After enjoying a delicious continental breakfast, we rolled out of the Aurora, CO hotel at 9:30. Our target area was centered between Tucumcari, NM and Amarillo, TX. This area had Theta-E nosing in from the east providing moisture (fuel) for any storms contributing to CAPE values approaching 2000 J/kg. Diffluence in the upper-level winds coupled with a shortwave trough served as the lifting mechanism to trigger the storms. Unfortunately, a lack of wind shear severely limited supercell development. After crossing into New Mexico Mammatus clouds provided some pretty scenery along the way.
Mammatus Clouds
Nonetheless we still caught an impressive multi-cell storm south of Dalhart, TX. This storm provided a superb opportunity for the helicopter drone.
Picture from 200 ft via our helicopter drone
We moved on from this storm to another multi-cell cluster in Dumas, TX. We sat in a church parking lot for over an hour observing the storm and also observing the strong winds via a useful complex instrument: a Frisbee.
Storm outside Dumas, TX
At the end of the day we ended up in Amarillo, TX as a pit stop before we move farther south tomorrow. But we didn’t go to the hotel before stopping at a Storm Chase tradition, The Big Texan for some steaks!
The Big Texan, home of the 72oz steak challenge