June 13, 2023

Statistics

Initial Target

Start

End

Storm Intercepts

Tornadoes

Hail

Wind

Features

Miles

Clayton, NM

Dalhart, TX 12:03 PM 6/13/2023

Amarillo, TX 9:07 PM 6/13/2023

Seneca, NM; Kerrick, TX; Pampa, TX

1.75"

0 mph

Rotating Wall Cloud, Gust Front, Updraft Base

399

Summary

Upslope supercell play off the Raton Mesa. Targeted Clayton, NM area for early afternoon storm initiation. Chased tornado warned supercell across OK and TX Panhandles until storm gusted out as larger hailer. Noted laminar gust front structures near Kerrick, TX. Targeted new cell near Pampa noting updraft base and wall cloud

Crew and Equipment

Chase partners: Jennifer Brindley Ubl. Equipment: Sony AX100, Canon 60D with EFS 10-22, Samsung S9.

Video

Map

Details

Morning Skies
45 miles NE of Bueyeros, NM
11:52 AM

Second day with Jennifer Brindley Ubl on a multi-day Plains chase trip. We went northwest out of Dalhart after a late checkout, departing at noon. We stopped for a picnic with leftover Taco Bell on the side of road north of Clayton, watching blooming convection to the north that would eentually become our storm. We then moved north to get in line with a developing storm near Seneca, NM west of Wheeless, OK noting an updraft base with lightning over the Canyonlands.

Edgar Oneal stopped by to hang out while we watched the storm, one of our fellow "Twisters" background extras.

Strong inflow into the strom was cool, only in the 60s and we were kissed by hail chilled outflow before the base was overhead.

We moved south and slightly west to get out of the rain. Storm developed large gust front lowering.

A kink on the southern end started to exhibit some significant low level rotation as the lowering went nearly overhead.

We were again met by icy outflow before the feature went overhead.

Rotating Wall Cloud
50 miles E of Folsom, NM
3:02 PM

We ducked slightly west and south to get out of the path of what was becoming a significant hail storm. We then ran east along the TX/OK border, getting well downstream of the cycling storm.

We stopped to watch the gust front from a few miles away.

Laminar chunks of scud were rising into the gust front, and chasers reported a tornado at about this time, but we couldn't confirm it was tornadic from our position.

We stair stepped east and south to stay ouf monster sized hail.

Tony Laubach and Ed Grubb stopped by to say hi before driving north into the storm sample the hail core where their windshield was expectedly smashed.

We got clipped ourselves by the RFD core on a southbound leg of our stair stepping, with a brief blast of bouncing and blowing golfball sized hail. It looked like a lottery machine number picker, but the windshield remained intact.

Looking north at a huge, gnarly gust front:

We ran southeast to Pampa to stay ahead of the storm and then retargeted a new cell developing immediately west of town. We observed an updraft base and developing wall cloud with strong inflow windows before the cell merged with the huge hail producing MCS to the north. We ducked south to stay out of the complex, which had reported of spiky 5 inch hail near Shamrock.

Sunset Convection
14 miles W of Groom, TX
8:37 PM

It was a pretty sunset drive under the gust front back to Amarillo for the night. We had dinner with Tony and Ed at the Georgia Street Taphouse.

Conclusion

An easy, model supported forecast, made for a straightforward and enjoyable chase with a long track supercell across the OK and TX Panhandles. The storm was more of a gnarly hailer than a classic tornado producer, even though it was tornado warned for much of its life. Still, we managed to see some strong low level rotation and had several dramatic views of structure, so the chase was a success for us.

Lessons Learned

Take your lunch to go for a mid-chase picnic so you can watch developing storms.

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