I chased, but not a lot to report. I thought of making a commitment to going up toward Ardmore, etc but after looking at data this morning it seems like Ft Worth seemed doable, along with Corsicana, and possibly even Stephenville and Waco based on forecast soundings (RUC and NAM). Still I goofed around rather than just boogeying up north and didn't leave until 2:30. My own fault, and already cells that I had expected had been forming while I was loading my vehicle. (Yep, the vehicle wasn't set up either cause I had been having repairs on it lately).

Anyway, I shot up north to Waco, and made good time. Stopped on the north side of town and tried to decide on the storm up toward Hillsboro and south of Ft Worth which was currently showing decent rotation, or going west to the newly strong cell which currently had a tornado warning on it out toward San Saba.

I analyzed a bit, and decided to shoot west all the way to Gatesville, then caught a south road toward Copperas Cove. The storm seemed to be strengthening for awhile and rotation improved on SRM. It was a close call timing wise making it to Copperas Cove. It appeared according to Mobile Threatnet and other SRM radar that I would arrive there, or almost there about the same time as the now indicated TVS would. I might mention there were not many roads around here because Ft Hood was nearby to my east and also some lakes around. So basically I didn't have much of an option if there was a problem. I just decided to punch the core and take my chances. The rain turned into a torrential downpour after a while with drops that were 2 or 3 inches at least. I thought I was about to get hammered by big hail, and wondered...perhaps I should have turned around. Anyway, I broke out. I came into the clear. Off to the west I could see a rain foot in the downdraft area next to the inflow area, and there was a large rainfree base extending to the west. There were a few very slight lowerings, and appeared a weak funnel shape for awhile with only weak motion (not really rotation). Then the thing just started dissipating!  Basically it just evaporated in the next 20 minutes or so. I believe the cell to it's south blocked the inflow and got absorbed and my storm didn't like that. It briefly reformed another small storm / shower behind it's wake that started to grow and then it died out too. Looking at mesoanalysis I couldn't quite make out why but did see some cinh over the area. Also the cells had moved east of an axis favoring Craven Sig Severe, supercell, and torns. I'm thinking perhaps also the sfc low moved further north east and the mid level lows forcing must have gone too far north at that point. I'll welcome any suggestions.

Ran into a local chaser dude named Eric Dooley from Pflugerville. He was nice enough.

It was an ok chase. Partly I got what I asked for and that was a local chase. Had I left when I intended I would have seen the Ft Worth or Dallas cells. Still, it was a bit of a thrill trying to race the Tvs to Copperas Cove in the intense precip core.

Tornado Extreme Storm Chase