Discovery Channel: Storm Chasers

Pictures from Ole Miss!

TVN is currently stationed in Oxford/Tupelo, MS, with the Dominator being outfitted with air cannons and the revamped radar by Hyperion Technology Group.  It looks like we could be here for the whole week, with an array of 12 cannons being mounted on the back right side of the shell, with 50 temperature/moisture/pressure probes outfitted with parachutes ready for launch.  It looks like tomorrow and Wednesday could be good storm chasing days in the Southern Plains, and it's torture to potentially miss these, but we absolutely have to have the Dominator fully outfitted with our research equipment in time for the apocalypse on Saturday through early next week.  By the calendar we may be half way through the season, but based on the long-range models it looks like the real season has not even begun.  So far we're up to 17 tornadoes, most from close range and one good intercept, with hopefully many more to come over open terrain!  Stay tuned for more updates from the field!
   

TVN multiple tornado intercepts during historic Oklahoma outbreak

Here is the video from the tornado intercepts today with the Dominator..  The first series of suction vortices ripping trees out of the ground was from the Wakita to Medford supercell, and went from pure chaos with vortices ripping trees out of the ground and snapping power poles all around us, to a cone/wedge near Medford.  The elephant trunk was from west of Pawkuska, OK in Osage County with a second supercell, and we actually intercepted this one as it crossed the road, but it happened so fast I couldn't get the window up and nearly blew us off the road.  We then dropped south and punched the core of the Norman to Shawnee to Checotah storm but the tornado had just lifted when we gained visual of the wall cloud.

Sadly, 5 deaths have been reported from this outbreak, with many more missing as of this evening.  I believe preliminary damage surveys have shown EF3 damage in Norman, but I wouldn't be surprised if stronger damage is found tomorrow as the survey continues.  Stay tuned as more information becomes available.  Meanwhile, more storm chases anticipated in the Southern Plains over the next few days...

Video of the Scotland, AR EF3 tornado on April 30, 2010!

TVN has been busy the last week or so, with a photogenic supercell intercepted in northern Kansas on April 29, and an EF3 just west of Clinton, Arkansas during a challenging Ozarks Mountain chase...known as the most difficult storm chasing terrain in Tornado Alley.  The Ozarks are characterized by relatively tall, densely forested mountains similar to the Appalachians, and anytime you can gain visual of a tornado it's very satisfying..  First, here is the video from Kansas on April 29.  You may notice a new face in the Dominator, who is meteorologist Ginger Zee from Channel 5 in Chicago..she'll be joining us from time to time during the season when her schedule permits.

We then had to grind out a 6 hour drive from Kansas City, MO south through the Ozarks to get into position ahead of the Clinton tornado, giving a few of us motion sickness as we weaved around the mountains in the Dom. The breaks and engine were under some serious pressure, but still prevailed without any serious problems. Just south of Clinton we were able to get a nice view to the west, and saw the large wedge tornado climb a mountain as it struck the town of Scotland, AR, sadly killing one. We made an attempt at an intercept north of town, but you'll have to check out Storm Chasers this fall to see what happened! After Clinton, and after sunset, we dropped south to another tornadic supercell right on the heels of "Storm A", and saw an incredible cone tornado back-lit by the lightning. Here are pictures of both tornadoes taken by Dick McGowan, the driver and meteorologist of production's follow vehicle.

 
Here is a radar image courtesy of Little Rock NWS at the time of this massive tornado (pictured upper right) hitting Scotland, when it was just west of our position on the south side of Clinton..  You can find a detailed write-up of this event on the Little Rock NWS page here:
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/lzk/?n=svr0410b.htm

Our video from the Clinton, AR day is below..  You can see how frustrating chasing in the Ozarks can be!  The plan for the coming days is to chase in western Kansas tomorrow, followed by a view days off...and then the apocalypse over the Plains on Monday and Tuesday.  It's been an insane start to the season and we haven't even gotten to the heart of it yet!  Stay tuned...

TVN intercepts devastating Yazoo City, MS tornado

We knew it would be a huge tornado outbreak a few days ago in Mississippi, but little did we know we would track one of the longest track tornadoes in MIssissippi history, and be the first on the scene of some of the most horrific damage I've ever seen.  We first saw the tornado near the Mississippi River southwest of Yazoo City, and immediately called in the tornado report, and in a matter of minutes the 60 mph moving wedge was right on us.  We pursued the wedge with the Dominator, and watched as street signs bent to the ground in the intense inflow jet behind the tornado.  We then tracked it into Yazoo City, and drove right into the most devastating damage path I had ever seen.  Emergency pesonnel were not yet on the scene, so we immediately dropped everything and went house to house searching for survivors.  Joel kicked down a door and we pulled out two elderly women, and then found a serously injured man in the debris of a mobile home, carried him out on a stretcher with other storm chasers who were also chasing the storm, and met up with our Discovery medic who hooked up the man with an IV, checked his vitals, and stabilied his neck.  Our medic then called in a helicopter from Jackson, MS and he was airlifted to the hospital.  He was in really really bad shape, so I really hope he made it...Definitely some of the most horrific sites I have ever seen in 12 years of storm chasing.  The damage survey by the NWS in Jackson has given this tornado an EF4 rating, with a maximum width of 1.75 miles, and a potential path length of nearly 200 miles!  This tornado will go down as one of the longest track tornadoes in history..  Below is the video of this wedge tornado from just southwest of Yazoo City, shot from the Dominator.  More tornadoes to come next week...

FIRST HIGH RISK OF THE SEASON!!! Dominator in position!

