March 31st Storms & RACES Activation

Though thunderstorms, possibly severe, were forecast they were predicted to move into the area in late afternoon. Instead, by 2:00pm storms were developing SW of Fort Worth and a tornado watch was issued about 2:30pm. I have NBC 5 Online's (free download from http://www.nbc5i.com/weather ) weather alert program on my computer. When a Severe Weather alert is issued by the NWS, it beeps and shows the area warnings, among other things. I noted that Tarrant County had been placed under a Tornado watch. I then went to http://www.weatherunderground.com to check local and nexrad radar. It already showed strong storms along with a Tornado Vortex Signature in Johnson County, SW of Tarrant County. I turned on my ham radio just in time to hear the RACES activation alert at 2:30. I called Ben Patterson at the EOC to see if it was being activated and got ready to go. The EOC has been undergoing expansion and renovations for most of the past year and the Radio Room at the EOC Radio Room has not been accessible and thus not operable since last June. Fortunate that we had a bunch of early springs storms and it quieted down after that. and has not been open during recent events - at least those occurring after office hours. About 10 minutes later he called back and I went in. I live close so it's only a 5 or 6 minute trip.. The new EOC is a sight & site to behold, but the new updated Radio Room ... well according to various sources they forgot to order the necessary cable to wire, or they forgot they had to put it out for bids, or it was left until everything else was in place, which it certainly appears to be, Whatever is going on appears to be a sore point for everyone involved. I'm staying out of it. So instead of the new Radio Room that I expected to find, instead Dave and I were given cubicles 20 feet outside the EOC, Dave on a ToGo kit with the antenna leaning against the window overlooking a court yard, and me a couple of cubicles away trying to get the online Event Log to load, then get my password to work, then try to remember from last July or August how it works. Dave was using a headset to monitor the RACES reports. I only had my handheld and was pretty much getting only static. Even when he unplugged his headset, I still couldn't hear well enough 2 cubicles away to do my job, and I don't think anyone was even watching to begin with. Last year it was projected onto a screen for everyone in the Command Room to view. I didn't see it projected anywhere at all this time. This was a serious event, at least for locations SW of us, when a wall cloud dropped around 1515 from the rain-free base and quickly spawned a small tornado, thankfully lasting only briefly and doing little damage in the community of Godley. A couple of RACES members had been reporting critical info and News choppers from at least 2 local stations were broadcasting live from a safe distance. The new large screens in the EOC includes broadcasts from all 4 major local channels, as well as radar and other weather information. With everyone watching TV news, and Dave calling into the other room every so often with critical information, I felt totally extraneous and wonder if they are even going to continue the Event Log process. The storm itself moved rapidly west to east along the Tarrant/Johnson County line, across Burleson & Mansfield, and rapidly losing strength and size. Another cell along a line stretching from south of Burleson up into Denton County. The northern cell moved across Denton and Collin County, also producing a rotating wall cloud and dropping some nickle-size hail, but also quickly died. Weather reports later in the evening suggested they out ran the dry line.

The DFW area has a fascinating micro climate which causes the majority of storms (including those with potential ice and snow) coming in from the SW to NW to diverge and cross the area a few miles north or south of the main I-30 corridor, or to quickly fall apart at the western Tarrant County line. Not always, but often enough that it's pretty typical. On the other hand, a storm that does punch through and travel down I-30 is usually going to be a bad one.

I was out walking my dog at 6:30 this morning when the front blew in with gusts up to maybe 25, and temps that dropped noticeably in just that 10 minutes with temps predicted to stay in the mid-60's today and tomorrow, and a chance of thunderstorms Wednesday and Thursday, when it's supposed to get back up into the 80's. It's a Texas spring and anything can happen.

I was going to mail my app to Tarrant County RACES yesterday, but got out of the EOC too late to check the weight before dropping in to the mail box. Doing so today.