May 14-16, 2012 Panhandling During Downtime

Tour 3 came together in Oklahoma City on May 14th, and the weather pattern seemed to be mired in a never-ending BLAH mode.  Actually, that is a generous characterization —- the weather pattern was horrid!  Improving conditions were several days away, so we spent some time on the higher terrain.  Here is my write-up from my May 17th update for this time frame:

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Ten-day Tour 3, with guides Bob Smith and Chris Gullikson, began on Monday, May 14.  The best air and severe-storm chances were well to the southwest, near and south of I-10 in southwest TX.  This was too far to reach from OKC, so we headed west into the eastern TX Panhandle.  Despite north flow aloft and marginal moisture, a storm with some low-level organization was observed a little south of Shamrock.  This one didn’t last too long, but another one went up to its west, and actually moved or propagated to the west a little!  We stopped and watched it weaken.  It was better than a sharp stick in the eye, but not by much.  The new group was happy to see a few lightning bolts and to get the feel for a little chase.  We found a motel in Canyon (south of Amarillo) after doing a little sight-seeing in Palo Duro Canyon south of Claude.

The next few days on the Plains were characterized by pathetic moisture and weak flow, and we went into sight-seeing mode for the most part.  Tuesday, May 15, was sunny and dry in the Panhandles and for thousands of miles in all directions.  We went into Palo Duro Canyon for an hour or so.  The ground was still a bit muddy from the rainy Monday weather, so we hiked just a little bit and then went to the Big Texan in Amarillo for lunch.  I checked the group into a motel in town mid-afternoon and watched the Kings defeat Phoenix 4-0 in the breakfast room.  GREAT DAY!

On Wednesday (May 16) there would be some very high-based storms along the Front Range in Colorado.  This activity was not chaseworthy, and we scoffed at it.  We headed to Clayton, NM, for lunch, and then took an unpaved road from the Black Mesa area in extreme northeast NM through Sheep Pen Canyon to Kim, CO.  The scenery along this remote route is very nice, and we had the road to ourselves for about an hour!  From Kim we continued north to La Junta, and then to Limon.  Considerable cloudiness and virga were encountered upon reaching Lincoln County.  Limon was our home for the night.