Today was another successful chase, but not as successful as it could have been, unfortunately. We were unsuccessful in avoiding the morning convection that rolled over us as we stopped for lunch in San Angelo. It was pouring pretty good with a pretty mean-looking shelf cloud barrelling at us. This convection went further south than we thought, and it looked like our morning target of Sonra needed to be changed, so now the plan was to head towards Del Rio all the way by the US-Mexico border.
(Can’t believe the border stopped us from seeing this)
There was a storm that was very strong just on the other side of the border in Mexico that refused to cross over to the US, as it just sat out in the desert. Of course, we find out later that this storm produced a jaw-dropping tornado in Mexico that no one could see, as we were all trapped in the US. It was kind of funny just having to stand basically at the border wall and watch the storm just go crazy in Mexico, but refuse to cross the Rio Grande. So only Mexican storm chasers got lucky today, but the storm was still very neat to watch from afar.
From where we were by the road, we could see the Mexico storm, and it had some crazy greenage going on with a very impressive wall cloud visible right in front of us. It was frustrating to know that on the other side was a tornado, but we had no legal way of seeing it. The storm eventually decided to come into the US and get a tornado warning, but it was very messy compared to how it was in Mexico. The storm became rain-wrapped, and if there was a tornado, it would have been impossible to see. So we decided to leave the area to try to escape the giant line that was forming and advancing eastward. The whole way east, we were being chased by this line and eventually made it to San Antonio for the night, right before the storm hit the city.
Of course, right when we were trying to settle down for the night, the storm hits, and it decides to be funny, so we end up in a tornado warning with rotation heading right for us. So of course, we go downstairs to "take shelter," which apparently there isn't, so the next best course of action is to go stand under the hotel awning and watch, of course. This storm was producing some of the craziest close-up lighting I've ever gotten to see. At one point, we almost got struck by a bolt that had to be no less than 500ft away, right in front of the hotel. It was one of the loudest things I've ever heard. That sent us running back inside for a minute before we went back out cautiously. The rain was so heavy that a flash flood warning went off, too, and we saw the parking lot begin to flood. We still stood outside, however, and continued to watch the lightning even though we were starting to get drenched. The hotel next to us got struck directly twice as we stood and watched, and all cheered and screamed like it was a sports match.
After the storm finally moved east and away from us, we could finally go to bed after a very long day. So today's lesson is sometimes you don't get to decide when you are done chasing because the weather has other plans that often don't consider things like you being tired or hungry.
(Bonus group of soggy students)
prguitarman
gummygunk
turnnoffyourmind
snowghoul
