April 23, 2007

We all want to say how much we love tornadoes! We got a nice tube a distance away, maybe 2-3 miles after driving up from Shamrock, TX near Sitka, KS. It took us a while to get there, but once we came up on the south side of this storm, we saw major rotation everywhere. Little fingers kept dropping down and finally as the meso moved east, a nice tornado dropped out.

But, that was only the tip of the iceburg. We proceeded north because we had no other roads and then went east towards the west side of the storm. We were simply drifting east waiting for the storm to move north of the road to stay out of the hail. All the sudden, I look right out the passenger window and there was a huge white tornado no more than 500 yards away! We were not sure if we should get out of there or not at that point. We watched and the tornado drifted in front of us over the electrical wires and onto the road, no more than 400 yards away at that point. It slowly moved across the road and then started throwing debris all over the place. At this point, it intensified and it appeared to be moving our direction! We started freaking out a bit before realizing it was now paralleling the road and at this stage it was no more than 250 yards away! It slowly danced off to our north and finally dissipated. Then, about 10 minutes later, another one dropped out in its place. This was unbelievable! This was the closest any of us had ever been to a tornado without question.

We are sure this tornado curled around our position as it rotated around the mesocyclone. This is what made us very nervous, especially when you see the police backing down the road at 25 mph!

April 29, 2007

Well, we gt off to a quick start today with a tornado warning by 1:30pm to our south 45 miles. We got down to Balmorea, TX and met up with Mayor Mike Rodriguez to discuss the storms. After waiting for another hour or so, another storm blew up off the mountains to the east just west of Fort Stockton and we headed that direction. We punched through the southern side of the storm as a tornado warning came out with strong rotation. We saw a lot of good stuff, but no touchdowns were reported.

We have more to come tomorrow and as of now, we expect to be somewhere east, maybe around San Antonio, TX. I also thought we would send a couple pictures for the last couple day's activities.

April 30, 2007

Monday brought an exciting day for the tour as we left Ft. Stockton and moved all the way to end the day in Laredo, TX. We dropped into Del Rio for lunch and kept moving south into Eagle Pass. We were looking for the damage from the tornado last week when a storm started blowing up to the east and we headed that direction. 1-2 hours later we got onto a tornadic supercell near Freer, TX and chased it slowly south all the way till sundown. We saw a great wall cloud, rotation, some funnels and plenty of solid structure, but the only tornado that was reported dropped out to the north of Freer shortly before we arrived.

The roads of extreme south Texas are not good for chasing and since this is the first time we have chased this far south, we now know this fact. Of course, you also have the border blocking you from moving west or further south, so that also plays a roll. However, it was a great chase day for us.

May 1, 2007

May 4, 2007

Well, an active day for severe weather and tornadoes as the upper level trough moved into the plains. Our original target city was Pratt, KS and we moved from Liberal towards Pratt to Buckley. As we were waiting in Buckley THE storm fired up to the south about 60 miles in Ellis County, OK, so we dropped south quickly. By the time we got on the storm, it was tornado warned and had already dropped a tornado.

The storm split as we were watching and the northern piece ejected north and the southern piece remain intense with a tornado warning. We decided to stay on the southern cell and chased it till dark..with a warning the entire way. We did not get a tornado out of it as darkness kept today's chase rather short.

It turns out the northern piece that ejected off the main cell near Woodward (Where we intercepted) intensified right before dark and dropped a tornado near Protection and Sitka, the same place we saw tornadoes last week. I believe these these were the only tornadoes that occurred before sunset. However, this cell then proceeded north into Greensburg, where it destroyed most of the town. We hate to see this happen. It was well after dark and we would not have been chasing the storm that late, but needless to say, Greenseburg is 15-20 miles directly west of Pratt. The forecast was right on, but the storms initiated too late.

May 5, 2007

Today was a day unlike any others on the tour. We started the day by learning of the unfortunate happenings in Greensburg, KS where a 1.5 mile wide wedge tornado moved through town just after dark. We were on that very cell shortly after it developed south of Woodward, OK yesterday. Our target was just east of Greensburg, but the storms fired a bit too late for viewing.

