CHAOTIC CHRONICLES PRESENTS
Once more, we chased in Texas
but more to the south-west,
near the city of Pecos which was our target for the day.
Two storms formed next to each other.
We watched these storms progressively strengthening
but only one of them really stood out.
Looking good, don't you think?
We could already see its organization, it started to rotate.
The rain shaft became more opaque
With radar data we knew the hail was getting bigger to reach at least 4 inches.
Though there was many big hail warning on screen
we saw only small marbles.
We thought there was something fishy going on.
Yet another "french kind of storm"!
CREATED BY CHRISTOPHE ASSELIN
I think you can drive now.
Because it looks interesting on radar there.
We realized the supercell was developing on its southern edge.
But in order to reposition ourselves
we had to go through the main hail core.
- Are we in the middle of the core? - We're barely entering it!
THIS IS WAR!!
We've just lost 30°F (17°C) in ten minutes!
That's incredible!
The ground was covered with ice
which created some fog patches...
It was absolutely surreal.
Just when we got out of this icy area
we noticed there was a tornado report on the screen.
- There is a report? - Yep.
We were just nearby!
We made a mistake. We misjudged the storm's direction.
It's very important to talk and to try to analyse what happened
because it might happen again over the next few weeks.
That really sucks...
This is my fault, we shouldn't have gone northward.
We should have stayed ahead of the meso.
Even if we had not been blocked by hail
we couldn't have been there on time.
It was at that time, look.
We should have stayed south from the start.
Yes, you're right.
But we need to consider the fact that
the supercell completely changed direction
going from a north-westward motion
to a south-eastern one
which is kind of unusual.
The cloud base was very dense
very large
but the rain was still very pronounced
which meant rotating clouds were behind the precipitations.
A total lack of visibility for us.
It wasn't such an easy chase
despite the storm moving slowly.
It gave us a nice lightning show
under a threatening structure
but we weren't lucky enough to see a tornado with this one.
We're filled with regrets
but we know not many people have actually seen this tornado
as the observation window was very narrow.
We'll try to keep that in mind.
To stay near the most favorable area for tornadoes at all time.
Lunch break... with other storm chasers.
This day will probably not be so special
but all the best chasers are in town
which makes for a motivation.
We meet nice people...
We chatted with other chasers during one hour.
It was a nice fellowship time with no stress.
Everybody seemed confident about the day so it gave us confidence too.
... the winds don't back that much elsewhere.
Only in this area.
Yeah, it will grow around here.
Time passed by
and the first anvils appeared above the horizon.
Storms formed rapidly on a well defined line.
We were wondering what cell we should aim
amongst the several that have popped up.
And we have a very helpful feature on satellite images
which is the cloud height.
We've just noticed that the northern cell had the highest top
so it is the most powerful for now.
Colorado didn't get as much rain as Texas.
so dirt road were decent.
Hold on to your hat!
The road was far form perfect
so we figured we would stop for now
and keep an eye on the base which seemed to form under the thunderstorm.
That could lead to something good.
We're facing a storm that is getting organized very fast.
We can see a nice inflow band and a lot of lightning which is always a good sign.
A lot of warm air is coming from the east
and is feeding this beautiful base
getting wider by the minute.
We could see a wall-cloud taking shape
with an obvious rotation.
Look how it's spinning!
Here we go!
It's coming down!
Funnel!
This is now guys!
F***, it was so close!
It still lacked a little something to go all the way to the ground
but this storm had an undeniable potential
and we had to keep following it.
This storm was so beautiful with its greenish rain core
and an immense structure
but precipitation quickly moved to the north again
which meant we had to go north too if we wanted to keep a view of the wall-cloud.
I think maybe we should move forward...
to go around the rain.
- Yes, we should go north. - Let's go guys!
I think the tornado is about to happen very soon!
What a storm!
At some points we could see the wall cloud getting really close to the ground!
It had the shape of a cone
which was enough to suspect a tornado.
- Very large funnel! - I'm pulling over!
It has to happen!
It's hiding again!
Should we keep moving?
The rain is coming fast.
I can't tell if it touched the ground at some point!
We drove towards the city of Lamar
and when looking at road maps we realised we didn't have many options.
We needed to go east in Lamar in order to stay ahead of the supercell.
That meant we couldn't see what was happening under the wall-cloud anymore...
I think it's rained-wrapped now.
Did you see the edge of the meso?!
If I were you, I'd turn around and try to take the previous road, the dirt road.
Why? We have a paved road waiting for us!
This one?
It was already in the rain!
It was in the axis of the rain...
It looks like the rotation will pass on the previous road.
It will cross the road behind us.
We're going too far!
I know that Vincent! We're looking for a solution!
