail to sit under the most Incredible Mesocyclone I have ever seen, the bears Cage and Hail were advancing down the road to our position with a Wall cloud overhead, we went south again this time to stop and witness a Double Mesocyclone from another Cell Merger.

Finally the MCS To the west caught up to our Supercell and everything lined out so we let the barrage hit us North of Hereford. Ate at Applebys with Paul Knightley and Helen Rossington and swapped stories on an incredible Chase.

Videos will be uploaded in this thread.

Regards

Paul S

[Dorsetbred]

^{Two reported tornado sightings yeaterday near Adrian, TX. Yesterday sounded an absolute blast of a chase day, keep 'em coming.}

[D-J-V]

I think I am going to jump out my window argh! Happy for you guys though......

[chionomaniac]

Well done Paul. I can feel the excitement this end.

[davelp]

Cracking start Pictures more pictures.....

[Nick F]

Congratulations on a great chase team 3, top 20 of Paul's chases is saying something too - given how many days he has under his belt.

Look forward to the video and pictures, gutted I didn't stay up late to watch the stream when things finally got interesting.

[Paul]

First couple of videos from the team:

Going through the hail core..

Under the Meso...

[davelp]

Very nice. Looked fun driving!

[Paul]

And another video - this one from Jim. Some bad language in here!!!

[Backtrack]

And another video - this one from Jim. Some bad language in here!!!

Wow Paul, great video, size of that hail is unreal, scary to be under a cloud with structure like that!

Btw - Loving that Jessie J remix. :lol:

[smicksworld]

wow that chase was deadly 360 degree turn lol,thats better than twister the movie hahaha

i say it was amazing to feel the energy from that supercell too :>)

[davelp]

Outrageous. What fun, sorry I missed it live. Now really want to see some of the stills from this storm.

[HeadcornWx]

Great Video everyone. What a great start to your tour. Sadly I dozed off and missed this on the stream last night. Will be watching later.Enjoy!

Cheers

Nick

[Deluxe]

Sounds like a brilliant chase. I'll watch the videos later when I'm not on my work internet

[Tom Lynch]

Was a brilliant chase. We watched the storms initiate and go through some many different phases. Some times they struggled but patience paid off. Driving on large hail is like trying to walk on marbles and I nearly lost it on the same corner that Paul went 360on.

I have more video ffotage of the storm but time last night was tight.

Tom

[NL]

Just goes to show what can happen in the space of a hour or so..Looked for a moment that the storms initiating in New Mexico where gonna fade away into just 'average' thunderstorms..patience paid off for you with some 'disgusting' looking structures and spectacular hail.. Nice control on your 360° Sterling Sherman..!

[DubWeatherAddict]

Epic videos lads!! ... the lightning in them would amaze me alone! ... cant wait to see some structure shots!

[Lt. Dan]

I'll post this video as you can really see the structure when it gets lit up, some suspicious lowerings in there as well - amazing first day!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QprH9tTNz4o

[Paul]

Cool video Dan, was that your first ever day storm chasing?

[jimbo36]

Bearing in mind this is my first attempt with DSLR, here are 3 of my pics. First one is the wall cloud just before the cone nado dropped. It was down and rain wrapped before i could catch it on camera, but sure someone else has. Other two are nightitme lighting shots. DaveLp, i set to infinity and back a touch but still a bit out of focus.

[Lt. Dan]

Cool video Dan, was that your first ever day storm chasing?

Yep, in the US anyway - I was going to say I've done some back home but that no longer counts!

[Paul]

Yeh, it's a whole new ball game in the USA! What a great start

[IanM]

Bearing in mind this is my first attempt with DSLR, here are 3 of my pics. First one is the wall cloud just before the cone nado dropped. It was down and rain wrapped before i could catch it on camera, but sure someone else has. Other two are nightitme lighting shots. DaveLp, i set to infinity and back a touch but still a bit out of focus.

Nice work for first time, flapping in a storm night time SLR shots Jim. The two blurred shots look like a bit of shake as well as not quite in focus, how were they taken? (tripod, remote release, f stop, ISO, which lens etc?) The infinity focus and back off a smidge is variable depending on the lens, sometimes takes a bit of experimenting - it's worth doing some test shots in daylight when it's a bit calmer so see how much of a smidge you need.

Ian

[davelp]

Bearing in mind this is my first attempt with DSLR, here are 3 of my pics. First one is the wall cloud just before the cone nado dropped. It was down and rain wrapped before i could catch it on camera, but sure someone else has. Other two are nightitme lighting shots. DaveLp, i set to infinity and back a touch but still a bit out of focus.

Great effort Jimbo. Infinity on your Lens may not be where we thought it was. Always difficult if there is no proper focus markings. First thing I would do is have a practice in daylight.

Set the focus to where we thought it was and take the picture. See what happens When you find the exact spot I would suggest a trip to walmarts for a bit of tippex. Once you have the spot then a tiny dab of tippex on the focusing mechanism. (Don't forget to put a tiny dab on the lens as a fixed point). All you need to do then is match the dots at night and all should be well.

Alternatively during the storm look through the viewfinder and focus the camera on the furthest point you can see. There is normally a beacon or light somewhere on the horizon. Try to get one of those dots as sharp as possible.

Remember night shots need to be on a tripod. (Your shots look like they were taken hand held of using the window of the car as there is some lens blur [Movement]) Night shots need to be rock steady

If you are going to crop in or try to enlarge the lightning the process will add some distortion.

Always try to keep the lens at its widest setting, It is easier to focus .

Finally always check your shots after you have taken them, not just trust they are ok. A quick look at the back of the camera will show if they need better focusing.

Keep at it, they will get better.

Great storm, what a start to the tour. You need to eat more chilli flakes!

[jimbo36]

Nice work for first time, flapping in a storm night time SLR shots Jim. The two blurred shots look like a bit of shake as well as not quite in focus, how were they taken? (tripod, remote release, f stop, ISO, which lens etc?) The infinity focus and back off a smidge is variable depending on the lens, sometimes takes a bit of experimenting - it's worth doing some test shots in daylight when it's a bit calmer so see how much of a smidge you need.

Ian

Great effort Jimbo. Infinity on your Lens may not be where we thought it was. Always difficult if there is no proper focus markings. First thing I would do is have a practice in daylight.

Set the focus to where we thought it was and take the picture. See what happens When you find the exact spot I would suggest a trip to walmarts for a bit of tippex. Once you have the spot then a tiny dab of tippex on the focusing mechanism. (Don't forget to put a tiny dab on the lens as a fixed point). All you need to do then is match the dots at night and all should be well.

Alternatively during the storm look through the viewfinder and focus the camera on the furthest point you can see. There is normally a beacon or light somewhere on the horizon. Try to get one of those dots as sharp as possible.

Remember night shots need to be on a tripod. (Your shots look like they were taken hand held of using the window of the car as there is some lens blur [Movement]) Night shots need to be rock steady

If you are going to crop in or try to enlarge the lightning the process will add some distortion.

Always try to keep the lens at its widest setting, It is easier to focus .

Finally always check your shots after you have taken them, not just trust they are ok. A quick look at the back of the camera will show if they need better focusing.

Keep at it, they will get better.

Great storm, what a start to the tour. You need to eat more chilli flakes!

Cheers Guys,

Was on tripod and remote, but gusty inflow. Settings were ISO200, F5.6 and 4 second exposure as lightning kicking off all over the place, so thought 30 seconds or bulb would be too much. Wasn't there for long so didn't have time to ask around before we had to escape the hail again