Hays, Kansas 27 May 2012
Seymour, TX 28 May 2012
Kingfisher, OK 29 May 2012
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
The Science Speaks
So today we had our official May 25th tornado track update from Josh and Karen. They analyzed radar data, lat/lon coordinates, Scout 1 mesonet data, the house damage and more to establish the "real story" of last Friday night. We all had our own versions; how we saw that night in our minds as we remembered it. As with any eyewitness testimonies, we all had certain aspects of the event that were truth and some that may have seemed differently than they really were that night. Adrenaline and shock play a huge role in the way we recall traumatic experience. I am proud to say that my memory actually passed this test fairly well. So here's the scientific story...
Scout 1 got hit twice by the tornado believe it or not. In my post I mentioned two periods of really high winds that our vehicle took on. The first go around, we received 70mph winds from the developing tornado on the strong southern edge. The tornado then dissipated a bit, jogged back west, and we moved up the road farther North. When we were about 230m from DOW8, at the intersection where the house was, the tornado redeveloped and headed due east...right at us. We received a direct hit with cross winds out of the west at around 100mph. The tornado then headed up the road due north before jogging east one more time at the intersection. DOW8 received winds from the weak side of the tornado, but at its peak intensity. Pretty crazy stuff.
Once again, I am updating from the car fighting very spotty internet connection so unfortunately this post won't have any more pictures. I'll try to add some tonight since we will be staying in Amarillo (a big city with wifi!) Two days ago we chased in Texas and got caught in some gnarly outflow. There were 40mph winds and blowing dust that limited visibility to zero in some places. The sky was that green color you always hear about on television and movies. There was some fairly large hail too. In fact, the last couple of days we might as well have been hail chasing rather than tornado chasing. Yesterday, Ronan left to go on to his next job. I had a bit of a sad day because he was the one person I felt the closest to on this trip (a big part of that being the experience we had Friday night). But the chase goes on. Yesterday we were in Oklahoma, which is quickly becoming my least favorite state to chase in. We had the most beautiful and "perfect/textbook" supercell yet but the cell phone and therefore internet coverage is really spotty and there is always this major chaser convergence! It is impossible to drive anywhere because of the chaser traffic. But we did get to see a brief rain & hail wrapped tornado. Unfortunately we couldn't deploy because we were a bit too far away but it was still pretty awesome! Then on our drive home, the supercells morphed into an MCS bow and we got caught in some large hail. There were a few tennis balls falling. Somehow we escaped without any damage to our instruments or vehicles. The driving was rough though because we were on the interstate and there were major traffic jams as people tried to stop under the overpasses. So dangerous.
Today, something went majorly wrong in the models and storms initiated well southwest of where most people forecasted, including the Storm Predicton Center. The next few days look bleak as well, soooo....I'm cringing as I write this....back to Boulder??
Scout 1 got hit twice by the tornado believe it or not. In my post I mentioned two periods of really high winds that our vehicle took on. The first go around, we received 70mph winds from the developing tornado on the strong southern edge. The tornado then dissipated a bit, jogged back west, and we moved up the road farther North. When we were about 230m from DOW8, at the intersection where the house was, the tornado redeveloped and headed due east...right at us. We received a direct hit with cross winds out of the west at around 100mph. The tornado then headed up the road due north before jogging east one more time at the intersection. DOW8 received winds from the weak side of the tornado, but at its peak intensity. Pretty crazy stuff.
