Mike McMahon,
Robbie Reeves
Target:
Flying J
Amarillo, TX
Distance:
˜800 miles
Duration:
˜14 hrs. 30 min.
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Partners: Mike McMahon, Robbie Reeves Target: Flying J Amarillo, TX Distance: ˜800 miles Duration: ˜14 hrs. 30 min. |
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We left MWC around 09:30CDT, and arrived at our target around 13:30. After checking data at Flying J, we headed south on I-27 toward Plainview. We pulled off Exit 99 and waited for about an hour, watching towers go up. However, nothing would break the cap. Storms eventually fired to the northwest and southwest of us. We chose to intercept the southern cells, due to storm motions. We could see the mesocyclone developing to the southwest as we approached. Mike missed half of the development because he was sleeping in the back.
We stopped at Hart Camp, TX to view an area of rotation to the SW. A new area of rotation developed directly over us, and we had to relocate to the east. As we drove, the circulation increased in the meso behind us, and a tornado formed about 1/2 mile to our SW. We followed the tornado north for about 20 minutes, from Hart Camp to Hart. We witnessed the storm from birth to rope.
Photographs consist of a birth stage and rope stage. Unfortunately, most of the chase was just that. A chase! We were not able to stop during most of the life of the tornado, and most of our pictures were taken from the car, at high rates of speed. Although, we did get some nice video. The only brief time we stopped, we did get a shot of some of the hail we drove through.
As the tornado roped out, we were cut off by downed power lines across the road. I will admit that I ignored Robbie's navigation advice and drove us 30 minutes out of the way to catch the supercell. The storm reorganized and formed another tornado, which created damage in Tulia. Of course, we were too late for the Tulia tornado because we had to backtrack, however, we did catch a glimpse of the tornado east of I-27 (about 10 miles north of Tulia). It was too dark for pictures at this point though. As we headed home, We got blasted with powerful straight-line winds in Canyon. We arrived back in OKC around midnight.
 West view. 1 E of Hart Camp, TX. The tornado in birth stage as it crosses the road. |
 A well-defined meso-cyclone! Tornado was just off camera to the left. |
 Tornado SW of us, from the high velocity vehicle. |
 Hail...Slightly larger than a quarter. |
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Near Hart, TX. Rain-wrapped tornado to the west. |
 Near Hart, TX. Rope stage tornado to the NE. |
 NE of Hart, TX on St.Hwy 145. Downed power lines over the road. |