After not following the wise advice of one former SPC forecaster, and also after pretending to ignore the 12z Wed 3/3 DRT sounding with the huge cap (still evident on the 00z Thu 3/4 sounding)... I headed out east this morning... Called up some ASOS data before hitting the I-20/I-10 split, which told me to go south and not head to Midland as originally planned (for some data, and then likely head back south to play along I-10 afterwards.)
Stopped in Ft. Stockton at around 1pm CT for some data at the library. Warm front not budging. Mid-level clouds beginning to lift out of the Rio Grande Valley to my south. Playing along I-10 was not an option. Things weren't looking good, but I had made my bed and was willing to lie in it! Headed south to Sanderson. Still in cool sector. Headed east... finally got into the warm sector near Langtry. Explored the town for a bit, took some photos (cool place).
Pretty much gave up, but headed east to DRT hoping for something to fire up late and maybe get some lightning photos. No such luck.
Looks like elevated stuff (poss severe) going up in the Midland area now as of 0230 CST. Fast moving garbage.
Lots of low-level clouds even in the warm sector today... BKN sometimes overcast at 2000 feet or so. Simply nothing going up. Too much capping. The former SPC forecaster warned me of the capping with the strong southerly mid-level flow. "Maybe some HP supercells if you could break the cap, but there's no good low-level forcing and the instability doesn't look too great... otherwise maybe some elevated garbage w/ some hail on the warm front," he said. But the young one made up his mind a long time ago. Lesson learned the hard way! :x
Was nice to get a feel on where to put things in the new vehicle, however, plus I got to explore an area of South Texas I might not have gotten the chance to see otherwise. I really recommend checking out Langtry, TX if you're ever down that way. Drop in on the Judge Roy Bean Visitor's Center, look at some of the very photogenic abandoned buildings south of there, and the canyon areas along the Rio Grande on a short gravel road are quite beautiful!
I headed home tonight thinking tomorrow would not be so good. Lots of muck left about, instability issues... likely anything would just end up morphing into a squall line, and anything else would be hauling butt anyways. No fun. Good shakedown though. Looking forward to April/May/June!
Good luck to anyone going out there tomorrow.
