• After witnessing the continued decrease of involvement in the SpotterNetwork staff in serving SN members with troubleshooting issues recently, I have unilaterally decided to terminate the relationship between SpotterNetwork's support and Stormtrack. I have witnessed multiple users unable to receive support weeks after initiating help threads on the forum. I find this lack of response from SpotterNetwork officials disappointing and a failure to hold up their end of the agreement that was made years ago, before I took over management of this site. In my opinion, having Stormtrack users sit and wait for so long to receive help on SpotterNetwork issues on the Stormtrack forums reflects poorly not only on SpotterNetwork, but on Stormtrack and (by association) me as well. Since the issue has not been satisfactorily addressed, I no longer wish for the Stormtrack forum to be associated with SpotterNetwork.

    I apologize to those who continue to have issues with the service and continue to see their issues left unaddressed. Please understand that the connection between ST and SN was put in place long before I had any say over it. But now that I am the "captain of this ship," it is within my right (nay, duty) to make adjustments as I see necessary. Ending this relationship is such an adjustment.

    For those who continue to need help, I recommend navigating a web browswer to SpotterNetwork's About page, and seeking the individuals listed on that page for all further inquiries about SpotterNetwork.

    From this moment forward, the SpotterNetwork sub-forum has been hidden/deleted and there will be no assurance that any SpotterNetwork issues brought up in any of Stormtrack's other sub-forums will be addressed. Do not rely on Stormtrack for help with SpotterNetwork issues.

    Sincerely, Jeff D.

6/02/07 REPORTS: KS / TX

We were on the supercell near Dimmitt, TX this evening. Beautiful backsheared anvil and wonderful flanking line with the sun setting in behind. Saw two wall clouds and two funnel clouds. The second funnel cloud was halfway to the ground, could not see any debris swirl underneath it. It dissipated when we got a chance to stop to get a better view underneath. We also got one inch hail and some great lightning pictures. Basing out of Lubbock for tonight and possibly tomorrow.
 
Today was my first time using the Spotter Network--simply awesome. Took a little while for me to get everything set up with GPSgate, but the unbelievably improved cell coverage over the PH coupled with the addition of a cellular antenna (probably biggest contribution was the latter--can't believe I never used one before!), I was able to get data uploaded and downloaded throughout the chase.

Forecast had high bust potential, so I extended my stay in Plainview for an additional night to allow for time to dictate the proper chase spot. Satellite ended up being the key to my evolving chase strategy today. Unlike in previous days, OFBs were not as clear on radar today. An E-W oriented boundary in a Parmer to Swisher Cty, TX line had bubbling Cu most of the day. I concur that the midlevels were almost absent, but the 300mb winds were rapidly accelerating in the area suggesting parcels hitting the LFC may get adequate ventilation. Sfc winds backed rapidly during the late afternoon as a small line finally began to hit radar returns along the aforementioned OFB. Once I saw bold convection had evolved, there was no chasing to do: all I had to do was move 45 miles NW of Plainview. Shockingly easy considering the seriously difficult forecast from this am.

Adding to the excitement was the sharp right turn the storm took and the dominance of the western cell. Rapid radar evolution into a screaming eagle was much, much more than I could have hoped for today.
As I approached from the SE, the base was obviously very high courtesy of the T/Td spreads, but the midflow feeder bands, rock hard updraft, and initial "classic" supercell appearance were like nothing I've chased since '99 or '00. All by itself with unobstructed inflow air and sunshine beaming through along the dry rear flank. Crepuscular rays beamed around the updraft.

Ended up picking a sweet spot to get out and film and finally met, face-to-face, Paul and the COD crew (talk about wild--the Spotter Network showed who I was parked next to making the introduction easier). Good meeting you Paul!

Despite being in clear air, the meso started spitting out nickel size hail forcing constant repositioning southward on 385. The transition to a right-moving (almost pure southward) HP was problematic so late in the day. Nevertheless I can confirm the tornado already mentioned above. It was a cone before roping during occlusion. Multiple new funnels formed on redeveloping updrafts, but the storm slowed and the storm transitioned to a pure HP. While TOR continued to be issued, none of the updrafts matured similar to the one when the tornado occurred (and it occurred largely as the storm suddenly shot south in a short burst likely bumping local helicity).

