5/14/2008 - Playing with the Bear

Awoke at the Comfort Suites in Weatherford, TX, to a slight risk, outflows from overnight MCSs traversing Texas, and improving flow thanks to the upper-low to the west. After some quick analysis as we headed west on I-20, we decided to target the area near San Angelo – this appeared to be the where an outflow boundary would lite up with a bit of moistening and sun baking, which would provide moderate CAPE. We arrived in Sweetwater and quickly dove south on SR-70 as towering cu developed to the southwest of our target area. By the time we arrived on the east side of San Angelo, a well-developed supercell, with attendant bowl updraft and “hang-me-downs” was rolling through town. This San Angelo storm literally curled up and dissipated as another storm to the south decided to “steal” its inflow.

Images of First Storm Near San Angelo

San Angelo storm, meso, and lowering.

Same storm, different perspective.

Closer view of the wall cloud and hang-me-down.

Unique structure as storm starts quick demise.

Zoomed in mid-level "storm curl".

"Hmmm ... that is an odd cloud."

Dissipating storm front and center with new storm's rain shaft off to the left.

The aforementioned southern storm quickly became the big ticket ride for the day. We hitched a ride ahead of this beast as it traveled down US 87 southeast of San Angelo; in fact, we spent most of the time in the inflow notch on this storm as hail pounded areas to our north and west, and a nice tight meso migrated just south of the 4-lane highway. Identifying any sort of possible tornado touchdowns with this storm was virtually impossible due to its HP-bombish nature and associated bad contrast – even though we were north of the low-level meso looking south. East of Eden, the storm’s low-level rotation rapidly intensified and I was convinced that the storm was about to drop a very large tornado. Instead, it appears as though the meso dragged its butt along the ground as rain curtains rapidly wrapped around the intense circulation.

Main Supercell of the Day

Examining the well-developed southern storm at this time.

Tornado Intercept Vehicle (TIV) being followed by the beast. I thought they were supposed to drive toward the tornado ... hmm?

Another view of the HP with a pseudo-tail/roll cloud thing going on. Unfortunately, we couldn't tell what was going on back in there ... no doubt a mean circulation, though.

Another view of the meso and lower cloud-base structure.

Storm turned very electrical at this point. In fact, about a minute after this shot was taken, lightning struck the wheat field to the left, leaving a smoke signal for a brief moment. Too close for comfort!

Another view similar as above.

At this point, the butt-draggin' meso really wraps up ... I thought for sure it was about to tornado. You can see how low the "cloud base" was at this point. An animated gif below will illustrate the rotation.

Tough to tell what is going on back there ... butt-dragging meso or wedge? Likely just the former.

Zoomed in view of the above.

Click for gif animation illustrating the rotation.

Hook echo on top of us! Our location is the circle and dot.

Debris! One of the many small limbs littering Brady.

"Ahhhh ... Hail!"

The extremely electrical storm was on the move and we had to skedaddle east to stay ahead of the big green hail core just to our west. We continued east where we briefly stopped in Brady to gobble down some low-octane juice for the minivan. This 5 minute stop was trouble. After the quick stop, we decided to head through Brady (very slow process!) and try to jump east on US 190. As we got to the US 377-190 junction just north of town, we quickly surmised we were in trouble. Off to the west we saw wrapping rain curtains crashing toward us – uh oh! I suggested we quickly turn around and head south since it appeared as though the circulation (tornadic or not?) would be heading straight for our location in a matter of seconds. As we headed south we got stuck behind one of those 18-wheel cattle haulers as things began flying. Large tree limbs began to break off and fly, roofs began shredding on some of the industrial buildings, and the power went out with sparks flying along the electrical lines. Uh oh. We circled around the Brady square in hopes to dive south out of the apparent wet-RFD blast (estimated wind gusts near 60; actual measurement north of town at the airport was close to that before the power went out on the AWOS). After we recovered from the adrenaline release as winds subsided, we headed south and east of Brady on SR-71. We never could get back ahead of the storm and finally gave up on it in the small town of Cherokee, TX. We then headed to San Saba, TX, were we witnessed a lot of street flooding. Drove back through Brady as the sun set looking for tornado damage, but bad lighting and a lack of a concentrated path of damage made it obvious it was most likely RFD winds that produced the damage (which, according to the convenience store lady, apparently included: a large tree that was uprooted, landing on a house; civic center losing part of its roof; and, god forbid, the Dairy Queen losing its sign). Ended the night in the not-so-nice La Quinta (pricelined for $38) in San Angelo, TX. Overall, a great day and more than we had bargained for! Storm speed and the storm’s HP’ish nature made it tough, but I’m thankful the storm wasn’t hiding a large wedge in the bear’s cage as we met for a tussle in Brady.

Street flooding in San Saba.

We are off the chase for a while now as the pattern appears as though it will be not supportive of convection in North America for at least 5 days. We’ll go take in some of the beautiful landscapes of New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado until the atmosphere wakes.

"We stayed at La Quinta, which is Spanish for .... the quinta!"