STORM TRACK: September 30, 1982 (Volume 5 Issue 6)

The Texas Tech Tornado Intercept Team ... observed six tornadoes from a supercell thunderstorm near Pampa, Texas" on May 19. "The storm initially developed ahead of a dryline bulge southwest of Borger, Texas and moved slowly eastward at 15 MPH. The storm had an extensive rain free base at 5:30 PM [all times CDT] and developed a violently rotating wall cloud by 5:42 PM.

At 5:48, striations were visible under a rain free base, moving rapidly toward the wall cloud. At about this time, a positive lightning bolt, struck between the updraft and the ground (one of several this day). "By 5:58, a rope shaped tornado dipped toward the ground just southwest of Skellytown, Texas and traveled eastward through the 6666 Ranch. The tornado only lasted two minutes and damage was minimal.

Then the storm appeared to go through a transition stage as another cell had merged from the south, and the circulation expanded and intensified," doubling the rain free base. "Two minutes later, at 6:09, another rotating wall cloud developed just west of Pampa. The wall cloud was ragged and wedge shaped, and at times had a laminar appearance." At Film Site #1 from 6:13 to 6:18, the pressure dropped from 29.87 to 29.79, with a mostly easterly wind at, 30 to 40 Kts. At 6:14, lightning became so intense that Tim's chase team returned to the shelter of the car for continued filming.

By 6:19,,a large funnel developed as rotation intensified. Several subvortices were noticed rotating around the circulation at cloud base. At 6;23, a V-shaped tornado formed four miles west of Pampa. The tornado quickly became obscured in dust and was nearly stationary. The 6:26 surface pressure at Film Site #2 jumped from 29.80 to 29.88 in one minute, and winds shifted from 100 deg at 30 kts to 270 deg at 5 kts. During this time period, I had to stop filming to wipe the rain off my movie camera lens.

By 6:30, the tornado was encircled by rain, which lasted for ten minutes. After the rain subsided, a tall, uniform-column shaped tornado was still observed. The tornado roped out and dissipated at 6:55. During the twenty-two minutes the tornado was on the ground, it had moved only 1.5 miles. The tornado damage path extended northeastward and then curved back to the northwest. The tornado had demolished a residence and several oil tanks. The residence was moved westward across a farm road, and the entire floor was deposited in an open field with debris scattering to the northwest. Several oil tanks were damaged and completely covered with mud. Trees in the area were stripped of large branches. Another circulation developed over Pampa and moved eastward at 6:41, as a large cumuliform wall cloud developed. The wall cloud was rotating cyclonically and several small anticyclonic funnels were observed moving north around the periphery of the updraft." At about, this time, and at repeated intervals, Tim drove under and out of the wall cloud's edge, experiencing almost instantaneous wind speed changes from 20 Kts to 60 Kts inflow. Apparently, and along an invisible boundary (as if an extension of the wall to the ground), the strong surface inflow abruptly drew up into the outer edge of the wall, and lighter inflow continued thereafter (at ground level) into the core of the meso-low.

A third tornado developed four miles east of Pampa at 6:53 PM and moved slowly northeastward through a wheat field. The tornado was V-shaped and rapidly widened into a column-shaped vortex. The condensation rapidly dissipated at 6:56, but the circulation continued northeastward and transformed into a wide tornado with three condensated subvortices at 6:58. The subvortices formed on the southern periphery of the circulation and moved around the east side, dissipating on the north side. At 7:02 PM, an anticyclonic funnel developed out of the eastern periphery of the updraft and extended halfway to the ground. At 7:04 PM, a lightning bolt hit a utility pole next to the car.

At the same time, Stirling Colgate of the Los Alamos National Laboratory was approaching this storm from the south, attempting to fly close enough in a Cessna 210 to fire small instrumented/transmitting rockets into the vortex. The objective (thus far thwarted over many attempts) is to record data on pressure, temperature, electrical fields and ionization. What, happened next has been pieced together from several informants. Flying alone at, about 2,000 ft and to within about one mile of the tornado, Stirling fired two rockets (near misses), before he found himself in a critical situation. Unlike close passes at many other storms, he was suddenly caught in a powerful inflow wind that was beginning to pull him backwards, tail first into the tornado, despite his 120 kt forward air speed. Fortunately, he was able to drop to a lower elevation into weaker inflow. Suspecting tail damage from a secondary vortex circling the main one, he managed to land in a field or on a county road. Neither pilot, nor plane suffered structurally, although ST guesses that Stirling will carry that memory for many months to come.

The anticyclonic funnel at 7:02 previously mentioned "moved northward and dissipated a few minutes later. Meanwhile, the large cyclonic vortex completely filled in with condensate and turned westward, becoming encircled with rain. At approximately 7:06, the tornado turned back towards the southeast and struck the Pampa Industrial Park. The tornado levelled the Cudd Pressure Services facility and Halliburton Services facility. The Cudd Pressure Services facility consisted of two buildings: a prefabri- cated metal building and an office building. The Halliburton Services facility consisted of five prefabricated metal buildings. Damage to the Industrial Park exceeded three million dollars. The tornado continued eastward, crossing Rt. 30 six miles east of Pampa and roped out at approximately 7:15. A semi-truck was tipped over on a Department of Public Safety vehicle; no injuries occurred. The tornado lasted 22 minutes, and the path was a clearly defined loop.

At 7:09, a small anticyclonic tornado developed at the intersection of the inflow band and the northeast periphery of the updraft, about eight miles northeast, of Pampa. The tornado was needle shaped and had a small debris cloud at. the point, which lasted only a few minutes. At about this time, the storm began to pick up speed and move east-southeastward, producing a fifth tornado.

At 7:12, a maxi-tornado developed ten miles northeast of Pampaand moved eastward. The tornado struck several farm residences and knocked down power lines. Some residences lost roofs and occasional exterior walls. The tornado appeared as a dark wedge shape, and the damage path averaged a mile in width. The tornado crossed Rt. 60 about 12 miles northeast of pampa and dropped off the Caprock, traveling for several more miles through sparsely populated ranchland. The chase team encountered baseball-size hail, which broke the windshield and damaged the exterior of the vehicle about five miles southeast of Miami, Texas. The tornado then dissipated around 7:40 PM about seven miles south of Miami, after lasting 28 minutes. The storm complex moved eastward, and no more tornadoes were observed with that cell. A flanking line was then observed extending northwest from the storm complex and, at 8:04, produced a small rope-like tornado, which was short lived, about ten miles west-northwest of Miami."

The editor has seen the movies and original slides taken both by Tim Marshall and Roy Britt. These are first class, high contrast pictures and rank among the best one day's collection -if not. the best- that I have ever seen. This was a once-in-a-lifetime storm, and Bob, Bruce, Eric, Jim, Mark, Roy and Tim were there. They share something now that the rest of us can hardly imagine. Fifty years hence, several gray haired little old men will gather around a cracker barrel in a small neighborhood bar, somewhere on the fringes of Lubbock, and recall "the storm of '82," . . . and nobody will believe them!