Discovery Channel: Storm Chasers

TVN camera probe mission success!! vehicle nearly hit by tornado

Well it looks like I won't have to sport a mullet after all...

TVN intercepted several tornadoes in Northern Kansas yesterday, including a beautiful elephant trunk/stovepipe tornado that was the first hose produced by this incredible storm.  We decided to leave the Nebraska storms early because they were very "messy" and high-precipitation in nature, and it was definitely the right decision.  We arrived on the Kansas storm just in time for the first tornado, which was moving eastward at a very high rate of speed.  We drove north in the path of the tornado and deployed the probe with about 15 seconds to spare, and then reversed to safety narrowly missing a large piece of debris spiraling in the debris cloud!!  Here are pictures of the tornado, but for the HD probe video...tune in to Storm Chasers this fall!

Strong tornadoes possible in Nebraska today!

As a strong storm system ejects over the Central Plains from the Rocky Mountains today, conditions will become increasingly favorable for supercells and tornadoes through the afternoon and evening across central Nebraska and Northern Kansas.  TVN just arrived in York, Nebraska (for about the 10th time this week!) at around 3:00 am, and will be heading west in a few hours for a target area in Central Nebraska.  I would not be surprised if today rivals some of the outbreaks we chased last week in Kansas...  In fact, I promise to grow a mullet if we fail to deploy our camera probe in the path of a tornado today!  The Storm Prediction Center tornado probabilistic forecast is shown here, with the "hatched area" indicating a risk for strong tornadoes.

In Awe

Finally, after seven straight days of chasing, we're "down" in North Platte, Nebraska--preparing for another round starting tomorrow. So here I am, Leora, grabbing this opportunity to update the blog. As Byron described so vividly, we're all stretched to the limit. Sixteen-hour days blur into each other. The towns, the states, the highways, the dirt roads run together. Mile after mile, we push on, always hoping that THIS will be THE storm, the big one, and that we'll intercept it every which way: radar, TIV, Pods.

And yet, the tornadoes are elusive, playing games with us, tantalizing us, popping up just out of reach, or just after we turn around and give up on a storm. Yes, I know they have no conscious intent. However, I bet all chasers have experienced a moment, like when a tornado veers and comes straight up the road, when they're convinced the tornado is aware of them. It sounds ridiculous, I know.

I'm going to tell you about our best day so far and then respond to some of your comments.

On Friday, we finally felt the thrill of victory. As Karen, DOW navigator, put it, "Friday WAS the season." (Needless to say, we're still anticipating an even bigger day.) That morning, Mark, Probe 2 navigator, was so optimistic looking at the weather maps and other data that he refused to express an opinion to me. He was afraid he'd jinx it. Gabe, who realized that Friday was almost identical to the previous day, decided we had to apply our insights from our misses, focusing on the outflow boundary. This paid off.

Around 4:00 p.m. we pulled off I-70 into Quinter, where the DOW radar -- finally operating smoothly -- scanned a storm to our southwest. Silence from Josh gave no clue as to whether a tornado was on the ground. Any funnel would be rain wrapped at that point. So we were blind, relying as so often on what the team likes to call "the all-knowing, all-seeing DOW." The Probe and Scout teams were tense, waiting for word where to deploy Pods. Suddenly Josh confirmed that a tornado was lurking in the gray cloud mass that--wait a minute--was heading straight at us, no more than five miles away.

Each team deployed a Pod in the dirt lot. We were about to bail, when Josh directed us to sit still. Another tornado had flared up and was about to pass just by us, no more than a mile or two away. We all stood outside our trucks peering into the sky, wishing so badly to catch a glimpse of one or both tornadoes.

(TO YOUR RIGHT: This isn't one of our Pods -- it's a Sticknet, deployed by Texas Tech on the same road outside Ness City where we ended up placing 11 of our instruments, creating a dense network for future study.)

Of course, there was an underlying anxiety: thoughts of what if... what if the tornado changes its trajectory, what if it bursts in size engulfing us. Later Josh said he
took into account that the wind rotation at that moment was no more than 100 mph, so in the worst case, we'd still emerge intact.

