2/21/2010 REPORTS: TX

[Simon Brewer]

I documented a supercell and two funnel clouds in Kaufman County, TX on February 21, 2010. A small region of marginal instability developed with sfc temps in the low 70's and dewpoints in the mid-50's, the deep-layer shear was adequate for supercells, and a pseudo warm front/outflow boundary provided a low-level shear environment for low-level rotation. I targeted the DFW region-eastward and positioned south of Fate, TX. South of Fate, TX I watched a supercell develop to my west-southwest and move southeast; it developed a wall cloud and a long-lasting funnel cloud. I drove south and witnessed a the development of another funnel cloud; I took some pics and a short video clip and continued chasing the storm, but it was soon undercut by the cold front. I ended my day shooting a sunset and enjoying the mild air southeast of the cold front.

Image above is the second funnel witnessed on this storm

Image above is the supercell before being undercut by the cold front

Below is a link to the chase summary:
http://www.stormgasm.com/2-21-10/2-21-10.htm

I really enjoyed being out there; I love chasing, so this year has been great with the winter storms and this chase.

Simon

 

[W. Grant Dade]

I was on this storm as well however I was not as close as Simon to the funnel. From our vantage point it looked like a funnel under a well defined wall cloud but it was very hard to see the rotation from a long distance. As the wall cloud approached the rotation was much weaker as the updraft was being undercut by drier, cooler air. A new updraft formed to the southeast with rotation and a brief funnel. This too was undercut and dissipated. All in all, not a bad chase for a low risk day. Pictures soon.

 

[Chris Lott]

Myself and chase partner Craig Barton also chased this storm. We didn't actually decide to go after it until after the storm had already developed, and we were able to see the same funnels that Simon and Grant observed. By the time we arrived in Kaufman, the front was already starting to undercut the storm but we were still able to observe a short lived funnel. The storm did look beautiful as we approached from the southwest near Waxahachie:

It's hard to see in this picture but there was a short lived funnel we briefly observed as we came into Kaufman:

In this picture we noticed some brief but weak rotation:

 

[W. Grant Dade]

http://gdadeblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/1st-storm-chase-of-2010.html

Here is my chase write up. Having a little trouble posting pictures but they are all on my write up, including radar grabs. It is very interesting to see other views of the same storm. Chris I loved the shot of the entire strom from the west. We were on the southeast side of the storm.