Storm Chase Details
Chase Date: April 16, 2009
Miles Logged: 3162
States Chased: TX
Largest Hail Encountered: 1.5"
Severe Risks: SPC Outlooks
Chase Recap:
On Thursday we left Moore around 11 and headed down I-44 to Lawton and then across towards Silverton, TX. Steve, Scott and I ended up intercepting the Tulia cell which was tornado warned. We spent entirely too much time on this cell before heading south, missing the tornadoes down south near Lubbock. Scott and Steve stayed up on the Tulia cell for a bit longer than I did. I headed south on I-27 to Lubbock, and then east on 62/82 to Ralls.
There was a car that was completely submerged in flood waters between Idalou and Lorenzo. There was also about 4-5 inches of hail on the ground between Lorezo and Ralls. Everyone was driving slow through the hail. It was like driving on a little snow, so I was able to get through no problem.
I sat east of Ralls for a bit, meeting up and talking with Connor McCrorey. Steve and Scott showed back up. Eventually Steve and Scott decided to head east towards the other cells now east of there, I decided to go west towards the cells west of Lubbock. They didn’t look overly promising, but it put me in a good position for later. I called David Drummond and he told me to go meet him at KCBD 11’s station, so I headed over there. We got a quick tour of the studio before another Tornado Warning was issued up near Abernathy. We took off north out of Lubbock to chase that when another Tornado Warning was issued for the city of Lubbock, so we dropped back and chased that. That was cancelled pretty quick, and then we resumed going after the cells near Abernathy.
Everything has pretty much died out by the time we caught up to it, but we went in search of some damage from the best velocity scans. We were right in the correct area, but missed the damage. A few minutes later I read in NWSChat that there was tree and tower damage right where we were looking, so we turned around and headed back out there, eventually finding the house with the damage. There was some good tree damage and a tower that had fallen the opposite direction, leading me to believe it was tornado damage. The NWS in Lubbock confirmed an EF-0 the next day.