Once again, I am updating from the car fighting very spotty internet connection so unfortunately this post won't have any more pictures. I'll try to add some tonight since we will be staying in Amarillo (a big city with wifi!) Two days ago we chased in Texas and got caught in some gnarly outflow. There were 40mph winds and blowing dust that limited visibility to zero in some places. The sky was that green color you always hear about on television and movies. There was some fairly large hail too. In fact, the last couple of days we might as well have been hail chasing rather than tornado chasing. Yesterday, Ronan left to go on to his next job. I had a bit of a sad day because he was the one person I felt the closest to on this trip (a big part of that being the experience we had Friday night). But the chase goes on. Yesterday we were in Oklahoma, which is quickly becoming my least favorite state to chase in. We had the most beautiful and "perfect/textbook" supercell yet but the cell phone and therefore internet coverage is really spotty and there is always this major chaser convergence! It is impossible to drive anywhere because of the chaser traffic. But we did get to see a brief rain & hail wrapped tornado. Unfortunately we couldn't deploy because we were a bit too far away but it was still pretty awesome! Then on our drive home, the supercells morphed into an MCS bow and we got caught in some large hail. There were a few tennis balls falling. Somehow we escaped without any damage to our instruments or vehicles. The driving was rough though because we were on the interstate and there were major traffic jams as people tried to stop under the overpasses. So dangerous.
Today, something went majorly wrong in the models and storms initiated well southwest of where most people forecasted, including the Storm Predicton Center. The next few days look bleak as well, soooo....I'm cringing as I write this....back to Boulder??
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Update on Pat
So our team found out today that Pat will be okay. She has a broken collar bone and no memory of that night but she will live. We also found out that happened to her home. It didn't break apart right away as it looked to us. Instead, it was picked up by the tornado and dropped 50 feet away from the foundation. It then collapsed around her. It is an absolute miracle that she survived.
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Humbling Night
Well as anyone on Facebook probably saw, last night was absolutely the single most terrifying and humbling night of my life. Josh has confirmed that the vehicle I was in, Scout 1, received a direct hit by the outer circulation of the strong side of an EF2 tornado. We were chasing in central Kansas surrounded by three supercells with tornado-producing wall clouds. It was like rolling a dice decided which one to go after. From any one vantage point we could usually see at least two of the wall clouds; and the velocity signatures on radar were blowing up. We let the first warned cell go by, but the second one we almost immediately had a visual on a rope-like tornado near Walker, KS. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwOUnkb5iQg&feature=youtu.be It was very close to us; in fact the upper circulation was directly over our heads so it was a race to get ahead of it in order to deploy pods. But before we could, the casing for our temperature/relative humidity sensor on the mesonet fell off and another vehicle, M2, ran it over! Josh jumped out of DOW7 and came into our Scout and directed us along a road until, unfortunately the tornado dissipated.
But like I said, we were seeing tons of rotation all around us, so even though it was getting dark we got ourselves positioned for the next rotating updraft. DOW8 was sent north along the road to get a good scan of the developing tornado while Scout 1 followed closely behind, by about a 1/4-1/3 mile. By this time, it was pitch black except for the lightning and we knew we had a tornado on the ground but communication fell through and we couldn't get any azimuth or lat/lon of the circulation from the DOWs. So we are sitting on this road trying to watch for the tornado in the lightning and then we look up and see TIV (tornado intercept vehicle) and Sean Casey maybe a few yards in front of us between us and DOW8. We got struck by a big gust and the truck rocked a bit but then it got very quiet and still. So Josh told Karen the tornado had crossed the road in front of us but she kept yelling back into the mic "NO NO NO It has not crossed the road yet, 0.5km away from your position!" Next thing I know, my ears erupted. It was so painful to feel that pressure change and my heart dropped into my stomach because I knew what that sudden change must have meant. And then the wind came out of nowhere and shoved us. We could see the circulation on the ground in our headlights and our truck started turning to the side. Ronan, being the a very skilled driver (drove TIV and a production vehicle for ice road truckers) put the car in reverse and steered our back into the strongest wind so we didn't skid any further. But when it was over, we had been spun a bit and he had reversed more than 90 degrees. Our mesonet only read 100mph but I believe it was a bit higher than that. We then looked up and saw a house beyond DOW8 explode. Completely explode. Debris was everywhere and you could see the condensation funnel on the ground in our headlights. We jumped out as soon as it stopped and I started to run up the road to take pictures, but then realized there was debris falling from the sky all around me. So I ran back to Scout1 and did my best to hover under the side view mirror. We heard yelling on the radio that DOW8 had been hit as well and had a broken window! But once we had confirmation that they were okay, we drove up towards the house and discovered there was literally nothing left, not one wall was standing. We later found out it was a modular home that had no been strapped to the foundation. It had been picked up by the tornado and tossed more than 50feet, where it tumbled back to the Earth and shattered.