So, after breakfast in Woodward, we targeted SW Kansas again for storms with tornadic supercells very likely. We decided to go north to Greensburg to see if we could check out the damage and as we moved up the US-183 we started seeing houses and barns destroyed, trees leveled and there were even dead cows in the fields. Since it was only 12 hours or so after the tornado, people were just getting their heads on straight before the massive clean-up. We tried to enter the south side of town and the National Guard stopped us. He told us a deputy sheriff was killed in the tornado as he was thrown 1/2 mile into a field and no-one could find him in time. He was nice but still could not let us through. So, as we drove to the west side of town and since storms were already firing up to the west and south of Greensburg once again, we showed the police the radar and told them to be prepared for possible tornadoes. The police then told us to move through town and update the command post with the latest information.

We then drove through the town that was closed to all traffic and it was unbelievable. Most buildings were leveled with either an "X" or a number painted on the front of the houses and buildings that were still standing to account for searches and people. Tracker trailers were overturned, almost every tree was gone, and they were still finding bodies. We stopped at the command post and I explained the situation to the officer. He showed me they had radar there and were watching it and also currently making sure the shelters were open and available for the rescue workers to use if needed later. I asked if there was anything we could do and he said they were set for now. This was a very sobering experience for us all. We will post pictures in the near future.

We then left the town and waited just outside town as we watched the storms fire along the dry line. We sat there for an hour or so as the storms to the west moved mostly north. We saw a cell looking good to the south, so we headed back down and intercepted it. It had a severe thunderstorm warning on it, but no solid rotation. We moved south and then east to get behind the cell hoping for rotation to develop, which was likely with the strong shear in the atmosphere. As we moved north with the cell, it became stronger and finally started to rotate. We ended up chasing this cell for several hours north and east on back roads and finally got a tornado near Stafford, KS. The tornado came out from very strong rotation we had been watching for miles and it rather quickly touched down and then lifted again. We got another quick touch-down shortly thereafter. As this cell peaked, more cells started popping to the southwest along a line going right back over Greensburg. We saw more chasers down there than ever!

We dropped off the cell moving north and moved south and west to another storm near Great Bend. This cell dropped a tornado SW of the city and then again over the city and as we got on it to the east, it still was rotating hard, but we did not see a touch-down, although we saw damage on the edge of town, including a boat thrown into the side of an industrial building. By this time, it was getting dark and we still needed to get back to OKC, so we started heading south down the line of supercells and as we dropped through Seward, KS a big cell was moving their direction. We got east of the cell and although it was mostly dark, we could see lowerings and a possible wedge moving towards the city, but it was hard to tell in the lightning. However, we have heard there were two on the ground moving towards Seward at that time. Basically, after dark, the cells have kept lining up and dropping tornadoes over the same area time and time again...including Greenburg. We passed tons of National Guard trucks moving up to this area and electric trucks and emergency vehicles were everywhere.

We finally moved south at 9:30pm or so and stopped at Subway as we had not eaten since 10:00am. A older couple was there and they were freaked out because their house just got leveled in Hopewell, KS an hour earlier and they lost all their animals and possesions and the woman was scared more storms were coming, so I showed her the radar and let her know the latest details. It was very sad to see and we wished them the best moving forward.

May 6, 2007

Sunday began in Oklahoma City, with the start of a new chase week. We changed crew; Jason Webb driving and John Gerrish meteorologist. Our destination was western Oklahoma, where the evening before, several tornadoes were reported. One touched down and took the roof off the school in Sweetwater Oklahoma. We drueled as we watched it on local TV. We were headed in the same vicinity. We engaged buildups about 30 miles west of OKC, but trudged on to the target area. Radar located an isolated cell and we positioned ourselves near the town of Gould. As we watched the cell, it was big, and it was blackish-green, and it displayed all the signatures; however, it just never developed any organization or rotation. Another cell developed to the south and moved north right in front of us. It was well organized and we saw rotation. Funnels dropped and discipated, dropped and discipated. At this point, we were about 1/2 mile away facing west as the storm passed from left to right. One particular funnel appeared from the side of the wall cloud and had particularly good tight horizontal rotation. We could see it roping toward the ground and were a bit uncomfortable with it being so close. If it touched down it would only be about 1/4 mile away from us. The funnel discipated as we watched. Then it appeared again in about the same location, but was a bit more intense. We thought touchdown was iminent; very close, very clear, right in front of us. As we watched, it suddenly lost focus and rotation, and was gone. We watched some more, then chased as the storms moved off. Nothing more... So close but no cigar.

