Intense supercell in Southwest Kansas

Storm Chase Details

Chase Date: April 22, 2022
Miles Logged: 1302
States Chased: OK, TX, KS
Highest Wind Encountered: 70MPH
Severe Risks: SPC Outlooks

Chase Recap:

This would easily be the windiest chase I’ve ever been on, I think. We were, at times, less than 3 miles away from a storm and could not see it because of the dust.

Forecast

A day west of I-35. First southern plains chase west of I-35 this year. A highly amplified trough crossing into some decently unstable and moist air in the Texas panhandle. My target was somewhere around Pampa for a storm.

Surface Analysis map from April 22, 2022 at 14z
Surface Analysis map from April 22, 2022 at 14z

Picking up Zack and hitting the road

I headed over and picked up Zack and his gf, and we headed out. We headed out I-40 westbound towards Amarillo. It was a very windy drive, with multiple times being pushed out of my lane.

Moisture continued to look good out west, with dewpoints in the 60s at Amarillo.

Ben Holcomb is a Storm Chaser that lives in Oklahoma. He has observed over 200 tornadoes since 2007 and has appeared on most national and some international television news networks. Ben loves to travel and has been to all 50 states as well as 19 countries and 38 national parks. Ben works as a Linux Engineer.