Ed Grubb and myself departed the Denver area on Wednesday, overnighting in Amarillo after taking in the must-stop Big Texan and hanging with Roger and Elke Edwards (who was recovering nicely from his medical issue). We awakened Thursday with not far to go; our early target was Claude in anticipation of the warm front lifting to near I-40.
We sat at a gas station with Roger and company for a bit, but we remained well on the cold side of the lifting front. Several storms attempted to go up, a few severe near Amarillo which continued northeast into cooler air. We watched these towers become storms and move northeast, and as the hours drew on, we knew we were going to need to get south.
About this time, a few blips began to go up north/northeast of Lubbock, and they had much more favorable air to play with. We shot southeast on US-287 toward Clarendon, then dropped south to make a run at the first cell. It was not doing so hot, and we continued to see development further southwest. We knew eventually one of those was gonna be the show, just a matter of which. We cut east toward Memphis to get back to US-287.
Enroute, we saw our for-real target storm get going, but splitting pretty early. The left split was a pretty honking hailer, and the right split initially looked like it was destined for the storm graveyard. But it finally unwreched itself, made its path to the east, and became the cell.
We blew through Childress, dropping south on US-62 toward Paducah. The storm was unfortunately running a line between US-62/US-70 and US-82 with little to no road options in the middle. We hung around in Paducah for a bit, conversing with Colt Forney and Christiaan Patterson on the south side of town as the storm was making its approach to US-83.
There was some contemplation to take on the core, but we were quick to realize the chances of a meaningful hail intercept in town were slim, so we proceeded south on US-83. While southbound, tornado warnings went out and reports of an ongoing tornado had us kind of surprised. From our immediate vantage point, there was nothing to see. But we crested a hill and finally got a clear view to see the landspoutish looking dust whirl. We pulled off to the side of the highway and documented that birdfart that was out near Dumont.
View attachment 22758
I think we both shared a similar sentiment; this was going to be how this day was going to roll. A few stat-padding birdfarts. The storm looked wicked good on radar, and here we were watching this landspoutish thing. The storm, still off to the west, was making a slow approach to the highway. About this time, the chaser convergence was beginning in earnest, lines of vehicles on either side of the road as this storm was approaching.
We decided, based on lack of roads until US-82 in Guthrie to our south, that we needed to get ahead of the line of chasers. We departed south toward Guthrie long before the storm hit US-83. We may have missed a small tornado as it crossed/just east of US-82, and as far south as we were along US-83, we had no real view of the storm, which was roughly 15 miles to our north and west.
Benjamin was our target, then we'd cut north to get ourselves set up in front of the beast. The storm continued to be warned, but was over no-man's land. Based on the storm's track, I estimated the sweet spot would cross a few miles north of the county line on TX-6 north of Truscott. At this point, we were well ahead of the congo line and had plenty of room to find a spot and wait.
View attachment 22759
We had pointed ourselves south on the southbound shoulder, figuring we'd repeat a similar tactic with this storm, if it wasn't producing at this point, we'd again take the early move to reposition on the next available north-south option. Fortunately it didn't get to the point. After about 30 minutes or so, we got a low-contrast view of a large dust bowl that was being kicked up. Given that contrast, we couldn't immediately deduce whether it was a tornado or not. Once I put the zoom on it with my camera, it became clear we were seeing the early stages of a tornado. The dust whirled a bit before the funnel became evident.
View attachment 22760
It was slow to move east, but we knew we were sitting very pretty. We flipped around, pointing ourselves north on the northbound shoulder, and just took in the view as this tornado became much higher contrast as it approached the windfarm to our northeast. We had a great spot, great view, and my favorite part, we could actually take it in without having to be mobile or staring at it through the windshield.
View attachment 22761
You take for granted the ability to sit and actually enjoy a tornado without the distractions of having to drive and navigate. And our earlier decision to get ahead of the endless line of chasers paid off in spades because we had a safe spot well off the road and were able to watch a large portion of this tornado from a stationary, and unobstructed vantage point, despite more than a few vehicles racing north passed us.
The tornado, which transitioned to from a white cone to a dirty mass, continued to cross over the wind turbines, a sight neither Ed or myself had seen with such detail before. We were both rather amazed to see the turbines intact after the tornado moved on, even as the pre-tornado spin had ceased as the funnel moved over them.
View attachment 22762
As the tornado approached the highway to our north, the dust took over the view, including a wall of it associated with the RFD marching at us, and we appeared to be dead centered in the apex of this surge of brown dust. Once it overtook us, we lost sight of the tornado as it was somewhere on or very near the highway.
At this point, we had a brief discussion as we waited for the visibility to improve before we would get back on the highway. We didn't want to risk a collision in the reduced visibility as there continued to be a parade of vehicles passing us in the dust. Once the dust cleared and we could see far enough in both directions, we elected the south option back through Truscott and we'd hop on FM-1756, an eastbound route that would connect us to FM-267. Daylight was running out and we knew a run to US-183 wouldn't get us around the storm before dark, and we were concerned with going north to US-70 in fear we'd be behind the main core and having to punch through the core to get back ahead, so we took a gamble on this route to see if we could get one more peak at the storm before nightfall.
Once we made the northbound turn onto FM-267 heading toward Thalia, we estimated the hook was to our due north by about 10 miles, meaning we were going to come in from behind it. With just enough light left, we decided to proceed, thinking maybe we'd get a last view from the southwest. That never happened, and we finally made it to US-70 west of Thalia and turned east.