May 8, 2007

Storm Prediction Center reported a "gustnado" 17 miles south of Midland, TX and we were there. We started the morning in Sweetwater, then drifted west toward Midland and Odessa. A line of storms were moving out of eastern New Mexico, as a short wave was kicking out of the southern Rockies and crossing a stationary frontal boundary in west Texas. Conditions were cloudy and temps were quite cool - no heating to aid convection. Through Baron interrogation, we detected a Line Echo Wave Pattern (LEWP) forming along the short wave boundary. This is a sure sign of severe weather and possible tornadic activity. We headed south to intersect the wave, then found farm roads east to stay in front of the storms. As we were heading east, we encountered the gustnado that was reported by the Storm Prediction Center. It was not just the result from a downdraft or an outflow, this was something truly ominous that extended from the ground up to the base of the cloud and was several hundred yards wide. The images posted doesn't due it justice. Observing the cloud rotation overhead as we watched could be described as a "witch's cauldron" as the clouds violently swirled with chaotic rotation. Very impressive!sAs we moved south in front of the storms, the roads weren't available for us to keep up. Watching the storm evolve on radar showed the line break up in to individual elongated cells, then the cells formed Bow Echos, where shear rotation would appear, last for a few minutes, then disappear. We chased for several hours more, until we started losing daylight, then called it a day. We are in San Angelo tonight and will decide between heading northeast toward Dallas or more southeast toward San Antonio.

May 9, 2007

After staying the night in San Angelo, TX, we spent most of the day around town, seeing the sights and doing some shopping. Around 3pm, we headed south toward the town of Eldorado. A line of thunderstorms were building, some with severe signatures, so we were on them. About 10 minutes into the trip, Crockett County "went Red", meaning a tornado warning had been issued. The chase was afoot! Some of the storms were 50,000 feet and soon Schleicher and Sutton counties also issued tornado warnings. We intercepted the line of storms just east of Eldorado and took the attached photos. We noted rotation throughout as radar indicated the line was bowing. We were determined to stay in front of the rapidly moving Bow Echo. We ended up in the town of Menard and turned north, hoping to spot funnels or tornadoes. Weather radio reported a tornado 16 miles NE of Menard heading northeast toward the town of Brady, which was our next target city. As we approached Brady - in a complete downpour - the Baron radar took a dump on us, so we were operating blind - no radar and the visibility about 100 feet - not a comfortable feeling with a tornado in the vicinity! We decided to break off the chase and get the heck out of Dodge - er Brady, before something bad happened. All of us were disappointed, but all agreed, it was the right decision. Tonight, we're in Brownwood, TX. Tomorrow, we'll head toward Austin, the San Antonio to engage more potential storms there...

May 10, 2007

Today started with a road trip to the south and east; target city, San Antonio. The last remnant of the upper level Low was moving through east Texas, with the associated trough expected to create deep convection over south Texas. We moved into position just west of the city, and stopped in the town of Bandera awaiting engagement. In the interim, we visited the Texas Frontier Museum. Back on the road, we engaged our first cell just west of San Antonio. We chased in torrential rain and five o'clock traffic - not fun! Once on the southside of the city, traffic lightened and we chased some nice storms, but they didn't have the vertical shear to turn them severe. Even so, we got some nice photos as the sun was setting. Enjoy!

May 14, 2007

After staying in Colby, KS for the night we decided to target the Kansas/Colorado border for storms. We moved from Colby to Goodland for a bite of lunch at Subway and continued to analyze the data. Further west into Colorado was starting to look interesting. Storms blew up to the south around Pueblo but we stayed north for the better upper level support. Storms began to fire around Ft. Collins but dissipated quickly. In fact the storm prediction center even mentioned that the southern cells looked better. From a timing standpoint we really needed to stay on the northern cells so we made the decision to stay. As the storms came off the front range of the Rockies they began looking a lot better organized. We headed north on US36 as the storms were initially moving to the northeast.

We got into better position and THEN the storms began shifting to the east southeast so we had to back track a little. The storm began to overtake us as we headed south. By now we are on dirt roads and begin encountering hail that got to golf ball size for a brief moment. A brief funnel formed by quickly dissipated. We continued to move south. As we headed to Limon the county we were in was put into a tornado warning. By now it was too late to chase because it was dark. Overall it was an exciting chase.

