2011-04-24 REPORTS: TX

[Hank Schyma]

Caught the 2nd Abilene Cell (Tail end Charlie) at initiation. Witnessed 1 spin-up under very strong and tight rotation around Potosi. Several other reports of tornadoes in the area, but I didnt see em. Killer CG! All in all a fun day. Sorry Mom for missing Easter.

 

[Fred Dearborn]

Managed to get on the first cell and then dropped back to the 2nd cell to view the HP mothership and awesome shelf cloud.First time chase for us in Tx since we started this over ten years ago.Now i pay the dues by driving back all night to go to work tmrw if i feel up to it.Would like to make another report of maybe the profanity to stop on the ham,thats just uncalled for,geeze...

 

[Tim Marshall]

saw tornadoes near Baird,Tx from two different HP supercells then dropped south to the tail end storm near Coleman for another tornado at dusk.

 

[Mike Mezeul II]

Ran late due to Easter morning festivities but managed to catch the tornado warned supercell near Ranger, Texas. Quick shot from the night...I found Jesus & a storm together...success.

 

[Matthew Crowther]

saw tornadoes near Baird,Tx from two different HP supercells then dropped south to the tail end storm near Coleman for another tornado at dusk.

I was tandeming with Tim (he gets the credit for the catches)

Photos: We only have video of the last tornado at dusk)

http://img849.imageshack.us/g/dsc1002wtmk.jpg/

 

[Tim Marshall]

I actually got a blurry photo of the last tornado which I'll post on my FB page.

 

[sdienst]

I caught the same group of storms near Baird seeing 2 maybe 3 tornadoes including the first one from the leading supercell and the rope tornado from the following storm. Both viewed from about the same loaction north of Baird on 283.

 

[Chris C Sanner]

​

Saw several tornadoes today. Video above is of the first Baird tornado. Then saw a few brief spin ups under various funnels near Potosi -- reporting made easier with us basically telling the fire department what was going on near us. Then headed East to Baird and saw another Tornado in almost the exact same spot. Followed the storm and it's gorgeous structure back east before calling it a night. Total tornado count was probably in the 5-6 range depending...not important though, just an AWESOME day!

 

[Jeremy Holmes]

A few from yesterday.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jeremy-Holmes-Photography/297709508679

 

[Bill Tabor]

I caught the first logged tornado about 5 north of Baird around about 3:34. I managed to videotape it briefly on my dashcam as I was approaching, but then I spent time messing with my streaming setup trying to stream it which I was unable to do. End result I saw the tornado and briefly videotaped from further out than I preferred but no digital pics, hd video, or streaming video, and all the messing with the equipment kept me from really enjoying the site of it because I was distracted looking at other things. To make matters worse as I approached I didn't tilt the dashcam left enough so 3/4 of the time you can see the upper half of the tornado but not the other half...LOL. Sad. Well, at least I got one, that's all I can say. I would have been there earlier too, but I was screwing around wasting time south of Baird and considering going after the cell to my due west. I thought it could become big, but instead the Baird cell intensified and started ingesting the other cell. When I realized that I raced north. I believe the tornado occurred directly after that merger or one before it. I didn't manage to pick up any more tornadoes, but saw some incredibly mean looking green hail core's and cattle catcher gust front toward the end of the chase. Met up with Gene Moore directly after the tornado, who got some nice close up digital stills of the tornado, and later local Austin friend / chaser David Douglas who brought his neighbor along for his first chase. Steak in Stephenville!

Screen grab or video clip later.

 

[Brandon Goforth]

Got the first tornado north of Baird, TX early, the brief tornadoes in the Potosi to Eula area, and the 2nd Baird tornado that happened near and just to the SW of the first one. Here's some video:

Watch video >

 

[Ben Holcomb]

Got the tornado right after the long rope tornado (which I missed by like 30 seconds) near Baird, TX. Got a funnel/possible tornado down near Lawn on Tail End Charlie.

Watch video >

I also managed to slide off a dirt road and make some body damage (more than I already had from hail!) on my truck. Boo, but hopefully I can get my truck fixed and back as soon as possible!

 

[cdcollura]

Good day all,

I was on the same supercells near Baird and Abilene as I was on a quick chase trip flying out of FL late Saturday and returning Monday morning. Seemed to be worth it, as I caught at least three tornadoes!

Chase log is at the link here: http://www.sky-chaser.com/mwcl2011.htm and a video clip can be seen below...



Initial target area was from near Breckenridge and adjust from there. First storms initiated about 25 miles SW of there near Abilene and became supercellular rather quickly. The main intercept route was highway 283 north of I-20. Literally a 48 hour chase for me. Nice meeting up with the TWISTEX group out there as well!

Above: Wall cloud north of Baird as the first storm gets going.

Above: Right where you may (or may NOT) want to be (bear's cage with hook / rfd passing over me)!

Above: Tornado to my SW by about 100 yards.

Above: Massive wall cloud / possible tornado to my N (North of Baird and looking N on 283). Nice RFD clear slot too.

Above: Dryline and backside of supercell storms (this one probably producing 4" hail at the time) looking S from Abilene.