friday may 8,2009

I started the day in Emporia,Kansas.The previous day was a cap bust and storms did not fire until after midnight.I left Kansas around 11:00a.m. and headed south towards the Red River.After a long drive I managed to intercept a developing storm just west of I35,northwest of Ardmore,Oklahoma.It produced a nice wall cloud that came close but a 2nd storm southwest started to steal its energy and it never produced.A third storm formed down in Montague County,Texas and after the first and second storm merged into one,We decided to go south into Texas.By the time we made it to Muenster,Texas it had become night and the storm had lost its energy and was no longer as strong as it was.We decided to call it a day and ate a fine German meal in Muenster.Milage today was 643

tuesday may 5,2009

I left home around 12:00 noon and headed to Denton,Tx and then west on 380 to Graham,Tx.After a while I went north to meet up with Amos Magliocco in Olney,Tx.Later on a cell popped up 40 miles south of us near Breckenridge,Tx.As we got closer,the cell fell apart and dissapated.Luckily another one formed just to our west and we continued with it.This was a powerful storm producing large hail for several hours before dying out just north of Stephenville,Tx around 9:00p.m.We got a few good looks of the wall cloud but it did not put down a tornado.Today's milage 487.

Video Extra from April 29,2009 Cedar Hill,Texas

Here is a link to a video of the cedar hill tornado which shows my vehicle driving into the picture around the 2:40 mark .http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRb8_ED8_qo.Thanks go out to Steve Miller for putting this up on You Tube.Check out his website:TexasTailchaser.com.

friday may,1 2009

I started the day by going to Wichita Falls,Texas and waiting for things to develop.Conditions favored us to go southwest towards Seymour,Texas.Before we got there a cell had formed near Benjamin,Texas and we quickly pursued it.We intercepted a wall cloud near Munday,Texas that came very close to putting down a tornado.We then followed the storm until it started to lose its strength a couple hours later at Stamford,Texas.We then broke off and went after another storm 40 miles or so northeast.When we arrived it too started to lose its intensity as did the previous storm.We then went and ate dinner at Seymour,Texas and was about to call it a day when something flared up southwest of us.It was about dark when we left there and went down to Throckmorton,Texas when once again the storm went down in intensity.After this I drove east to Decatur,Texas and spent the night.Todays milage was 525.

wednesday april 29,2009

This is the Cedar Hill,Texas tornado as viewed from 15 miles away north of Matador,Texas.I was under my own rotating wall cloud and could not leave.More later as time permits.Bedtime was 1:00a.m. lastnight. I started the day in Monahans,Texas and left around 10:00a.m. headed north to just east of Lubbock,Texas.Along the way,I got suckered into going after a few cells that popped up just north of Midland,Texas that were in a tornado watch box.They were impressive for a while but soon became uncatchable because of thier location and speed.I then broke off and headed for Matador,Texas were I found a rotating wall cloud a few miles north of town.While there,I saw the tornado at Ceder Hill,Texas several miles to my northwest.Todays mileage 682.

tuesday april 28,2009

I left DFW at 5:00a.m. and headed up to 380 and went west to Brownfield,Texas.I then went southwest to Lovington,New Mexico to get out of the low clouds.There was still plenty of cloud cover so I headed south to Monahans,Texas were things improved.The first cell of the day popped up south of me between Pecos and Ft. Stockton so I raced down to see.Amazingly,I stopped to get gas and when I got back on the road it vanished from the radar.After waiting a little while another cell began near Saragosa.It took a little time to get there because of the road network and when I did it had fizzeled as well.The picture shows what it looked like by the time I got to it.A very dissapointing day.Another storm formed near Calsbad,New mexico at this time but it was too far away to get to before dark,so I decided to call it a day and spent the night in Monahans,Texas.The milage for today was 781.

no action on monday

Today was an off day.There was nothing really worthy of driving a long way to see.There were a couple of computer and electrical problems that had to be fixed,so it was best to sit this day out .Tomorrow will be a better day out in extreme west texas. d.s.e.

sunday april 26,2009

We left Woodward,Oklahoma around 12:00a.m. and headed south to Clinton,Oklahoma.We then went east on I40 to Sayre,Oklahoma where we waited for conditions to develope.Cells began to pop south of us so we went down to intercept.This was a High Risk day and there should have been quite a few tornadoes down in this area but something was missing today so it turned into a dissapointing Bust.The above picture was taken near Clinton,Oklahoma.This is a good example of a scud cloud that looks like a tornado.The day for me ended in Vernon,Texas.Todays mileage was only 308.

saturday april 25,2009

I left at 6:30a.m. and headed for Childress,Texas and then up to Canadian,Texas where it looked like initiation might start.Parameters changed and moved things further south and east.So,I then moved southeast into Oklahoma and waited for something to pop.The first really good cell started to developed back in Texas,so I headed back to Wheeler,Texas and followed this cell for the rest of the day.There were several wall clouds and looked like it might tornado a few times but it never did.I ended the day in Woodward,Oklahoma.The days Mileage was 714.

Up and Running

I have just created a blog in order to keep my friends and family informed of my travels during the next several months.There will be more to come as time goes by.The above picture was taken last week on March 25,2009 on my way back home from the initial chase of the season which took me into the Hill Country and Metro Austin during rush hour.