Hello. We're starting the day in Vail, Colorado. Some final sorting and packing to be done and then we'll make our way to Denver International Airport for our flight home this evening.
Thursday, 6 June 2019
5th June report
Hello. We headed into the Rocky Mountains National Park from Loveland. We drove to Estes Park, and then along the Trail Ridge Road - it was the first day of it being open of the season - even this morning we though it was closed but they tweeted it was open late morning.
Stunning scenery - and some thunder too!
We're staying in Vail tonight - like we did at the end of last year's chase!
Stunning scenery - and some thunder too!
We're staying in Vail tonight - like we did at the end of last year's chase!
Wednesday, 5 June 2019
June 5 plans
Hello.
We don't plan to chase today - instead we will head into the Rockies and visit Rocky Mountain National Park...one of the high roads remains closed due to snow, which is a shame - but understandable, given it was snowing in Denver when we arrived!
We don't plan to chase today - instead we will head into the Rockies and visit Rocky Mountain National Park...one of the high roads remains closed due to snow, which is a shame - but understandable, given it was snowing in Denver when we arrived!
June 4th - report
Hello. We initially decided to target Springfield, Colorado - but then paused to watch a thunderstorm which had developed near Trinidad. We then decided to re-target to the north-east of Pueblo, but, en route, decided that anything which developed would not really be worth pursuing. We then decided that, tomorrow, we would head into the Rockies, and so we booked a motel in Loveland, Colorado.
It has a waterslide, which is cool - I had a number of goes on it! Also, a hot tub which is outside.
Pics below by Helen, including the waterslide and me creating rather a splash as I came out the end of it!
It has a waterslide, which is cool - I had a number of goes on it! Also, a hot tub which is outside.
Pics below by Helen, including the waterslide and me creating rather a splash as I came out the end of it!
Tuesday, 4 June 2019
June 4th thoughts
Hello.
As we are heading home on Thurs this might be our last shot. Conditions are marginal for severe storms but small pockets of better parameters are likely, if not easily found. Models suggest backed flow developing this afternoon in SE Colorado and environs. I'm not hopeful of too much but we'll probably head that way to see what transpires.
As we are heading home on Thurs this might be our last shot. Conditions are marginal for severe storms but small pockets of better parameters are likely, if not easily found. Models suggest backed flow developing this afternoon in SE Colorado and environs. I'm not hopeful of too much but we'll probably head that way to see what transpires.
June 3rd report
Hello. We decided to make the drove north from Hobbs into the Texas Panhandle - the initial idea was to see if we could pick something up towards the SE of Colorado, but by the time we were approaching Dalhart convection was well underway to the north - and also more to the west, towards Clayton, New Mexico. As this was closer we decided to target that. It became rather multicellular when we got there, but we noted a small supercell-type updraught area. This may have been some kind of left split - it moved north and was warned for hail.
We decided to head to Raton for the night - the road we took was rather rural, but went through the hail swath left by the storm - copious amounts of marble sized hail up to around golf ball to hen egg (1.75 to 2 inches) was lying around. It had left small pits in the mud and covered the road.
After documenting and reporting this we headed to Raton.
We decided to head to Raton for the night - the road we took was rather rural, but went through the hail swath left by the storm - copious amounts of marble sized hail up to around golf ball to hen egg (1.75 to 2 inches) was lying around. It had left small pits in the mud and covered the road.
After documenting and reporting this we headed to Raton.
Monday, 3 June 2019
June 3rd thoughts
Hello. We're starting the day in Hobbs, New Mexico. Nothing much going on at the surface. Upper flow is modest. We will head towards Boise City to see what we can pick off, if anything forms over the Raton Mesa area.
June 2nd report
Hello. We started the day in Midland, Texas. After a couple of weeks of pretty much non-stop driving/chasing, it was starting to take it's toll a bit - I felt quite tired - I think getting a nice supercell yesterday just eased all the pressure of wanted some very cool shots.
The risk area was broad, and one potential area of interest was around SW Texas into SE New Mexico, where an outflow boundary was - although better flow was a bit further north.
With no overall target in mind we decided to head to Artesia, New Mexico. We got to Hobbs and then decided to continue north to Lovington - a big cell had formed west of Roswell, and so we wanted to keep that in play.
We got lunch in Lovington and then headed west to Maljamar, and then NW to Hagerman. The supercell was west of there and became tornado warned - it had a nice looking wall cloud for a time but the lack of decent mid-level flow meant it was tending to a high-precipitation (HP) storm - dominated by outflow, which undercut and wrapped around the low-level mesocyclone. It did have big hail, and so we didn't run into the core.
We then dropped south to Artesia and then back east to Maljamar, to get back ahead of it. Another cell formed nearby, then then there was an uptick in the number of storms, which another beast back towards Artesia.
