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February
24, 2001: A Punching We Will Go... Towering
clouds gather across the western sky about 10:45 AM and rain curtains merge
underneath. They rush overhead in a
brief but powerful squall line of smashing rains while the sun is shining.
Thousands upon thousands of huge raindrops shimmer like diamonds in the sunlight
upon black sky. Winds gust to 55 MPH locally, blowing the rain in horizontal
sheets, but only a couple rumbles of thunder resound.
I
figure that since it is still rather early,
the storms should intensify as they move east. So I grab my gear and give
chase, doing my best to outrun the 50 MPH speeds that radar has clocked this
storm at. After
about 45 minutes, I outrun the rain, and sun- washed golden sky lies before me
to my east. Between
me and the gold lies a sea of black
seething clouds- but not any more intense than what happened at my home. About 15 miles later, I finally punch through into sunshine
and stunning mountains of pearly cumulus towers currently building into
thunderheads. My return to the warm
humid air reveals itself as all the windows of my car suddenly steam up.
The air is buoyant and soft, and an apparent thunderstorm just hit, as
pools of water lie in the highway. A
truly delightful atmosphere, but moving away too quickly for anything to set up
well. Realizing that it may be all
the way into Louisiana or Arkansas before things got real profound, I decide to
find a country road and watch the storm line pass through once again. Lots
of rain and wind, but no lightning. Then
I return home. The
lack of lightning is disappointing, but all in all it is worth the trip, just
for the experience of punching through ahead of the fast moving storms then
watching them come though once again. I
later find out that a few buildings lost their roofs to down burst winds in the
Dallas suburbs of Carrollton and Plano during our morning squall line. |
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