While we have no NWS proximity soundings sampling the air that would ultimately feed this storm, a sounding was released near Calvert, Texas (just east of Temple) as part of the Texas A&M Convection and Lightning Experiment. The sounding, shown below, was taken just before 3 PM (Wilhelmson and Houston, 2007).
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Sounding released near Calvert, Texas at 1945 UTC (2:45 PM) as part of the Texas A&M Convection and Lightning Experiment (left). The modified sounding utilizing surface temperature and dewpoint at 2100 UTC (4 PM) is shown on the right. Image from Houston and Wilhelmson, 2007.
The left panel shows the original sounding, which reveals Convective Available Potential Energy (CAPE) of nearly 5000 J/kg, with just a hint of lingering Convective Inhibition. If this weren’t impressive enough, the same sounding, but modified based on surface conditions a few hours later showed CAPE had increased further to over 6,500 J/kg with no lingering inhibition for surface-based parcels. These are among the more impressive soundings--from a thermodynamic standpoint--you’ll come across. While a bit less representative, modifying the morning sounding from Fort Worth also yields a similarly extreme thermodynamic parameter space:
