May 29th was a marginal day at best. Southeast Colorado looked like the place to be. However, with moisture pooling along a boundary in east central New Mexico, I had a hunch that would produce decent supercells late in the day and evening. The Colorado target got interesting and produced a couple tornado warned storms ( See the previous chase account for the Prime Time Minitour!!!), but I chose to wait and see what would happen in New Mexico. I was not disappointed!!!! By early evening as a short wave trough approached, storms developed northwest of Clovis. It didn’t take long to see they were anchored and would start spinning quickly. As we approached the northeast side of Clovis, a tornado warning was issued. Numerous images from various locals and also my defunked video camera showed what appeared to be a cone tornado northwest of town. The NWS in ABQ is currently validating the tornado based on images, video and local chasers in the area. We nearly had the storm to ourselves, which is quite rare in this day and age!!!! We dropped through Clovis and ended up north of Portales, NM and sat and watched the storm spin like crazy. It was constantly tornado warned. The structure was absolutely top notch, even in the dark and hook after hook formed on this anchored supercell! Finally, by late evening, things started winding down, so we drove to Amarillo to our hotel for the night. One of the BEST structured supercells of 2024, even in the dark! Please enjoy the pics and NO they are not photoshopped!!!!
May 28th Morton, Texas Supercell with HUGE hail
May 28th set up had a dryline in west Texas, with strong southeast winds bringing modest moisture westward. Moderate CAPE developed as well and storms formed mid afternoon along the dryline. Storms pulsed quite a bit, and due to straight hodographs, storms split and many mergers occurred. Eventually a supercell developed, anchored near Morton. Structure became better, but due to modest moisture, the cloud base was too high to produce tornadoes. As it moved east it encountered a boundary and spun nicely. After several cycles, it produced 5 inch diameter hail west of Lubbock! We blew it off as it weakened and played further south with a supercell that had softball sized hail. The tornado threat this day was quite low due to high bases, but with strong shear in place and low freezing levels, storms were prolific hail producers.
May 23rd Eldorado, Oklahoma Large Violent Tornado
May 23rd was the final day of Tour #4, the Prime Time tour. As often occurs, the final day of the tour would be quite eventful!!! A triple point boundary was present north of Childress, Texas. Good moisture and instability were present as well as increasingly favorable wind shear. Mid afternoon storms formed at the triple point. They quickly became severe for large hail. As they moved the boundary, they weakened and died. Soon other storms formed at the same spot and also became severe. One also became tornado warned, but did not produce. Another cell formed to its southwest and eventually merged with the lead cell and also became severe and tornado warned. We stayed with it as it tracked southeast along the boundary. Just northeast of Eldorado, Oklahoma, a lowering formed in the 70 dewpoint air and started spinning. Soon a tornado formed. This tornado morphed several times from nearly a wedge, to a cone, to a multivortex and another cone before dissipating. Quickly a spectacular barrel tornado developed and tracked slowly east. Our position was perfect with the sun lightning up the barrel and collar cloud making for a spectacular sight! Just an amazing day and thankfully the tornadoes hit no towns! Enjoy the pics!
May 11th Pecos, Texas LP Supercell
https://youtu.be/j6viBkgwuzgMay 11th was a tough one to gage severe potential. Plenty of outflow boundaries were around, and an advancing cold front as well. Shear was decent, but moisture and instability were scant. We positioned ourselves near Pecos, Texas and finally by late afternoon a supercell formed northwest of town and became severe. The drifted east spinning like crazy and was warned for golfball sized hail. As the sun set, the storm died as stability occurred as the diurnal cyclone ended. A fun chase and a cool time lapse can be found here:
March 13th Rossville, Kansas Tornado
March 13th saw our first ON CALL tour of 2024 take place. We chased the 13th and 14th and intercepted either tornadic supercells or tornado warned supercells both days. March 13th took us to central/eastern Kansas to play the warm front/dryline triple point. Most models suggested storms would form there and also along the warm front. And they did both! We jumped on the first strongly rotating supercell east of Alma and watched it intensify and become tornadic after dark. A second supercell to our west also became tornadic near Alta Vista. Unfortunately, since we were committed to the initial eastern cell, we could not make it back west to play the Alta Vista cell. As our cell crossed I-70 west of Topeka it became tornado warned with two large cone funnels extending halfway to the ground. The eastern funnel touched down and became a tornado which lasted close to 10 minutes near the town of Rossville. We stayed with the storm all the way to Hoyt, where a tornado was also reported. We could not confirm one as anything was completely rain wrapped.
March 14th we chased in eastern Oklahoma and western Arkansas and intercepted several tornado warned storms. No tornadoes were confirmed, however hail nearly grapefruit sized occurred. We ended up near Atoka, OK at the end of the day chasing a tornado warned storm just north of town.
Overall, a great way to start the 2024 chase season!!!!