The more distant tornado showed itself, a gray funnel, steady and grim (see photo on left--you have to make an effort to see it, sorry.) The other flew right by us, almost invisible, with baby vortices inside, an airy concoction, dancing as it intensified. Harmless as it looked, it threw a temper tantrum in Quinter, toppling power lines and probably destroying sheet-metal sheds and warehouses, propelling shingles and breaking trees. Our damage survey of the town yesterday indicated these findings. However, in an extreme case of bad luck, a much stronger, EF-4 tornado catapulted through Quinter later that evening, demolishing homes, making it difficult to isolate the damage from "our tornado."

That same day, we desperately chased a supercell north of Ness City that went through convulsions of cyclical genesis. Traveling within it, we spotted two tornadoes gyrating in tandem. It was a truly ethereal sight. But at the rate of its progression, there was no catching this storm. We could only watch in awe. (I have no pictures of this event as I was driving extremely fast to catch up with the DOW in an attempt to deploy our last remaining Pod!)

Unwilling to give up on such an abundance, we rode into the night, on and on. We waited patiently for a tornadic storm that had just charged through Hudson causing injuries. As it got closer and closer, ambushing it in the dark felt like a crazier and crazier idea (at least to me). In night intercepts, you must trust utterly in technology, as your senses are almost useless.

That particular pod deployment never occurred, however, because the tornado roped out before reaching our road. It was the end of an intense and exhilarating day and night. The DOW netted a total of six tornadoes on radar.

This leads in to Laura's comment: Laura, we're all exposed to danger to one extent or another. Many members of the science crew are riding in vehicles almost identical to those of production, facing the same risks or greater. How dangerous is this venture?  You'll hear many different answers to this question. We're all certainly trying to play safe. I'll include a picture of another shooter for you at the
bottom of this post.

As for the length of the chase season, we're going until mid-June. Storm Chasers will air in October--more episodes, more teams, more excitement, and I hope more tornadoes!

Regarding TIV1 and TIV2: Both vehicles have been on the road at different times this season. (The picture in my last post was of TIV1.)The upgrade has been tough. I don't envy those guys, but you've got to admire their determination. Below you'll see Sean comparing star badges with a police officer.

To any of you who sent me words of encouragement--it's amazing to hear from you on these non-stop days. Danny told me that in the last three years he can't remember such a relentless stretch of chasing as this last one.

Above are a couple of photos from the spontaneous Great Bend Walmart Memorial Day "big bash" -- for those of you who visited us. Thank you for your hospitality! The sporty guy, who happens to be a spunky shooter originally from Colombia, is Andres.

A day in the life of a TIV Tornado Chaser

Sorry for the lack of updates, it's been really busy as we are on our 6th (?) consecutive day of chasing. The lack of days off really start to wear on you after the second or third day and it's been insane, but a good kind of insane. We've met a lot of really cool people and I wish I could give a shout out to every person I've talked to, but honestly there would be too many to mention. Post a comment just to let me know you're reading!

I'll do some feedback in a followup column when I actually have an hour or two free. Day off? Not sure what that even means.

So, here's a day's schedule for me on this last chase. We've been lucky to stay in a general area and not had 14 hour drives back to back.

8AM. Wake up. Maybe hit snooze a few times(but don't tell anyone). Mingle around and get your senses about yourself. Obviously it's been less than 7 or 6 hours solid sleep. Brew up coffee. Maybe you'll grab a cup before leaving the room. Shower, or perhaps a shower the night before. My eye allergies have been going CRAZY, so the night before has been working out better. Plus wearing goggles in TIV as much as possible and ruining my cool factor.

9:30, get my bag to production a little before so they can pack it with the rest of the crew. Walk around, chat a bit and try out a little continental breakfast. Try to avoid waffle makers and bagels, UNNECESSARY CARBS. But whatever. I had a couple donuts today. Coffee really helps but those midget sized cups really make it hard to get my head about myself in the morning. You should see my coffee mug at home!

Hang out with the weather meeting if possible. Talk to our scientists and figure out what's in store for the day. I try to soak up as much as possible. I know better than to try to pass myself as a meteorologist, but some day I may want to impress someone and use a 5 syllable word for cloud.

