Bust in Central Texas

Chase Recap:

A bit reactionary after missing a tornado the day prior. Squatch and I traveled to central texas to look at a shelf cloud.

Forecast

With a slow pattern in mid May, I had been watching Monday the 23rd and Tuesday the 24th as well as Wednesday the 25th. I also found out Squatch’s plans for his chasecation fell through, so I invited him to come with me.

Sunday evening we discussed, and I really thought Tuesday was the better of the two days. Shear looked meager on Monday the 23rd, and I figured we’d need to go to Midland which is approximately 7 hours away. I even referenced May 1/May 2 and my laziness on chasing the 1st. Bad analogy, but it’d verify with missing a big tornado in Texas on the 23rd.

Morning Target

Morning surface analysis showed a very nice tongue of moisture up to the DFW area. If something discrete could form there, the shear profiles and moisture were fantastic.

Departure

Adam and I departed Norman and headed south down I-35. We weren’t in a huge rush, as I was anticipating any tornado threat would come from storms as they reached the I-35 corridor in Texas where the moisture and shear was better.

As the day progressed, we made it south of Fort Worth and stopped in Alvarado. There was a few storms struggling to maintain near Stephenville. The better storms were further west and mode was already becoming a concern. We’d head through Cleburne and Glen Rose before dropping south to Hamilton.

Shelf Cloud

Radar had become very clear that we’d be looking at a shelf cloud soon. We headed west from Hamilton to Priddy to check it out. We’d ultimately see this shelf cloud. At least we had Jets pizza in Fort Worth we could eat to pass this day away.