I made my way out the door and headed up to near Channing, TX to intercept it. I made it to Channing and immediately noticed a well defined wall cloud. I went north of town and met Shel Winkley who is a Meteorologist with the station I chase for. This was actually the first time to meet him, so it was as good a place as any I suppose. We talked and I noticed a dirt whirl under the wall cloud. Shel did a phoner with John Harris and I stuck around taking photos.
I then went north and was wanting to take hwy 722 that split off of 385. It was a close call because the wall cloud was just west of 385. As I got to the split I noticed a large dirt whirl forming just to my west about a quarter to a half mile away. I turned and looked through my back window and noticed that the dirt whirl was about 200-300 yards wide. I never did see a condensation funnel, but I knew it was a tornado.
I was a little on edge because the tornado was pretty close. I didn't get any photos because I was out of position and I wasn't safe where I was. Anyway, I went east and then south to a safer position. I never did see the dirt whirl after I stopped. Maybe it dissipated or got rain wrapped, I just don't know. I then went back to town to cover the storms on the west side of town. As I got about 3 miles west of town I got blasted by 70-80 mph straight line winds. Dave Oliver, the chief for Newschannel10 was in the area also. Myself and Dave tag teamed doing phoners with John and we had very good coverage of the storms. I followed the storms near Pampa and got some damaged power poles south of Pampa.
I know we kicked every other stations tail, especially KAMR, but that's another story entirely. Here are some photos from the day.
PHOTO #1 WALL CLOUD AS I MAKE MY WAY INTO CHANNING, TX
PHOTO#2 WALL CLOUD ABOUT 15 MINUTES BEFORE PRODUCING A DUSTY TORNADO
PHOTO #3 DAMAGED POWER POLES FROM STRAIGHT LINE WINDS SOUTH OF PAMPA, TX
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