March 27th Suprise Supercells

Well, I started the day early in Stillwater, with no intention of chasing supercells. I thought if I make it back to Tulsa in time, I could film some BS storms for KTUL. So I headed to the KGB house in Edmond, to setup my new Tahoe, and get her ready for the chase season ahead. Randy Rhea stopped by on his afternoon lunch break, we had some pizza, then he went back to work. I was about to head back towards Tulsa when randy called an informed me of towers off to the East. Hmm. Looked East, then pulled over to get "white lightning" ready for her first chase. Supercell in Okfuskee County moving at a whopping 22 MPH. So I break a few laws trying to get there, a "large tornado" which was probably just rainwrapped scud was reported. The coldfront was to the north, and Dicky McG suggested i catch the storm that went up just S of the tornadic cell. She was a beaut, dropping random golfballs out of the anvil canopy onto my new car. I caught the cell near Eufala and got very close to the disorganized(but TorWarned) wall cloud, got stuck in some mud, and decided to head E a little. More quarter sized hail with a few golfballs mixed in. Filmed some crappy video for KTUL and went to Glenpool.

256 miles.

March 17th NW TX "chase"

Well, I started the day in Glenpool, woke up early, and met Ryan Warford and Randy Rhea at the KGB house in Edmond. We Headed out for Wichita Falls around noon. A little late, but it didn't matter. When we got to Wichita Falls, we decided to keep going to Seymour. Ran into Jeff Snyder, said hello. We held our ground there as storms struggled to sustain themselves. One storm near Abilene went TORwarned and another cell went up just S of us neat Throckmorton. We busted S to intercept. when we got there, it had a bit on an elongate updraft, but it did have a wallcloud with some rising motion. we followed it down a dead end county road (thanks delorme) and by the time we got back to our highway. it had split and the left split had accelerated towards OK. We could make out 2 wall clouds on that cell for a few minutes as we tried to follow it. As we went through Seymour, we decided it was a lost cause and were debating on heading 200 miles east into the new watch. I chased SE OK last week for KTUL video, and I will never do it again. Those hills and highways are hell for a chaser. So we chased a pack of wild boar, and Steve Miller pulled up. Said hello, then we headed North towards home. Mike Ratliff passed us, then i called him to let him know I wasn't a copper. We tried to stop and take a few lightning shots, but the rain always overtook us. Then we got home(Edmond), and I went to bed knowing that the next day I would spend alot of the next day filming flooding in southern Tulsa county.

822 miles

March 2nd W OK chase

Well, I started my day in Edmond, and had a list of things to get done before I left. I woke up late (imagine that) and needed to do some serious cleaning, wire 3 cig-plugs in my car, and build a new laptop mount. I finished around 1 and headed toward Lawton on 44. Today would be good as I would finally get to test my Sprint card and all my programs and see how well I can chase by myself. Watched some storms in NW OK get TorWarned but new that the cold front would blast through within the hour, so I stuck to my Southerly target. Talked to Chris Wilburn. He said he was headed towards Hobart to wait on some cells firing on the Red River. I broke W to intercept near the town of Snyder. I could see 2 interesting areas on the base of the storm, but the southern area quickly stole the show. It played around with some disorganized wall clouds for about 20 minutes, but as I neared Roosevelt, the whole Meso had lowered from the base and was putting on quite a show. I set up and watched an amazing wall cloud cycle and occlude, then headed E to re-position. Then she really got cranking. The 10 minutes I spent watching this mothership spin is why I get up in the morning. Even though she didn't tornado, that 10 minutes made the whole day worth it. It was amazing. Heres a timelapse from this spot.



From there on she transitioned into a High Precip beauty, so I punched it once for fun, then turned around and went back to Roosevelt to catch the next "cell" which was embedded in a line segment. Decent wall cloud, but very disorganized. I headed home to get back into the KTUL viewing area so I can get some video for them. I gassed up in Wellston where Matt Hagy, Randy Rhea, and Jessica Sager met up with me. We headed S into a new watch-box where some new SUPs were trying to develop. They never happened and we parted ways near Tecumseh. The next 2 hours I spent trying to get ahead of the line and avoid my biggest fear and a Chasers' worst enemy... hydroplaning. Well, I suck so it didn't work and I almost ran someone off the road. Maybe they won't drive in people's blind spot from now on. Anyways, I slowly crept home(Glenpool) and got a good nights rest. The end.

