Sean Ramsey
EF4
I wasn't expecting much out of the day other than some linear storms and possible hail, but since it was Saturday and I had the time I decided to chase yesterday. I initially targeted Vernon, TX thinking storms would be developing in southern Oklahoma and moving southward into Texas, so I waited. The front kept moving southward without firing anything, so I moved south with it until about 3:30 pm when super cells began developing, one west of Anson, TX and the other near Sterling City, TX. I decided to go for the nearest storm near Anson, not expecting to chase that far south. It developed a wall cloud and looked more organized than the storm further to the southwest. I stayed with it for about an hour, but the storm to the southwest went tornado warned and stayed that way pretty much all day. At the same time the storm I was on started to lose its strength (I figured the southern storm was stealing from the northern one) so I decided to go after the Sterling City storm. Luckily these storms were moving about 10mph, but were moving in a southwest direction. It took me about an hour to get to it, and by the time I got there flooding was an issue due to the cell being HP, but I made it finally made it through to the southern side of the storm. The CG lightning was very intense, at one time hitting a tower on a small hill not far from the road as we passed by. A few seconds afterwards I had a very intense burning sensation down my spine that I'd never felt before. It took a little bit to go away but thankfully it did. Unfortunately the road network in that area was very poor and the storm moved off to the southwest into an area I couldn't get to. I left the storm last night while it was still tornado warned, and although I didn't get a tornado it was a very satisfying chase, and challenging as well.
I didn't get a ton of photos due to the lightning and changing of targets, but I got these pics:
I didn't get a ton of photos due to the lightning and changing of targets, but I got these pics:
