The SPC had issued a Tornado Watch for most of the area. Spotters
were requested to position themselves along the Texas-New Mexico state
line in anticipation of storm development along the dryline. In addition,
another area of concern was just north of a warm front moving north through
the South Plains. Conditions were favorable for supercell development
with slightly elevated storms in the areas along the dryline south of the
warm front and with lower based storms and increased tornadic potential
just north of the warm front.
Initially after picking up a trainee (Brent Cranfill, KD5HLA) and making
a couple of minor indecicions, I headed west on TX 114 through Levelland
to Morton. As more development seemed to be occurring to the north
near the warm front we worked north along TX 214 to the Muleshoe National
Wildlife Refuge area. Here we stopped for a while to assess the situation.
We noticed an odd
star or maple leaf shaped cloud (Image#1) to the north.
As the activity in northern Bailey county and in Parmer county became
of more concern we continued north to Muleshoe and then east on US 70.
Warnings had been issued for a large storm moving into Castro county from
Parmer county. We were asked to try and get a visual observation
of the base of the storm (Echo 1 as denoted by the South Plains Storm Spotting
Team member at the NWS office) as they were seeing low level rotation at
significant levels in the storm. As we were still too far south to
see the base we could not help at that point. Shortly after, the
NWS issued a doppler indicated Tornado Warning for Castro county.
We continued east on US 70 to Earth and then north on FM 1055 to TX
86. We were now closer to the base which was still north-northeast
of us but which was at a very bad viewing angle and we could not see much
but precipitation. We moved east through Dimmit on TX 86 to Nazareth
and then north on FM 168. Moving north about 8 or 9 miles put us
in a good viewing position to monitor the intake
area (Image#2) which was a few miles to our northwest.
After observing this wall cloud show persistent but slow rotation and
some vertical motion for several minutes, the mesocyclone was encircled
by RFD and dissipated. A new
wall cloud formed (Image#3) just east of FM 168 to our north, north
of FM 1075.
 #1 |
 #2 |
 #3 |
As we moved east on FM 1075 another
wall cloud (Image#4) formed further east and persisted
(Image#5) for more than ten minutes as it moved east along the
northern Castro county line toward Swisher county and the town of Happy.
As the rotation increased in the wall cloud it also began to lift and
swirl dirt beneath it. This started just about 6:29 PM a few miles
west or wes- southwest of Happy. We called in a
developing tornado (Image#6) to the Lubbock NWS office at about 6:30.
This shot is looking north from the intersection of FM 1075 and FM 1424
southwest of Happy.
 #4 |
 #5 |
 #6 |
The debris
cloud expanded (Image#7) and connected
to the rotation (Image#8) above. This large tornado became hard
to see as it moved toward Happy. Due to uncertainty of exactly how
far north of our position it was we decided to move east along a county
road to Interstate 27. We weren't able to observe the tornado for
some time though chasers closer to the town were able to see a condensation
funnel extending at least part way down to the debris cloud. It continued
to stay dust and rain wrapped as it moved into town and close to I 27 south
of the FM 1075 exit.
It turns out that the first event dissipated and a new tornado formed
just west of Happy and moved into the town doing the damage and causing
the fatalities.
We crossed the interstate and moved north to FM 1881, then slightly
east on FM 1881. To the northwest over Happy was a large precip core,
grayish white with poor contrast. Gradually we made out the shape
of the funnel then the whole
second tornado (Image#9) which looked much different from what we'd
last seen to the west of Happy. This shot (#9)
shows this tornado as it is appearing, probably just having crossed the
interstate. This was at about 6:45 PM.
 #7 |
 #8 |
 #9 |
We began moving east on FM 1881 south of the tornado. At this
point we were likely less than a mile away from it, too close for safe
spotting but due to the nature of the paved roads in the area, this was
the only good choice. We would have been able to go south on any
of a number of hard packed, dry dirt county roads to escape if necessary.
This somewhat
blurred shot (Image#10) was taken as we moved east.
In the next image, you can make out something which might
be the tornado (Image#11), but it isn't clear. At this stage
it was either dissipating or was moving to the northeast and again become
wrapped in rain. I personally thought at the time it was dissipating
but a farm house was damaged east of Happy on the south side of FM 1075
and the damage survey tracked the path to around 5 miles east of Happy.
A minute later nothing but outflow
(Image #12) can be made out, so tornado must have moved toos far into
the precip. This was at about 6:51.
 #10 |
 #11 |
 #12 |
Moving east along with the storm we saw several areas of possible mesocyclonic
development as in this area
on the south flank (Image#13) of the storm. It demonstrated some
rotation and weak vertical motion but neither was persistent. East
on FM 1881, north on a county road then east on FM 1075 to FM 2301,
north on FM 2301, then east on FM 285, finally north on TX 207 to the edge
of Caprock. It was menacing looking with numerous
finger "scud" funnels appearing. Several areas of blowing dirt came and
went under the main base of the storm, most were clearly outflow or RFD
motion, but some as in the case of Image#14
were more interesting looking and possibly were rotating as they moved
south or southwest. As lighting quality decrease it was hard to get
good pictures of any interesting areas. The storm seemed to be loosing
some of its organization as it approached the Caprock in south central
Armstrong county east of Wayside. Due to low fuel, and lack of any
east-west roads for many miles we turned back and after moving through
some heavy rain went back to Happy.
 #13 |
 #14 |
After speaking to local law enforcement we decided not to add to the
crowds in Happy and went south on I 27, which had been cleared of most
of the debris and past some of the worst of the damage just west of I 27.
It's tragic that at least 2 people at last report had been killed in
Happy, these tornadoes formed very close to the town, with the second apparently
right on the edge of town, but I've heard that the sirens sounded immediately
and the NWS was issuing a Tornado Warning for Swisher county as I called
in the forming tornado. Approximately 12 minutes of warning time
were given by the NWS.