466miles.

I feel that I chased very well with few mistakes. It was also nice to chase storms that were moving less than 50 mph! This was just one of those days where you chase by yourself with no expectations and get rewarded. It's days like this that make all the BS days worth it.

A few chasers that played further north were rewarded with a brief but nice tube. However, the structure wasn't near as pretty as the storm I was on so I don't feel that I missed anything. Also, I'm pissed that mother nature rewarded people to the north when it was obvious that the cold front would intervene. Whatever.


Also, I would like to thank my bosses for letting me bribe them with subway. I buy them lunch so that they let me chase on days that I should be at work. Thanks Eagle and Kev!

February 4-5, 2008 Chase

Well, Chris Bishop and I were planning on going to Tahlequah to skate a visit my Family, and there was a chance for storms late that night, so it was going to be a good day. We skated a few spots, then went to my Dads to hang out and wait for storms to fire up. Fell asleep, and my little sister woke us up when she was leaving for school. I woke up to see the SPCs first high risk of the year, with an emphasis on long-track tornadoes. So I ask Chris if he's ready to go on his first nader chase and sit on his ass for 14 hours straight. We decided to go for it, and we head out to Little Rock at 8:30 am. I called Randy Rhea and Hagy to see if they were in, and they jumped in the car and headed out from Edmond. We met in Ft. Smith and kept East to Little Rock. Randy Hicks called and said he was heading South of of Little Rock to catch a TORwarned cell near Hamburg. We decided to break south as well, but the storms were too fast, so we decided to catch another. On our way there, we caught a mini-SUP. It was weak, but it was rotating. We get a view of out target cell and she's a beauty. Very broad updraft base with precip around the wall cloud. Follow it as far as possible, but road options SUCKED. So we headed North to catch a new cell going up near Pine Bluff. We set up 5 miles S of Stuttgart, and watch it come in around dark. AMAZING anvil crawler lightning. It just so happens that a few cells were going up behind it, which would make for a good chase. I believe were were watching 2 wall clouds to the SW and W, with rain-wrapped power flashed to the North. All at one time. The rain-wrapped power flashes were caused by a tornado near the Stuttgart airport. We headed north after our cell to the west went TORwarned. In the distance we could see the possible tornado, with the Meso of our storm wrapping up very nicely, very close to us. It never did much and we let it fly away, and we headed towards 40 to head home, and we punched the core of another cell, and Headed W to position for the Squall line. We went a little North of Brinkley to watch some lowerings along the edge of the line. There was a suspicious lowering that turned into a funnel, so we went after it. I havent looked at video yet so we arent sure if anything came of it. It left us and the line hit us with 70mph winds and airborne gravel scared us South to get some subs and discuss our trip home. Pictures and video up soon.

804 miles.

January 7? Tornadoes?

