Chasecation 2014 Day 9 – 500 Mile Loop

Yesterday was not a NASCAR race, but rather a drawn-out day of hopping from storm to storm in what ended up being a giant loop that landed us at the same hotel we were in the night before. We ended up tracking three different storms during the day, with the first two being south/southeast of Midland, TX and the final one south-southwest of Carlsbad, NM. Despite questionable terrain with the southern storms in Texas, we stuck around there for a little bit while bogus tornado warnings were issued for outflow-dominant storms. The line of storms did nothing particularly interesting for hours, which is when we decided to play more of the upslope/shortwave activity further west.

Unfortunately, the shortwave trough lagged behind what the models had for timing, which meant later storm initiation. We still went up to the storms for some lightning shots and maybe an outside chance of a nighttime tornado. The lightning was a decent save to the day, but the way the day played out left a sour taste in our mouths as we look ahead to how the next few days might pan out.

Plans for the rest of the trip involve hanging around New Mexico and Texas for a few more days before heading back east and calling it a few days early. It’s either that or make the long trek north for a marginal setup later in the week, and right now it doesn’t look good enough to warrant the drive north. Because of this, we are really hoping to catch a tornado in the next few days to cap off our trip.