May 22, 2007

We successfully intercepted a massive severe thunderstorm on Tuesday just south of Wakeeney, KS. We followed this storm for several hours as it produced several wall clouds. Hail exceeding 3 inches was produced by this storm. We were positioned safely south of the hail core. State of the art technology kept us in the right spot and out of harm's way.

May 23, 2007

Had a very exciting day here in Texas!! We had 1, possibly 2 tornadoes and about a half-dozen wall clouds as we tracked 3 monstrous storms across the northeastern Texas panhandle (Lipscomb, Roberts, and Hutchinson counties). The first storms conveniently started forming just after a lunch at Money's BBQ and Steakhouse in Perryton, TX. I had the beef briscuit.

Our first intercept was on a storm that produced a long-lasting wall cloud, but never dropped a tornado. Eventually, the storm started to lose momentum and the wall cloud fell apart. After this storm started to lose steam, we decided to drop south and intercept a developing storm which already had been tornado-warned.

We stayed with this storm for a long time as it creeped its way northeast at about 10-15 mph. We had a wall cloud in sight most of the time. There were dozens, and dozens, and more dozens of storm chasers, tour groups, college research teams, and locals on the road all day.

After a few hours, this second storm also started to lose steam. The 3rd and strongest storm yet was developing further south. We made a tough decision to abandon the weakening cell we were on and move to the new storm. This storm was located in Hutchinson county, about 50 miles to our southwest. Because of the topography, we could only position ourselves one county east of the storm and wait for it to approach us. We were rapidly losing light, but at the same time, the lightning was increasing and backlighting what might have been a rain-wrapped tornado in the rain core.

May 26-29, 2007

Travel days, moving from Lamar, CO to Amarillo, TX tonight for the monster steak at the Big Texan. Nobody wanted to try it - but it made for a good show.

May 31, 2007

The forecast for Thursday was right on the mark as we moved from Amarillo to Dumas and into southeast Colorado as the initial storm fired up. We stuck in front of the storm as it slowly moved southeast. We started to get a more organized cell and rotation and we remained right in front.

As we drove towards it from the east, we saw what we believe was a tornado in the distance, although we were not close enough to verify it was on the ground. However, it looked solid and extended all the way down within our view. Video of this possible tornado is rather fuzzy, so hard to tell for sure.

Anyway, we kept moving towards the cell and as we approached the meso, we had a couple nice funnels coming down. The entire thing was rotating and it looked real good. We moved to the south and west again to stay in front of the SE moving cell and as we dropped south on a dirt road in extreme SE Colorado, east of Campo. About a mile down this dirt road, we ran over a sharp object that punctured a hole in our back passenger tire. We could not believe this would happen twice in two days! There was something that poked a large hole right in the middle of the tire and that thing went flat in no time.

So, after getting the thing going for a change, the rain and hail from the northern portion of the cell moved over and we had to get in and wait it out. We could not believe the luck. We finally got it changed with some help from locals and started towards Liberal, KS where we stayed the night. We got some very nice mammatus that I will post pictures of shortly. We also got very nice lightning as we drove into the city.

We did have a verification of a brief tornado from that cell a bit later and although there we no official reports of the first tornado we believe we saw, it goes down as a tornado in our book.

June 1, 2007

This week has been extremely busy everyday almost! We had the first day where we traveled north to position and we had Wednesday where we dropped down to Amarillo to position and otherwise, we have had supercells on every other day. Friday was no exception.

We started in Liberal, KS after getting a new tire in the morning, we dropped south to Plainview, TX. We waited there for an hour or two as the storms attempted to break the cap. The cap broke to the west near Clovis, NM and we moved right it it immediately. We intercepted the cell just north of Portalis, NM and we immediately got a tornado warning.

We continued to stay out ahead of the storm back into Texas and this thing had great updrafts that we watched closely for funnels and tornadoes. We had a few funnels and a nice roll cloud as we continued drifting south and east. We followed, actually the storm followed us, for almost 70 miles and we had a tornado warning on it most the way. It got dark as we moved into Lubbock, TX so we watched some lightning and then found food and a place to stay the night.

So, no tornadoes on this storm and none were reported-but very nice structure and low precipitation. All the tornadoes were in extreme NE Iowa, Wisconsin and NW Illinois today. A bit far for our liking.