This day had severe weather in several parts of the South Plains.
Initially I headed east towards a
storm developing near Post (Image#1). This storm was being observed
by members of the Texas Tech storm intercept team. They were reporting
rotation and I believe at least one funnel, though time has passed and
my memory may not be perfect. I attempted to get close to this storm
and finally got reasonably close
though behind the storm (Image#2) as it passed south of White River
Lake and toward the town of Spur.
Contacting the Spotter Team Member in the NWS office in Lubbock, I
found that this storm was losing strength and interest, though it was still
possibly dropping severe hail. Faced with a core punch I decided
to break off and head southwest back to Lynn County to intercept another
storm.
This storm was rotating anticyclonically and was approaching a frontal
boundary. There was interest in getting observation on the east side
of the storm when it hit the boundary, As I was driving west out
Post on US 380 then southeast of Tahoka on Farm Roads, an anticyclonic
tornado was reported by a Team member west or southwest of Tahoka.
This lasted a couple of minutes or so, with additional spin-ups reported
if I remember correctly. In addition very large hail up to baseball
size had been reported with this storm. As the storm moved north into the
boundary a new intake area was seen on the east and northeast portions
of the storm. This formed several brief
wall clouds (Image#3) and some scud funnels or look-a-likes
(Image#4) but nothing persisted. Rotation was present but very
weak as was the vertical motion. As this storm moved across Tahoka
it dropped heavy rain leaving some streets and roads flooded.
 #1 |
 #2 |
 #3 |
 #4 |
 #5 |
 #6 |
New storms were moving into the South Plains from Gaines County.
I moved west on US 380 toward the city of Brownfield. Stopping along
the way to consult with a few other Team Members we were rewarded with
a
fantastic sunset (Image#5). Continuing on to the south side of Brownfield
I watched an almost bell shaped
lowering (Image#6) come and go along the north side of the storm. Though
rather ominous looking at times, this formation did not produce anything.
After moving a short ways northeast on US 82 the storm seemed to be
losing strength and a general Spotter recall was given.