THEN, as early as possible, I hit the daily tasks for TIV. Clean and RAIN X the windows. Visibility is poor to begin with, so helping protect our view from the rain really helps. Lots of small windows, some even need cleaning on the inside, too. Awesome. Twice the work? Why not. I also like to double coat the windshields. Such a RAIN X nerd, I know.

Time permitting, I clean out the trash, wipe down and wetness from overnight rain, and organize the inside mess. Load IMAX Camera (we switch off who actually does the lugging of our cargo but I've been doing it lately) and tie it down. Get the inside back area all prepped up for the day.

Get my tapes from production and prelabel if I have time. Sometimes I do this on the road. And for that I apologize to our loggers for my poor labeling penmanship. Not that it is anything to write home about to begin with...

We head out. I sleep in the back as much as possible. Which is really not that much. It's loud, windy, and uncomfortable, I don't think I've stood straight since day 2 in TIV. We may stop a few times to scan, gas up, wait for weather.

Today we stopped in Great Bend and met half the town! Hi to all my new Great Bend friends!

It's awesome meeting people and showing them TIV. Really a nice moment of the day. The best part is the kids, of course.

Then Marcus, our medic, and Mark, one of the scientists, and I did some working out. A few other crew members joined. The weights and perfect pushups turned out to be quit the attraction with our group.

After sitting around for hours, all of a sudden-WE GOTTA GO! Load up and head out, now we are in a hurry to get somewhere.

I chug a Red bull in the back and prep my stuff. At any moment Sean could yell ALPHA POSITIONS! And then we switch. He comes to the back and I go to my navigator position.

After that, it's a nonstop adrenaline rush until the end of the chase. 3 or 4 hours. Ronan and I lock down the front area. Sean and Kyle hold down the back. Target cities, area of interests, and the like, get tossed about. Do we make it in time? Is there something to make it to?

Sometimes everything goes right and sometimes everything goes wrong. Sometimes it's a combination of the two. Really,  it's a new day each chase. To sum it up, I think Sean has put it best, it's like a 3 hour rollercoaster ride.

Not too bad for a bunch of guys in a beat up tank.

We end the day around nightfall and make it in to our hotel around 10-11PM earliest. Production sometimes has food for us, otherwise it's a gas station dinner or nothing at all. Then it's hanging out, discussing the day, and decompressing. Then the phone calls home, emails, and unwinding. Well after midnight, time for sleep. For example, it's almost 3:30AM right now. I'm going to sleep after I post this. I thought, maybe I do this after I get some sleep, but I can't do it before the chase, and I can't do it during. So before sleep it is.

Exhausting. The whole unpacking/packing/laundry thing isn't too bad of a situation. I mainly wear the same shirt and pants for every chase. I tell people it's to help out the editors of our show. Also...way less hassle.

So I apologize to any of our new friends for smelling like a week old shirt, because maybe my shirt is a week old.

Insane.

I'm hoping to get back into running on the next day off.

No pictures. I'm trying to line some up, but as I am shooting video I don't get to take much still photography.

BUT.

Oscar Meyer Weinermobile.

For next time.

Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

Take care,
Byron

Videos from TVN Streaming Teams

At TornadoVideos.net, we have a network of 5 live video streaming teams, so that we can cover more ground when we storm chase and capture every tornado possible.  This is especially important during the widespread outbreaks where tornadoes occur over a large geographical area with multiple tornado-producing storms.  For example, on Thursday, our streaming teams captured tornadoes from 4 different supercells with over 20 tornadoes captured on video from different angles.  The goal of our live streaming video network is to provide ground truth during tornado events for Emergency Managers, the National Weather Service, and residents in tornado alley.   Most tornado warnings are issued based on doppler radar, so information on what is actually occurring under a storm is valuable to anyone in its path. 

Here are three videos from TVN Stream #3 and #4 that will definitely get your blood flowing.   For our most extreme video from the last few days, you'll have to watch Storm Chasers this fall!!!

