Paul Sherman

Changeover day so it must mean a Moderate Risk for Storms.......Yay Left DFW Airport at 230pm and got stuck in awful traffic, made it upto the area of Supercells around 5pm and had a good 4 hours getting stunning Supercell Structure and lots of rotation but just not able to produce tornadoes today, some big 4+ inch hail at times to our north but the structure won through today. A nice Initiation for the Storm Newbies with a Classic and LP Supercell today. Ended the day at the 2 Frogs Bar and Grill at Ardmore eating with Skip Talbot, Nick Nolte, Jen Brindley and Ben Holcomb amongst others chatting about the day. Paul S - Structure

Yep Looks too far out of range for us today, still waiting for 1 arrival and its 4 hours to OK City with Moore on the I-35 To negotiate as well. Btw we had an amazing day yesterday with 2 Tornadic Cell, Pictures will have to follow as only had 3 hours sleep, but would not have called yesterday a dissappointment, funnel clouds, mesocyclones and core punching tornadic cells with golfball hail was a pretty high octane chase.

This looks like an amazing day of chasing coming up, I fully expect there to be 1 or 2 Tornadoes around for North Central Kansas or South Central Nebraska today, some of the soundings are scary for a Strong Tornado to occur when the LLJ Kicks in. We are already in the 10% Hatched Tornado Box so a late start for us, not expecting initiation until 5-6pm CDT. Regards Paul S

Yep was a great chase, started the day in Burlington (Colorado) and had a chase target of Chadron (Nebraska) this is where the higher dewpoints were being advected, between Chadron and Rapid City, got side tracked by a namby pamby storm south of Alliance and then blasted north into South Dakota, got onto the Storm east of Rapid City and watched it spin about for a few hours grabbing some pictures, we did see a mid level funnel cloud with this storm but other than that it was the structure that took over. Well placed for tomorrow. - South Dakota High Plains Magic!

Short Version Target was Cheyenne Wells and a storm duly fired about 15 miles south of there, we sat under the base for about 1/2 an hour and then followed it North, it briefly put on some LP Supercell structure throughout the day but the big give away as to why the bases were so high was the lack of low level moisture being advected into the area and the drying out in the mid levels. Largest hail we found was sporadic golf balls, this day never really excited me much and was pretty easy to just ride along a North to South Highway for much of the day from Tribune to the I-70 Corridoor. Hoping for better on the 25th May further North

Any of the above, a broad slight risk area, mainly for hail and wind damage but the odd isolated tornado cannot be ruled out if moisture can get advected far enough North. Please chat away here

Yep, was a challenging day to say the least. Target town was going to be Floydada but had to change that to Clarendon as that had a Subway and the 4 other times we have had a Subway we have seen Tornadoes this year so go figure that one. Anyway Short version, went south from Clarendon and got onto the Storm near Floydada quite quickly when it was still in it's infancy dropping Landspout Tornadoes, we are pretty sure we pictured the report that says brief dusty tube on the SPC Site, there was a nice rotating wall cloud and rapid rising motion on both sides of the dust linking into the funnel above so we are pretty sure this all matches up, there was soooo much dust today and dust-storms it was quite challenging at times, near Jayton we punched the hook of one of the Supercells and received 92mph winds, this flung tree parts, rocks, wood and pretty much everything else at us, we were quite lucky not to lose a few windows like Paul Knightley did on the same storm. Followed this Storm to near Guthrie but then blew it off when it started to surge south as an MCS Complex heading for I-20 And points south as we know we need to head North hard tomorrow. A fun chase day but there is just too much dust in that Texas Panhandle.

Once again the annual event is under 3 months away and Jimbo Ford has very kindly agreed to host this years gathering at his house on Saturday 10th to Sunday 11th August 2013 in Surrey! As per usual all are welcome to attend both stormchasers past, present and future or even if you have no interest but want to meet up please come along. Jim has said there is Limited space in the house to stay and also he will erect a marquee for tents to pitch up under for a spot of camping. I am sure Jim will fill in the address in due course, please let us know of here if you are interested in attending. Paul S

Have already changed it to Day 15 Neil as cant really see anything around here today, so use this thread for tomorrows risk

