Tennessee Bust

Chase Recap:

I didn’t want to chase.

Weird for a Storm Chaser to say, right? After a frustrating chase of the high risk on March 25, I ended the day in Forrest City. I had to work Friday morning, which I did in the hotel room. I checked out and got some lunch, then filled up my car so I could work some more before heading home.

As I sat in a parking lot at a gas station in Forrest City, Gage noticed my tire had a gash on the side of it. Sure enough, the inner tube was showing. I’d need to get it repaired before I could drive home. The closest Discount Tire was in Memphis, so I headed back to Memphis. Gage and I decided we could hang out and chase one more day, and eat some Memphis BBQ.

Memphis BBQ

I got my tire fixed and we filled up on Memphis BBQ at Central BBQ. Highly recommended! Best ribs I have ever had in my life.

Waking Up

I knew I’d have a long drive home that night, so I slept in late. Even after check out, I hung around Memphis metro area.

First storm

Eventually I decided to give a go at one of the storms popping up. This one was going up just to my east near Oakland. I decided to proceed up I-40 just in case. As luck would have it, that would be the most intense supercell for the next couple hours.

I approached from behind in Somerville. Luckily US64/Highway 100 was parallel to the storm motions. I was able to position myself for multiple passes near the inflow region of the supercell.

Tornado Warning

They issued a tornado warning on the storm just west of Reagan. It was around the same time I had turned north on highway 22 towards Lexington. I went pretty far north into the vault region and did not witness the apparent tornado that was reported nearby.

Tennessee River

Eventually I got east of the Tennessee River and the terrain had become worse there than it had already been. I dropped off the storm in Linden and headed back towards I-40.

There was some question as to if I’d chase one of the storms along the Mississippi River at dark, but the 3am arrival into Oklahoma City said no.

Friends Don’t Let Friends Chase Dixie Alley

In conclusion, please do a public service and remind your friends to not chase Dixie Alley.