Storm Chase Details
Chase Date: May 5, 2009
Miles Logged: 570
States Chased: OK, TX
Largest Hail Encountered: 3"
Severe Risks: SPC Outlooks
Chase Recap:
Hans, Steve and I left Moore a little late, a bit after 1pm and headed down I-44 towards Wichita Falls. Our original plan was to stay around Wichita Falls, but we decided to get a bit further south to Seymour Texas. We met up with Shane in Seymour, who was driving my truck to chase.
Heading to Breckenridge
The SPC issued a mesoscale discussion, which they showed the warm front a bit further south than we had figured. So we headed south towards Throckmorton about the same time as the storm was showing up near Breckenridge. We headed towards Breckenridge and were helped by the first updraft dying out due to capping. As we arrived in Breckenridge, a second storm was pushing through the cap, and this would end up being storm of the day.
We sat along US180 for a moment as the cell got it’s act together. Some small hail started falling and then a nice wall cloud appeared. Rotation remained moderate and we thought the storm was going to produce a tornado. The storm was getting a good radar presentation as well.
Getting into the Hail
We decided to drop south ahead of the meso, and was hoping to make it to Strawn ahead of the storm. Unfortunately that did not end up happening, and we got into a large hail core. We lost the windshield on Hans’ vehicle and my truck got a large number of new dents.
We ended up giving up after the windshield was broken, and headed to Weatherford, TX after the cell passed us over. The positive is that Hans’ windshield was only $200 installed.