It was as though someone had hit the slow motion button on a remote up until that point; and then suddenly we were thrust into fast forward and what really took over an hour, seemed like seconds. I yelled to Josh that I saw a car in the driveway and someone might be home; so I grabbed my phone to call 911 and Ronan and Josh ran towards the debris calling out for anyone. Before I could finish dialing I heard yelling from the neighbor across the street. I ran over to her and she told me her elderly neighbor Pat was on the porch right before it struck. I rushed across the street to relay this to Ronan and Josh. Ronan was the first to hear moaning and was able to pick his way through the rubble towards the woman, who by some miracle was laying on top of the pile, barely buried with a few bad gashes but awake and somewhat responsive. By then, a couple of sherrif's deputies pulled up and asked me if I lived here. I said no but told them someone was injured in the house and where she was. They asked me to find a flashlight so I ran back across the street to the hysterical neighbor and managed to calm her down enough to find me a flashlight from her home. She kept screaming asking me over and over if her neighbor was alive. I told her she was and that the best way to help would be to calm down and to find a flashlight for the paramedics. I could hear her children frightened in the basement. She got me a flashlight and I ran back across the street, remembering just feet from downed power lines to watch where I was going closely. There was glass and nails and wood everywhere as far as you looked. By this time our team paramedic was with the woman and a local firefighter. I picked my way through the debris, cutting and scratching my legs a bit, and held my phone and flashlight over the firefighter's shoulder who was holding the woman's neck steady. Our medic Eddie was asking the woman all kinds of questions, her name, age, who was president, what year it was, her address, did she know what happened... She knew her address and other than that could only tell us tornado over and over again. She was definitely in shock. To make matters worse, it started pouring. I took off my jacket to hold over the poor lady who was covered in blood, insulation and drywall dust. Ronan gave me his jacket but I was soaked from head to toe by this point anyway. Once the ambulance arrived, I was sent by the paramedics to get blankets from the ambulance to keep the woman dry and I once again picked my way through debris.
Once she was in the ambulance and we got back to our vehicle, that's when it all hit me. I felt extremely overwhelmed. Tornadoes, to me, are the most beautiful things on the planet. But in that second where I was standing over this woman in the pouring rain holding a small pinpoint flashlight, smelling natural gas, shaking from the cold and rain, I looked down and realized that I was standing on a small Christmas trinket tin from Pat's house...I hated tornadoes. We kept chasing immediately after the rescue, like nothing had happened. But I was completely humbled. I still don't even have a grasp on all the emotions that went through me last night. I stayed up until nearly 5am talking to Ronan and Herb, one of the DOW engineers, about the stress and shock of a situation like that. You see damage photos on the news but you can't (I never did) possibly understand the human emotion of being caught in something like that. It's completely indescribable. Today we are chasing in northeast Nebraska and tomorrow, our target city is none other than Russell, Kansas again. I have mixed feelings about this because I don't want these poor people to be put through this again so soon but I want to possibly go back to the lady's house and talk with her neighbors, maybe bring her flowers.
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/news/display_cmsstory.php?wfo=ict&storyid=83526&source=0
***We found out later that Pat was stabilized at Russell Medical Center and then transported to Hays Hospital where they discovered several broken bones, including her back, neck, clavicle, and chest plate.
