May 18, 2010 Texas Panhandle Supercell and Tornadoes
The setup May 18th was one of a weak boundary in the Texas panhandle, with good moisture and instability filtering in as the day went on. A strong shortwave trough was forecast to arrive during late afternoon, providing increased lift and ascent for storm development. A supercell formed by late afternoon southwest of Dalhart, and tracked/developed southeast towards Dumas. This storm was a classic cyclic tornadic supercell, and also produced copious amounts of significant hail. A very audible hail roar was quite easily heard as the storm spun and moved east of Dumas. We intercepted 4 tornadoes from the supercell. It tried several times to produce significant low level rotation, and at one point east of Dumas, I thought we would get a large tornado. It couldn’t stay focused long enough for that to happen. Finally, as it approached Stinnett, it produced a nice stovepipe tornado.
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