3/24/11 CHASE NEAR LAMESA, TX

I had been eyeing this day for a couple of days and decided to pull the trigger to chase. It wasn't going to be a huge day, but it had potential. I left home about 12pm and targeted Lamesa, TX. I got a text and found out that my buddy David Drummond was just south of Lamesa at a rest stop. I finished lunch (Subway) and headed that direction. We met and shot the bull for about 30 minutes and saw towers going up near Midland. We decided to head that way, but after about 10 minutes on the road, the cells died out quickly. We decided to head back to the rest stop and continue to wait it out. After about 30 minutes or so, towers started forming to our south and southeast. We waited a few minutes and decided to go after them. We went east on 180 and made it into Snyder. We decided to get gas since towns are fairly sparse in the area. We looked at radar and the storm was severe warned. It didn't look too bad visually, but it had a fairly high base. We then decided to go north towards Rotan. We sat about 10 miles West of Rotan and watched the storm for quite a while. We saw plenty of CG's, and actually saw a fire started from the lightning. The storm looked ok but never really got it's act together. As light faded we decided to go into Rotan to see if the storm had dumped any hail in town. As we were looking at the storm to the SE, a farmer came over and started talking to us. He mentioned food and our faces lit up with enthusiasm. Right across the street from where we had parked was a nice little barbecue joint. We went in and were treated to some great sausage and brisket with some pinto beans and sweet tea. After that, we chatted a bit, and then I made the long trek back to Amarillo. All in all, it was a great chase, and I had fun chatting and chasing with David.

PHOTO #1: David Drummond's chase vehicle in foreground near Rotan, TX
PHOTO #2: An old abandoned storm shelter near Rotan, TX
PHOTO #3: Treated to an amazing sunset near Rotan, TX