May 27, 2021

Anton's morning discussion with the group:

"The 12z soundings from Amarillo and Oklahoma City both show classic loaded gun thermodynamics with a stout cap separating a deep mixed layer aloft and thick moist layer beneath. Both shear and instability characteristics on these sounding are very impressive, suggesting the I-40 corridor between them will have an interesting day . The cold front arriving moving southeast is pushing into this airmass, so after some heating the cap should be overcome. The 12z CAMs show early initiation in western Oklahoma well before 18z, but current satellite trends show no indication of this, and low cloud is holding fast delaying heating. If this is sustained past 18z, western OK would be my preferred target. Otherwise, the Tulia to Childress corridor looks attractive, though the Caprock might become a factor in positioning on a mature storm.

Woodchuck is passing DDC on 283 and current thought is to unite with teams 20 miles south in Minneola where road junction provides options to head S for an Oklahoma play or SW for a Panhandle play. Both the cold front and the dryline should promote initiation today so we should see some robust storms."

We spent the morning driving south through western Kansas, meeting up with the group south of Dodge City before continuing into Oklahoma to play storms firing on a cold front from Wodoward to Enid. A discrete cellular mode did not last long, and storms soon formed clusters with cool (yet refreshing) outflow. We bailed on this target and made for our backup in the Texas Panhandle.

We went after cells popping east of Childress. However, they were high based and little more than virga showers, probably struggling against some lingering inhibition. With prospects for the rest of the week dwindling except for scraps way out in New Mexico, Hank informed he was going head back home for a few days and come back out when the weather picked back up. Meanwhile, it looked like the Caprock was finally trying to initiate. Hank said he'd join us for one last storm intercept so we plotted a course west. Turning left onto 287, I forgot how fast the roads in Texas are. I'm used to 55 mph speed limits in Illinois on similar four lane highways, but traffic was moving well in excess of 80 mph, and it was on me in an instant as I moved out onto the roadway. We made the turn no problem, but there were some brakes and horns.

We drove west until the Caprock canyon country started getting too hilly for decent storm chasing. A low precipitation storm was taking shape and we hoped for a great evening structure show.

The LP storms fizzled before they got anywhere near us, the cap or lack of lift still an issue. We called the chase and headed into Childress for the night.

Brindley and I picked up Taco Bell for dinner and supplies at the Wal-Mart before joining Anton and Tracie at their hotel. Of course the sky was at its prettiest not when we were chasing, but afterwards in the Wal-Mart parking lot. The small cells east of Childress had finally erupted as the boundary layer cooled. Likely elevated and not a real chasing opportunity, the towers and anvils were pretty in the setting sunlight.