You propose a solution!
Try to take the dirt road!
I saw people turning around on that road...
Then you can stop at the crossroad, it will be enough!
No need to get pissed off Tony!
You're telling me we're going too far but you don't offer a solution!
I told you twice we should rather stop...
But nobody gives me road options, I look at the map alone!
We don't need to drive south!
The rotation is coming at us!
A lot of cloud-to-cloud lightning in every direction.
There's definitely a strong activity inside this supercell.
We just have to wait for the rotation to come closer now.
We're in a great place!
It seems like the rain shaft is becoming more translucent.
The storm was moving very slowly
which gave us time to observe its structure
or all the other phenomenon happening around the storm like lightning for example
but also the hail that we felt at some point.
Vincent and Tony noticed pretty big stones falling from the sky...
It's ok... 2 cm (0,75").
3 cm (1,25")!
4 cm (1,5")!!
LET'S GET OUT OF HERE!
Chris ! Big rocks!!
- No, it's still manageable! - We saw one of 4 cm!
Okay, I'm coming!
- Holy f***, they're huge! - There's a very big one in front of the car!
We got away one more time
and while driving east we realised that...
the storm has seriously weakened.
It spread to the south
and we know it usually is the best side of the storm
where there is the most moisture available.
But when we arrived there
it did not look very good...
just forming a line.
As we started to expect the end of the chase for this day
we just took a look behind us
and we could see a gigantesque explosion in the distance.
A very strong convection!
And we knew this area could have some potential for the day too!
So we thought it would be a good idea to keep an eye on it.
Now that's a beautiful explosion!
We hesitated a while
but even though there was nearly 100 miles between this rising supercell and us
we decided to go for it.
We had an hour and a half left of daylight
so if we wanted to see something before the night
we had to get going fast!
We knew it was the right thing to do
and we could be there in 45 minutes or so.
We were boiling in the car
as it was litteraly a nuclear explosion in front of us.
The closer we got, the more magnificent it was.
We finally arrived near this supercell.
The show was amazing with a 180° mamma display over our heads.
After a while, we figured it was about time to go see underneath it
because with such a powerful convection
there must be something good going on there!
We rushed toward the area but the night quickly fell.
We would have to be very cautious because we only had radar data left to tell what was ahead of us.
On the radar it was looking promising with a nice hook.
It rapidly became tornado warned but we were still quite far behind it.
We had no other choice but to approach it by the west side
which is really uncomfortable.
We knew we were getting closer
as the hailstones went from reasonable size
to big chunks of ice.
We had to hold the windscreen with Tony
because of the large hailstones falling on the car.
Wish me luck!
Larger than a baseball! 8,5 centimeters (3,5")
Again quite a hard time for the car but we managed to keep the windscreen as new.
Keep going, I'd say it's 2 or 3 miles away.
There was a bit of tension in the car
because we knew we might be close from a tornado.
Julien : "We can't see a thing, we're gonna get our asses kicked with no way to see it coming!"
We have at least 3 miles of margin!
It might be a great opportunity to see it.
What is to our right Vince?
Let me take a look.
Is it some clear sky or is it a cone?
On the radar, things got very clear with a very pronounced rotation.
At that time, strong winds suddenly came from behind.
It comes from the west.
We decided to back up a bit as we felt we were too close from the danger.
Isn't that a tornado ??
Tony and Julien were in front of the car and could see a bit better
And they thought they had seen a cone across the road.
I can see it too! It's in front of us, just on the left side of the road!
Holy cow, it's just here!
It's a very large tornado crossing the road maybe 1 kilometer away.
The only way we could see it was thanks to lightning
which drew its shape on the horizon.
It looks like there are multi vorticies.
Watch out guys! In case it's coming back towards us!
We lived the atmosphere as we couldn't really see it.
We just had to feel it, to listen to the sound of it.
It was really exciting!
It quickly moved away from us
and the night wasn't making things easy.
We decided to reach a northward road a few miles further.
Along the road we could see a few damages
like a barn door ripped wide open.
but we were surprised it wasn't more significant
giving the size of that tornado.
PLAINS TORNADO GOT RATED EF1.
It had been a very unusual situation for us
We were quite satisfied.
That's the first time we encountered a nighttime tornado.
and a very wide one!
We managed to get just a few hundred meters from it.
I thought we would chase a kind Colorado tornado
but we saw a mean Kansas beast.
We've just left our wedge behind and now there's a powerful squall line
We hardly got the time to get the room keys
then run to the room... and now it's a deluge.
but a very cool day overall, with a nice ending...
NEXT EPISODE
- Go Vince, Go! - Yes, the rotation is just above us!
Debris! Debris!
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