June 2, 1995
Vortex NCAR Aircraft Mission #13
Takeoff time - 2020 UTC
Landing Time - 0251 UTC
Flight Track:
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Summary:
Supercells were forecast for the New Mexico/Texas Panhandle border. The
Electra flew west over Cordell at 12,000' for a radar calibration. There
was a slight northern deviation in the flight path to avoid a storm over
Shamrock. Subsequently, the Electra turned to the southwest over Amarillo
before heading toward Clovis, New Mexico. Storms were already in the
formative stages in this area. At 2149 UTC, the Electra started a descent
to a target storm the ultimately produced the Friona tornado. Approximate
north-south racetrack patterns were flown on the storm. Turbulence
encountered by the Electra restricted the distance from the storm to
approximately 20-25 km.
Even though there were reports of possible tornadogenesis with the Dimmitt
storm, the Electra stayed with the Friona tornado until 0034 UTC. Several
passes by the Dimmitt tornado were executed before operations were
terminated at 0150 UTC. Neither tornado could be seen by the crew due to
poor visibility. The tornado track could be clearly seen by everyone on
the Electra during one of the passes over Dimmitt. This was categorized as
the roughest flight during VORTEX.
Roger Wakimoto
