{"id":15705,"date":"2016-05-17T00:00:59","date_gmt":"2016-05-17T08:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stormbruiser.com\/chase\/?p=15705"},"modified":"2016-12-02T18:43:22","modified_gmt":"2016-12-03T02:43:22","slug":"may-17-2016-rankin-tx-supercell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/stormbruiser.com\/chase\/2016\/05\/17\/may-17-2016-rankin-tx-supercell\/","title":{"rendered":"May 17, 2016 Rankin, TX supercell"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"160517_1775_rankin-tx\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Start, Plainview, TX; end, Ozona, TX; 350 miles; lunch at Midland (Johnnys BBQ)<\/p>\n

SPC 1630Z Day One Outlook<\/a><\/p>\n

spc-mesoscale-discussion-641<\/a><\/p>\n

spc-mesoscale-discussion-643<\/a><\/p>\n

We had to get down south from the TX PH to at least U.S. 67, where storms were expected to develop along a boundary. \u00a0Shear and instability were again looking nice, but moisture a little too meager at low levels to provide a good tornado chance. \u00a0After lunch in cool and overcast Midland, we continued due south and timed it just right — a strong storm tower was organizing to our southwest (northwest of Rankin, the county seat of beautiful Upton County). \u00a0The cool boundary that was nearby was sagging south and would undercut any cells which weren’t diving south or southeast fast enough. \u00a0We came up on the east side of the “Rankin” supercell, which afforded a great view of the storm structure. \u00a0Some menacing lowerings nearly scraped the ground, but organized rotation at low levels was not evident. \u00a0The supercell tracked to the SE or ESE and became more outflowish, unfortunately. \u00a0By the time we got to Big Lake and Barnhart, there were a handful of messy cells, and we were battling heavy rain and some hail. \u00a0At Ozona, along I-10, we called it a chase.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\t\t