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Check out this plot showing the wind speed and direction measurement from inside the Goshen Co, WY tornado on June 5, 2009, as measured by the SRV roof-top anemometer. The first maximum in the wind speed shown in the plot is from when we were driving south to intercept the tornado, and the minimum just before the rise to above 150 mph is when we stopped and dropped to the ground with the hydraulics in the tornado's path. The highest 3 second average was 150.2 mph, with 155.2 mph being the maximum 1 second wind gust. Winds of this intensity are associated with strong EF3 tornado strength, which I think is about the maximum we could handle with this vehicle. I cannot explain to you in words the power of this tornado we felt when the vehicle was shaking back and forth and nearly lifted off the ground. The wind gusts came in intense waves, I'm guessing as the mini-vortices rotated around the parent circulation. My right ear immediately popped in the center of the tornado as the tumble weeds and other debris were wedged in between the original Tahoe and the bullet-proof shell. Several Vortex 2 radars were scanning the tornado at the time of our intercept, and we plan on sharing the raw data with the Vortex 2 scientists. You can check out the video in my last post below or at TornadoVideos.net, and be sure to watch the live tracker on the Storm Chasers homepage as we attempt to drive into more tornadoes!
Posted at 06:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (37) | TrackBack (0)
The TIV team had a very good chase last Friday in Wyoming! I will let the video speak for itself. We are working hard to catch a few more tornadoes as we come down to the wire. I have a good feeling about tomorrow and it not just due to it being my birthday. June 12th has been a good date for tornadoes in past years. I caught tornadoes on June 12th in 2004 and 2008. Let's do it again! Stay tuned for more updates.
Brandon
Posted at 12:33 PM in TIV reports | Permalink | Comments (13) | TrackBack (0)
Posted at 08:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (38) | TrackBack (0)
Check out this video from yesterday in Goshen Co, WY, as we drove the SRV Dominator into the tornado when it was a photogenic rope/elephant trunk. The winds were MUCH stronger with this tornado than our last intercept in Kirksville, MO on May 13, and the vehicle shook violently as the tornado moved overhead. Debris and tumbleweeds from the tornado were jammed in between the bullet-proof shell and the Tahoe underneath, and we could barely see out the windows after the tornado moved through. Note the video from the rooftop bubble camera showing our magnet amber light getting ripped from the roof of the vehicle in the tornadic winds. Now we're heading to Iowa for another potential tornado event! We'll share the wind data from the roof anemometer when we retrieve it. Chris is thinking 147 mph... my guess is a little lower but somewhere in the 120 to 140 mph range.
Posted at 04:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (42) | TrackBack (0)
Hey everyone, Byron and Team TIV here. It's been a while, I apologize. We've been pretty busy despite that horrible ridged out month of May.
Today begins some great excitement and we are jacked up on energy drinks and headed to our first target of the day. As Brandon, one of our meteorologists put it this morning on the radio, "who here is NOT ready to see a tornado today?" We've had this itch for a whole month and it's time to start scratching.
We are not an official part of V2, but are still working with Josh Wurman and his CSWR crew when on the same targets. Today will be one of those days. Be sure to watch the excitement on the LiveTracker streams off of www.discovery.com/stormchasers and thestormreport.com.
This is going to be a wild week!
Byron
Posted at 01:51 PM in TIV reports | Permalink | Comments (15) | TrackBack (0)
Here is video of Kevin and Terry (Designer of the vehicle and mechanical support) fine-tuning the Dominator for the upcoming active pattern. Fixes included the front hydraulic pins, which were bent from catching air on the canyon roads in New Mexico, and one of the front headlights that was cracked while inside the Kirksville, MO tornado.
Based on recent long-range trends, the next few weeks are likely going to be insane, with several massive tornado outbreaks. Thankfully the vehicle is tuned up and ready for action! The upper-level jet stream pattern below is what we have to look forward to on Saturday, which could result in tornadoes across Northwest KS and Southwest NE. Be sure to check out the Storm Chasers live streaming video page to see what we see in real-time while on the chase!
Posted at 12:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0)
The last few weeks have been dead for tornadoes, so I thought now was a good time to post some pictures from the first month of production. Below from left is our field general Marion, camera operator Robert Seaman who captures the shots with the SRV driving into tornadoes, and Chris Whiteneck, the producer and shooter who rides in the vehicle with us.. Chris' flip-up sun glasses are a necessity in the rapidly changing light conditions of storm chasing..
And here are pictures of the trip to Radiance Technologies in Oxford, MS to attach the radar (CLOVER) to the roof our vehicle and perform some test aerial probe deployments with the TornadoVideos.net RV Plane.. From upper left is EXTREME storm chaser Chris Chittick, safety engineer Bobo Selman with your executive producer, the SRV at Radiance Technologies for the radar mount, Radiance enginner Hank who rode with us in the Kirksville tornado to operate the radar, and the final four pictures are of the TornadoVideos.net RC plane test flights.
We're dying to get back on the chase, and it looks like the next few weeks could be absolutely insane, which is perfect timing since we'll be launching our full tornado field project beginning this Sunday. The plan is to fly the 12-foot wingspan RC plane around the tornado and deploy parachute probes (pictured above) in the inflow region to get sucked into the circulation. We'll also be capturing high resolution radar data from the SRV from extreme close range to the tornado, and deploying our 300 pound HD camera probe from last year in the path of the strongest tornadoes. The goal is directly measure the horizontal and vertical winds inside the mini suction vortices that often rotate around the parent tornado.
If you have any questions about the field project or anything in general for the TornadoVideos.net team please let them rip! Check back for updates..
Posted at 01:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (35) | TrackBack (0)
Reed Timmer
TVN Lead Storm Chaser
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