We started Monday’s chase in Amarillo and woke up to a high risk area over the Eastern Texas panhandle and much of Oklahoma.
A high risk is very unusual, and a potentially dangerous situation
The SPC outlook gave a 45% risk of tornadoes, for context the risk of Tornadoes when we got our first for the week was 10%
Our initial target for the day was Childress TX, and our first and primary storm formed South West and became severe warned by 1.50pm, the chase was on!
Playing it safe on this first storm we headed east before dropping South to get into position on the storm as it picked up its first Tornado warning.
After getting South of the storm the first indication of it’s severity was evidence of some pretty big hail.
One of the challenges on Monday was the poor visibility, this is the first real view of our storm.
Due to the speed of Monday’s storms, (the winds were pushing them along at between 35 and 50 knots) we had to take a calculated risk to get east of the storm and back into position.
To get east we decided to punch the core of the storm.
The video below is an example of the conditions we had to drive through, as we got deeper into the core we were surrounded by lightning and buffeted by strong winds.
As we emerged from the core we were back in position and not far from a reported Tornado ( reported but not visible to us!)
The video below is the moment we decided the big Tornado looking thing in front of us might be a Tornado( it turns out it wasn’t but probably best not to risk it!) Dan gave a very serious warning encouraging everyone to stay in the car.
Although not visible in this photo a Tornado was confirmed in this area as we passed through.
Still Tornado warned and still looking ominous!
The storm was really rotating above us, and threatened to drop a Tornado at any moment
A funnel formed right ahead as the storm started to move away from us, other chasers reported a Tornado on the ground shortly after a little to our East.
Aside from rotation in the storm this video highlights the very real problem of chaser convergence.
The best view we got of our target storms structure
In the video below you can hear the tornado siren for the town of Hobart, not a sound any resident ever wants to hear!
After leaving Hobart we continued to chase our storm for a short while longer, eventually though it merged with several other cells losing it’s warnings and dumping a lot of rain over Oklahoma.
The final view of a wall cloud from our storm
The outflow from the storm formed a massive shelf cloud as we took a final look at our target storm before heading South
However on the drive South to Wichita Falls our stop for the day we were treated to a really quite special lightning show. Bolts were streaking across the sky above us multiple times per minute.
The images below are some of the better lightning shots I captured.
This one turned night into day!
The same bolt as the image above after my Camara had adjusted for the light.
Lightning partially illuminating the monster storm ahead.
Overall Monday was equal parts grueling and rewarding, the thrill of a core punch and rotating wall clouds being the highlight; chaser convergence and poor visibility blocking our view of Tornadoes made it one of the more challenging chase days I have experienced.
As the last storm of our 2019 tour though it was certainly a fitting end to very enjoyable 10 days.