Severe thunderstorms developed early in the afternoon over the SE Texas Panhandle and were moving toward my “no-chase-zone”. We were playing an area around Amarillo where there were model signals of late afternoon storm development, and a moist easterly flow was in place. Storms did end up forming just northwest of the city when we arrived. A lot of dust was being blown around thanks to strong surface winds, and when combined with haze, storms were hard to see. We did
stop to look toward a storm that was severe warned just north of Amarillo, and became a bit surprised how fast the storm fell apart. With little to keep our attention, we followed a left split for awhile that moved north northeast, but it was evident that sinking air under ridging aloft and behind the initial storms was not going to be overcome. We settled in Dalhart and took the time to photograph some nighttime lightning as it approached from the southwest.