Date: April 24, 2015
Time: 2:30 - 6:30 PM CDT
Place: Cross Plains, Dublin, Hico, Iredell, TX
Distance: 839 mi (25 positioning, 183 chasing, 631 to home)
Camera: T3i, GoPro3 Silver
Warnings: SVR, TOR
Rating: S5

The Chase

10:05 AM: Usually I love the sound of thunder, but not on a storm chase morning. There's a good tornado environment today (10% hatched tornado probs), but like yesterday there's also lots of weak morning storms and cloud cover that could really mess things up.

11:22 AM: New mesoscale discussion for the entire area of Dallas back towards Lubbock mentions the complex setup unfolding. If an isolated storm can get going, we could definitely get tornadoes. But there is also the possibility of upscale linear development happening quickly as well. All of this assuming these morning storms clear out.

12:15 PM: Since we are basically already in my target area, we are getting a really lazy start today. Having Braums for lunch now in Weatherford. Hoping the atmosphere will clear out more.

1:05 PM: Heading west a little on I-20. It looks like the dryline is way west again today near Lubbock. I'm not going to commit that far west yet, but I'm hedging that way just a little.

1:40 PM: Hanging near Brazos, TX for now. The air feels like its recovering from the morning storms nicely. It's really humid and getting pretty hot - plus lots of breaks in the clouds. While we wait, I'm doing some slider shots of wildflowers - the essence of storm chasing!!!

1:50 PM: Promising cell going up northwest of San Angelo. Watching closely.

2:10 PM: Big tornado watch just issued for the whole area - moderate chance of EF2+ tornadoes.

2:35 PM: Racing west to intercept the promising San Angelo cell which just went severe warned.

3:00 PM: Looks like we can drop southwest of I-20 near Cisco and meet this cell near Cross Plains. Huge Verizon cell hole down there though. Crap.

3:36 PM: Heading towards Cross Plains and our storm just got a tornado warning!! We are in its anvil shadow now. Should have plenty of time to setup and intercept! This is happening!!!

3:49 PM: Still plenty of time to find a spot south of Cross Plains. But the terrain isn't making it easy.

3:53 PM: Found a perfect place with a clear view west across a field. Wasn't easy though with all these trees. Still a little hazy but the base should be coming into view shortly.

3:58 PM: Met Adam Cuker who pulled up with as at this excellent spot. Still no clear view of the base. It's probably getting HP.

4:11 PM: Looking straight west at a monster wet RFD of this HP supercell. We are a little too far south to see into the notch well if there's a tornado. Adam just left our position. I'm gonna hang a few more minutes.

4:14 PM: New base might be trying to develop on this storm's southwest flank. Definitely watching that, but the main cell's RFD is about to overrun us.

4:19 PM: Executing our escape back through Cross Plains. More chasers in the area now than when we arrived.

4:25 PM: Got through Cross Plains and blasted east to stay in front of this. Losing radar now. Gonna be flying blind for a while. Crap.

4:35 PM: Jeez we are barely staying out in front of this storm. Stopped for a few minutes halfway between Cross Plains and Rising star to watch the southwest flank and the surging RFD had already caught back up to us.

5:10 PM: Still only staying minutes ahead of this RFD. We've driven through Risen Star and De Leon and are about to enter Dublin. No radar at all since Cross Plains. Gotta run again RFD is pushing in!

5:17 PM: Panic in Dublin! A train crossing the road has created a traffic jam at the main town intersection - just as the RFD is moving in. Chasers around us are freaking out, driving in the wrong lane, driving on the median to get through town. A little scary, but I don't think it's a tornado bearing down just a gusting out supercell.

5:21 PM: Escaped Dublin without incident. Phew.

5:40 PM: Finally getting cell coverage back as we near Hico. As I suspected, the supercell became a big complex with embedded rotation to our north. We've spent the last hour just in front of the trailing RFD surge.

5:54 PM: A couple miles east of Hico I'm getting some timelapse of a very impressive whale's mouth as the cold RFD surges over. Doubt there will be more tornadoes from this storm.

6:38 PM: Stopping one more time between Iredel and Cranfills Gap to let the whale's mouth pass over again.

6:55 PM: Calling it a chase and starting the long trek back towards ABQ. Always the saddest part of a chase day.

9:20 PM: At the Abilene Texas Roadhouse eating some chase-fail ribs (the ribs are not a failure, however). Toni thinks the waiter is hitting on me. #Flattered

10:30 PM: Sweetwater Hampton Inn, how happy I am to see you.

Recap, Filmmaking Notes, and Lessons Learned