Ethan Schisler
EF5
Chased a marginal setup today for the 2nd day of my chasecation. The setup was similar to yesterday, but there was less moisture today and shear was low. We decided to go west toward the dry line on the New Mexico border and see if anything popped off. One storm popped off around lunchtime NW of Denver City, TX. I knew there was an outflow boundary further E oriented NW to SE just SW of Lubbock so we stuck with this storm. It gained intensity quick and dropped copious amounts of large hail that left significant accumulations in spots. It produced a very brief landspout tornado east of Loop, TX. I originally didn't think it was a tornado, but it was being pushed by the RFD and had very good motion at the ground with multiple suction vortices and a rotating "nub" above it. The storm produced countless gustnadoes and blowing dust. Got to Lamesa where the structure picked up, the storm carved a huge clear slot around it and ingested massive amounts of dust. I believe there was a landspout embedded in it, but it was an otherworldy light. We then saw a funnel east of town which a couple other chasers confirmed brief ground circulation. Followed the storm to near Gail, TX before abandoning to chase the mammatus at sunset. Followed the same storm for nearly 7 hours, noted a couple weak landspouts, and some impressive structure. Pretty great day honestly. Here are some shots!