Okay this is obviously hard to do seeing as what went on yesterday and the heartbreaking news over the scanners, radios out here, we watched that Storm from a distance of 5 miles initiate, one or two of the guests even have pictures of the vertical updraught as it was going up at about 230pm yesterday, we initially went North for it and could have easily intercepted but when Tornado Emergencys are issued in a built up area we cannot take the risk in getting stuck in traffic, the 2 storms below it were also tornado warned so stayed south. Onto today and as hard as it is trying to get our heads around even thinking about chasing even if we can give any lead time or help/warning to people we will be out there chasing today, another Moderate Risk and this time the very real threat of Long Tracked Strong Tornadoes exists near the DFW Metroplex, I am hoping and praying that things are not as strong as Monday and also stays away from populated areas today. Storms are expected to erupt along a near stationery Cold Front draped from SW Arkansas across the Red River Valley and into North Central Texas from 12 Noon, this will be another very long day, with 4,000jkg of cape and a rich moisture laden warm sector Supercells with very large hail and tornadoes are possible. Will be leaving Ardmore at 1030am and head south on I-35 To get into position. Regards Paul S

Well what a day is all I can say, 800 miles and 2 tanks of petrol, started and ended the day in Norman and somehow in between drove to Dallas Fort Worth to pick up the lucky 12 and still managed to bag 4 Tornadoes, 2 of which were very strong wedge to cone tornadoes that have done significant damage and unfortunately killed people. We got onto the first Oklahoma Storm at 3pm and it quickly dropped a tapered cone tornado just east of Edmond. After this it became a little insane, we stopped near Arcadia and witnessed a white cone tornado at a range of 200 yards, this was ripping up trees and blasted us with rfd winds over 80 mph. We then blasted east and North and witnessed the Carney wedge Tornado (Claire has pictures of this) I then noticed this storm becoming a bit junky so went south to the tail end charlie supercell near Norman, we were getting reports of a large wedge tornado on the ground 6 miles west of Shawnee so we went north on highway 177 and witnessed an incredible cone tornado just to our north. Roads were being blocked by Police but strangely they allowed me to drive around them just saying at your own risk, Arron got some incredible video footage at this point which he will upload tomorrow. More of the same tomorrow again for chase day 1 official for tour 3

Looks to be a very active day today and all facets of Severe Weather are possible, 5,000jkg plus means extreme instability with very lareg hail and 1 or 2 Powerfull Long Tracked Tornadoes are possible, chase terrain is of the highest order in some of the best chase country in the world, we will of course be forced into the Southern Play but as of this moment it does not look a bad thing at all. Looking for Tornado number 5 within 4 Days today

Hi Ash The last Slight Risk EF4 Was the South Dakota beast from a few years ago, also a wedge Tornado.

Yep obviously when i put the post up 7 hours ago conditions were not looking great along the dryline in West Texas, but seeing as we have to stay south the next few days will give it a shot for a nice photogenic Supercell today and then hot foot it upto Kansas for tomorrow and then back down to DFW For Sunday morning and then back upto Northern Oklahoma for the bonus chase day Sunday Phew knackered just thinking about it

Had a feeling the Trough that will impact the Central and Southern Plains over the next 4 days would impinge a little bit near Western Kansas and Eastern Colorado and that is why we went for Amarillo yesterday, with a Newly updated See Text Risk put in for that area looks like our one from last chase day with tour 2 could yield a few severe storms, we will then get ready for the risk on Saturday always keeping a close eye on getting back on Sunday morning and getting out for Sunday Afternoon and the bonus chase day. Regards Paul S

After getting the nasty part of a 400 mile drive out of the way yesterday we are in a prime position in Wichita Falls this morning for todays risk of Supercells, Large Hail (30% Hatched) will be the main threat but a small chance of tornadoes cannot be ruled out from looking at the Hodographs in the southern rolling plains of the texas panhandle. A decent dryline day should be in the offing and primary target looks to be just a touch west of Wichita Falls. Paul S

I am actually quite happy with things as they stand at the moment and cant see why we cant chase on Sunday ?? To my untrained eye it looks like the lid could blow somewhere in Oklahoma and with everyone in by 3pm and ready to hit the road can easily get a bonus chase in, thats if i have my sums correct and everyone is in by 3-4pm that is