January 7, 2008 Chase

I got off work at noon and met up with my chase partner, Randy Rhea at a subway in Jenks, OK to discuss the forecast. After a quick Mesoscale analysis, we decide to head SE toward Checotah, OK. After watching storms struggle to develop, we decide to head North to Wagoner, to meet up with our other chase partner, Matt Hagy. On our way there, there was a "cell" that was displaying supercell-type structure, and not even showing reflectivity on GR3. It was interesting. We meet Matt at McDs, do another meso-analysis, and look at the latest radar. With the windfield at hand, a storm would have to deviate to the right to make full use of the backing winds at the surface. We head north to 412 and set up at the truckstop on 69 and 412 to pick a storm. After a quick radar check and chat, we see one storm that would possibly make the right-turn. It was just starting to crank in southern Cherokee CO and was already showing a hook-echo. So we jump in the car, and blast East to get ahead of in on 412. It was TOR warned near Tahlequah, and low-level rotation was intesifying. It was going to turn right! After catching a decent hail core(dimes and a few nickels) and some really intense lightning, we get ahead of it just before heading into AR. We moseyed through Siloam Springs, wondering how far east we needed to go to stay safe, as this storm had been taking a more Easterly course than we had seen on radar. We decided to keep heading East out of town, just in case. We found a nice hill to watch from, and then we decided we were too far East. We jump back onto 412 W and hear wall cloud reports NORTH OF TOWN. This b*tch was really moving. So we jump onto AR59 and flew north towards Gentry. While on 59, we were tailgated by a the WhackerChaserSuperLightbarPolice(see end of post). After being harassed by police-wannabees, we head north in hopes of finding a clear spot to watch the storm leave us. We found a spot behind a chicken processing plant, near Decatur, AR. We see a lowered area with rotating scud, get behind this processing plant, and this lowered area is close to the ground. Is it a tornado? Well, it's rotating condesation from the belly of a right-turning SUP, and it's almost on the ground. It looks like sh*t, but its January, and it's in the Ozark Hills of Arkansas. Then, a funnel appears on the souther edge of the scud lowering, and reaches out about half way to the ground. We watch it, i take video, Randy and Matt take stills, and it says goodbye, but not before the funnel just to the south of it touches down.

We celebrate our first tornado of the year, and head towards Bentonville to gas up, data check, and pick our next cell to intercept. Well, another Sup had popped up, and was going right over Bentonville. It was TOR warned, but with about 971576 different cells also being warned, we had no idea. we stop to get gas, I pull up GR3, and theres a very intense velocity couplet over the north side of town. It was too late to "chase" it. So we watch lightning, and I look to see what our tornado producer had become, and was in awe of the radar signature. It had taken on a "tornadocane" structure. Amazing. While looking at the radar, lightning hits about 150 yards behind me. Matt is filming me looking at the laptop, and accidentally gets this...

After we finished gassing, we head South on 540 in hopes of finding hotel with free wifi(man we need something better hah). We hear of another cell about to cross into the boonies, so we head West on 412 to meet it. We stop at WalMart in Siloam Springs to wait for it. It becomes disorganized, so we head West into the mess in hopes that the next cell in line would isolate itself. It doesn't, so we punch through it to get back to Hagy's car, which we left at the shell station. Before we get too far behind the line, the mess had moved on, and a cell had become extremely isolated and displayed a fantastic radar signature, and intense low level rotation, right over Wagoner. So we punch west through the northern edge of it, with hopes of following behind it on 412. It became less organized, and by the time it reached 412, the Meso had accelerated to the forward-flank of the storm. We watch the rain-free tail of it anyways, and wave goodbye as it accelerates toward MO. We take Hagy back to his car, and head home.

411 miles. 5 sups, 1 tornado, 1 tornadocane, 1 lightning reflection video, and one hell of a first chase of the year.

RANT: Now back to the Lightbar rant I didn't know if we were in a parade of lights, or chasing a tornado. Then these a-holes use their lights to gain right-of-way not once, not twice, but THREE TIMES, IN A CONSTRUCTION ZONE, with little to no room to move off of the roadway. I film the license plate, for later use, of course, and we get out of the construction, and out of Gentry. The Weather Police decide to pull over. I decide that i want to find out who they think they are. so i get out, and run back to their car to see who the hell these POLICE IMPERSONATORS were. And guess what. I'll be a daughter of suzie if it weren't BILL BRASKY HIMSELF!!! OK. They were voluteer firefighters, with FOUR laptops running GR3. Lets go through the lighting set-up. WIGWAG headlight brights, 4 MASSIVE led lights in the grille, 2 more on the brush gaurd facing the side, a humongoid amber arrowstick, and 4 90watt Strobe tubes on the brake/backup light assembly.

Don't get me wrong. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm all about some emergency lighting. I'm all about the safety aspect of it. There is a point where its just ridiculous, and these idiots passed that point. Thats all I got.

2007 year in review

Well, I didn't keep track of statistics this year as well as I would have liked. I guess that's a good New Years resolution. So I'm going to try off the top of my head.

