Robin Hamilton writes:

It was a good day. Pretty much exactly as forecast though it was later starting and slow and low (~3200 TOL) getting away from the airport at Wharton, Texas and for the first 20-30 miles. Lift was a little chopped up in the breeze (>20mph at TOL) but the abundant clouds were pretty much always marking something.

Average climb was probably 300fpm and best I saw was 550fpm. Base rose gradually heading north to a high of 5000’ north of Brenham. It was a pretty fast average speed over the ground due to the drift. Always good to at least be making decent distance even if you are not climbing so fast in the chop.

The buoyancy/shear ratio for the day was 2-3 (crappy). It’s still amazing to see what you can get done down on the Gulf coast even with these conditions with some patience. My guess is the common streeting we see down here helps with the buoyancy/shear challenge.

Big thanks to Tiki and Matt who picked me up from Hearne around 185 km out from Wharton.

Also, where were you all yesterday? We now have T-storms rolling in and unsettled pattern for next 7-10 days. Yesterday may have been the last we get for a while, so next time get yourselves out there!

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