Quincy Vagell
EF4
This was an interesting event, as the day started with very low confidence of chase prospects. I woke up in Amarillo and didn't leave until mid-afternoon. I pondered the southern target, but that seemed too conditional and out of the way for the chase target on the 17th. For a time I even thought about bailing north to get into position for the following day (today), but when a few faint echoes went up in far northeastern New Mexico, I decided to start drifting in that direction.
A small cluster of cells evolved into one marginally severe thunderstorm over Cimarron County, OK. I got up to an area near Texline and positioned myself to watch the storm evolve. Knowing that mid and upper level flow was relatively weak and deep layer shear was borderline at best for supercell thunderstorms, I kept expectations in check.
The chase was fairly benign, as I did not see one chaser. It was very quiet and peaceful, watching this slow-moving thunderstorm evolve in the distance. I stayed put for about an hour, before it was clear the storm was weakening and it was time to get north. Sometimes the simple things, like a relatively ordinary thunderstorm, make chases worthwhile. This storm was more or less on the way to the next day's target and it provided an opportunity for a few photos. I also added a video below that is sped up to 64x the actual speed to show storm evolution.
A small cluster of cells evolved into one marginally severe thunderstorm over Cimarron County, OK. I got up to an area near Texline and positioned myself to watch the storm evolve. Knowing that mid and upper level flow was relatively weak and deep layer shear was borderline at best for supercell thunderstorms, I kept expectations in check.
The chase was fairly benign, as I did not see one chaser. It was very quiet and peaceful, watching this slow-moving thunderstorm evolve in the distance. I stayed put for about an hour, before it was clear the storm was weakening and it was time to get north. Sometimes the simple things, like a relatively ordinary thunderstorm, make chases worthwhile. This storm was more or less on the way to the next day's target and it provided an opportunity for a few photos. I also added a video below that is sped up to 64x the actual speed to show storm evolution.