Walker, KS Tornado from the dash of Scout 2
Lowering wall cloud
Funnel! Walker, KS tornado
Damage from Russell tornado
But like I said, we were seeing tons of rotation all around us, so even though it was getting dark we got ourselves positioned for the next rotating updraft. DOW8 was sent north along the road to get a good scan of the developing tornado while Scout 1 followed closely behind, by about a 1/4-1/3 mile. By this time, it was pitch black except for the lightning and we knew we had a tornado on the ground but communication fell through and we couldn't get any azimuth or lat/lon of the circulation from the DOWs. So we are sitting on this road trying to watch for the tornado in the lightning and then we look up and see TIV (tornado intercept vehicle) and Sean Casey maybe a few yards in front of us between us and DOW8. We got struck by a big gust and the truck rocked a bit but then it got very quiet and still. So Josh told Karen the tornado had crossed the road in front of us but she kept yelling back into the mic "NO NO NO It has not crossed the road yet, 0.5km away from your position!" Next thing I know, my ears erupted. It was so painful to feel that pressure change and my heart dropped into my stomach because I knew what that sudden change must have meant. And then the wind came out of nowhere and shoved us. We could see the circulation on the ground in our headlights and our truck started turning to the side. Ronan, being the a very skilled driver (drove TIV and a production vehicle for ice road truckers) put the car in reverse and steered our back into the strongest wind so we didn't skid any further. But when it was over, we had been spun a bit and he had reversed more than 90 degrees. Our mesonet only read 100mph but I believe it was a bit higher than that. We then looked up and saw a house beyond DOW8 explode. Completely explode. Debris was everywhere and you could see the condensation funnel on the ground in our headlights. We jumped out as soon as it stopped and I started to run up the road to take pictures, but then realized there was debris falling from the sky all around me. So I ran back to Scout1 and did my best to hover under the side view mirror. We heard yelling on the radio that DOW8 had been hit as well and had a broken window! But once we had confirmation that they were okay, we drove up towards the house and discovered there was literally nothing left, not one wall was standing. We later found out it was a modular home that had no been strapped to the foundation. It had been picked up by the tornado and tossed more than 50feet, where it tumbled back to the Earth and shattered.
It was as though someone had hit the slow motion button on a remote up until that point; and then suddenly we were thrust into fast forward and what really took over an hour, seemed like seconds. I yelled to Josh that I saw a car in the driveway and someone might be home; so I grabbed my phone to call 911 and Ronan and Josh ran towards the debris calling out for anyone. Before I could finish dialing I heard yelling from the neighbor across the street. I ran over to her and she told me her elderly neighbor Pat was on the porch right before it struck. I rushed across the street to relay this to Ronan and Josh. Ronan was the first to hear moaning and was able to pick his way through the rubble towards the woman, who by some miracle was laying on top of the pile, barely buried with a few bad gashes but awake and somewhat responsive. By then, a couple of sherrif's deputies pulled up and asked me if I lived here. I said no but told them someone was injured in the house and where she was. They asked me to find a flashlight so I ran back across the street to the hysterical neighbor and managed to calm her down enough to find me a flashlight from her home. She kept screaming asking me over and over if her neighbor was alive. I told her she was and that the best way to help would be to calm down and to find a flashlight for the paramedics. I could hear her children frightened in the basement. She got me a flashlight and I ran back across the street, remembering just feet from downed power lines to watch where I was going closely. There was glass and nails and wood everywhere as far as you looked. By this time our team paramedic was with the woman and a local firefighter. I picked my way through the debris, cutting and scratching my legs a bit, and held my phone and flashlight over the firefighter's shoulder who was holding the woman's neck steady. Our medic Eddie was asking the woman all kinds of questions, her name, age, who was president, what year it was, her address, did she know what happened... She knew her address and other than that could only tell us tornado over and over again. She was definitely in shock. To make matters worse, it started pouring. I took off my jacket to hold over the poor lady who was covered in blood, insulation and drywall dust. Ronan gave me his jacket but I was soaked from head to toe by this point anyway. Once the ambulance arrived, I was sent by the paramedics to get blankets from the ambulance to keep the woman dry and I once again picked my way through debris.
