4/21/07 DISC: TX/KS/NE/CO

[Brett Adair]

Glad to hear that everyone was okay. I hope the damage was minimal for you guys. Looks pretty bad from the images coming from Tulia, TX. I think everyone in the chasing community is praying for you guys.

 

[Verne Carlson]

Holy crap Amos and Eric,
I just saw the pic of your car, glad to hear you are all right! We heard rumors last night of something bad happening to some chaser but had no idea it was you guys.
Verne

 

[Ryan McGinnis]

Glad you're doing okay, you two! I wondered if it was you, Amos, when I heard it was an Xterra that got smashed. Looking at the pictures posted, I am somewhat flabbergasted that neither of you were injured in that mess.

 

[Tony Laubach]

I've posted about 50 of the 250 images I took this afternoon from Cactus. Jon was able to get us access into the town with his pass. We spent about 2 hours walking around the devestation in the town of Cactus. Its a very surreal experience to see something like that in person. Between the adventures had by many chasers and seeing the aftermath today, its easily one of the most sobering experiences of my chasing career...

I have 50 of the pics thumbnailed on my very incomplete April 21, 2007 storm chaser log, but none-the-less, they are viewable... below are a few shots...

At one point, several emergency vehicles arrived at this overturned trailor and firefighters and rescue people began digging through the rubble as if someone was found inside. As far as we know, no one was inside this trailor as we left after 20 minutes when it seemed as if the search dogs gave false alarm. Hoopefully that remained the case..

I saw Al Pietrycha on our way out and chatted with him about the damage for a bit... he said a ground survey put the damage path at 3/4 mile wide, however they were going to do a survey from the air to confirm that. His thoughts were EF-2 with the potential for EF-3. Nothing confirmed at this time that I am aware of...

The rest of the images can be found here...

 

[Amos Magliocco]

Thanks, all. We're fine. Looks like Eric's instruments were recording and he's trying to extract the data now. Will try to post something in Reports later tonight.

PS: at the time we entered Tulia, we were using GRLevel3 for data from KFDX. LBB wasn't updating and XM had been down for some time.

 

[Wesley Luginbyhl]

I had just came back into service as we caught back up to the Tulia storm (we were about 10 miles to the south) and I saved an image off of GRLevel3 right before the tornado came down in Tulia. Just thought I would share it.

 

[Jenn Brindley]

Here are a few of the images I got with Tony and Jon of the damage from the tornado in Cactus.

 

[Chris Sokol]

Same here guys. I know it's been said a lot, but man...I'm really glad to hear that you made it out ok.

 

[Stuart Robinson]

Actually made the news here in the UK

http://news.sky.com/skynews/picture_gallery/picture_gallery/0,,70141-1261999-5,00.html

I am glad that you are ok

 

[Scott Olson]

Amos & Eric, glad you guys made it through, that does indeed sound like a sobering experience.

 

[Dustin Wilcox]

Link to Lubbocks damage survey results.

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/lub/climate/Local_interest_events/2007/20070421_tor/

 

[Shane Adams]

Amarillo has the tornado WNW of Boys Town at 6:51pm as the same tornado that eventually tracked ENE of Channing, ending at 7:27pm......other chasers reported these were seperate tornadoes. We saw the beginning stages at 6:51pm, but the tornado *appeared* to dissipate shortly before disappearing in wrapping rain curtains. A few minutes later, well east of where the original tornado disappeared, we observed a large teardrop tornado.....and there was also a large wedge just east of THAT one we didn't see at the time (pics in the REPORTS thread for this date are evidence to this). So there was at least one tornado during the 6:51-7:27pm time frame that was seperate from the long-track single tornado AMA has logged........but other chasers have reported the white stovepipe/rope tornado NE of Channing/SW of Dumas was a different tornado from the wedge east of Channing.

If anyone can confirm either way (one single long track or separate tornadoes) I would appreciate a PM about this......I've been trying to log my tornado count from that day and it seems I may have too many recorded.....I am meticulous about records and I want them to be as accurate as possible. So if anyone witnessed this as a single tornado event or a multiple tornado event (we lost sight for several minutes) please let me know....and also, AMA is unaware of the separate teardrop tornado.

 

[Doug Lee]

Shane, have you looked at radar images from that time slot? If so, do they show a secondary area of rotation? I wonder if the AMA mets missed it because it may have been anticyclonic...? Or most likely, they were so focued on the main TVS or rotation signature they didn't notice any others in the same vincity. Maybe looking at data from other radar sites would help. Just a few things to look into if no other chasers who were out there saw anything helpful.