Storm Chase 5-08-09 Near Brownwood, TX

After driving from San Antonio to NW of Fort Worth, TX on the 8th of May, and seeing absolutely nothing but smoky and hazy skies, we were getting depressed. Then, looking at a visible satellite image at around 4:30, we started feeling much better!

Despite this area, to the SW of Fort Worth not being mentioned as a potential severe storm area for Friday afternoon on May 8th, it turned out to be quite entertaining, weather wise. We chased one storm near Ranger, TX and then caught the back side of a huge supercell that hit Brownwood, TX.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Storm chasing 2009
• Brownwood storm
• meteorology
• severe storm near Brownwood TX
• Texas Storm Chasing

[mlphotovideo]

I heard about the larger hail reports.

[TF8553]

I was chasing this storm around the lake area and was on FM 2273 when the a funnel cloud passed over andthe gust front hit me, I wish I had a video camera with me. This storm had the biggest anvil I've ever seen.

[mjpeisker]

on campus, yes, but just a mile away there was larger hail

[pedroesteban86]

matt....it was pea sized hail, cmon now.

[mjpeisker]

I was in my dorm at Howard Payne University when this same storm hit. It sat on top of us for at least an hour. There were very strong winds (probably at least 70-80 mph gusts), golf ball size hail, and torrential downpours that reduced visibility to less than 100 yards. We stayed indoors for sure, with the tornado sirens blaring for more than 20 minutes and constant lightning. Before the worst of the storm hit, we did venture out and spot rotation. A tornado was reported 12 miles SW of town.