Storm Chase Details
Miles Logged: 1086
States Chased: TX, NM
Largest Hail Encountered: 0.75 in.
Spotter Network Reports: 1
Severe Risks: SPC Outlooks
Severe Reports: Storm Reports
After spending almost a week at home, I decided to hit the road again on another road trip, this time to Lubbock. I hit the road Sunday night the 4th and got out to Lubbock by about 10 pm, grabbing a room for the night.
Spent the morning in the hotel room working on a few items before hitting the road after lunch time. Convection was ongoing near DFW and an east/west oriented outflow boundary remained westward towards the New Mexico line. As it was slowly drifting south, I decided to start heading south.
Instability on the 18Z Midland sounding was reasonably decent. A little warm between 800mb-700mb.
SPC Mesoanalysis at 20Z
I dropped south to Lamesa and sat around waiting on the cumulus field to become more agitated. Mesoscale Discussion 696 was issued, with a Tornado Watch following shortly after. With agitated cu further west, I decided to start drifting that way, heading to Andrews and then to the Pilot in Jal. The outflow boundary was continuing to march south at a fast clip.
Hailer in Jal
I topped my tank off and went just north of the town of Jal to observe the storm going up. It was quickly severe warned and I found some small hail at multiple stops in Jal. Due to lack of roads, I ended up having to head back east from Jal towards Andrews.
The updraft was skinny and I decided to hold at the intersection of Texas Highways 128 & 115 as I watched the storm decay as it moved away. By this point, the outflow boundary was laying way south, already through Big Spring, Midland and Odessa. The only way I would see a tornado at this point would be to go back west to the juicy air.
I made it to Kermit as the new cells blowing up would go overhead. These weren’t even severe warned, so I decided to call it and start heading home. I dropped south to I-20 and continued east with a Whataburger stop in Big Spring.
Long Drive Home
I’d end up driving to the new Spark hotel in Wichita Falls where I was able to get a great room for $81 tax included. That’s the cheapest hotel room I’ve had in years.
