Day 6 - Back to the Lone Star State…and a Tornado Emergency..!

After yesterday’s fun we have a slightly later start after a decent night’s sleep. Alex voted with his feet and insisted on his own room (he owes me), the Super 8 in Liberal was not as modern as some hotels but was a bit cheaper…”Super 8” = “Super rate”. Didn’t realise that for years. 

Breakfast was at the Pancake House which is on East Pancake Boulevard. Which came first the southern fried chicken or the over easy egg? I had Canadian bacon, expecting UK style back bacon. Instead it came as thick round slices. Tasted good overall and the service was great and funny too. As good as I remember from my last visit in 2019. We give Dorothy’s House a miss…

Today we’re back into Texas. This morning the SPC upgraded the slight risk to enhanced, and the nader risk to 5%. That’s the 6th day of severe weather on the bounce with more to come. By day 9 we could be up in South Dakota facing a long drive back on day 10. We head south on good ‘ol US83 towards Perryton where me and Rory stayed last year; sadly a week later a tornado came to town and killed three people. 

A long drive south with a quick Subway stop in Amarillo, past Plainview on I27 and onward towards Lubbock. It’s just gone 15:00. At Lubbock we head south west on US62 toward Seminole and stop in Brownfield for a pit stop and a reassessment of the weather. Donald J Trump is found guilty on all 34 charges of falsifying business records; no doubt that will further polarise US politics if that is even possible. Our vehicle has New York plates so we keep a low profile. We drop south east on Highway 137 towards Welch with Big Spring on our sights. It’s 16:30. 

The severe storm to our south has just gone tornado warned at 17:05. 17:18 echo tops showing it’s height at 63,000 and a tornado is on the ground! We’re not far away. A 126 knot couplet shows up on radar.

Jesus…a Tornado Emergency has been declared with Midland somewhere near its path. That’s the most serious thing I’ve been involved in all my years of chasing: damage threat CATASTROPHIC with four inch hail.

We continue south east past Big Spring. Everyone has gone quiet, conscious of what might be happening in Midland. We drop down south on farm road 33. At 18:00 the current tornado warning expires and a new one is issued. We turn right on to farm road 2401. Echo top is showing our storm at 64,000 feet. Huge. At 18:45 a tornado warning reappears with a tornado confirmed, we’re in good position.

We continue down farm road 2401 and onto 3035. The structure is amazing, a huge corkscrewing updraft. Somewhere in there is a tornado, rain wrapped from our position. We’re in the routine now: stop, photos, get out of the precep (don’t get smacked on the head by half inch hail Alex), jump in the Suburban, spread mud everywhere, move on, repeat. We stop at several places, go south on farm road 2401, then east. then south on Texas 349 eventually reaching Rankin where the sun is lighting up the decaying storm. 

We stop at Rankin for grab and go at Allsup’s. There’s a whole pile of beige stuff, who knows what it is…we get a sandwich. Alex insists we get 12 bottles of Shiner Bock for our hotel in San Angelo which is an hour and a half away. It’s currently 20:20. 

We arrive at the Hawthorne Suites, check in and have an impromptu lobby party with beers all round. Somehow Alex is in his own room again and looks suitably smug. My cash card works today, just as well really…

Tomorrow we have to be in the Surburban at 7 a.m. for a loooong journey to Colorado. Magic day.

Total miles: 610