Day 13, May 27nd 2002

Route: From Great Bend in Kansas to Dickens in Texas
Highlights: A large dustnado and a hesitant wall cloud
Text: Coen Verrijn Stuart

After a long drive from Kansas we see a beautiful dustdevil. Afterwards we chase several storms but they do not have enough power. They become rapidly severe, but dissipate again just as quickly.

We start early again as the severe weather action will likely take place well south of Kansas. Although we are very tired we do not want to miss out on any supercells and we leave Great Bend at 7.40 AM. The last two days we have driven exactly 1360 miles. When we bring back our rented van we will see some amazed faces - like last year.

After two hours we reach Oklahoma and cross some large bridges. It feels strange, as we also have heard of the collapsed bridge on I 40. We have driven across this bridge on numerous occasions. When reaching I 40, we turn west towards Amarillo. In the west, cumulus are already towering around 1 PM, on the dryline and the outflow boundaries of last night's and this morning's storms.

Storms develop quickly which makes our choice difficult. Which one should we aim for? We look at the latest observations and radar images on our laptop and the observations of the schools in Amarillo, which participate in the WeatherBug Classroom Program. They are of great help! We can see the dry line pass on their weather station as the wind veers and the dew point drops. Later on we can see the warnings appear on the WeatherBug.

We drive towards a storm along the dryline and spot a large dustdevil. It is a beautiful sight but we have to hurry. The thunderstorm becomes a supercell for a while. A hesitant wall cloud develops for a while but it dissipates again. Therefore we move ourselves into a position near the highway again. This way we can use our laptop again to look at the latest radar images and see if other storms are available. The best storm is now located east of Lubbock, about 100 miles away. It takes some time to decide but we go after it. If we calculate its track correctly, we can intercept it around 8.15 PM which means there will be another 45 minutes of daylight to spot a tornado.

Around 8 PM we reach the northern edge but the storm has weakened considerably. This means we give up after another long day. As we are in the middle of nowhere, we have to drive another 35 miles to reach the nearest motel in Dickens.