15 May 2017: Supercell, Stinnett-Spearman, TX

                Day one of my 2017 chase season began as we departed Joplin, MO. Christopher Strang was accompanying me for the second year. A look at morning data suggested a near repeat of the previous day’s weather. The dryline was lingering near Amarillo, and outflow boundaries from the previous day’s storms would provide a region for new development that afternoon. LCL height was well beyond risk for tornadoes, however.

                I decided not to rush. There was plenty of time to reach the panhandle by late afternoon. The drive across Oklahoma wasn’t noteworthy at all. I had been in touch with fellow chaser Matt Hunt over the previous couple of days. We decided to meet up if we had the opportunity. We ended up meeting at a Love’s off I-40 and 207. By this time, towers were starting to develop to the west.

                We took 207 north toward Borger. A cluster of cumulus were developing into a few scattered thunderstorm cells near Stinnett. After a brief look at the sky and radar in Borger, we continued north to Stinnett, stopping on highway 152 west of town.

                For the next hour and a half, small storms seem to cluster randomly in the area. There was no real organization in their development or movement. At 6:30pm local time, an organized supercell started to take shape just to the southwest of Stinnett. We moved back to 207 in time to see the updraft take on a very nice mothership formation. True to the forecast, the base was very high. Tornado formation still didn’t seem likely. The lack of chaser traffic also suggested limited tornado threat.

                As the updraft drifted northeast toward Stinnett, we decided it was time to adjust. Matt held back for a few minutes more. The plan at that point was to follow 207 as far as we could, as it took a northeast turn north of town. Soon we realized this plan wasn’t going to work out. The northeast jog in the highway ended up in the north end of the hook. We were stuck in heavy rain and small hail from that position.

                Matt caught up with us and we continued until we reached eastbound highway 281. We waited out some moderate sized hail there for a few minutes, then started east. There we crossed a swath of dense hail, still melting on the road. Eventually 281 turned north and connected with highway 51. We finally were able to get ahead of the updraft region again. The storm was occluding at this point, rain shafts showing dramatic outward flow away from the base.

                We parked with Matt at a turnoff a few miles farther east. He set up a DSLR for time-lapse, and I shot several minutes of video from this spot. The lightning at this stage was impressive, set against the low sun to the west. Less impressive were the swarms of mosquitos in this area. We regretted not having repellant at this point, and vowed to pick some up the next morning.

                The storm looked to be in it’s death throes as time passed. We considered heading to Pampa for the night. As we headed east again, the storm started to reorganize, and a healthy updraft re-emerged. We stopped again briefly where the highway took a jog to the north. Some of the best lightning of the day occurred at this point. I shot a few more minutes of video before calling it a night. It was time to prepare for what we hoped to be a much more interesting day.

May 15 2017 from Adam R Davis on Vimeo.