Once she was in the ambulance and we got back to our vehicle, that's when it all hit me. I felt extremely overwhelmed. Tornadoes, to me, are the most beautiful things on the planet. But in that second where I was standing over this woman in the pouring rain holding a small pinpoint flashlight, smelling natural gas, shaking from the cold and rain, I looked down and realized that I was standing on a small Christmas trinket tin from Pat's house...I hated tornadoes. We kept chasing immediately after the rescue, like nothing had happened. But I was completely humbled. I still don't even have a grasp on all the emotions that went through me last night. I stayed up until nearly 5am talking to Ronan and Herb, one of the DOW engineers, about the stress and shock of a situation like that. You see damage photos on the news but you can't (I never did) possibly understand the human emotion of being caught in something like that. It's completely indescribable. Today we are chasing in northeast Nebraska and tomorrow, our target city is none other than Russell, Kansas again. I have mixed feelings about this because I don't want these poor people to be put through this again so soon but I want to possibly go back to the lady's house and talk with her neighbors, maybe bring her flowers.
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/news/display_cmsstory.php?wfo=ict&storyid=83526&source=0
***We found out later that Pat was stabilized at Russell Medical Center and then transported to Hays Hospital where they discovered several broken bones, including her back, neck, clavicle, and chest plate.
Walker, KS Tornado from the dash of Scout 2
Russell, KS Tornado from the dash of Scout 2
DOW7 Scanning
Lowering wall cloud
Found another radar truck!
Funnel! Walker, KS tornado
Damage from Russell tornado
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Pure Exhaustion
So I'm getting pretty bad about updating this thing, but a whole new level of exhaustion, more than anything I have ever felt in my life, is kicking in. Storm chasing literally drains you emotionally, physically, and mentally. I was actually dozing off during a chase today! And if you know me at all, you know that it is virtually impossible for me to sleep while another person is driving because I'm such a control freak...let alone while there are severe thunderstorms all around! I also haven't been very motivated to post because well we are busting big time still out here. North Dakota was a fun trip but we didn't get anything out of it besides a very 'brief' touchdown and the next day we were off to Nebraska. We almost got a tornado out of Nebraska but again the dynamics just weren't there. It hasn't been nearly warm enough or moist either for that matter. Today there was a moderate risk out for Wisconsin/Minnesota and we were considering a play up there but it would put us too far out of position for tomorrow. So we stuck with the tail end of the boundary and played western Missouri. Turned out to not be so bad surprisingly enough. The cap was super strong but it did break and we got some great convection. Again though, beautiful storms with no tornadoes. However, this weekend we are really hoping things turn around! Could have a pretty substantial outbreak Sunday and Monday...I will try my best to post pictures tomorrow! But for now..SLEEP!
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Checking Off Those States...
Quick update on the tornadoes we saw Saturday in Kansas... The wind turbine one was an EF3! We were less than 3km away from an EF3 tornado. Saturday was the best day of my life. I said that and Ronan just looks at me and smiles. Seeing that EF3 was the most beautiful display of power and nature.Part of me wants to describe it as roller coaster of emotions, but I don't think that's quite accurate because yes you feel all sorts of emotions but you feel them all at once. You are in awe of this incredible structure, proud of yourself for finding one, your heart drops into your stomach the second you see the debris cloud explode at the base, charged with energy and adrenaline, a little fear because of the lightning and huge chunks of metal and wood falling around you...There's so much. I saw a shirt on another chaser that said "Mother nature is a moody bitch" and boy that is sure true. It's really incredible and my blood is literally boiling for more. http://www.crh.noaa.gov/news/display_cmsstory.php?wfo=ict&storyid=83274&source=0
So Sunday was a long day of driving as was Monday. We made it up to South Dakota yesterday and today I am posting from on the road in North Dakota. Really keeping our fingers, toes, and appendages crossed today because so far the models are looking better than ever for supercells. Besides tornadoes obviously, my favorite part of this trip has been seeing our beautiful country. Not only the landscape but the people. I sound a little corny but for someone who hasn't traveled much, this has been an amazing journey. Chasing is a blast. It's completely exhausting mentally and physically. But it's absolutely incredible seeing all these small towns, meeting people and hearing their stories. I've never been one for the whole bleed red, white and blue stuff but this truly makes me realize how amazing our country and the people who live here are. We have so much diversity and yet everyone finds their own little niche. It's such a big place, USA but it just works. Sure there are problems and tough times but people are good. I really believe that. We ate lunch in the tiny town of Bassett, NE at this old diner and and lodge from 1949. It was a little family business on the main drag through town and we completely overwhelmed them. They didn't even have enough menus for us but it kinda made me feel to good to think of the business we were giving them. And the lodge was absolutely adorable. I would love to be able to come back and spend a night there, maybe go horseback riding through the northern Nebraska hills. Simply gorgeous.
