Bill Tabor
EF5
Never got around to updating my website, or posting reports, pics, video for this last 2011 season. Very unusual for me, but I guess as soon as the season 'ended' I got off on other tangents. Perhaps I'll update soon, but I've got lots of other stuff to do. Yep I did chase!! I ended up getting 5 tornadoes (6 if you count possible Moore) and 1 "smokenado" this last season. Most of those tornadoes were 'just in time' and brief. Some were weak, and one was F5 but very little to see due to complete rain wrap, and 1 possible F4. I never ventured east of OK/TX so I didn't catch any of the crazy torns (like Joplin, & Tuscaloosa) over there. Hmm...looking at this I guess I need to figure out what dates these chases were.
Here is a brief update of my chases this year for posterity:
1) Chase out west of Abilene with Supercell near Roby. I was in front of meso to it's east. Missed the brief night rope tornado because I let the cell go and was screwing with streaming video.
2) Chase out to west of Cleburne, Tx where I got the tornado that didn't have condensation all the way to ground. Then Itasca funnel - other funnels, wallclouds, and hail. Met up with Gene Moore halfway toward end of chase, and we played tag until the end. Ran into Tim Marshall, et al. Ended near Buffalo.
3) Next day teamed with Gene in a high risk as we chased supercells into ne TX. Lots of big supercells, low hanging, precip, later twilight to dark. Funnels, wallclouds. Danced with tornadic warned supercells after dark in back roads of east Tx trying to see them but also trying to avoid getting eaten by them.
4) Chase out to Baird just north of I20 where I caught the brief tornado. Later ran into Gene, and David Douglas
5) Chase up to Gatesville where my timing just managed to catch the brief tornado only about 1 minute after I arrived.
6) Chase up near Brownwood just ne of which I followed a tornado warned supercell. Never produced that I could tell, but definite wallcloud and interesting features. Stayed the night in Stephenville.
7) Chased out sw of Wichita Falls for the Lp supercell that had the brush fire and smokenado. Dropped hail and dissipated. Ran into Denzer and company on the LP. Had dinner at Texas Roadhouse with the guys.
8) High risk day. Started in Wichita Falls with Randy, Sam, Nathan but in dif vehicles. Raced west from there to just north of the TX / Red River crossing and east of CDS. Randy & co were just on the other side of the Red from me. Waited for initiation. Supercell developed that raced north very fast and turned into giant El Reno F5 which I just managed to intercept north of El Reno completely rainwrapped. Next I caught what appeared to be the Moore F4 from a distance. I had very little time (few secs) to observe it through the trees! I was stopped by it's damage path and then went on to the east of OKC on I40 where I caught a small weak tornado which briefly touched into the trees in the distance.
9) Spent the next day doing a damage path assessment / map of El Reno versus my position and observations. Then drove home late.
Concluding thoughts: The season was very disappointing early on. We were lucky to get rain in Tx at all. It is unusual to not have any Spring storms around Austin and Central Tx and to this day we still haven't had much in the way of precip. Guess without going to the eastern states and into the trees I was very lucky to get what I got out of the season. Really wish I could have gotten more Tx/Ok action early on. All that being said, it was still a fun year. It was great running into so many other chasers in the field at times and sharing the thrills of Ma Nature not to mention the occasional pint of beer afterwards. There were certainly some 'hairy' moments particularly and as usual the 2 high risk days. Cleburne was an exciting challenge as well because I was directly in front of the approaching torn not too far away and I had very questionable road options. That always makes me a bit nervous when chasing alone. Guess that's one good reason to team with others. Cheers! All of you! It was another year to chase!! See you all next year under the Meso!
Here is a brief update of my chases this year for posterity:
1) Chase out west of Abilene with Supercell near Roby. I was in front of meso to it's east. Missed the brief night rope tornado because I let the cell go and was screwing with streaming video.
2) Chase out to west of Cleburne, Tx where I got the tornado that didn't have condensation all the way to ground. Then Itasca funnel - other funnels, wallclouds, and hail. Met up with Gene Moore halfway toward end of chase, and we played tag until the end. Ran into Tim Marshall, et al. Ended near Buffalo.
3) Next day teamed with Gene in a high risk as we chased supercells into ne TX. Lots of big supercells, low hanging, precip, later twilight to dark. Funnels, wallclouds. Danced with tornadic warned supercells after dark in back roads of east Tx trying to see them but also trying to avoid getting eaten by them.
4) Chase out to Baird just north of I20 where I caught the brief tornado. Later ran into Gene, and David Douglas
5) Chase up to Gatesville where my timing just managed to catch the brief tornado only about 1 minute after I arrived.
6) Chase up near Brownwood just ne of which I followed a tornado warned supercell. Never produced that I could tell, but definite wallcloud and interesting features. Stayed the night in Stephenville.
7) Chased out sw of Wichita Falls for the Lp supercell that had the brush fire and smokenado. Dropped hail and dissipated. Ran into Denzer and company on the LP. Had dinner at Texas Roadhouse with the guys.
8) High risk day. Started in Wichita Falls with Randy, Sam, Nathan but in dif vehicles. Raced west from there to just north of the TX / Red River crossing and east of CDS. Randy & co were just on the other side of the Red from me. Waited for initiation. Supercell developed that raced north very fast and turned into giant El Reno F5 which I just managed to intercept north of El Reno completely rainwrapped. Next I caught what appeared to be the Moore F4 from a distance. I had very little time (few secs) to observe it through the trees! I was stopped by it's damage path and then went on to the east of OKC on I40 where I caught a small weak tornado which briefly touched into the trees in the distance.
9) Spent the next day doing a damage path assessment / map of El Reno versus my position and observations. Then drove home late.
Concluding thoughts: The season was very disappointing early on. We were lucky to get rain in Tx at all. It is unusual to not have any Spring storms around Austin and Central Tx and to this day we still haven't had much in the way of precip. Guess without going to the eastern states and into the trees I was very lucky to get what I got out of the season. Really wish I could have gotten more Tx/Ok action early on. All that being said, it was still a fun year. It was great running into so many other chasers in the field at times and sharing the thrills of Ma Nature not to mention the occasional pint of beer afterwards. There were certainly some 'hairy' moments particularly and as usual the 2 high risk days. Cleburne was an exciting challenge as well because I was directly in front of the approaching torn not too far away and I had very questionable road options. That always makes me a bit nervous when chasing alone. Guess that's one good reason to team with others. Cheers! All of you! It was another year to chase!! See you all next year under the Meso!