Tornado Onslaught

FOR ANY OF YOU WHO CHECKED IN EARLIER,  I APOLOGIZE FOR THE CHAOTIC FORMAT.   IT WAS THE RESULT OF USING A WIRELESS CARD ON THE ROAD  COMBINED WITH A SUDDEN TRANSITION TO AN ACTIVE CHASE OUTSIDE WAKEENEY KANSAS (AGAIN!) TODAY AT 3:00 P.M. AND NO, WE DID NOT GET ANY TORNADOES TODAY.

IT'S BEEN DIFFICULT TO POST BECAUSE OF CHASE DAYS THAT HAVE EXTENDED UNTIL MIDNIGHT. AND NOW I SEE THAT POSTING FROM THE ROAD DOESN'T WORK VERY WELL...

It’s Leora again, reporting from the road between York ,  Nebraska,  and  Hays,  Kansas. My fellow bloggers have written about the insanity and madness of the last few days—and I have to agree. The system that moved into the Midwest brought an onslaught of tornadoes. Fortunately most passed over open countryside, avoiding homes and lives. Yet, three people were killed during this period.

 For storm chasers, out in droves for Memorial Day Weekend, the wealth of tornadoes has been the equivalent of a large herd of buffalo charging across the plains. It’s rare for the targets to be so numerous and predictable. On Friday, the  Storm Prediction Center put tornado probability in Kansas at over 95%. The forecasters on our team couldn't remember the last time this had happened (perhaps one of you does).

On Thursday and Friday, it was the classic setup, our team members kept saying, very excitedly. They loved everything they were observing on their computer monitors: the warm and cold fronts and the boundary they were creating, the high moisture, the directions and intensity of the low and high-level wind shear, and a cap neither too weak nor too strong. Karen Kosiba, DOW navigator, who is just finishing up her PhD on tornadoes, told me on Thursday morning: “If you look at any textbook as to what makes a tornado, this is exactly what you’ll see. There will be tornadoes, multiple tornadoes. You want to be on the major one.” She added: “Everyone is obviously excited.”

 

Herb, DOW driver, was somewhat cautious: “Having been in this situation many times, it will either be an incredible day or an incredible disappointment.” In fact, it was neither. For the DOW, it was a tough day because of a computer-card malfunction, which disabled the radar. So Josh decided to send out Probe 1, Probe 2 and SCOUT to do some old-school, radar-less chasing, with the goal of deploying pods. There we were in the late afternoon, with no technological advantages trying to make it to intercept tornadoes in central and north-central  Kansas.

 Justin and Mark were thrilled at the challenge. (Danny and Aaron, “Team C,” had already been testing their storm-chasing skills for weeks as they broke off from the DOW on their own missions.) They were keenly attuned to the sky. Intermittently they managed to access the National Weather Service data through a wireless card. They sure wanted to succeed, but for all our maneuvering we didn’t find ourselves near any storms that were  hatching tornadoes. At a gas station in WaKeeney, as darkness was subsuming the land, the guys decided to call it a day.   

 And then—you guessed right—a violent thunderstorm gathered just to our south, radically changing our plans. Probe 1, Probe 2 and Scout all deployed a single pod in town and raced west along I-70 in lashing rain and wind. It was a long wait to retrieve the pods, because another storm fired up right after the first. But we had the satisfaction of intercepting a tornado; tree and sheet-metal damage in town confirmed what we’d suspected. A tornado had passed through WaKeeney minutes after we'd left. Though weak by Fujita Scale standards, it nevertheless managed to snap and uproot trees and destroy an airplane hangar.

The ground-level measurements we’re collecting will hopefully make the lives of people on the Great Plains safer in the future.  As  Josh likes to say,we need data from the lowest thirty meters because that’s the zone in which we live.

To those of you who were wondering, here’s the follow-up to my previous blog, filed from Fort Morgan, Colorado: Yes, we would have done well to trust the upslope mechanism and to stay put. That way we might have intercepted the violent Windsor Tornado. Quite a few of us are residents of Colorado, including Josh who lives in Boulder, and so the frustration at missing a tornado in our own back yard was great. Nevertheless, if you look at the reports on Kansas that day,  you'll see that our  choice of location was logical. Thank you to a few readers from Colorado  who commented!

