|
status:
|
Chase Day 11 October 2011. Target: Eastern Texas Panhandle from Pampa to Turkey
(Updated October 11, 2011 10:09:01 am CT)
|
-- No recent radar/chase position image. --
Mike has not been in active CHASE MODE in the past 48 hours!
....map loading, please wait...
....map loading, please wait...
|
>> Next Page Sun, 11 Dec 2011 20:51:32 -0500
| |
http://art-s.nl/AdamCanon/news.html?j1w1b0
|
Fri, 14 Oct 2011 14:23:37 -0500
-Lefors Supercell 2011- This October supercell was producing baseball size at around this time at a gas station in Lefors, TX
|
| 
(click on thumbnails for pop-up of larger images) |
Structure at twilight near Lake McClellan. I continued east
and southeast on Ranch 2477 stopping intermittently along the way to
I-40 after sunset to photograph the structure of the supercell off
to the east. There was a left-split storm moving northeast to
eventually merge with the main supercell storm, although this ended
up being more of a destructive merger (in combination with the fact
that instability was rapidly declining with loss of insolation).
When I got to I-40, I continued east to Alanreed and went south on
Ranch 291, but by this point, the storm was not photogenic anymore
and the rising full moon was in a bad position providing harsh light
in the direction of the decaying and departing storm. All in all,
this was one incredible chase for October -- probably the most
impressive supercell, structure wise, I have photographed in the
month of October.
|       
|
The mothership at sunset! After photographing the sequence
at the first windmill, I continued south on Highway 70 a few more
miles and went east on Ranch 2477 (the road to Lake McClellan). I
stopped again when I came across another windmill, only this one
without blades... and used this as a foreground subject to
photograph what was now becoming an incredible striated barrel
updraft to my east. It was right around sunset time at about 7:10
to 7:15 when I photographed the sequence of images below:
|    |
Wide angle storm structure. From the same location, I also
photographed a few wide angle images with the windmill at
around 7:00pm as the supercell storm continued to move southeast
near Lefors, TX:
|      |
Using a windmill to my advantage as storm structure
consolidates. I wanted to drive east a little bit off of
Highway 70 to try to get a little closer to the primary updraft
area, so I took one of the several unpaved roads that went east a
couple miles before dead-ending. Along the way on one of these
roads, I came across a windmill -- one of my favorite subjects to
shoot with storms -- and just went to town photographing the awesome
scene at around 6:50pm:
|    |
A formidable wall cloud emerges. About 10 to 15 minutes
later, farther south along Highway 70 (probably 12 miles or so south
of Pampa), I stopped again to photograph the storm structure to my
northeast. The sun was getting lower and the light was improving
(becoming softer). To my surprise, a big, blocky wall cloud emerged
beneath the base of the supercell. For a moment, the bottom portion
of the wall cloud was being illuminated by the sun. I used a
distant farm house to my advantage as a foreground subject to the
wall cloud farther back. The rear flank gust front had a rather
striated look to it as it extended a good distance
west-southwestward from the wall cloud area. Time of the following
images around 6:45pm:
|      |
Supercell structure emerges to the northeast. I continued my
drive south on Highway 70 south of Pampa to stay ahead of the main
updraft area, and in doing so, the structure of the supercell became
much improved. As viewed from the south-southwest, the storm
structure was quite impressive with a long rear-flank gust front
approaching me along Highway 70 and multi-tiered banded structure of
the main updraft area farther to the northeast. Here are a few
images during that stage shortly after 6:30pm:
|     |
A new, more significant updraft emerges south of Pampa. Go south
or southeast? So, I departed Pampa after the hail ended, but
I wasn't entirely sure whether to go southeast or due south. I saw
the new big updraft base to my immediate south/southwest and had a
strong feeling that would be supercellular very soon... and move
straight southeast or even south-southeast. I also weighed in the
possibility that photography light might be better being due south
or even southwest of the primary updraft. I was on Highway 273 just
south of Pampa and decided to take Highway 70 south...instead of
Highway 273 southeast to Lefors. Here are a few images of the early
stages of the updraft base about to really ramp up and take on
supercellular characteristics... at around 6:20pm... about 5 miles
south of Pampa just east of Highway 70:
|     |
Fri, 14 Oct 2011 03:40:19 -0500
Pampa-Lefors, TX Chase Summary & Images
| |
Pampa hailstorm. After a hearty lunch in Amarillo and a
brief visit to Palo Duro Canyon S.P., I began my chase by heading
north back into eastern Amarillo then east on I-40 to Conway. I was
most interested in a cluster of towering cumulus to my north about
20 to 30 miles away. These towers festered for awhile as I watched
from a truck stop at Conway along I-40 and Highway 207. An echo
soon became apparent on radar tied to the healthiest looking updraft
tower to my north-northeast, so I drove north toward Panhandle.
This was the birth of the initial hailstorm that went on to affect
Pampa. I followed the storm northeast on Highway 60 toward Pampa,
experiencing some pea size hail along the way from Kings Mill to the
southwestern portion of Pampa. I decided to head north just a
little bit on the west side of town on Ranch 282 and found a place
to observe the onslaught of hail near the intersection of Ranch 282
and Highway 152. The hail lasted 5 to 7 minutes around 5:45pm or so
and covered the ground for a brief period of time with the hail only
as large as penny to nickel size at the largest.
|     |
>> Next Page
|