And for all my storm chasers fans, we ran into the Dominator and TVN crew today at a gas station in North Dakota (although I think TIV and the Sean-Brandon-Ronan crew is much better!!)
So Sunday was a long day of driving as was Monday. We made it up to South Dakota yesterday and today I am posting from on the road in North Dakota. Really keeping our fingers, toes, and appendages crossed today because so far the models are looking better than ever for supercells. Besides tornadoes obviously, my favorite part of this trip has been seeing our beautiful country. Not only the landscape but the people. I sound a little corny but for someone who hasn't traveled much, this has been an amazing journey. Chasing is a blast. It's completely exhausting mentally and physically. But it's absolutely incredible seeing all these small towns, meeting people and hearing their stories. I've never been one for the whole bleed red, white and blue stuff but this truly makes me realize how amazing our country and the people who live here are. We have so much diversity and yet everyone finds their own little niche. It's such a big place, USA but it just works. Sure there are problems and tough times but people are good. I really believe that. We ate lunch in the tiny town of Bassett, NE at this old diner and and lodge from 1949. It was a little family business on the main drag through town and we completely overwhelmed them. They didn't even have enough menus for us but it kinda made me feel to good to think of the business we were giving them. And the lodge was absolutely adorable. I would love to be able to come back and spend a night there, maybe go horseback riding through the northern Nebraska hills. Simply gorgeous.
And for all my storm chasers fans, we ran into the Dominator and TVN crew today at a gas station in North Dakota (although I think TIV and the Sean-Brandon-Ronan crew is much better!!)
Old fashioned telephone booth in the hotel in Bassett, NE
Ran into the Dominator and TVN team in North Dakota. Got to see a friend of mine chasing with them this summer :)
Saturday, May 19, 2012
From Zero to Four
FINALLY! We saw tornadoes! And four of them! Possible five but lost visual briefly due to rain. What an incredible day in the world of storm chasing. I am completely exhausted but I just had to post because I didn't want to lose that post chase adrenaline rush. Today wasn't perfect chasing but it was pretty incredible. No real supercells but a definite line of shear that allowed for some brief, weak spin up tornadoes. And hail! Our brand new little Scout 1 has officially been initiated into the armada with some good old quarter size hail dents. I still cannot stop thinking about how beautiful today was. Nature is an incredibly volatile and spectacular thing. We didn't get to deploy any pods of any of the tornadoes today but we did get some great mesonet data off the Scout vehicles, radar data from the DOWs, and pictures/videos of course! We came within 3km of a tornado that did some pretty substantial damage to a farmstead and a wind turbine farm. We watched it cross the road and saw a debris cloud at the base at one point. And we came within feet of being struck by a LARGE piece of debris. Being Scout 1, we were pretty much in the lead with the exception of the DOWs so we got to peel off real quickly from the group to go investigate the damage at the wind turbine farm. We actually had to reroute once because of power lines down across the road, but we met one of the guys who installs the wind turbines. We spoke with him for awhile and he explained that they were all fiberglass and out of the maybe 50 or so that we could see, the one the tornado struck was the newest one just installed last week. Crazy! He actually let Ronan drive right up to and I got to get pretty close to plot the GPS coordinates and take damage pictures. Being that close, we were able to figure out that the piece of debris that almost struck our vehicle was a piece of the turbine! It traveled about 1.5km away! I'll definitely be adding more tomorrow but if I don't try to stop thinking about how amazing it all was, I will never get any sleep! And tomorrow is looking like a chase day as well :)
Get the Hell INTO Dodge.
