Day 10 June 4, 2007

The day started off with a phone call. It was Lee who wanted to know if I wanted to go eat breakfast with them. I had a half hour to get ready... I was really trying hard to wake up this morning. It felt like I've partied all night minus the headache. Before bed that evening, I checked the SPC reports for June 2 and our tornado was listed. It said was on the county line of Ector and Winkler counties crossing highway 302 and lasted for one minute around a quarter to five. That sounded about right to me! We went to go eat at Norma's Cafe. Nice little place with good food and great salsa! I had to purchase two 16 ounce containers because that stuff was so good. After lunch we came back to the hotel. I decided to check out the SPC outlooks page and lo and behold... a moderate risk was already issued for Wednesday! I know this is early but I've heard chasers on a forum say they were impressed by the setup so far and that we would possibly be looking at a potential severe weather outbreak.

Before checking out of the hotel, we paid our dinner bill from last night. I didn't want to leave it unpaid because the waiter would have to pay for it if we didn't. Besides, it wasn't the waiter's fault that the service/food was a little less to be desired. On our way out, an old gentleman walked by and asked if we chased the tornado yesterday. He said he was on his roof and saw it take a house and then he went for cover. I should have asked him if he knew anyone got hurt. Of course, that was the last thing I wanted.

Today, Ron wanted to head just down the highway for the target. On our way, Ron mentioned to Pam and I that the funnel cloud we saw the other day half way to the ground was confirmed as a tornado. Apparently someone else had saw the entire thing and mentioned the funnel was half way down but had debris underneath. With our poor vantage point, there was no way for us to see the debris swirl on the ground. I guess this brings our tornado count on this trip up to two.

The skies were clear and we didn't have to go very far today, so we had time to kill. Ron wanted to see if we could find the damage path from yesterday's tornado. Ron and Sandra really tried to find a road that led to the county line from the highway but there was none. We finally took an exit and went north and then east a little bit. We finally got to a road that was right on the county line, but trying to find this damage path was pretty tough... there were lots of low trees and bushes. Obviously finding damage from the air is a much more efficient way. After an unsuccessful attempt, Ron and I thought it was best that we use this day as a travel day to start heading north for Wednesday's setup. The crew agreed on a quick trip to Roswell, New Mexico.

Ron booked our hotel rooms at a Hampton Inn in Clovis. On our way to Roswell, a couple storms had popped up on radar and they would have brief rotation couplets. It seemed these storms were pulsing; they would lose their rotation couplet and regain it again several times. They were headed south-southeast this time towards Roswell. well now isn't that convenient? Just outside of Roswell, we noted a bunch of precip cores. This storm was just going to snuff itself out by raining where the inflow was supposed to be.

In Roswell, there was only one street that had alien themed shops and attractions. There were UFO "signs" that looked like a UFO had crashed into the building, a McDonald's play area windows were shaped in that of a UFO... there were weird alien signs and paintings everywhere. Even the street lamps were not regular lamps... the lights were an alien head at the top of the posts. Most shops were closed but we found one and got ourselves a tee shirt. The gang then watched as the storm came into Roswell. A nearby heavy precip core made for some interesting pictures and there were some good lightning strikes. The storm lost its rotation and it was just dumping itself out.

On the way into Clovis, we enjoyed a beautiful sunset. The storm that was over Roswell was dissipating and had a few lightning strikes. A small partial rainbow formed and the sun casted a pink/orange hue on the clouds and precip. It was by no means anything severe, but it was sure pretty.

Tomorrow we are headed north towards South Dakota or Nebraska for Wednesday. It was going to be one long haul tomorrow... we plan to get close to the target as possible.