March 28th, 2007 Texas Panhandle Tornado Outbreak
Last Updated on Monday, 04 January 2010 20:21 Written by Roger Hill
March 28th was a day many storm chasers will never forget. An unusually strong and deep system was crossing the Rocky Mountains with intense lift, deep moisture, incredible shear and good instability headed towards the southern and central high plains. This would set the stage for what would become one of the most prolific tornado days in the high plains ever recorded in March. All in all I caught 8 tornadoes this day with 3 being quite photogenic and quite strong. A total of 65 tornado reports were submitted to SPC. Two different supercells spawned killer tornadoes. I have many still photos and a few video captures of the tornadoes we intercepted below. The first two tornadoes we could not get photos of as they were too far off near Silverton, Texas. We were on a hard intercept course for that supercell and couldn't get there in time to get good photos. Both tornadoes were slender elephant trunk shaped tornadoes. Then a 3rd tornado formed, a multivortex tornado, northeast of Silverton and that is where my first video capture was taken. After that supercell moved northeast, the developing tail in storm became quite a dominating monster. We caught 3 or possibly 4 tornadoes from that storm. Finally, as that cell moved northeast towards Miami, Texas, we could see a lightning lit very large wedge tornado to our distant north. This final tornado derailed a train and did some minor damage.
For a two minute video, please click here. However the file is 22 MB long!! TEXAS TORNADO VIDEO
Enjoy the photos. Click on the thumbnail for a larger image.
Development of the first supercell near Plainsview. I was on I-27 near Amarillo looking south. Within 45 minutes after this is when the first tornado touched down. |
This is the first view of a tornado I could see good enough to video, and of course is s video capture. This WAS a multivortex tornado and is now dissipating. |
Nice structure of this rapidly intensifying tail end supercell. Nice pregnant looking base, rock hard convection and strong downdraft. This is barely in Briscoe county. |
Updraft continues to strengthen. Nice visual vault region here, clear slot and funnel forming signifies what is imminent with this storm. |
Closer shot shows the awesome structure of this supercell. Low and rotating wall cloud, clear slot and circular updraft base are quite impressive. |
Tornado! Condensation funnel rapidly descended from the updraft base. Again, the structure of this storm is breathtaking!! |
Multiple vortex tornado is quite close to me here. I estimate about one quarter of a mile away. At times there were as many as 4 vortices rotating around each other. |
Beautifully structured tornado, wall cloud and low level mesocyclone are seen here. Nice tapered elephant trunk type tornado! |
Tornado moves across the valley in front of me to my northwest and is actually strengthening. Very pretty structure continues to be seen. This continues in Briscoe county. |
This is actually a video capture of the tornado, now with the bottom portion of the condensation funnel lit white by the sun. Absolutely stunning! |
The tornado continues to move north as I just couldn't pack up my camera and camcorder and head north. It was a site to behold! |
First in a sequence of 3 shots of the tornado, all digital stills, as the sun lit the tornado white, with a beautifully contrasted red Texas dirt debris cloud!!! WOW!!! |
Second of 3 shots as the tornado was quite beautiful here. Note the banded, rotating wall cloud! |
What more can be said of this stunning sight! It just doesn't get much more photogenic than this! |
Video capture as I drove north towards the tornado. It became quite a strong stovepipe shaped tornado here. |
This video capture was taken about 5 minutes after the last one. This is probably where the tornado was the strongest. It is still in Briscoe county. |
Another video capture as the tornado ropes out as it approaches Hall county.
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Heading east on 287, we almost met our fate. The supercell was cyclic and another tornado touched down. This is looking southeast and we were headed east driving through baseball sized hail! |
Photo courtesy of Cathy Murphy. Looking out the window as we came precariously close to the tornado. We got blasted with 60-80 MPH winds moments after this was taken. We were within 200 yards of this beast! |
The next tornado forms as the one in the previous photo dissipated. Notice the beautiful structure of this supercell, as it starts to take on an HP look.
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Tornado is starting to be obscured in this video capture. Moments after this it turned into a nice cone tornado and wrapped in rain and hail. |
The supercell is producing a large wedge tornado here, but we can't get to it. Look at the vault region here lit by lightning and the updraft base! |
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