So following our Lamesa, TX debacle, we made our way back to Boulder once again. The weather is just not cooperating for us this year, which is exhausting and a bit disappointing at the same time. Apparently, they NEVER return to Boulder during a season and we have already gone back twice for 3-4 days at a time. Not that Boulder isn't a wonderful city. It's pretty fantastic. There are tons of local restaurants, fun places to explore, beautiful scenery...BUT I didn't come out here for a Colorado vacation. I came out here to storm chase. But while we were in Boulder, we got to a little sightseeing. One afternoon we drove out to Estes Park and took a scenic highway back to town through the mountains. It was breathtaking! And cold! It was extremely windy up in the mountains. We got to see a herd of elk and this neat little bed and breakfast lodge with horse ranch. It is definitely on my list of places to return to. Another day we drove about halfway up the road to Nederland, CO that runs parallel to Boulder Creek. We stopped off at a rock climbing spot and did a little fishing in the creek. It was so relaxing and a great way to get away from the stress and tension of being stuck in the hangar with boring weather.
But things are starting to change weather wise and we have made our way to Kansas for hopefully a good week of chasing. Last night we stayed in Dodge City and I wish I had gotten a few pictures of the hotel because it was a little hard to take in. It was decorated as a wild west saloon complete with mannequins dressed in 1800s garb, saloon doors, and tacky cowboy decorations everywhere you look. We drove about an hour this morning and so begins the waiting game. As I am writing this, our convoy is sitting in a Walmart parking lot in Pratt, Kansas...and yup there's another curious onlooker taking a picture of me in the car. :)
But things are starting to change weather wise and we have made our way to Kansas for hopefully a good week of chasing. Last night we stayed in Dodge City and I wish I had gotten a few pictures of the hotel because it was a little hard to take in. It was decorated as a wild west saloon complete with mannequins dressed in 1800s garb, saloon doors, and tacky cowboy decorations everywhere you look. We drove about an hour this morning and so begins the waiting game. As I am writing this, our convoy is sitting in a Walmart parking lot in Pratt, Kansas...and yup there's another curious onlooker taking a picture of me in the car. :)
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
NM and Texas
What a whirlwind of a few days. Pun intended. Upon leaving Santa Rosa, we drove through the sleepy little alien town of Roswell, the stinky home of a LARGE oil refinery Artesia, and finally arrived in Carlsbad, NM. We set up in Carlsbad waiting for storms to fire and became the chased rather than the chasers. Our convoy parked in the Walmart parking lot was swarmed by fans of the show, other chasers and chase teams, and curious onlookers. I felt like I was on display at a circus. Tons of people coming up to you asking to take pictures with you and the equipment, asking you questions, wanting to tell you their bad weather stories. Now this has happened pretty much everywhere we've stopped but this particular few hours was a madhouse. I had the manager from the Chili's next door trying to get my number under the guise of wanting a picture of me and the TIV, two little girls asking me to explain complex weather instruments, countless numbers of scared residents asking when the "tornaders" (what they call them here in the Southwest) were going to come through, and other chase groups like Cloud 9, Ultimate Chase, COD, and more watching over my shoulder while I checked my pods with the datalogger. And yet again...no tornadoes. Another bum chase. There actually was one a long way west of us but it wouldn't have been deployable anyway.
