why don't chasers chase down near Houston corpus christi area

[Kevan Wagner]

Seems like tonight all of the tornado warnings were being issued by the national weather service office down in Corpus Christi tonight.Why don't chasers like to chase in deep south Texas?Is it because of the terrain or something else?You guys in the panhandle missed all of the tornadoes tonight one touched down in Alice Texas near Corpus Christi.

 

[Dan Robinson]

My take:

• The geographic area for intercept is small. You have to hope that the day's target doesn't shift west into Mexico or offshore to the east.
• Climatologically speaking, photogenic tornadoes and supercells are somewhat rare in extreme south Texas. They happen, but they tend to be earlier in the spring when fewer chasers are on their annual trips.
• Texas is a big state, getting from the Panhandle or even OKC down to Houston is an extremely long haul.
• I'm just speculating here, but I'd assume the EML (cap) tends to be weaker that far south as it's outside of the typical trajectory from the high-elevation EML source region in Mexico/southwestern US. That results in messier storm modes.

Chasers on rare occasion have ended up down in that part of Texas in the more lean tornado years, essentially as a desperation move when nothing else is happening. Corpus Christi is a 16-hour drive from where I live. I can't ever remember seeing a setup that made me consider making that kind of a long trip down there. Heck, I rarely will drive that far for half-decent setups in the western high Plains or Northern Plains, let alone south Texas.

Mostly though, I think it's just because it's rare to get good tornado setups down there. I can't even recall the last time they ever had a High Risk or even a Moderate in that area, and I don't know of any big normal-season chase day that happened in that area (where chasers targeted and scored). I-20 is about as far south as you'll see photogenic tornadoes on any sort of regular basis. That's not to say you can't see a tornado in deep south Texas, but unless you live nearby, you've got much better options in the southern/central/northern Plains and the Midwest to spend gas money on.

 

[Bob Schafer]

I clicked "agree" on Dan's answer and I'll add a couple other thoughts that pertain ONLY to yesterday:

The parameters were pretty good, but that's all. There was essentially no surface cyclone to speak of, and thus nothing to drive inflow winds. It was a slightly better setup, IMO, than Kansas, but we chased Kansas because of the reasons Dan mentioned as well as the fact that there was no way in hell that my current chase partners, Bill and Chris Robertson, were going to drive all the way down there.

It's not a conspiracy. We don't hate S TX.

 

[Dan Robinson]

I forgot to mention, I've been to the Houston area twice for weather/chasing reasons - Hurricane Rita in 2005 and the freezing rain event last January. Just not yet for tornadoes

 

[Kevan Wagner]

Is there a bias based on geography because I hear of chasers in Texas who would never chase in the south because of the terrain.I have seen some great videos of tornadoes from the south.

 

[David Pauley]

Had I saved a little more gas money, I would have made the trip south of San Antonio and East toward the coastline. The main thing that stopped me was how high precipitation the whole system was. Personally, I am sure any of those tornadoes yesterday would have been completely rain wrapped. The only other thing that stopped me was a late start having to ensure someone was home when my son got home from school.

 

[Drew Terril]

Is there a bias based on geography because I hear of chasers in Texas who would never chase in the south because of the terrain.I have seen some great videos of tornadoes from the south.

They may be referring to the Hill Country. My grandma has a ranch down near Fredericksburg, so I'm familiar with the area. The hill country is almost like chasing central KY or middle TN, just not as many trees. I'm familiar enough with the area that I'd chase a GOOD setup there if money weren't a factor, but it's just too far from my home AO.

 

[Marcus Diaz]

Its a 13 hour drive from Amarillo to Houston. And about 10 hours from Amarillo to San Antonio. So as Dan said, Texas is BIG!

A couple of years ago, there was a decent early spring setup down near San Antonio and Corpus Christi. I know several chasers made the trip and got tornadoes in both areas. I chased far south TX last November on what was an Enhanced Risk. It was really tough out there west of Uvalde, TX. Not to mention its the first time I've ever had to go through a border patrol checkpoint during a chase. To me, chasing in deep south TX is similar to chasing southeast NM. Very limited roads, several hills and small mountains, and very little, if any, cell data. Not to mention all the trees along the roads that are just tall enough to make you not see the horizon, which sucks.

I did use that chase as an excuse to spend a day in San Antonio and Fredericksburg, which are two amazing cities to visit.

 

[Michael Snyder]

I forgot to mention, I've been to the Houston area twice for weather/chasing reasons - Hurricane Rita in 2005 and the freezing rain event last January. Just not yet for tornadoes

You drove to see a FZRA event?

That is dedication right there.