06.01.22
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Back to Tornado Alley- 5/31

As a result of the pandemic the Tornadic Wind And Thunderstorm Seekers have been absent from Tornado Alley for 2 seasons. Making it out this year didn’t feel like a certainty either until I landed in Denver on Monday. It is true what they say though, absence makes the heart grow fonder and I am so thrilled to be back out in this wonderful part of the world with my fellow band of intrepid weather nerds!

We started the day in Denver which was a long way from our target area in the Texas panhandle. So it was an early 6am start and an 8 hour drive to Shamrock TX.

First stop at the old Conocco gas station,and a rendezvous with half our group who were heading in from Monday’s chase in Kansas.

Dan had done some excellent forecasting and got us into Shamrock just in time for storms to start firing.

Shortly after leaving Shamrock storms started to fire up along the dry line.
Underneath the first anvil cloud of the trip, a good sign of some exciting weather ahead.
The first sign of severe weather, some quite striking Mamatus clouds near Mangum OK
After producing some Mamatus clouds we tracked West as our target storm was given a severe warning.
Our first view of the base and some lightning!

The great joy of storm chasing is standing in a field and watching the storm develop. Tuesday’s storm was slow moving and full of lightning so we were able to stand and watch as it rolled towards us. Shortly after this photo the storm picked up a Tornado warning and the chase continued.

Our target storm picked up a Tornado warning after putting on a lightning show for us.
Our Tornado warned storm showing some structure and some beautiful colors caused by hail within the storm.
A selfie with circulation on the ground, that for a moment we thought was the T word.
Gustnado near Holis, OK

A video of the storm with some helpful commentary…

Tornado warning sirens in Holis, OK shortly after our Gustnado encounter.

The approaching storm, and heavy wind and rain within we were about to drive through.
One last lightning shot before heading through the storm and home for the night
A brief stop to get our bearings and figure out our exit plan!

The storms had formed a line heading almost due east so the only way out was to punch the core in order to get out West- it was a fairly exhilarating drive with very low visibility and some pretty gusty winds!

Lightning strike as we drove West out of the storms
Sunset on the otherside of what was quite an intense core punch as we headed to our hotel for the night in Childress, TX

We pulled into the hotel for the even with the storms right on top of us!

All in all a very successful chase, that left us well positioned for Wednesdays storms! Very excited to see what today brings.

One thought on “Back to Tornado Alley- 5/31”

  1. Some great photos of the storms. Quite exciting.

    Reply

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