Spring’s First Chase

Courtesy Pivotal Weather

It took until the final day of April, but there’s finally a worthwhile chase setup in the Plains. This week has been on my radar for a while, but as I’ve learned to do with time is to not get overly distracted by details too far in advance. Even as recently as last night I was leaning toward choosing a target in western Kansas, but it seems fitting that today’s chase will likely bring me back to the Texas panhandle.

A dryline draped across the southern High Plains will be the focus for thunderstorm development by mid to late afternoon. Moisture is surging northward as increasing wind support from the upper levels should support supercells. The early part of storm evolution may feature large hail and towering updrafts, but a modest tornado threat could be realized by 7-9 p.m. in the eastern portion of the Texas panhandle.

Whether or not there is a tornado to be chased is not of much importance, as simply the fact that I will be getting out there at least once this April to chase is encouraging. Since I started warm season storm chasing in the Plains in 2014, the season has always started in April. Even if the chase seasons were otherwise slow, a few chases in late April were routine. This April was fairly unusual, with very little thunderstorm activity in the southern Plains. Oklahoma saw their longest start to a year without a tornado and overall, tornado counts in the U.S. have been running well below average.

It all changes this week, as a string of severe weather setups will result in at least three and possibly four consecutive days of bonafide storm chasing in the Plains. I’m not overly concerned about what will happen 24-48 hours from now. Instead, the focus is on here, on now and on today. Today kicks off the season and what may be a noteworthy stretch of storm chases. There are few better places for this journey to begin than in the Texas panhandle.

Until the next blog, keep an eye on the skies.