Now south of the precipitation for a least a short while, the area of interest was again visible.  Looking NW in shot #11, tornado number three is at about its strongest level.  A small funnel is barely visible about the debris cloud.  By about ten minutes later, (#12)  number three is completely gone, number four is just a dust whirl located about a third of the way from the right edge of the screen, and number five is just getting started in the middle of the frame.  Number four, like number two, never did as well as the first, third, or the last.
In shot #13 tornado number five is now well developed.  This one persisted the longest of any I saw, possibly 20 to 30 minutes.  It was moving very slowly, and although I initially placed it east of Floydada it most likely was somewhat west and south of that city.  There was some confusion with location as most people seemed to place it closer to them that it actually was.  The fact that it was extremely high based contributed to this.  For a while there seemed to be two sets of these landspouts and possibly separate warnings though all seemed limited to Floyd County at the time.
 

#11

#12

#13

Moving again to avoid the precipitation, we moved southeast of Dougherty on FM 28. In shots #14 and #15, taken about five minutes apart you can see that the tornado is moving very slowly or is moving towards the camera.  Based on other reports I have to say the former is true.
As the road choices at this point were not favorable and light to moderate rain was arriving, I decided to move west and get closer to the storm.  Moving back up FM 28 to US 70, we drove through increasing rain and some small to moderate hail to just east of Floydada.  Unfortunately, as we had reached US 70, it appeared that the funnel was dissipating and then we lost visual contact due to the precipitation.
As we approached Floydada, hail reports from local authorities indicated that hail sizes were increasing and with the report of golfball size hail, we shifted south on FM 651 to avoid the hail and regain vision. Stopping a few miles south of US 70 I shot #16 of the area where the tornado had been.  Now only a small amount of dust kicked up by outflow was visible, ahead of a wall of precipitation.  By this time the hail was reported to be reaching baseball size in the Floydada area.  No good road choices were available until FM 193 so we had to move a ways south, into the canyons and then back up.
 
 

#14

#15

#16

Going west on FM 193, we stopped a couple of miles east of Cone and watched for visual signs of rotation southeast of Floydada.  There were some slight indications, though they didn't last long as the outflow would undercut the area rapidly.  Looking to the northwest we could see another intake area (#17) with very heavy precipitation behind it.  The large hail was reported to still be falling along with very heavy rain.  Radar intensities reached the 75 dbz level, and according to a later conversation actually reached 79 dbz, just about the limit in normal detection.
As the main interest was now switching to the area further to the northeast, with concern for the area just southwest of Floydada we moved rapidly to US 62 and north.  Reaching FM 54 I went west and as my companion spotter had stopped briefly in Cone to consult with the local authorities he was forced to hold up as the hail was reaching FM 54 between us.  I managed to avoid the hail and reach the southwest side of the main tower.  In #18 you can see the base resembles a LP supercell somewhat with its bell like lower appearance.  This was slowly rotating and drawing in moisture from the southeast into a feeder band and into a small tail cloud in the lowest section.
From this position I saw a weak RFD occur, wrapping around the base and eroding the back side (#19).  The hail streaks in front still show some south or southeasterly inflow though the wall cloud is nearly gone.
 

#17

#18

#19

As the quality of the light started to decrease, so did the intake area.  In #20 the area has become less well organized though a hint of rotation is still visible in the side of the base.
As the storm was losing strength, the anvil showed lots of mammatus (#21) hanging down.  With this behind and over me, I responded to a general recall and headed back to Lubbock for a late dinner and debriefing.
The total was five tornadoes ( all landspouts, probably still totaling F0 if added together) which exceeded my previous career total by one.  This now makes nine total, with seven being generated in unusual conditions during northwest flow storms.  The other two are also weak but came from more normal flow storms.
 

#20

#21

 
 
 
 

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