STORM TRACK: July 31, 1987 (Volume 10 Issue 5)

I still haven't recovered from this year's tornado drought. Although, there were plenty of storms to sample, they just couldn't hold together. Sure, I expected some chases to end with a hundred mile long shelf cloud on the horizon. Those days primarily occurred on high risk events! But, I saw over a dozen rotating supercells this year which didn't produce even a dust whirl. I even screamed at one prospective storm "I'll take a shear funnel, anything!" The problem shared on many days was the lack of mid-level wind flow and shear. Many storms literally drowned in their own moisture as weak mid-level winds could not push the precipitation out to the northeast. Not much dry air intrusion into the storms was allowed. So, it's wait until next year. Now comes HURRICANE SEASON!

Here's my brief chase season roundup so far! On March 22nd, Phil and I saw an isolated supercell northeast of Canadian, TX (what a town)! We watched the storm through sunset. Naturally, the storm went on to produce a few tornadoes near Shattuck, OK that evening. This was the only day of the year with plenty of wind shear around. The first towers on the dryline were tilted about 70 degrees from the vertical leaning east. When the storm erupted, it took a few hours before a highly sheared flanking line evolved into a single, vertical updraft. We took a lot of pictures of this transition. April was dry, literally. No rain fell here in Lewisville.

In May, we chased from the 20th to the 28th. We saw a high based hailer near Hobart, OK on the 20th, and a pitifully looking Cb near Sherman, TX on the 21st. Three severe storms were sampled on the 22nd. from Graham to Abilene, TX. As you all have heard by now, the most severe storm was at the end of the line at Saragosa. The highlight of our season was on Memorial Day, when we saw four supercells near Happy, Tx, and two funnel clouds. The next day, isolated storms exploded again along the dryline; we picked a hailer near Midland, Tx. On the 27th, a severe storm blew up near Rotan, Tx. The next day, supposedly progged as a major outbreak day by some, yielded a large shelf cloud which nearly extended across the state of Texas. Tired and frustrated, we headed back to Dallas. The next day, an elephant-trunk tornado skirted west Lubbock. It figures. The last chase revealed was a deadly storm near Knox City, Tx on June 19th. The storm formed along a boundary and produced an ominous wall cloud and frequent cloud to ground lightning. Lightning was vivid, and too close. One bolt hit open field right next to my car; a blinding flash and deafening crack sound -all on video. One women was injured in her car in Knox City.

As you can see, this issue of ST has a cover. Other improvements include half-toned photographs with a picture of the bi-month on the cover. How do you like it? Please send me a (yes or no) note how you like it. If most approve, this will be the new look. Otherwise, ST will remain the old fold-up version. The new subscription price would be $7.00 per year to cover added printing and mailing costs, Printing would be 78 cents and mailing 39 cents per issue. ST is non-profit.