We saw some very nice iridescence in the anvil of the cluster of storms, and then decided to head a bit west again to look at the big storm that way. We then ambled east and south-east, pausing now and again to look at the cool shelf cloud, which exhibited some multi-layers at times.
We ended the day in Hobbs, and had dinner at a busy Applebee's with Dan, Steve and Pete.
A cool day's chasing where we let serendipity, to some degree, guide where we chased.
The risk area was broad, and one potential area of interest was around SW Texas into SE New Mexico, where an outflow boundary was - although better flow was a bit further north.
With no overall target in mind we decided to head to Artesia, New Mexico. We got to Hobbs and then decided to continue north to Lovington - a big cell had formed west of Roswell, and so we wanted to keep that in play.
We got lunch in Lovington and then headed west to Maljamar, and then NW to Hagerman. The supercell was west of there and became tornado warned - it had a nice looking wall cloud for a time but the lack of decent mid-level flow meant it was tending to a high-precipitation (HP) storm - dominated by outflow, which undercut and wrapped around the low-level mesocyclone. It did have big hail, and so we didn't run into the core.
We then dropped south to Artesia and then back east to Maljamar, to get back ahead of it. Another cell formed nearby, then then there was an uptick in the number of storms, which another beast back towards Artesia.
We saw some very nice iridescence in the anvil of the cluster of storms, and then decided to head a bit west again to look at the big storm that way. We then ambled east and south-east, pausing now and again to look at the cool shelf cloud, which exhibited some multi-layers at times.
We ended the day in Hobbs, and had dinner at a busy Applebee's with Dan, Steve and Pete.
A cool day's chasing where we let serendipity, to some degree, guide where we chased.
Sunday, 2 June 2019
June 2nd thoughts
A big area of the High Plains has the chance of severe storms today. Small-scale factors may contribute to locally enhanced chances of a tornado but the overall chance is low. For example, flow may back to the north of the Raton Mesa, over SE Colorado, although moisture is not great, but may be good enough. An outflow boundary around the Trans-Pecos may helps but overall forcing is negligible.
We considered remaining in SW Texas for the outflow boundary, marked on this map - but will likely drift into southern New Mexico.
We considered remaining in SW Texas for the outflow boundary, marked on this map - but will likely drift into southern New Mexico.
June 1st report
Hello. We started the day in Pecos, Texas, aiming to target the area fairly close-by, mainly to the south, in a corridor from the confluence of I-10 and I-20, ESE to Fort Stockton.
We headed west, picking up some lunch - and then once we'd reached the confluence of the two Interstates, we headed SE on I-10, turning off onto the same road we'd been on yesterday. We parked up and watched the cumulus bubbling away to our west, over the Davis Mountains. Some of these grew quite deep, but never moved off the mountains.
Over an hour passed, and we then noticed a cluster of towering cumulus to our ENE - these may have formed from cumulus drifting off the mountains, or may have been unrelated, simply growing in the 32C heat (perhaps aided a little by some steep lapse rates being advected off the mountains). Either way, this area of development looked interesting, and so we headed SE and then E, to Balmorhea, where we paused briefly, seeing Willoughby Owen and his chase partners.
The developing shower to our NE now had lightning in it, and was growing stronger. We expected it to turn to the SE if it could become a supercell, and so we decided to move down I-10 towards Fort Stockton. En route, the storm did become a supercell and duly started to turn to the right and head SE. We got fuel at Fort Stockton and then headed north of town, taking up a position on a slight rise where we had a grandstand view of the supercell. We were there for about 40 mins (during which time the storm was tornado warned) before we headed back south into Fort Stockton, and then a bit SE. We stopped on the SE side of town and watched as the storm glowered menacingly to the NW of town. Rotation did pick up for a while but, overall, it was quite a high-based storm - luckily for the town. The tornado sirens did sound, and folks were out and about looking at the storm.
We continued to the SE and stopped again - the storm had a good go at spinning up but never quite did it - several dust whirls and surges from outflow were noted. Lightning was frequent with plenty of CG activity.
We then dropped south a bit more to try to get a better view of the whole storm - by this time the storm started to slowly ease in intensity. We then decided to head to Midland for the night - but stopped in Fort Stockton briefly - the town had quite a bit of street flooding from the storm.
We then made the drive to Midland and had a late dinner in iHop - we could still see lightning flickering away to the north - other storms may drift over here later tonight, if they hold together.
A great day of chasing!
We headed west, picking up some lunch - and then once we'd reached the confluence of the two Interstates, we headed SE on I-10, turning off onto the same road we'd been on yesterday. We parked up and watched the cumulus bubbling away to our west, over the Davis Mountains. Some of these grew quite deep, but never moved off the mountains.
