Tony Laubach
EF5
CLICK HERE TO VIEW COMPLETE MAY 5, 2006 STORM CHASE LOG
Its 2:05am CDT (1:05am MDT), and in less than 4 hours will be 24 hours since I aoke up this morning. While I cannot say for certain what my mileage came out to be due to the fact I was chasing out of two vehicles over this chase, it must've ended up close to 900 which lead me here to Midland.
I left Denver this morning at about 5:30a and made great time and gas mileage into Amarillo where I filled up my 3/4 tank after over 400 miles of travel. I then continued south through Lubbock where I was aiming to make Midland. However, storms firing in New Mexico had me thinking heading that far south wasn't needed. I elected to turn west into Andrews where I met with Jason Boggs and shot the breeze with him til we elected to head north to Seminole to intercept the storm coming out of Hobbs.
What happened next is by far the most incredible chasing experience of my life to date. The storm was heading east/northeast at this point just north of the highway. When I got into town, I met with Amos M, Eric N, and Scott E and we headed west out of town. We elected then to get northwest of Seminole to get a closer view of the storm.
The storm suddenly made a violent and quick turn almost due southeast. Hail began to fall; marbles at first, then growing to quarters, then golfballs. Eric and Amos (in Amos's truck) headed back southeast into town while Scott E and I hung back. Things looked like they were lightening up a bit. All of a sudden, a few baseballs started coming down. We were going to head back in to town when we heard Eric and Amos over the radio advising us NOT to head south cause the hail was bigger.
We then elected to stay put; the stones weren't falling too furiously, so it looked as if the storm had wrapped itself around us and we were going to be spared. *Insert a long incorrect buzzer here* More stones began to fall, then hell rained upon us in the form of 3 and 4 inch diameter stones. My vehicle didn't stand a chance; the back windshield exploded as I was filming (camera away). I ironically enough had just began to say how thankful I was to get the damage waiver on the rental when the back windshield exploded.
We then tried to find cover as the back windshield continued to crash in. The sunroof never stood a chance and was beaten to a pulp as well. The windshield held its own, but soon became a shattered, spidery mess. Scott and I found shelter along side an aluminum building northwest of town and rode out the rest of the storm from there. His car suffered numerous big dents and a cracked windshield. I lost the back windshield, sunroof, and severely damaged front windshield.
We left my car at the police station and I jumped in with Scott for the remainder of the chase. We eventually intercepted the tornado southeast of Patricia, but were looking in toward the meso from the north and had poor contrast. None-the-less, it was the first tornado of the season for me.
We stayed with it for another hour before returning to Seminole to pick up my car and drove it back to Midland where we have crashed for the night.
Without a doubt, this was the most exciting chase I've had all year, and probably one of the top chases of my career to date. I'm a hail lover, and I got my money's worth out of today's storm. Unfortunately, I was caught off guard and paid the price (I got the damage waiver, so no worries). What an incredible storm!
Low constrast tornado southeast of Patricia
SMASH! Video still of a giant stone smashing my front windshield glass
Baseball sized hail before the car got trashed. It got bigger than this!
What was left of the back windshield after the storm finally moved on.
Video of hail retreat when windshield took its shots. Make sure sound is on for full effect.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW COMPLETE MAY 5, 2006 STORM CHASE LOG
Its 2:05am CDT (1:05am MDT), and in less than 4 hours will be 24 hours since I aoke up this morning. While I cannot say for certain what my mileage came out to be due to the fact I was chasing out of two vehicles over this chase, it must've ended up close to 900 which lead me here to Midland.
I left Denver this morning at about 5:30a and made great time and gas mileage into Amarillo where I filled up my 3/4 tank after over 400 miles of travel. I then continued south through Lubbock where I was aiming to make Midland. However, storms firing in New Mexico had me thinking heading that far south wasn't needed. I elected to turn west into Andrews where I met with Jason Boggs and shot the breeze with him til we elected to head north to Seminole to intercept the storm coming out of Hobbs.
What happened next is by far the most incredible chasing experience of my life to date. The storm was heading east/northeast at this point just north of the highway. When I got into town, I met with Amos M, Eric N, and Scott E and we headed west out of town. We elected then to get northwest of Seminole to get a closer view of the storm.
The storm suddenly made a violent and quick turn almost due southeast. Hail began to fall; marbles at first, then growing to quarters, then golfballs. Eric and Amos (in Amos's truck) headed back southeast into town while Scott E and I hung back. Things looked like they were lightening up a bit. All of a sudden, a few baseballs started coming down. We were going to head back in to town when we heard Eric and Amos over the radio advising us NOT to head south cause the hail was bigger.
We then elected to stay put; the stones weren't falling too furiously, so it looked as if the storm had wrapped itself around us and we were going to be spared. *Insert a long incorrect buzzer here* More stones began to fall, then hell rained upon us in the form of 3 and 4 inch diameter stones. My vehicle didn't stand a chance; the back windshield exploded as I was filming (camera away). I ironically enough had just began to say how thankful I was to get the damage waiver on the rental when the back windshield exploded.
We then tried to find cover as the back windshield continued to crash in. The sunroof never stood a chance and was beaten to a pulp as well. The windshield held its own, but soon became a shattered, spidery mess. Scott and I found shelter along side an aluminum building northwest of town and rode out the rest of the storm from there. His car suffered numerous big dents and a cracked windshield. I lost the back windshield, sunroof, and severely damaged front windshield.
We left my car at the police station and I jumped in with Scott for the remainder of the chase. We eventually intercepted the tornado southeast of Patricia, but were looking in toward the meso from the north and had poor contrast. None-the-less, it was the first tornado of the season for me.
We stayed with it for another hour before returning to Seminole to pick up my car and drove it back to Midland where we have crashed for the night.
Without a doubt, this was the most exciting chase I've had all year, and probably one of the top chases of my career to date. I'm a hail lover, and I got my money's worth out of today's storm. Unfortunately, I was caught off guard and paid the price (I got the damage waiver, so no worries). What an incredible storm!
Low constrast tornado southeast of Patricia
SMASH! Video still of a giant stone smashing my front windshield glass
Baseball sized hail before the car got trashed. It got bigger than this!
What was left of the back windshield after the storm finally moved on.
Video of hail retreat when windshield took its shots. Make sure sound is on for full effect.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW COMPLETE MAY 5, 2006 STORM CHASE LOG
. Here follow a couple of pix:
