QLCS Punching

Day 7: Monday, May 25, 2015
Chase Day east of Dallas/Fort Worth area
Beginning City: Childress, Texas
Ending City: Vernon, Texas
Total Miles Traveled: 326 miles for the day, 3618 for the trip

Written by Jeremy Buck and Maggie Paucek

This morning, conditions were looking extremely favorable for severe storms; however, we had some obstacles to work with. The SPC had a moderate risk issued for the northern Texas/southeastern Oklahoma area, which was a much greater risk than what we have seen issued on our previous chase days. The obstacles we faced were in getting ourselves to that location. The linear storms forecasted (Quasi-Linear Convective Systems or QLCS) had a high risk for large hail and had already developed by the time of our morning briefing, so we had to leave quickly to position ourselves in front of the line of storms. Supercells were still possible but would form in front of the line or possibly on the southern edge of the storm lines. When dealing with a QLCS having an escape route without getting hit by an intense portion in the line is always a challenge.

We decided to head east toward Vernon to get as far ahead of the squall line that was developing to the south and west near Abilene, Texas. Once in Vernon we drove south when we knew we were a comfortable distance ahead of it. This plan worked for a while, but the linear storm continued to build at its southern end, preventing us from being able to get to it. The storm’s speed also increased, catching up with us as we travelled around Breckenridge, TX. After evaluating our choices, we decided we had to let the storm pass over us. We experienced a lot of heavy rainfall and strong winds but no hail (which is a good thing).

We retired from chasing for the day very early and traveled back north to Vernon, TX for the night.

Mammatus clouds on the front side of the QLCS just south of Throckmorton, Texas.