Over an hour passed, and we then noticed a cluster of towering cumulus to our ENE - these may have formed from cumulus drifting off the mountains, or may have been unrelated, simply growing in the 32C heat (perhaps aided a little by some steep lapse rates being advected off the mountains). Either way, this area of development looked interesting, and so we headed SE and then E, to Balmorhea, where we paused briefly, seeing Willoughby Owen and his chase partners.
The developing shower to our NE now had lightning in it, and was growing stronger. We expected it to turn to the SE if it could become a supercell, and so we decided to move down I-10 towards Fort Stockton. En route, the storm did become a supercell and duly started to turn to the right and head SE. We got fuel at Fort Stockton and then headed north of town, taking up a position on a slight rise where we had a grandstand view of the supercell. We were there for about 40 mins (during which time the storm was tornado warned) before we headed back south into Fort Stockton, and then a bit SE. We stopped on the SE side of town and watched as the storm glowered menacingly to the NW of town. Rotation did pick up for a while but, overall, it was quite a high-based storm - luckily for the town. The tornado sirens did sound, and folks were out and about looking at the storm.
We continued to the SE and stopped again - the storm had a good go at spinning up but never quite did it - several dust whirls and surges from outflow were noted. Lightning was frequent with plenty of CG activity.
We then dropped south a bit more to try to get a better view of the whole storm - by this time the storm started to slowly ease in intensity. We then decided to head to Midland for the night - but stopped in Fort Stockton briefly - the town had quite a bit of street flooding from the storm.
We then made the drive to Midland and had a late dinner in iHop - we could still see lightning flickering away to the north - other storms may drift over here later tonight, if they hold together.
A great day of chasing!
Saturday, 1 June 2019
June 1st thoughts
Hello. No real obvious forcing or enhanced areas of interest really today. The SPC's 2% tornado outline is over 300,000 sq miles in area! We'll likely remain in SW Texas for some locally backed surface flow north of the Davis Mountains, but no firm target in mind yet.
May 31st report
Hello. We started the day in Alpine, Texas. It was warm and very humid - quite unusual for this part of Texas to be so humid - we're in the Chihuahuan Desert.
We bought some lunch for later and set off to the north, to Fort Davis. We spent a little while here looking at some data and then continued to the north, on the road to Toyahvale and Balmorhea.
This route was pretty stunning, with lots of rocky outcrops and mountains, and quite a large area of basalt columns - very pretty.
We paused towards Toyahvale and chatting with Dan, Pete and Steve, who were also there. A storm had formed back to the south but there was also one to the west. We continued north and then north-west but watched as this storm faded in an LP supercell fashion. The lads decided to head back south onto the other storm, which looked quite interesting - but we decided to stick it out with further storms developing to our west.
One became dominant and turned into a supercell - we dropped a little south to a higher vantage point and watched it for a while. We then headed a bit further south as precip was starting to hide the updraught but the viewing to the south was hemmed in by mountains. Nevertheless we stopped and watched the area of rotation loom over some craggy peaks - in the quiet desert air we could hear the approaching precipitation cascade - several CG lightning bolts landed fairly close-by.
The rain arrived and we dropped a bit south - but then decided to head north to inspect the core...some 1 inch hail then started falling, which we reported - but the storm was never severe warned.
We went back and forth into and out of the hail - in the end the storm passed, and we decided to head to Pecos for the night, but stopped back at the previous higher vantage point to watch another storm for a while, and again north of I-10 for some lightning pics.
All in all a fun chase day.
We bought some lunch for later and set off to the north, to Fort Davis. We spent a little while here looking at some data and then continued to the north, on the road to Toyahvale and Balmorhea.
This route was pretty stunning, with lots of rocky outcrops and mountains, and quite a large area of basalt columns - very pretty.
We paused towards Toyahvale and chatting with Dan, Pete and Steve, who were also there. A storm had formed back to the south but there was also one to the west. We continued north and then north-west but watched as this storm faded in an LP supercell fashion. The lads decided to head back south onto the other storm, which looked quite interesting - but we decided to stick it out with further storms developing to our west.
One became dominant and turned into a supercell - we dropped a little south to a higher vantage point and watched it for a while. We then headed a bit further south as precip was starting to hide the updraught but the viewing to the south was hemmed in by mountains. Nevertheless we stopped and watched the area of rotation loom over some craggy peaks - in the quiet desert air we could hear the approaching precipitation cascade - several CG lightning bolts landed fairly close-by.
The rain arrived and we dropped a bit south - but then decided to head north to inspect the core...some 1 inch hail then started falling, which we reported - but the storm was never severe warned.
We went back and forth into and out of the hail - in the end the storm passed, and we decided to head to Pecos for the night, but stopped back at the previous higher vantage point to watch another storm for a while, and again north of I-10 for some lightning pics.
All in all a fun chase day.
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