This was one of my oddest storm chase experiences of the year. A combination of several tornadoes (most in any single chase since 6/17/14), car/debris issues, storms underperforming/overperforming based off radar and having to bail early.
I actually started the day in Fort Worth, where I have driven to from the Atlanta area the night before. My target was the southeastern panhandle of Texas, in literally the same area that I had last chased on September 20th. I found myself wandering around, waiting for storms to initiate. The photo below was from Memphis and the photo above was near Claude.
I watched a developing supercell in Tulia, but little did I know that to get into line for this storm, I would drop into a canyon and lose radar data. Once out of the canyon, I approached the storm and had only spotty radar data to run with, so I decided to just rely on my eyes and watch the storm do its thing. This also gave me more time to man the cameras, as I was chasing solo.
The wall cloud associated with the storm showed varying amounts of organization and rotation, but despite its appearance on radar, it didn't produce. As it moved northeast, I adjusted back toward the canyon and tons of chasers were lined up. I stayed for a bit to shoot some more video and there was a brief moment with what appeared like two funnel clouds reaching down, but then quickly lifted.
I followed the storm back north and like the accounts of many others, observed a brief tornado south of Claude, but it lifted relatively quickly.
I drifted farther north and intercepted one storm that dropped some hail, I believe it was the same cell that resulted in the first long-track tornado south of Pampa. As I was driving east on I-40, I did a double-take to my left. I thought it was a rain shaft, but there was a tornado developing in close proximity. On radar, it was clear that a supercell was forming, but the velocity scans were garbage. The tornado went unwarned for several minutes, perhaps in part due to the crummy representation on radar? I first reported the tornado to NWS Amarillo at 6:39 p.m., but based on the radar images I have saved, it didn't get warned until between 6:47 (debris ball on radar) and 6:50. I don't have video equipment that shoots well under low light conditions, so I only managed one very low resolution still:
As I moved east, I managed to get to TX-70 in time to shoot north and was planning on intercepting the storm as it approached Pampa. As I was moving north, I had, for a short time, a visual on two tornadoes to the north. One was to the northeast of my position (passing east of Pampa) and the other one to the northwest was the storm that touched down near Groom. Moments later, there were power lines down all over the road and a whole string of cars off the side of the road with damage and flat tires. I attempted to dodge the debris, but ran over a telephone pole before slowing down and getting out of the way. I was losing air in my front passenger side tire, as the rim was damaged. Luckily, a group of three younger guys (locals who were "chasing" for the first time) had a massive hammer and we knocked the rim back into place. After filling the tire up with air, it was far too late to try to chase anything else. I'm really surprised that more damage wasn't done from running over a telephone pole, but I guess I had slowed down considerably before impact.
I went east all the way to Fort Smith, AR that night, anticipating a chase on 11/17 in the Lower Mississippi Valley. It's a shame that few discrete cells formed ahead of the squall line that afternoon, because the area near the Mississippi River in northeastern Louisiana is very chaser friendly for road networks and visibility. I finally went back to Atlanta for work the next day and didn't catch the Mississippi tornadoes that night.
Although the chase was cut short, I managed to catch glimpses of at least three tornadoes and was lucky enough to not have to get towed after the incident south of Pampa. I've had a few close calls with debris over the past few years, but have been able to escape each time. (While stuck just south of Pampa, several tow trucks and law enforcement offered help, but I was too stubborn to take it) Luckily I drove all the way back to Atlanta over the next two days with no issues with the tire.
