May 26: Fleet Expansion & Big Storms
Equipment Update
We’ve secured the components to build an additional Rapid Deployment Device (RDD-6) and to repair the broken camera on RDD-4. The new RDD-6 will be kept and deployed by our friend Zach from Tennessee Storm Hunters, who’s been a partner in chasing and documenting severe weather.
Be sure to support Tennessee Storm Hunters by visiting: https://linktr.ee/tnstormhunters .
Yesterday’s Chase: Really Cool Supercell
Yesterday was a fast-paced day. We were very close to a tornado forming right on top of us, but it just didn’t quite come together.
Even without a tornado, we were fortunate to see one of the better supercells of the year that spun gracefully over Stamford, Texas, before we called it a day.
Image from: Tennessee Storm Hunters
Today’s Weather: Supercells and Big Hail on Deck
As of this morning, a big mess of thunderstorms is moving across central and east Texas into the ArkLaTex. Some of these storms are elevated north of an outflow boundary from earlier storms. Farther south, where the air’s got more energy, the storms have more fuel and could kick up damaging winds if they stay rooted to the surface.
By this afternoon, things are expected to get stormy again across west-central Texas and the Edwards Plateau. Ample solar heating and a stalled front from this morning’s storms is setting the stage. South of that boundary, dewpoints are making the air feel almost tropical. By mid-afternoon, we’re expecting explosive instability—high CAPE values and steep lapse rates that signal severe weather.
Storms should fire up along the boundary between 2-4 PM CDT, and they’re expected to form quickly. These will likely become supercells right out of the gate, with large to very large hail (some 2+ inches) as the main threat early on. The wind fields aren’t favorable for a tornado, but with 45-ish knots of shear, these storms will feature organized and intense updrafts. As the afternoon rolls on, expect the storms to cluster and grow into a line, spreading east-southeast across central Texas. That’s when severe winds will become a bigger concern.
Today’s Plan
The Field Team is heading toward Midland or San Angelo area, Texas by 1-2PM central. A WeatherEye deployment is possible given cellular data coverage and storm behavior. We’re targeting the red zone below, which is the risk for the largest hail. Both Zach and Vince will be live streaming.