As darkness ensued I shot incredible front flank lightning and eventually was consumed by the RFD of another occluded meso. I moved southward into Littlefield to allow the storm to pass overhead. Though TORs continued well after dark, visual features were lost as the CC and CG output of the storm pulsed down.

Would never, never have hoped for the luck I got today. Nature was generous. Off to rest and try to rinse and repeat tomorrow.

Pix will be up at my website, http://stormdoctor.com/ shortly (which has already my complete pix of this year's chase).
 
Followed a supercell from Dimmitt southward to Littlefield. Saw a large tornado that was mostly rain wrapped about 9 SW of Dimmitt. Look like it lasted 10-15 minutes. The best part of the chase was the storm structure. The main tower was crisp and vertical rising above the striated base. The east side of the updraft had incredible stair-step banding. The underside of the anvil had a spiral textured surface which I had never seen before. Wow. A surprise indeed since winds aloft were relatively weak. TM
 
Still chasing with Gene Moore, excellent day today again, saw the rain wrapped tornado and the storm near Dimmitt,

http://klipsi.blog.tdg.ch/general/la-belle-et-la-bete.html


mob378_1180859767.jpg



mob377_1180859766.jpg




a few more images of the great storm at

http://klipsi.blog.tdg.ch/general/la-belle-et-la-bete.html


happy weekend !
 
My chase partner and I got on the storm that went up near Hereford, TX. Followed it and got hail covering the ground NE of Dimmitt. Got a call and was told about the storm near Sunnyside. This is the storm that everyone was on that eventually tracked into Littlefield. I saw a quick funnel between Sunnyside and Springlake-Earth. Got to Springlake and got into some hail that was between golfballs and billiard balls. Followed the storm into Littlefield, and at that time the hook echo was on the north side of town. Filled up with gas QUICKLY and went west toward Muleshoe where we saw a nice lightning show near the TX-NM border. We then slowly made it back to Amarillo. I was not expecting the day to turn out like this. I'm sure a lot of folks can agree with that. This is another lesson that you can't get caught with your pants down on marginal days, especially this time of year in the TX panhandle!!!

HERE IS THE VIDEO CLIP OF THE HAIL COVERING THE ROAD AND THE GOLFBALL SIZE HAIL.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAckQGaIrQ0

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Was chasing with Chris Hovanic on the Dimmit storm today. We were camped out in a coffee shop just north of Midland so it took a while to intercept the cell. We could see the excellent structure of the storm as we were driving north on 87/27 and we noticed the overshooting top collapse, perhaps around the time that the earliest tornado formed. Even from a great distance south the outflow of the storm extended very far and stretched across the entire sky to the east.

We stopped just east of Earth and watched for a bit until it got too close and then opted to head south on 1055 going towards Amhearst. Here we witnessed a very brief and weak tornado to our WNW. We then continued east on 37 and eventually to south 385 stopping every so often to notice interesting lowerings, but nothing we could confirm as a tornado. Near the intersection of 37 and 385 we were able to get a great view of the overall stacked-plates structure and snapped some great pictures.

A great storm and a great curtain call for the end of our 2 wk chasecation. Either Chris or I will try and post some pictures later.

Great pictures from everyone above.
 
Peggy and I were on the tornadic supercell near Dimmitt, TX. What a beautiful storm! The structure was amazing. We saw one dusty touchdown with a funnel above. We also saw a fat funnel almost to the ground wrapped in rain. We are not sure if that one ever touched down but it was very close.

We followed the cell from initiation until dark. What a great chase. It was fun to meet up with COD, Andy Revering, and Dave Flloyd.

http://www.twistersisters.com/060207.htm

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Here is the brief, weak tornado that Neil Garrett and I observed about 4 miles SSW of Earth, TX at approximately 9:07PM CDT.

Second image is the stack of plates structure the storm took on just north of Littlefield, TX shortly after dark.
 

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