Darkness was here, we were essentially riding the backside of the hook, and were in the middle of a very long, and slow moving line of vehicles all heading east on US-70. The storm, likely while cycling, took a northward jog before pushing due east again, and it looked more and more like we were going to spend way too long driving in unfavorable conditions in the dark. About this time, we hit Thalia, and peeled out of the congo line, turning ourselves around to the west with a few cells building behind the main supercell. We figured we'll avoid a horrid drive, and maybe catch a little bonus or some lightning out of those western cells. Neither of us were wild about trying to hook slice a supercell at night in a massive line of vehicles. And in the back of our minds, we knew what COULD happen in this very instance...
Well, shortly after we turned back to the west, we found a pull out to watch the western storms. Within moments, we took note that the circulation that was once south of US-70 had made a hard LEFT, and was heading right toward 70 and a line of green dots on GRLevel3. Needless to say, we held our breath cause we knew what COULD happen was indeed happening.
Fortunately, only ONE vehicle we know of was impacted, and only one person suffered a minor injury. Our hearts sank, Ed and I both know all too well the consequences of a left moving tornado. As much as I would LOVE to say our deciding reasoning was solely on the potential of a left moving tornado to hit our highway, in the end, we opted to NOT proceed due to the combination of dangerous conditions after dark in a traffic jam knowing that this storm already had made a north twitch prior to this. Neither of us were surprised by this storm taking that turn, and were more so relieved we opted to not face the reminder that such a motion from a storm does indeed happen.
In the midst of this, we opted to proceed to an overnight destination. Most of our stop ignored the ongoing storms we had made a half-assed play for and were spent divided between trying to find lodging nearby and watching radar. We eventually found ourselves a room in Wichita Falls, so back to FM-267 we went, taking that to FM-1919 into Seymour, then up US-277 to our hotel. Routing around what was now a traffic jam near Lockett and avoiding having to drive through any heavy precip in the dark.
We spent most of the following day in Lockett covering the damage left behind from that tornado for the AccuWeather network. We talked to several residents and emergency officials, and documented the damage in town and to properties south of town. We noted several interesting damage events across the path as we were about. As we wrapped up our coverage, we learned the tornado was rated EF-3. From there, we hoofed it up to Wichita for the night with hope we'd be setting up for a couple days between Nebraska and Illinois, but those setups looked much less nifty when we awakened Friday morning, so we opted to cut the trip there and returned home to Colorado Friday evening after visiting my old station in town.
I feel like just about every significant chase these days has these post-mortem write ups about what's becoming an increasingly more, for lack of better words, wrecklessness in people. We were aware, quite early, that this was going to a be a one-storm show, so we immediately adjusted our logistics to account for what we figured was going to be a massive amount of chase vehicles on a massive amount of LACK of roads. Fortunately, and selfishly for us, we didn't miss out on anything after making an early reposition after the Dumont birdfart. As a result, we were able to find ourselves a safe place to pull off and wait for the storm to bring its show to us. When the tornado was ongoing, we were off on the shoulder, and I spent a lot of time filming out the window, using my mirror as a tripod, to shoot most of the video you see above. Around me, folks were standing very close to the road, some with doors open into the roads, all the usual stuff you hear about just about everytime. And all this not including several documented instances of awful and/or distracted driving. I'm truly amazed that we're not hearing more instances of people getting into accidents and worse. Clearly El Reno was forgotten by most, and I assume no one thinks of Corbin anymore, either?
We encountered very little issues with the crowds because we took early actions to position ourselves, and used routes that while would be safer and clear of most of the traffic due to our timing, did put us out of position for lengthy amounts of time. Taking the fading daylight into consideration toward the end, knowing we would not be actively chasing once darkness fell. Then making an informed choice to peel off the chase when it was clear safety was going to be jeopardized in a meaningless attempt to get ahead of the storm, then opting for some extra time, and ultimately a route AROUND the storm to get where we were to settle for the night. Unfortunately, whether I like it or not, this is chasing now. And situational awareness extends beyond just the weather. We're factoring in heavily how to navigate crowds on limited road networks, and our planning and execution worked perfectly where we were able to have an enjoyable tornado intercept. Will it work every time, probably not. But it did this time, and it shows what that situational awareness does. We accepted we could miss a show, maybe THE show, but anymore a successful chase means going home in one piece, and its not the weather we are worried about.
I know I've officially hit the "get off my lawn" part of my career... I get it... I'm now an old-timer in this craft. But I think I speak for many when I say that people need to tone it down a few notches. This "extreme" stuff is no longer extreme, and it's clear a lot of folks think that, because they're constantly pushing the envelop further. Many of you will not understand the PTSD that comes about when you see a storm make a hard left into a line of cars knowing that we have lost close friends to that very same thing. Then when those that are impacted come out with smiles, bragging about how incredible an experience it was, its driving a knife into my heart because I have flashbacks to the days after El Reno when my friends did not make it out of that situation alive. Its a HUGE kick in the nuts, and personally I wish it would stop. It's not a badge of honor. And what's also been made painfully clear by this is how little knowledge people have about storms, yet they're parading around out there without a care in the world, including the care to know anything about what they're doing. A left-turning tornado is nothing new, and 30 seconds on Google would enlighten you immediately to how relatively common such a turn is in a strong tornado, yet so many people were shocked that this would happen. El Reno alone would be enough to warrant a second thought, yet there we were again. I know some situations are unavoidable, I know chasing has its inherent dangers (a list of those dangerous to which grows every chase it seems), and I know we're all guilty of distracted moments. But this egregious lack of giving a shit is getting too out of hand, and people ARE dying because of it and will continue to die at the hands of this carelessness, despite the invincibility everything thinks they have.
Do better people... it's no longer simply about the enjoyment of chasing... it's about going home alive and in one piece. Too many people have received that phone call already. And if you can't stop long enough to care about yourself, please do the rest of us a favor and at least care for everyone else.
