Date: May 24, 2019
Time: 1:20 - 3:50 PM CDT
Place: Lubbock, TX
Distance: 414 mi (12 positioning, 64 chasing, 338 to home)
Camera: T3i, GoPros5 & 7, Karma
Warnings: SVR
Rating: S3

Pre-Chase

10:00 AM - 1:20 PM CDT: Today marks our 8th consecutive day out in the plains, blowing away our previous 5-day record back on June 3 - 7, 2014. Between the McCook, Stockville, Mangum, and Idalou tornadoes, this has been one of our most successful outings ever. And what a classic peak-season synoptic setup with day after day of reloading western troughs and shortwave ejections. But alas, all good things must eventually come to an end.

Today we got up expecting only to get a nice brunch in Lubbock and then to head home. And indeed, we started off the day with a great meal at the Pancake House. But as we ate our eggs, bacon, and pancakes, I couldn't help but get distracted by growing storms SW of town. At 1:10PM a new MCD went out, followed by a SVR Warning one minute later. Things were developing fast. Maybe we could sneak in one last chase after all? So at 1:20 we paid our bill and raced south of town.

The Chase

1:20 - 3:00 PM CDT: Repeating our exact path from yesterday, by 1:40 we again arrived in the small suburb of Woodrow and immediately commenced the timelapses. Also just like yesterday, our first views of the approaching supercell were gloomy and obscured by smoke. Despite the early hour for a storm chase (usually storms don't get going until after 4PM), we were soon joined by a few other chasers, along with a burst of hope from the SPC -- Tornado Watch #232! And sure enough, a faint wallcloud soon emerged from the haze just to our west. But our view was very faint and we needed to move north to maintain position.

With expectations raised, at 2PM we ventured north then east. During this jaunt, however, the clean inflow region began to fill with rain as a new southern flank storm strengthened. Tantalizing tendrils of rotation held our attention as rain began to shroud our position. Being extra cautious of the serious flooding threat from all the recent storms, after about 5 minutes we cut south to stay in the clear air.

Unfortunately, the new southern flank cell quickly evolved into an HP quagmire. The beefy RFD horseshoe looked interesting, but was completely filled with a dense turquoise precip core. On the east side of Lubbock, the Jone's Natural Gas powerplant sits above the conveniently named North Fork Double Mountain Fork Brazos River (seriously??). As the cooler RFD passed over the plant, we saw huge columns of wafting condensation rising from the warm generators. It look amazingly similar to suction vortices of a tornado -- a unique phenomenon I'd never witnessed before. Continuing to stairstep northeast, we clipped the core a couple times before pulling up with a batch of other chasers at the FM40/378 intersection. After a last timelapse showed no hope for seeing anything tornadic, we bid the watery storm goodbye.

3:00 - 4:30 PM CDT: Fortunately for our chase, another discrete cell (possibly a left split due to its more northern movement) was headed in our general direction -- a bonus storm for our bonus chase day. After finding a route back across the North Fork Double Mountain Fork Brazos River (again, seriously?!?!), we acquired a view NW of the maturing storm. The positioning was suboptimal, but the low precipitation allowed good view of the structure. But despite its decent radar signature, visually the storm updraft appeared small and meager as it approached Southland, TX. Toni, many coffees deep and many hours since a bathroom, was in serious need of a pit stop. So, at 3:50, we called this bonus chase and headed to Slaton for some gas and relief.

4:30 - 9:50 PM MDT: During the remainder of the afternoon as we began our drive back home to ABQ, a stalled north-south dryline and east-west outflow boundary provided continual updraft initiation SW of Lubbock. Storm after storm built and matured as we proceeded NE towards Clovis. Despite 8 straight days of chasing, I still couldn't help myself. The crisp towers in the warm afternoon sun offered excellent b-roll DSLR and drone captures. As golden hour approach and shadows elongated, the distant Cu towers provided a final reminder of what makes chasing so special and addictive.

Recap, Filmmaking Notes, and Lessons Learned