Date: May 8, 2013
Time: 3:00-7:00 PM CDT
Place: Memphis, Childress, and Paducah, TX
Distance: 949 mi (369 positioning, 133 chasing, 447 to home)
Camera: T3i, GoPro, Lumix
Warnings: SVR
Rating: S3

Forecast and Set Up

Today we attempted a new chase tactic: a there-and-back-in-a-day panhandle chase. This was the first time I've tried a midweek storm chase - bookended by work the previous and following day. Needless to say, this made for a pretty cramped schedule. But when storms are forecast a mere 5 hours away in the eastern Texas panhandle, it's hard to pass up (especially with the slow season thus far). Though a somewhat marginal forecast today (moisture and instability were decent, but low-level daytime shear looked kinda weak), I always have hope that these lesser-chased days could yield some jewels if you happen to be in the right place at the right time.

In Amarillo during lunch, I fretted over the models as there were two main targets and I still hadn't picked one. To the northeast near the warm front, storms would have a little better shear and lower storm bases. To the southeast, there was better moisture and CAPE (instability). In the end, I liked how the HRRR had cells in the southeast target hanging back a little further to the west. This ended up being the tie breaker, as it would make for a shorter post-chase return home. So after finishing a great sandwich at a local deli, we ventured southeast along Hwy 287 targeting Memphis, TX.

The Chase

Gassing up in Memphis 1.5 hours later, we noted some decently crisp updrafts already building southwest of town. We drove about 5 miles east of town to get downstream from these developing towers – pulling off onto a solitary little red dirt road. I love to spend these quiet, pre-storm moments filming and photographing little features of the wilderness. Unfortunately, today's photographic conditions were made really tough due to an ugly, milky, high-level cloud layer that diffused all the sunlight and just made everything look flat and bland. I'm still not sure how to best take photos or video under these conditions. These atmospherics, however, were countered by an awesome little abandoned out-building we found beside a freshly plowed field. Exploring this old structure and hearing the intermittent rumbles of thunder was worth the trip all by itself.

These initial updrafts were eventually squashed out and died, so we moved a little further east just to be safe that we wouldn't end up behind any newly developing storms. While we waited, I made a pleasant discovery regarding my Konova slider. Up until now, I had operated in two modes: stepper motor or hand cranked. Switching between the motor and the crank is a somewhat delicate process and takes a few minutes - not something you want to do with a big storm bearing down. Feeling pretty dumb, it hit me that I could simply detach the slider cart/camera from the belt and then hand-push the cart. This gives instant flexibility between a motor-driven timelapse and a real-time slider shots.

Before too long, a new more powerful batch up updrafts developed back to the southwest of Memphis. We positioned about 15 miles downstream from where we thought the southern end of one of these storms would pass. We timelapsed and filmed for about 20 minutes, noting that the storm was undergoing a split and the southern cell (right mover) was starting to root more to the surface. Since we were still quite a ways ahead of this intriguing looking southern cell, we decided to backtrack for a closer vantage point. It took about 15 minutes to find the perfect vantage point (during which the updraft remained nearly stationary), but we finally found a great overlook. What we found was a gorgeous little wall cloud with a southern tail and a tightly-wrapped northern end. As it evolved, there was definitely more upward motion than rotation, but I'm convinced there was at least one very brief funnel that poked from beneath the wall cloud. We ended up getting some great motion timelapse before and during the cell's eventual demise, as it seemed the updraft got choked off from underneath and began to rapidly fizzle.

With at least 2 hours of sunlight left, it was a tough call where to head next – either back towards home or towards some new storm. After a few minutes of debate, we decided that the next cell to our south nearing Paducah, TX looked very impressive and was the best bet, even if it meant a more grueling trip home. So off we dashed, through Childress and south on Hwy 83 where we had a beautiful view of the cauliflower storm core. Even from a distance of 25 miles, the storm showed great structure. In addition, the milky white haze had cleared and we had great blue-sky contrast. At Paducah, the east roads didn't corporate well and we had to meander south of town - falling behind the storm - before we could find an east road to catch up. While not a great position from a chasing perspective, we did have the magic-hour sun directly to our backs creating a very beautiful view. At one point, as we were trailing about 5 miles behind the storm, I noticed a brief funnel-looking cloud emerging from the mid-levels of the updraft. I've never seen a funnel develop from this area, but it was tight and laminar enough to convince me it wasn't just some random cloud tag. Unfortunately, on the bumpy dirt roads I was never able to capture it before it was gone. In fact, it soon became apparent that this storm had also been choked off by its own precipitation and didn't have much time left. Just our luck, right as we were catching up.

As a consolation, we discovered another great abandoned farm near the intersection of Hwys 1038 and 493. This was an old burned out house complete with charred bed, tv, and stove. Of course, I had to take my slider inside and scorched remains and film some sunset shots of our dying storm. Quite a poignant juxtaposition, I say. After a while, we realized what a long trip back to ABQ laid ahead of us, so we packed up and backtracked towards Childress. Toni had to say hello to some cows, of course, before we left. We made good time to Amarillo for a late Applebee's meal and then finally succumbed to exhaustion in Santa Rosa, NM. After a too-short rest at the Best Western, we finished the drive home early the next morning and I wasn't even late to work!

Recap, Filmmaking Notes, and Lessons Learned