CHASE days: 9
MILES: ~?
TORNADO DAYS: 4
TORNADOES: 11(3 on March 28th, 1 on April 12th, 2 on April 21st, 5 on May 4th)
STATES CHASED: KS,OK,NE,TX
TORNADO STATES: KS, TX
TORNADO MONTHS: March, April, May.

Summary: Started the year off with a bust on Feb 24th. I had some buddies with me and we messed around in OKC for too long, left late, and missed the tornado.
3-28: Chased with Tyler Costantini and Chris Wilburn. Saw my first tornado near the town of Hedley, and saw 2 more as we were repositioning. Probably missed a few this day due to bad contrast and nightfall. Saw some really cool funnels out of the side of the updraft as well as "anvil zit" lightning. it was very eerie.
4-11: Wasn't a tornado chasing day, but we wanted to take a shot at lightning photography, so we went to the Childress area. Met Tony on a dark side road. They stayed in Wichita Falls, we went to Decatur(My Moms).
4-12: Chased with my partner Randy Rhea. Missed the Seymour tornado as we were too far East. Caught the line just west of Decatur. Got chased to Denton, we screamed East, to drop south in front of the weird Sup that was not really imbedded, but within the line. Intercepted a "cell" just East of Lake Ray Hubbard. Called in a bowl-shaped lowering with powerflashes. Confirmed damage to barns and a fence. Pretty disappointing for a High Risk. But I'll take what I can get.
4-21: Chased with Joey, Russel Parsons, and Chris Wilburn. Got on a good looking storm near Hereford, couldn't produce. Headed north to 40 to see if we could catch another storm. I was taking pictures out the window of a weird cloud structure, and later that night, when looking over the pictures, saw what seemed to be a tornado in a rain curtain. When we got to 40, we headed East, everyone lost Radar data, drove threw some small hail, then a tornado hit us. It was weak. once we got the hell out of there, i took a picture looking back. scroll down to see that picture on the 4-21 summary. Then we regained our composure, Caught an LP cell, drove home in a squall line.
5-4:Waited around in SC KS. Got gas in Greensburg. Went East to Medicine Lodge for Wifi, turned our asses around when we saw the Greensurg cell getting cookin. Got our first glimpse at the Tornado(es) just N of Coldwater. Took pictures as we mosey'd N on 183. Didn't know the town took a direct hit, but knew there would be damage so we tried to take a clay road around town. Got stuck. Got unstuck. Decided not to go to Greensburg thinking that we would only hamper rescue efforts. I regret that decision EVERY DAY and will probably regret it every day for as long as I live. The next day at work, I found out about the town being completely destroyed.
5-6: local chase. not looking for naders. Got my best lightning shot ever.(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...ke/mike005.jpg)
5-29: Chased with Tyler Costantini, and his nephew. Messed around all day. I was in a goofy mood and I think I pissed Tyler off by being goofy all day. Finally got on a storm late in the evening out in BFE in the OK panhandle. Good lightning, decent rotation for about 10 minutes. Then we came home.
6-6: Met up with Bart Comstock and Chris Wilburn in NE. Targeted Broken Bow. later met up with Eric Flescher. Saw really nice structure, repositioned, more good structure. Saw a horse-shoe vortex on top of a roll cloud. that was cool. They all got the last 2 rooms at a hotel in Grand Island, i went down the street. Randy Hicks and Lisa stayed with me.
6-7: Parted ways with everyone in the morning and I headed home. Hoped for a storm to go up in KS, but didn't happen. Got home, took some buddys on a local chase, hoped for a storm to go up west of Henrietta, OK. Got free root beer floats at sonic. went to the Skatepark and did some tricks on the fruitboots. No storms. Did see a ton of good lookin girls at WalMart with goofy looking guys.


No real chases since June. Depressing. Come on Spring!!!

Winter.

Well it seems as if winter has finally moved in and it's here to stay. My prediction is that it will never storm again. it will be cold forever. not really, i just hate cold weather. chances are i wont update this again until next spring.