2009.05.27
Storm Chase Day 6: Splitting supercell snatches victory from jaws of defeat
Click here for the Hokie Storm Chase page
DECATUR, Texas -- It's late and I'm tired after an exciting day for the Virginia Tech storm chase team. With the day growing late and the only meaningful storm of the evening parked directly over the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex -- somewhere we won't attempt to chase for many safety reasons -- it appeared a bust was in the offing after another small cell wheezed and whimpered. But, watching from Decatur, Texas, something amazing happened: The storm near Fort Worth split in two. One cell turned southeastward and weakened. The other spun off northward, toward us. We caught an incredible supercell with intense rotation and lowerings (including one possible funnel cloud) as it moved northward and northeastward over the counties just north of Dallas. The chased ended beside a country fence watching lightning and supercell structures over north Texas.
Virginia Tech chasers watching rising cloud tags forming a rotating wall cloud
Cloud stacks in storm north of Dallas-Fort Smith
RSS feed 
Is the "doughnut hole" of any significance? It is certainly awesome to look at!
Comment by Angela — May 27, 2009 @ 11:33 am
The Price's Fork Second Grade Weather Watchers Club send you this message: "Good chasing, Mr. Myatt! Be careful." Kevin, you created 30 weather nerds. Thanks.
Comment by jwells — May 27, 2009 @ 9:52 pm
First ... hi to all the Price's Fork second graders! It was great being in your class, you asked tremendous questions and showed so much enthusiasm for weather!
Angela ... the doughnut hole may have been a "clear slot" caused by downdraft winds on the back side of a storm wrapping into a circulation ... or it may have just been a random placement of clouds leaving a hole ... hard to tell.
I know some of you back home have been getting some heavy rainfall with flooding. The same tropical low in the Gulf that kept moisture from returning to the Plains as it usually does opened the floodgates (quite literally) on moisture in the East. Lingering moisture and some upslope wind flow may continue scattered heavy rainfall and thunderstorms through Friday.
Comment by Kevin Myatt — May 27, 2009 @ 11:25 pm