This blog is by now too long to describe the events of Friday, our best day of the season yet, so check in again soon!

The picture below is of our ultra-cool shooter and technical director Keith.

      

INSANE tornado intercepted in Lane Co, KS!

Check out these pictures and video of a crazy tornado TVN intercepted in Lane Co, KS today (May 23, 2008), about 30 miles south of I-70 at around 5:00 pm CDT.   This is one of the most unusual tornadoes I've ever seen, with a long horizontal funnel extending well away from the storm before descending to the ground.  The motion at the base of this tornado was very strong, with a dense debris cloud..  This would have been the perfect tornado to deploy our camera/instrument probe, but the road network wouldn't let it happen! 

Below are pictures from TornadoVideos.net live streaming team #4 (Dave Holder and John Harris), showing this same tornado from the west, only about 1/2 mile away.  Note the difference in color from this angle, as the sun was illuminating the funnel.

We also saw 3-4 tornadoes yesterday, and were inside a massive circulation with 100 mph winds, and the roof of a barn was ripped off about 1/2 mile ahead of us!  We're heading to Nebraska tomorrow, so stay tuned for updates!

Reed

Memorial Weekend Madness

Hey, Byron here. Quick update from the hotel's computer before we head out. This is a BIG two days coming up, lots of chasers out. For those chasers reading this, please be extra cautious out there as ther will be a lot of traffic-chaser and non.

Here's a few words on what we are in for from Scout's very own, Danny Cheresnick.

Today looks like a very active severe weather day across a pretty large area of the plains, from northwestern Kansas all the way into western Oklahoma.  All the ingridients needed for supercells and tornadoes are present, high instability, strong wind shear, and ample forcing along a dryline.  We expect supercells to start to develop mid-afternoon in western Kansas and develop southward form there throughout the evening.  This is possibly the make of break day of the year for our group, easily the best setup of the season.  There will likely be chances to intercept tornadoes, we just need to make the right decisions to accompish our mission today. 

Thanks and hope everyone get some!

Byron

To All You Chasers

This is Leora writing from Fort Morgan, Colorado. I decided, for a change, to inform you of our plans and the reasoning behind them--before we embark. Then we can look back at the end of day and see if they made any sense at all. My source of information in this endeavor is Gabriel Garfield ("like the cat or the 20th president") who kindly stayed up late with me in the hotel lobby to explain exactly how an upslope triggers supercell initiation. He's the navigator of the vehicle named Doghouse, which follows the TIV everywhere. Gabe joined us only recently because he was immersed in finals in the meteorology department at the University of Oklahoma, Norman.

Chasing tornadoes that develop as a result of an upslope is apparently an acquired and localized skill. Gabe, a native of Oklahoma, has never had this experience. Justin, who sat with us briefly, only recalls going on chases of this sort a couple of times. Unlike the supercells of the central plains, which are elements in large systems, the upslope supercells near the mountains (in this case, the Rockies) exhibit what appears to be random behavior. Justin: "Some people refer to it as 'upslop' because it's messy." Gabe: "It's more chaotic and much more limited to what's happening on a local scale...You don't know where the best storms are going to be, it's the proverbial needle in a haystack."

To me this didn't sound encouraging. But apparently Danny, who has a long history of chasing in Colorado, may know where to direct us. Gabe: "It's more difficult but not futile. If you've seen it before, it's much easier to diagnose. If you live in Colorado and these are the types of storms you're used to chasing, you'll recognize patterns."

(The picture to your right was taken a couple of weeks ago. It's the typical on-the-road, impromptu forecasters' consultation. Clockwise: Mark, Josh, Karen and Justin.)

For those of you who don't know what an upslope is, it's a flow of air that rises over mountainous terrain. Under the right conditions, it can act as an alternate catalyst for violent thunderstorm formation. One of the benefits we anticipate tomorrow is early convective initiation because the process isn't dependent on the warming of the earth. If we do intercept a tornado, it could well be in broad daylight, breaking our run of nighttime action. A high cloud base tomorrow reduces the odds of tornado genesis, but, the flip side is that if we cross paths with an isolated funnel, chances are good it will be photogenic because of its great height.

