The only show in Texas on this day began at Breckenridge (a few counties west of Dallas), and we were there from start to finish. A storm went up west of Breckenridge and had a good look to it for about 15 minutes. As it continued northeast of town, it croaked. Another cell developed west of Breckenridge, got strong and stayed strong. It turned to the southeast towards Ranger, on I-20, and we stayed close to its southwest side. This supercell sported several wall clouds and had very fast-moving rain curtains in and around the action area. Rain occasionally wrapped all the way around and hid any lowerings, but it wasn’t long before another wall cloud appeared. To make a long story short, the cell had that look that it wanted to produce a tornado more than two or three times, but we never observed any decent funnel clouds, much less a tornado.
A lot of chasers were on this cell on a country road between Breckenridge and Ranger. The road was zig-zaggy, but worked well to stay close to the updraft base. Some chasers got too close and were hammered by hail over 3 inches in diameter. We wound up stopping at dusk southeast of Ranger as the cell weakened and drifted off to the east. The storm tower was impressive, and I got some pics of some lightning in the tower with the moon nearby.
Keep in mind, that, at Mulligan’s Mall in Snyder, TX, quality is not expected.
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