Here’s a new experiment for our channel and I hope we can continue to evolve and develop this content type. Today, we’re doing a start-to-finish storm chase case with some thoughts on forecasting, strategy, and storm anatomy throughout. The hope is these become an all-encompassing source of learning as we move forward.
So with this case, we’re taking a look at one of Sanner’s only supercell storm days of 2019 but also a good marginal looking supercell day that garnered a slight risk of severe storms and marginal risk of tornadoes from the SPC. Days like this, where there’s just enough for supercells, are incredibly fun to chase when they work out because typically the storms are more isolated in nature and they can tend to be beautiful and slow moving.
The target today is either the mountains of SC New Mexico or a developing confluence line in eastern New Mexico.
A few key takeways you should take from this chase case are:
1-Never sleep on supercell days. Even when they seem otherwise marginal, if you are a fan of storm structure and photos of storm structure, these marginal supercell days can really be great. This is especially true as you get into May and June and onto the High Plains.
2-Another is that wall clouds don’t mean tornadoes are imminent, especially when they aren’t persistent and rotating. Lowerings under supercells are common, but its the persistence and rotation that set the tornadic ones apart (but even those aren’t guarantees!).
3-The last one is to always keep your options option with targeting as much as possible. This is an interesting topic and we’ve touched on it in our Storm Chase Forecasting series (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLg23mPRzqQAq8Q9d8Z3Ovh3skGwEnCJdA), but hedging to keep as much of a target region open as long as possible is a really smart move unless the target is super obvious.
Hey did you like this? Should we do more? Let us know in the comments and of course, be sure to subscribe!
Hello tornado titans how are you doing?
I like this way of teaching
Years ago I tried chasing a storm I could see from Laramie, WY. IT was probably over Cheyenne when we left. Drove all the way to the E Colorado plains trying to catch up… lol – never did! Had a great time. Long drive home late at night. Maybe I need to try again….😂
This Video is very good. I like the explanations related to the stormchasing.
What a great video! :) Very interesting on how and what to look for on a Chase day. How long did that supercell last for? It had amazing structure to it. Please can you do another video like that one again âš¡
Yes! More of this sort of teaching video would be great! Good stuff!
Good work. More please!
I've been digging through chase vids for months and wishing there were more that broke down the chasing process for the viewer. This is excellent and so helpful for me! This channel and Skip Talbot's are immeasurably beneficial for burgeoning weather enthusiasts like me. Thank you TT.
I really like this style! I'm a Meso A Forecaster at SPC. This is how you make great forecasters going over and reviewing old data. If you ever want some cases to do let me know!
Man I wish there were more storm vids like this, not just the 'big' days, but the other 90-95% of the time that some of us have to commit to on chasecations, they are just as important, memorable and educational and often harder to get right as opposed to 'obvious ' targets
I needmore videos like this!