Flight ID:
- 950603I
Flight Track:
Click image for full resolution.
Chief Scientist: Watson/Ziegler Flight Director: Damiano
Doppler Radar: Shepherd Pilots: Kennedy/Tenneson/
Omara
Cloud Physics: --- Data Technician: McMillan
Radiometer: --- Systems Engineer: Barr
Observers: Gibson (REU) Navigator: Strong
Observers: Week (REU)
Observers: Janish, Parker, Murphy
Takeoff Time: 1914 UTC Landing Time: 0208 UTC
Official Mission Duration: 7.1 hrs
Mission Breakdown VORTEX: 7.1 hrs ARM: 0.0 hrs
Number of Data Tapes Used: Radar: 1 Cloud Physics: 0 Video: 3
Data Systems Log
Radar Data System Log Time On(UTC) Time Off(UTC) Comments
Tape #1 1927 Begin TA & LF
0157 Stop recording
Cloud Physics Log Time On(UTC) Time Off(UTC) Comments
1930 0200 Data saved on disk
Tape drive
inoperative
ETL Radiometer Log Time On (UTC) Time Off (UTC) Comments
1900 0210
A marginal wind profile but sufficient CAPEs and an east-west
outflow boundary in the Texas panhandle made supercells a possibility
today.
The ground teams spent the night in Amarillo and performed damage surveys
in the area of Dimmitt and Friona, Texas this morning.
The P-3 and Electra departed OKC at 1914 UTC and headed southwest
for Childress, TX and on to Tulia, TX. The outflow boundary extended
westward along the Red River to Tulia and Friona and northwestward into
northeast New Mexico. The aircraft began an INIT pattern with the P-3
performing stepped traverses between Muleshow and Friona, TX at 2115 UTC.
One main boundary and several smaller boundaries were encountered.
The FC committed on a cell northwest of us near Glenrio, TX at
2148 UTC. We made 8 radar passes as the storm showed some signs of life
with several hooks and tops to 17 km before the FC cancelled operations
on this storm to focus on storms developing near Silverton, TX some
50-60nm east-southeast.
The aircraft spent the greater part of an hour trying to find a way
to fly patterns on this convection. Much of the boundary from Silverton
eastward was filled with convective towers and TCu. We finally settled on
the westernmost cell only to find the ground teams on the next cell
east. We then tried an east-west pattern along the southern flank of this
cell but low clouds and turbulence forced us south.
We departed the area at 0124 UTC, noting 5 principal cells lined
up along the east-west boundary with the easternmost cell on the Oklahoma-
Texas border. We hightailed it back to OKC due to a severe cell near
El Reno with a prominent hook. We landed at 0208 UTC, consuming 7.1 flight
hours; 9.1 hours remain.
Irv Watson