{"id":24307,"date":"2019-04-30T00:00:28","date_gmt":"2019-04-30T08:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stormbruiser.com\/chase\/?p=24307"},"modified":"2019-09-22T21:14:38","modified_gmt":"2019-09-23T05:14:38","slug":"april-30-2019-fluvanna-texas-tornado","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stormbruiser.com\/chase\/2019\/04\/30\/april-30-2019-fluvanna-texas-tornado\/","title":{"rendered":"April 30, 2019 Fluvanna, Texas Tornado"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Start: \u00a0Hobbs, NM<\/p>\n

End: \u00a0Abilene, TX<\/p>\n

SPC Day One Outlook 20Z<\/a><\/p>\n

SPC Mesoscale Discussion 477<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0SPC Mesoscale Discussion 480<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0SPC Mesoscale Discussion 481<\/a><\/p>\n

SPC Mesoscale Discussion 482<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0SPC Mesoscale Discussion 483<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0SPC Mesoscale Discussion 485<\/a><\/p>\n

SPC Mesoscale Discussion 486<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0SPC Mesoscale Discussion 487<\/a><\/p>\n

SPC Storm Reports<\/a><\/p>\n

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19Z\/2 p.m. CDT surface map<\/p>\n

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21Z\/4 p.m. CDT surface map<\/p>\n

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I headed east from California for my May and June chase season (working for Tempest Tours) on April 29th. \u00a0Jennifer was driving for Tour 2, which began around May 4th, so she flew out to L.A. to join me for the drive east. \u00a0On the 29th we made it out to far West Texas by evening to see some thunderstorms in the Orla area. \u00a0We stopped near the Guadalupe Mountains for some shots of the impressive development to our east around sunset. \u00a0However, these shots were lost the next day somewhere near Fluvanna, as I was fumbling around changing camera data cards during a storm chase with tornadoes. \u00a0UGH. \u00a0Maybe the camera card is still lying on the ground near Fluvanna. \u00a0I will look for it the next time I am in the area.<\/p>\n

We started April 30th at Hobbs, and we needed to get east or east-northeast into the good moisture, along a front where severe thunderstorm development was very likely during the afternoon. \u00a0SPC was favoring the areas from Wichita Falls to Texarkana and the Ozarks of southern Missouri. \u00a0An enhanced risk area here was upgraded to moderate in the 20Z outlook, with a 10-15 percent hatched<\/em> tornado risk for much of eastern Oklahoma. \u00a0The slight risk area in the 1630Z outlook extended back to the southwest as far as Sweetwater, TX. \u00a0I was content to play the western portions of the slight risk area (even though SPC showed only a 2 percent tornado risk here), as it was much more proximate and was a much better area to observe and chase storms.<\/p>\n

Jennifer and I headed east on U.S. 180 to the Snyder area, and some cloud towers were giving it a go fairly early in the afternoon, not too far from Lamesa. \u00a0This was near a triple-point area, where the nearly-stationary E-W front was up against the dry line. \u00a0The 19Z\/2 p.m. CDT surface map (above) shows a warm westerly wind at Odessa (84 over 45), warm and moist southeasterly winds from Big Spring to Sweetwater (80 over 66 and gusting to 25 knots from the SSE at Sweetwater), and quite cool and moist conditions in the Jayton area (63 over 62) with a backed wind (ENE, gusting to 11 knots). \u00a0If a storm went up on this triple-point\/mesolow area and moved E to ENE along the boundary, which was just north of U.S. 180, then I would expect a fairly good tornado chance.<\/p>\n

The initial attempts in the Lamesa area failed, as the weak activity drifted to the northeast and became elevated above the cool air behind the front. \u00a0New mesoscale discussions from SPC during the early afternoon were very bullish on prospects farther to my east several counties. \u00a0Should I spend the next hour or two heading east, towards the higher instability and higher tornado percentages? \u00a0We drifted east on U.S. 180 to \u00a0maybe a little east of Roby. \u00a0I was trying to keep options open. \u00a0I was concerned that big-time thunderstorms and tornadoes might develop towards the Wichita Falls and Seymour area. \u00a0But, the better moisture convergence still seemed to be back west here towards the triple point. \u00a0Another check of the radar showed a strong storm, finally, back to our west! \u00a0It was near Gail and maybe 60 miles away, and would be moving E to ENE-ward —- right towards us! Time to blast west.<\/p>\n

We could soon see the top of the tall storm tower to our west, and the thing was riding the boundary perfectly. \u00a0 Check out that 21Z surface map (above). \u00a0The storm was right in that triple-point area, with winds pointed into it from the west, southeast, and northeast. \u00a0We continued west beyond Snyder some ten miles or so to FM Road 1269. \u00a0This road to the north was perfect, as it would put us right in front of the storm, which was approaching Fluvanna. \u00a0We stopped south of Fluvanna and had a good look at the storm base to the west, which was fantastically and fabulously low to the ground!<\/p>\n

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