WCBI/MSU Storm Chase Day 4 Recap

COLUMBUS, Mississippi (WCBI) – The storm chase group traveled from Oklahoma City back into western Texas on Thursday, reaching Big Lake, TX and ultimately Midland/Odessa.

We got on a storm fairly quickly to the north of Big Lake after 4 PM. This storm strengthened fast, reaching severe limits with baseball hail potential to our north. The storm was relatively ragged due to the complete lack of low-level shear, but decent mid & upper level shear allowed for the storm to organize.

The above image was moments before some of the larger hail passed just north of us. We drove up the road after the storm passed, and we saw at least 1.25″ hailstones piled on the ground. There were reports of 3″ hail a little farther north.

We experienced a separate severe storm on the way back to the hotel in Odessa. This storm produced an incredible mammatus cloud field; mammatus are clouds formed as colder pockets of air sink outside the main thunderstorm updraft.

We were almost back to Odessa, and we just had to capture this really cool shot of the departing storms and immediate clearing behind them! A miniature area of low pressure, or MCV, became established and this clearing was caused by the subsidence right behind the storms.