Here’s a You tube link of our video from this day: https://youtu.be/uuLlzTRFcA0
May 11th Central Oklahoma Tornado Warned Supercells
Great potential on May 11th!! Good moisture and instability would occur, as well as lift along a dryline, would result in several tornado warned supercells and one that produced a couple of night time tornadoes near Noble, OK. We chased south of the OKC area early as a supercell formed. It eventually died off as it ingested dry air. However, north of that several storms went up and spun, becoming tornado warned. One storm took us towards Lindsay, OK and attempted to drop a tornado. The funnel came halfway down and receded. Structure was very pretty as the supercells became very well organized. In a weird ending, one of the first storms we chased dropped the tornadoes. This storm was in the middle of a line of supercells, which typically is unusual. Almost always chase the tail end storm that has no competition for air, but this was not the case today! Enjoy the pics!
May 10th Akron, CO Tornado and Supercell
May 10th had great potential in eastern Colorado. Upslope flow, and approaching short wave, good moisture and moderate instability would set the stage for intense storm formation by early afternoon. Initial storms would cluster and produce copious amounts of hail around the Denver metro area and just east. A boundary draped along I-76 eastward towards Wray would be the focus for a few supercells that would produce a couple tornadoes. We were heading towards Akron when we encountered a HUGE line of chasers stopped at construction red lights. This delayed us almost 30 minutes! We ended up watching a tornado from the construction back up and had no way to get east due to flooded and extremely muddied dirt roads. A frustrating day, but at least we managed to catch a tornado!
July 10th Killdeer, Saskatchewan Canada Tornadofest
July 10th lived up to the potential forecast models showed! A strong shortwave trough would traverse across southern Canada and Montana, as a dryline/cold front and associated warm front would slide slowly east. Strong shear, deep moisture, high CAPE and several boundaries would be the focus on severe storms. The question would be whether or not they would be isolated or clusters/linear. Fortunately a cluster of supercells formed over southern Saskatchewan and the tail end cell anchored along the warm front west of Killdeer. This storm would become a tornado machine as it produced at least 11 tornadoes we counted. More may have occurred as multiple occlusions occurred and some were quite messy with low visibility. This was one of the best tornadic events we’ve witnessed in Canada in 20 years of tours! Fortunately the tornadoes stayed over rural countryside and did little damage. A couple of these were quite strong. This storm slowly moved east riding the warm front all the time and eventually was choked off by outflow from a linear complex over Montana. Amazing event and a great way to end our tour season! Enjoy the photos and video stills!
July 9th Northeast Montana Tornadic Supercell
July 9th had big potential. It wasn’t clear whether that would be across the international border into Canada or if storms would right turn along a warm front into northeast Montana and northwest North Dakota. Fortunately, for ease of chasing, storms crossed into the US and gave us quite a show! An intense supercell cycled and really ramped up as it crossed north of Plentywood, Montana. Due to high CAPE, strong deep layer shear, dew points in the lower 70s and the aforementioned warm front, the stage was set! This supercell became a monster, the storm of the day, as it rolled through Plentywood, MT and into far northwest North Dakota. Huge hail to baseball size, microburst winds of nearly 120 mph and an EF1 tornado that hit Plentywood, would be the highlight this day. A second supercell soon followed the path of the first and had just amazing structure as it rolled through Plentywood. Highways ended up being blocked due to debris from downed trees, power lines and houses through town. Fortunately there were no fatalities. Check out the photos below. Enjoy!!!
June 28th Southeast Montana/Northwest South Dakota Tornado Outbreak
An incredible day! The most significant tornado outbreak of 2018 to date occurred from one supercell this day! Southeast Montana and northwest South Dakota was the scene for this cyclic tornadic supercell that produced at least 8 and possibly more tornadoes in that area. The highest CAPE values I’ve seen in this area in 33 years of chasing occurred with 8000 joules of CAPE! Strong shear as well as mid 70s dewpoints, and throw in an awesome Black Hills Convergence Zone boundary and it would be only a matter of time before this supercell formed and morphed into the best storm of 2018! By mid afternoon several cells fired along the boundary and drifted north. All but one cell continued on this trek, with the one lone cell quickly becoming a supercell, which right turned along the boundary and turned into a beast! The structure was top notch and the tornado event that unfolded was incredible. Tornadoes of every shape, size and strength would form from late afternoon through sunset as the cell continued its slow march into northwest South Dakota. At one point we even had an anticyclonic tornado that developed on the south side of the updraft and raced directly towards us. Caryn would see it and take evasive action quickly as it passed in front of us. Then a large half mile wide wedge formed directly in front of us and roared across the countryside getting an EF3 rating! An amazing sight to behold!!! The storm continued into northwest South Dakota south of Camp Crook and continued producing tornadoes in the dark. Lightning would illuminate them making for some of the most spectacular storm photography this season! Please enjoy the pics!
