May 3, 2006
Sorry, no pictures.
See the NWS link for May
2 through 5 for more information about the weather.
The team was activated for numerous storms developing around the
area. Primary interest early was with eastern Lubbock county and
north central Floyd county. I picked up Colton Ancell, KE5DXX one
of our trainees. I headed northeast intending to head for Floyd
county but the speed and direction of the cells would have made it very
hard to reach them even if I didn't have to negotiate severe storms
along the route. Instead I opted to head east on FM 40. I
wound up behind pretty much everything, a theme it would seem, for the
whole day. I negotiated some marginally severe hail along FM 40
then along FM 789 (I think) there were storms in front of me and
to the north. Some concern was expressed with the Petersburg area
so I attemted to maneuver up toward it but again rain into sufficient
hail to dissuade. I then went east and south to investigate
public reports of a possible wall cloud somewhere near Lorenzo. I
wasn't able to see anything of concern other than hail cores to the
east or northeast of Lorenzo. I finally was able to see some
details of a storm tower to the south and moved down to watch it.
This put me back on FM 40 eastbound. Though somewhat high based,
it was interesting though a bit difficult to observe at times due to
the widespread precipitation in the area. There were still cells
everywhere with many severe thunderstorms and an occasional tornado
warning. I kept this aea under observation though I was never
able to get into what I'd call a proper position. I continued
moving east watching lowerings develop then dissipate to the
south.
The main cell moved off the Caprock in front of us. As I had no
wish to add additional dents to the vehicle I held position at the edge
of the Caprock on FM 651 where it drops down the Cap, 8 to 10 miles
from White River Lake. From here I was able to observe some of
the details of the storm, but was able to relay information from the
NWS office to a couple of spotters who were near the lake or near the
town of Spur. They were not in good repeater coverage but I was
usually able to contact them using simplex frequencies. They were
seeing a decent wall cloud, much lower to the ground than had been
observed for cells on top of the Caprock. This was relayed to the
office. There was also some increase in interest in a cell in
Kent county, as it was showing signs of rotation on radar. Some
discussion was held concerning whether a spotter needed to try to get
to it, but conditions were again a little too bad for safe travel.
A new cell soon developed to the southwest of the position and moved
northeast across the same area. As before it had several
lowerings that developed and dissipated as the storm progressed.
After a while it moved off the Cap and seemed to increase in
intensity. Sometime about then there were reports of damage,
possibly tornadic, in Kent county near Jayton. The spotters who
were off the Cap were trying to refuel and reposition and soon
communication was lost. We were trying to notify them of the
least bad choice for escape routes as there were severe storms in about
every direction. They were trying to get back west of the cells.
After a while I headed back west as I could no longer maintain contact
via the simplex frequencies. After a while cell phone contact was
made by a member of the team and their safety was confirmed.
While we were dealing with this situation to the east, the town of
Anton was struck twice by strong downbursts, once about 6:25 with
greater than 60 mph winds then around 7:00 with 70+ mph winds.
Damage reports can be seen using the above link.
Eventually all the team members made it safely back to Lubbock, though
for a while there was concern in not being able to contact those
southeast of the White River Lake area. This was the first major
activation of the team with support from a team member directly in the
NWS office.
This was the second day in a row to see severe weather, it would
continue for 2 more days.