As we were checking into the hotel in Carlsbad, a few good hail storms were moving our way with tons of beautiful CG (cloud to ground lightining). A bunch of us jumped in Scout 2 armed with tripods and cameras and took off south of town. It was beautiful. The sky was green and the clouds were black. Even if it wasn't tornadic, I still felt totally entranced by how amazing this scene appeared. The sky out here in limitless. It doesn't end. It just sort of melts into the horizon so as you can't really tell where the land ends and the sky begins. We stood on this dirt road in the desert until the gust front reached us, then took off south again on the main road. There were actually two cells and we were under strict instruction not to get the instruments on the truck damaged on a "non mission". So I was on radar duty and when it looked like we had a clear shot between the two cells, our driver Rutger u-turned and we raced North back to Carlsbad making it back without a scratch. Josh and Karen were pretty impressed by our crafty chasing...errr fleeing? That night I got to hang out with Ronan, Sean Casey, and Brandon Ivey (all former and current TIV crew). They are some great guys with lots of amazing stories.
So this brings me up to yesterday. Texas! The fifth new state on this trip for me. There was a lsight risk outlined along the Texas-Mexico border right near the Big Bend and so we took off. We drove through Fort Stockton, TX where I was informed by a local that all I had to do to find a "tornader" was drive in the direction of the black sky. Thanks dude. We then drove to within 40miles of the border to the 430 person town of Marathon, TX. This was a funky little town. It was this beautiful resort hotel and NOTHING else. Weird. But yet again, it was too cold near the surface to get the right dynamics for tornadoes so we called it an early day and took off North to Lamesa, TX. And trust me, it's no coincidence that Lamesa looks like lamest. It has about 3 restaurants, two gross hotels, and a McDonald's. Party!!!!!!!
On the road in New Mexico.
Our Walmart Circus.
My lightning shot on Chris's camera just south of Carlsbad.
At a gas station in Fort Stockton, TX.
Oh and by the way...Ronan set off the alarm on Scout 1 around midnight at the hotel in Carlsbad so now I'm off the hook :-p
As we were checking into the hotel in Carlsbad, a few good hail storms were moving our way with tons of beautiful CG (cloud to ground lightining). A bunch of us jumped in Scout 2 armed with tripods and cameras and took off south of town. It was beautiful. The sky was green and the clouds were black. Even if it wasn't tornadic, I still felt totally entranced by how amazing this scene appeared. The sky out here in limitless. It doesn't end. It just sort of melts into the horizon so as you can't really tell where the land ends and the sky begins. We stood on this dirt road in the desert until the gust front reached us, then took off south again on the main road. There were actually two cells and we were under strict instruction not to get the instruments on the truck damaged on a "non mission". So I was on radar duty and when it looked like we had a clear shot between the two cells, our driver Rutger u-turned and we raced North back to Carlsbad making it back without a scratch. Josh and Karen were pretty impressed by our crafty chasing...errr fleeing? That night I got to hang out with Ronan, Sean Casey, and Brandon Ivey (all former and current TIV crew). They are some great guys with lots of amazing stories.
So this brings me up to yesterday. Texas! The fifth new state on this trip for me. There was a lsight risk outlined along the Texas-Mexico border right near the Big Bend and so we took off. We drove through Fort Stockton, TX where I was informed by a local that all I had to do to find a "tornader" was drive in the direction of the black sky. Thanks dude. We then drove to within 40miles of the border to the 430 person town of Marathon, TX. This was a funky little town. It was this beautiful resort hotel and NOTHING else. Weird. But yet again, it was too cold near the surface to get the right dynamics for tornadoes so we called it an early day and took off North to Lamesa, TX. And trust me, it's no coincidence that Lamesa looks like lamest. It has about 3 restaurants, two gross hotels, and a McDonald's. Party!!!!!!!
On the road in New Mexico.
Our Walmart Circus.
Scout Team 1!
My lightning shot on Chris's camera just south of Carlsbad.
Funky little Marathon, TX
At a gas station in Fort Stockton, TX.
Oh and by the way...Ronan set off the alarm on Scout 1 around midnight at the hotel in Carlsbad so now I'm off the hook :-p
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