Once again and I will try to re-iterate what I have been saying on Facebook about this. Last Chase Day for Tour 2 = Saturday Changeover Day = Sunday (Bonus Chase Day for some) So there will be NO Bonus chase day on the Saturday for Tour 3 guests as this is officially the last chase day for Tour 2. We will be at DFW Airport at 12 Noon on the Sunday and if there is a risk close enough to DFW This will become the bonus chase day and NOT Saturday, you are welcome to hire your own car on the Saturday and chase but please be aware that I need you all in DFW For Sunday Noon. Regards Paul S

Heading north today as there now appears to be a few down days before the next system ejects into the plain. So today we are heading towards Ardmore and Turner Falls for some arty farty sunsets pictures before heading into Kansas tomorrow for a day of shooting guns on a farm.

Started and ended the day in Fredericksburg (Texas) Today was going to be a mainly playing in the hail type of day and boy did we find it (and in drifts) Headed upto San Angelo and got on a few severe warned storms that had some weak rotation, they never gained supercellular characteristics though but were all outflow dominant high precipitation hailers. Better chances for Supercells started to show further south and we were just about to get south onto the San Antonio Storms when we had a little disaster with one of the cars sinking in the mud at a Funeral Home, a very nice local lady called the towing truck firm and they turned up after dealing with a car that had skidded into a ditch further down the road. The town we were in took a right pounding from the hail with some 2ft drifts piled up in places, the hail fog which followed was quite eerie as well, both the cars did not add any war wounds to the tennis ball hail we took the day before. I never took that many pictures but the others did and so will add them into this thread. - Kaddy posing in front of the Impending Hailstorm - Winter time in Texas ? - Hail Fog Paul S

Started the day at Wichita Falls and jauntered down to Seymour for lunch. After noticing the Dryline firing near Abilene it was straight into the chase at 1pm. So south we went through Throckmorton and Albany and had the first intercept of the day just South of Abilene, Supercells by this time were starting to head South and East so it was going to be a long 9-10 hours of Storms chasing us. After keeping on the south east side for a few hours 1 Supercell was clearly becoming dominant, Just North of Ballinger it took on amazing Structure and started to drop Tennis Ball Sized Hail, a few of these hit the cars so it was time to depart south, at this time our Storm also became Tornado Warned, we let the storm over-run us and got some cover with hail being blown in sideways. We then had to punch back through the core and along the way ran into drifts of Hail that covered the road and also Hail Fog. Once again on the correct side of the Supercell South of Brady the Storm starting ramping up again, we followed it south and got some amazing HP Supercell shots and Lightning before fleeing to Fredericksburg for the night, after eating at K-Bobs Steakhouse we let the Supercell slam into the hotel giving us a light show. - Texas Supercell - HP Supercell with Cg Strike. Regards Paul S

Well the full team are finally together for the first full days chasing, after ironing out the equipment and testing it on a bonus chase yesterday we are ready to go. We are starting in Wichita Falls this morning and there looks to be 3 zones of convective initiation, the first from WAA Which should quickly evolve into an MCS, The 2nd which we will be targeting is the dryline/cold front intersection and the third along the cold front in Oklahoma. Hoping for some nice Supercells today but once again Large Hail will be the primary threat with the tornado threat very low. Will be Streaming later today as well. Paul S

As has happened years previous, today sees us in a position to get out with the early arrivals and have a bonus chase day, we will be leaving DFW Soon and heading North West to find the dryline, not expecting too much in the way of Tornadic Storms today as the spreads are just too large, but you never know with Caprock Magic , temps look to be around 95-97f with Mid 50's and hopefully Low 60's dewpoints. Am expecting some nice sculptured Supercells with very large hail the main threats, will be pushed east this evening and will hook up with chase car 2 in the morning in readiness for another risk day tomorrow. Will NOT Be streaming today as that is set-up in the 2nd Car but will be from 9th (Chase Day 1 Proper) Paul S

Only if we get a Nado - You KNOW The rules

Yep cant wait, should be some beautiful sculptured Supercells tomorrow, decent easterly path at 15-25mph as well, lovely easy chase to break us in. Noticing a probable High Plains chase middle to end of next week as well is possible but certainly could change at this point, there still has never been a tour that has not seen a Supercell so all bodes well for the season ahead, will probably be in Alabama by the end of the weekend