It just doesn’t get much closer than this storm did without producing a tornado!!!! That was the saying after this day was done. An LP storm formed east of Lubbock and produced a couple landspout type tornadoes. But as it moved off the Caprock, it died, as many do. A second storm formed on the outflow from the first storm. I thought it was going to get the job done and produce a large tornado. However, it ingested too much cool outflow air from the first storm and became outflow dominant. Very disappointing!!! Although the structure on this storm was well worth the price of admission.
May 23rd, 2002 Borger, Texas Supercell & Tornado
What an incredible storm this was!! After spending almost too much time east of Childress, we drove northeast and were greeted with this beautiful storm. From a distance it did not look that impressive. But as we approached it from the south, the incredible structure of this HP/classic supercell became obvious. This was a special storm!!! One of the top 10 in my book ever! From the highly striated liberty bell updraft, to the FF tornado it produced, this storm was a force to be dealt with carefully. We drove northeast of Skellytown and ended up northwest of Pampa to get the best view we could. And what a view it was!!!!
The FF of this storm was very electrified. The striated updraft had clear evidence of major RFD erosion, and I am afraid it produced a rather large rain wrapped tornado that was just out of vision. As the rain cleared the occluded updraft, a rather large block shaped lowering was visible which could have attested to producing a large tornado that we just couldn’t see. Enjoy the photos of this beast.
May 7th, 2002 Southwest Kansas Tornadofest
What an awesome day!!!! We started the day out in Oklahoma City and headed north towards the triple point in southwest Kansas. We intercepted an incredible supercell in eastern Ford county and it moved into Edwards county. This storm had 60 mph inflow winds and awesome structure. It produced several tornadoes, of which we saw 4 of them. The first tube formed in the inflow region in the notch of this beast. The second, third and fourth tornadoes formed in the hook area of supercell. We eventually blew the storm off as it approached Greensberg and took on drastic HP features. We dropped south for the next cell, only to find out later that our first cell later produced the Pratt wedge. Moral of the story: Never blow off your storm!!!!
May 5th, 2002 Texas Panhandle Magic
May 5th was an incredible day. Two very large tornadic supercells developed in the Texas panhandle. Since I was on my way to Oklahoma City to join David Gold and Silver Lining Tours, I took the northern route through the northern Texas panhandle. By mid afternoon a supercell developed near Dumas and tracked east/northeast through the panhandle. This storm produced a very large tornado about 10 miles east of Pringle, Texas, and another beautiful tornado just south of Higgins, Texas.