As of tonight, it looks likely that we'll be chasing in northeastern Colorado, but that may yet change. Wyoming and Nebraska have been mentioned too. If we don't cross paths with a tornado, perhaps we'll bump into a few of you dedicated chasers. I can see how the fields here would make a perfect setting for that classic tornado...

Weird chase season so far!!

Reed here, with an update from the TVN team.  Sorry for the lack of posts in recent days...We've been insanely busy upgrading our camera/instrument probes before the next series of chases (which look to be the first "real" possibilities of the season).

Here is a recap of TVN's last two storm chases:

May 10:  We were torn between two targets on this day, and went with eastern Arkansas.  We should have chosen Northeast Oklahoma, where several strong tornadoes were reported, including one fatal EF4 tornado that severely damaged the town of Picher, OK.  In Arkansas, TVN intercepted a fast-moving (~60 mph) supercell storm south of Little Rock, but struggled to keep up.  A tornado nearly touched down a few hundred yards northwest of us near the town of England, AR, where the sirens were blaring and thankfully the streets were totally abandoned.   30 minutes later near sunset, we witnessed power-flashes from an EF3 tornado that tore through the south side of Stuttgart, AR.  Shortly thereafter, we met up with the TIV team who had some CRAZY stories to tell.   The radar image above was the last image we downloaded before losing mobile internet, and was just as the tornado was exiting the southeast side of town. 

May 13:  Another marginal setup, and another near-miss!  TVN chased a monster storm just to the northeast of Oklahoma City, and despite very low expectations for the day, nearly saw a tornado touch down in the field to our south.  The developing funnel and wrapping rain can be seen in the video frame capture at right, with clear air wrapping around the circulation.  Nearly all tornadoes I've seen form as a thin band of rain wraps around the area of rotation.  This one came close, but never did condense all the way to the ground.

This has been one of the most unusual chase seasons in my 10 years of doing this...  While we haven't seen any well-defined, long-track tornadoes from close range yet this year, we've still experienced some very dangerous extreme weather conditions -- including nearly being struck by lightning by 5 consecutive cloud-to-ground lightning strokes in the Texas Panhandle, losing two wind shields to baseball size hail, being some of the first on the scene for two strong tornado damage paths, and getting hit by a weak tornado near Breckenridge, TX on April 9 (we tried to deploy our probe but before we could even get to the back of the truck we were inside the weak circulation!).  So...while we feel disappointed for not capturing that incredible tornado shot or deploying our camera/instrument probe, this season still feels semi-successful considering we've encountered these unique situations.   Still though, it is hard to forget that last year at this time we had seen over 30 tornadoes. 

From a storm chasing perspective, the problem we've been facing all season long is that the storm systems are very fast moving, with most of the storms moving at 50+ mph in the jungles east of Oklahoma.  These setups are nearly impossible to chase, with typically only one intercept opportunity per storm with the less-than-favorable road networks and fast storm motions -- so luck plays a huge role when chasing to the east.  This is why very few chasers except for the most dedicated chose to chase to the east of I-35 in central OK/KS. 

Things are about to change...  The long-range computer forecast models are indicating the potential for several severe weather outbreaks across the Great Plains beginning Wednesday of this week, and extending at least through the weekend.  The storm speeds will be much more manageable and we'll be chasing over ideal terrain with incredible road networks.  The weather map at right is the forecast jet stream (channel of strong winds high in the atmosphere) for this Thursday evening, May 22.  The large U-shaped trough in the Western U.S. is the storm system we are keeping an eye on.  If this forecast pans out, then the Great Plains could be in for a tornado outbreak on Thursday...but the forecast can change dramatically this far in advance, so check out the blog for frequent updates.

During the recent downtime, we've been working on the installation of weather instruments on our camera probe.  Pictured at right is the instrument we'll be using to record wind speed from within a tornado.  This particular model of anemometer has a maximum wind speed threshold of over 200 mph, which is very important considering we'll be placing this probe in the paths of tornadoes.  We hope to have these instruments operational in time for the storm chases next week, since it looks like we may have the perfect opportunity to deploy. 
    
TVN guarantees at least 10 tornado intercepts by this time next week!!