A Tornado and a Ghost Town
When I travel, I am usually looking for one of two things. It’s either a storm, or often an abandoned place to explore. Today’s trip took me to the Texas panhandle and the main object was to find a storm to chase.
Along the way, I drove through what looked like a town at first glance. Upon closer examination, most of the town was empty and abandoned. Withering, crumbling buildings were left to succumb to the elements. Some machinery was in the area, but it was unclear if this had recently been abandoned, too, or if it was just being stored here temporarily.
The site was Lesley, Texas, along TX-256. It looked vaguely familiar. Perhaps I had driven through in the past, but until recently, I really didn’t have a strong desire to explore these areas. In any case, since storms were not yet developing, I decided to take a look around.
Lesley developed as a town around the turn of the century in the early 1900s. Like many towns on the plains around that time, it initially grew at a fast pace, only to start declining through the Great Depression.
Once housing several stores, a post office and a school, there were not many people left in the town as the 21st century began. Lesley’s population was reportedly 45 in 2000, but as of early 2021, it’s certainly lower than that.
There wasn’t anything too remarkable about Lesley. A prominent general merchandise store was one of the more eye-catching structures. These stores were common in small towns across Texas and Oklahoma in the early 1900s. Other buildings and homes remained in varying conditions, though most of them were worn and collapsing.
After a quick tour of Lesley, it was time to head west in pursuit of storms. Severe thunderstorms initially developed near I-25, south of Amarillo, before moving east and northeast. The storm chase was challenging as storms approached the Palo Duro Canyon area. I did manage to briefly observe one tornado. Terrain obstacles, challenging road networks, muddy roads and limited cell data (for maps, radar, etc.) made this a difficult storm chase.
The tornado did break a dry streak in my chasing. It seems like I often have these big gaps between tornado sightings. Speaking of that, this was also the furthest west I have seen a tornado in astronomical winter, so there’s that.
