STORM TRACK: November 30, 1985 (Volume 9 Issue 1)

"'Just missed Dave Hoadley," said the forecaster at the Abilene Weather Service, as I arrived at, 1:00 PM.' Ah, I must be on the right scent, I said to myself. Indeed, first echoes were just appearing on radar. Thunderstorms began forming early in the day along a weak cold front boundary, which extended from south of Lubbock to Wichita Falls. I drove northwestward toward three isolated Cb's. "Which one to choose?' I picked the Cb furthest south, since it was closer to the upper trough and surface dryline. Really, it was a guess (also, made by the Editor). Enroute to the target storm, the other two Cb's dissipated.

I arrived in Jayton at 3:00 PM, with a line of heavy rain to my north. A large tower and rain free base (RFB) loomed on the western horizon. I moved for position and stopped 8 miles north of Clairemont,. Scud moved southward from the rain area and ascended, becoming attached to the RFB and actually forming the wall cloud (I've seen this on several occasions). Frequent positive lightning bolts stemmed from the RFB overhead. A few cloud-to-ground bolts extended from the anvil. The wall cloud soon became shrouded by a thin veil of precipitation. I figured Lubbock radar might be showing a hook echo now. No sooner ...a tornado warning was issued! A large funnel emerged from the wall cloud about 3:20 PM, lasting about 25 minutes, smooth and tapered toward the ground. The RFB grew smaller and dissipated. No clear slot was observed.

Meanwhile, another updraft developed about 30 miles to the west. The entire storm was backbuilding." (Editor - The pattern seemed to be for a lowering to develop along the generally flat southern base of one cell, only to shortly be wiped out by the outflow from another, adjacent cell just to the east. This pattern repeated itself westward, and Tim psyched it out correctly, and early. Thus, he preceded me by about 10 minutes on his way to Tahoka.) "I raced westward on Rt 380 through Post, and drove up on the Caprock at 5:00 PM. A line of towering cumulus was growing along the cold outflow boundary, surging southward. I moved into position under the RFB.

But, before I could stop at a good film site, a dust whirl formed just south of my location at 5:25 PM. The tornado had a single-cell circulation, was about 50 yards wide, and traveled south for three miles across newly planted farm fields. A dense dust bowl was observed in contact with the ground for 9 minutes. At times, the bottom of the dust, bowl appeared V-shaped, as the surface-based inflow organized. Dust filled the circulation, and a tube extended upward to a small funnel at cloud base. With time, the dust tube stretched and tilted northward, as the bottom portion of the tornado was pushed south. A second, wider tornado developed almost simultaneously to the east" (Both also photographed by the Editor from 8-10 miles further east). "The circulation at the ground was disorganised and, at times, appeared to be multi-vortex with three dust, tubes in ground contact. This dusty vortex was about 100 yards wide but varied considerably in width. The second tornado traversed plowed fields for s& miles, lasting 17 minutes" (The Texas Tech team also may have seen one of these "six miles south of Tahoka ...even though it only lasted 30 seconds.").