We have been grinding out 48 hours of non-stop storm chasing, seeing 4-5 tornadoes from close range a few days ago in the Texas Panhandle, and are currently heading toward west-central Mississippi from Iowa for a historic tornado outbreak today.  By the end of today's chase, we will have covered 3000 miles in our first three days on the road, and likely several more tornadoes across multiple southern states.  We are targeting Greenville, MS right in the Mississippi River Valley which is perfect storm chasing terrain - flat farmland with not too many trees - similar to southeast Kansas actually.  The Storm Prediction Center has issued a rare High Risk for this area, expecting a massive tornado outbreak from East Texas northeast through Kentucky..  I seriously would not be surprised if there are over 100 tornado reports by the end of the day, many of which will be strong, violent, and long-track, so residents in this area should keep a VERY close eye to the sky.  If the tornadoes happen we'll be there to drive into them!  Stay tuned for updates, and be sure to check out our live stream!

Near miss yesterday, strong tornadoes possible today.. TVN in position!

It was great to get out in the field yesterday and get some of the rust off, and also to have Joel back behind the wheel of the Dominator!  Even though yesterday was more like the "day before the day", we still intercepted a nice supercell west of Amarillo, TX that came sooooo close to producing a tornado.  When we were approaching the storm from the south, the structure was textbook..  It had rapid rotation and had scud fingers (low hanging clouds below the cloud base) reaching toward the ground and rising rapidly into the storm base.  I thought for sure it was going to happen, called the report into the National Weather Service, and then the supercell got undercut by colder air and collapsed.  Here are some pictures below, shot by Dick McGowan..

Currently we are surging east across the Texas Panhandle and a tornado watch is about to be issued for this afternoon and evening, and the atmosphere is rapidly destabilizing..  I wouldn't be surprised if we're on some large tornadoes between about 6 and 8 pm so be sure to check out our live streaming video at Discovery.com/stormchasers or TornadoVideos.net/Live! 

 

First chase of the year! It looks insane this week!

Hey guys..  We're back for another season, and it's been a very long winter.  The Dominator has been upgraded substantially over the winter, with many upgrades that will allow us to intercept stronger tornadoes this season, and prevent any more window blowouts of course!  The Dominator 2.0, pictured below, has automated Lexan windows that lift at the push of a button, a stronger steel shell fortified with Rhino Lining, upgraded electronics system, and a more aerodynamic shape.  You can actually hit the outer shell as hard as you can with a sledge hammer and it won't even leave a mark!  The weight has been boosted upto 8300 pounds as well, about 1000 heavier than last year. 

El Nino is still holding on in the Pacific, which is an area of warm water in the Tropics that enhances the jet stream over the southern U.S., creating prime conditions for tornadoes over the Southern Plains.  Today looks to be very active for severe weather and tornadoes over the Texas Panhandle, and we're currently in route to our target area just southwest of Amarillo.  We expect some massive hail today as well, possibly baseballs and larger, so we'll be testing out the new Lexan windows for sure..  Check out our live streaming video at Discovery.com/stormchasers, and stay tuned for updates as I'll be posting throughout the season!

Another video from inside a tornado!

And now for the grand finale of the TornadoVideos.net chase season...  Below is video from inside the Aurora, NE tornado as it intensified on top of us.  Note the mini suction vortices rotating around the vehicle inside the parent tornado, with the strongest one slamming into the left side of the vehicle and blowing out the driver's side window.  The bubble cam captured this vortex the best as it rotated around the front of the vehicle and approached from the left...  A 138.8 mph wind gust was recorded just as this mini-tornado slammed the vehicle, and our ears popped as the pressure dropped inside the circulation.  We were scanning the vertical winds with the Close-Range Vertical Radar (CLOVER) for nearly 30 seconds as this tornado passed directly overhead, and captured incredible measurements of the updrafts inside a strengthening tornado.  This moment was captured by our dashboard cams perfectly, so be sure to watch Storm Chasers on Discovery this Fall for INSANE footage of the window imploding inside the tornado.

TornadoVideos.net - June 15 and 17 Tornado Videos!

Here are the videos from the June 15 Macksville, KS tornado and the June 17 tornadoes north of Gibbon, NE and west of Aurora, NE, as shot from the TornadoVideos.net SRV.  The June 15 tornado was definitely one of the strongest of the year, ripping trees out of the ground as it crossed the road in front of us, and then turned southwest and headed straight toward our location!  I tried to back up away from this tornado as it was too strong for intercept, but encountered a minor obstacle...  The Radiance Technologies/TornadoVideos.net RC Plane successfully deployed a parachute probe into this tornado from the southeast, and it was lifted from 400 feet where it was dropped to an altitude of above 3500 feet before being carred for ~6 miles!
The first video below from June 17 is of the first two tornadoes produced by this supercell just north of Gibbon, NE. We attempted to intercept the first tornado but it roped out just as it reached our north-south road, and the second tornado was just as short-lived. Still though, the RC Plane was able to deploy 5 parachute probes into the inflow region of the second tornado (aerial video coming soon) as we in the SRV Dominator were attempting to collect vertical wind data near/in the tornadoes with the mobile radar.

TornadoVideos.net - Radiance field project - Day 1

Here is video from the first day of the TornadoVideos.net - Radiance Technologies tornado field project, invovling the radar (CLOVER) on top of the SRV Dominator, and the 12-foot wingspan RC plane designed to drop 8 parachute probes in the inflow region of tornadoes, where they will be sucked into the vortex while collecting measurements of temperature, dewpoint, and barometric pressure.  This footage is from a supercell storm on June 9 that produced a nice wall cloud and two small funnels.  We recorded vertical wind data underneath a rotating wall cloud with the SRV, and deployed the plane to the south and east of a rotating wall cloud as the storm crossed an outflow boundary.  Radiance will be returning to the field with us for the next few storm chases, so stay tuned for updates!