Target Area: McLean/Pampa, Texas
Chase Area: McLean/Groom/Pampa, Texas
Observations: one supercell
Distance: 520 miles
Time: 12 hours
Chase Team: Car 1 - Esther White, Brad Barrett, and myself; Car 2 - Joe Daron, Gemma Ebsworth, Ryan Surrage, Duncan Geere, and Hin Pang
SPC Convective Outlook: Moderate Risk (Click to see SPC products, data, and storm reports)
Chase Setup: A positively tilted 500 mb trough was located over the Southwest. A surface low was centered over southeast Colorado with a warm front extending eastward through Kansas. A dryline stretched south through the central Texas Panhandle. Ahead of the dryline, winds were from the southeast and dewpoints were in the mid-60s. CAPE values were between 1000 and 2000 J kg -1. 0 to 6 km bulk shear was around 50 knots over the western High Plains.
Chase Log: Instead of opting for the more obvious target this day, along the warm front up in eastern Kansas, we decided to just go out west and play the dryline in the Texas Panhandle. We drove out on I-40, and by the time we reached McLean, we saw a storm forming to our west.
We intercepted a gorgeous LP supercell near Groom; this was actually my first LP supercell, and it was a beauty. The sight of this storm pretty much made up for not seeing any of the Kansas tornadoes this day.
We watched the supercell for quite some time, until it eventually started to dissipate. After meeting up with Reed Timmer and friends for dinner, we headed on back to Oklahoma, content with what we'd seen.