Maybe I was too anxious to get back to the plains. Having passed up a couple of opportunities earlier in the unusually warm spring, I saw this setup and it looked manageable for the solo chaser. This would not be an inland hurricane with storms moving at mach speeds.
I left Saturday with the idea that I would be somewhere along the Red River Sunday afternoon. After spending a noisy night in Sallisaw listening to frequent trains, I took US69 south and then went west from McAlester. SPC was more excited about tornadoes than I was. They had a 10% tor area on the outlooks, which turned out to be extreme. Spoiler: one confirmed tornado near Ada when it was over. I did not see much that was photogenic for most of the afternoon. I went up and down I-35 looking at the convection, which was severe but not terrific. Tornado warnings went out on storms south of OKC but I didn't think there was enough moisture that far north for any touchdowns.
New storms were firing in northwestern Texas that I thought would pass north of the DFW sprawl. I decided to go down south for the better moisture and newer storms. The worst of the drive was from casino traffic near the Red River. I made it to Denton just ahead of a large hailstorm. After slogging through town in construction I stopped and shot the storm, which had 41/2in hail. The lightning was occasionally good. Darkness finally came as I backed off to the east. I could not find a good shooting point due to all the housing that has developed since I was last there, which has been two or three years. Things were falling apart on radar so I took off east to Greenville, where I found a nicer motel.
Monday would be a down day but Tuesday looked promising so I stayed out west. I had a nice lunch at the Saucer on the Lake and spent the night in Weatherford.
Headed west to an area south of CDS and northwest of ABI. Early storms were moving straight north and became severe in the panhandle down to LBB. I hoped for new convection. I had time to stop for wildflower pictures. This has been a good year for them. I don't understand how they can be so hail-resistant.
I learned later that two chase vehicles collided southeast of LBB, I guess around the early storms. I found a severe storm that showed good rotation northwest of ABI, but it never managed more than a funnel. Meanwhile, a storm coming up on ABI had tor warnings on it and looked much better on radar. I finally gave up and headed east to get ahead of the cell before dropping south. Unfortunately I had spent too much time on the other storm and got cut off north of ABI. I stopped east of Anson to study the radar and decided to reverse-core plunge. If the hail didn't get too large I would let the whole thing come to me. The stones didn't last long where I was parked and I never saw anything larger than a golf ball. As the circulation came into view to the southeast, I finally saw dust and debris beneath a bowl-shaped lowering. There were infrequent condensation vortices but they did not last long.
The contrast was so-so since I was in precipitation and likely the tornado was as well. I still felt pretty pleased with myself since I had not seen a tornado since 2015, thanks to my fainting spells. I instantly made a bad decision to go north on a dirt road to keep up with the circulation, which still carried a warning. All-wheel drive sucks on mousse as it turns out. I had to slowly back out which meant missing the damage that occurred at Stamford Lake.
More storms were developing at darkness out by Midland. I wanted to shoot lightning anyway so I went into ABI and took the interstate west. The strokes were not visible due to cloud cover but the storm soon got a tornado warning on it. I gave up at Sweetwater and went back to the ABI Super 8, an annual mistake given the cumbersome location and run-down condition.
The next day looked best in the pine trees. I could see the dry line from the Saucer's patio on Lake Ray Hubbard. I took a leisurely drive back to Tennessee, watching many vehicles with TX and OK plates whiz past. TWC was whipping everyone into a frenzy over the Mississippi Valley but a wall of convection formed along the Gulf coast and really damaged the environment to the north.