Chasers Stuck in the mud in SD

[Joey Ketcham]

FYI: Just to set the record straight, I had someone mention to me they were told that I was charging the chasers who were stuck for rides to and from town. This is not true, I did not charge for anything. I just wanted to clear that up before a rumor started to spread.

Dang, can't imagine why people would want to spread that around. I know you well enough to know you genuinely care about other people and helping them out in times of need.

 

[Bob Hartig]

Bart was there for us for free, for real, and for as long as it took. Period.

 

[Joshua Nall]

I want to apologize for my post regarding this, the part where I compared this event to my running off the road. My mistake was truly a dumb one that did change the way I operate. 3 years ago ran off the road on a right hand unmarked 90 degree curve going the speed limit. But I have no excuse because I should have been paying better attention. If there had of been someone coming in the opposite lane, well.... I don't want to think about it. Barely missed a tree as it was and that would have likely totaled my truck. Instead only scratches from the barbwire and put an end to my trip. An angel of a woman stopped and was very helpful... told me where the owner lived, etc, etc...(it is kind of funny that she talked poorly of chasers, having just had several pass her... not understanding that I was one )

This recent incident is just an example of what can happen when you place yourself in the vicinity of a violent storm. Didn't mean to imply anyone did anything dumb like I did, everyone involved has probably chased more than I have.... (the video was a bit troubling not knowing the facts). I don't have a bit of a problem with someone taking those risks, even driving into the dang tornado if that is what floats their boat... as long as they do the right thing when things don't go as planned. And to be truthful I wanted to take up for the farmer a bit as I frequent farmers fields around here in the Red River flood plain. I like farmers. Glad everyone is ok, and the farmer is satisfied.

Josh

 

[Mike Umscheid]

I've finally read through this thread, which is a good thread, by the way -- a very healthy discussion regarding our situation on 22 May. I just wanted to hop on here and send a huge thank you to Bart Comstock, because he made a very unpleasant experience more bearable, and it was because of his help and advice that I even made it out of there that night (instead of the next day), which allowed me to actually help some other chasers out that still had their vehicles stranded in the field. Most of us involved in this situation did not get to bed until between 5:00 and 7:00am, including me. I finally got to bed in Aberdeen about 5:30am after doing some shuttling between Ipswich and Aberdeen. At some point in the future, I will write more about this experience on my blog. A lot of things led to other unfortunate situations, as Scott Bennett can attest to, but I believe chasers should help out other chasers in a time of need, and that is what I tried to do. Doing this for 13 years now, you will almost always come across new/unique circumstances which you have never experience prior. The key is to learn from them in order to lessen the probability of it being repeated. I drive on unpaved farm roads all the time. I am most comfortable driving these roads on the high plains where it is routinely drier and is where most of my chasing is done. I do not have as much experience driving on the same kind of road grid in northeastern South Dakota, however. I should have allowed for a greater margin for error, but that being said, I had a course plotted out for getting the hell out of the inflow notch several miles north of highway 12 which I intended to photograph because I thought, at the time, it was the best way to photograph this storm in order to capture both the inflow/updraft structure AND the tornadoes beneath it when it was northwest of Ipswitch/north of Roscoe. I got the images I wanted looking to the southwest. I will post them soon... it is incredible stuff. Once again, thanks again to Bart for all his incredible help. That's all I will say for now -- Look for more on my blog soon.

 

[Scott Bennett]

I was called and asked about this stupid rumor with Bart tonight.

Simply 100% not true. I gave gas money to Bart on my own free will.

THEN on Sunday he spent THE ENTIRE DAY helping me get my truck back to town... all the water and mud burned out my alternator.

 

[Doug Ott]

From a farmers perspective

I guess one question remains- how? did he arrive at $400 each which seems a lot.
$50 each is a closer amount IMO.

Still I was not there and I fully accept that it is not really my place to comment. Overall I am glad that no REAL harm was done to any person or property.

Now, I am just trying to shed some perspective on all this. I am a farmer and just trying to give you guys involved and others questioning this farmer, some insight. Yes, we can become very very upset when our crop gets destroyed.

I am just catching up on these post. My gosh how they have exploded. I have been wanting to respond, and with chases yesterday, and corn hauling today I finally have some time. First off to respond to your quote Stuart. Oh by the way, I am glad everyone ended up unharmed. Mistakes happen to all us. None of us are perfect. Back to Stuarts comment. I am farmer myself. Legally, the farmer can name his price. Damage was done to his property. If the guilty doesn t want to pay it, then legal action would then be taken. Yes, IMO $400/person seems little unfair but from looks of Danny's pictures, the wheat looks decent. Some farmers are very paticular. Having the perfectly disked field, perfectly straight rows, and perfect looking crop is worth a million dollars. Take something that is very valuable to you. How would you feel if that was scarred or tarnished? So, in the farmers mind, that was probably fair for him.

As far as that road being cultivated. Well, what tends to happen around here in York County, Nebraska, is that minimum maintenece roads get farmed into little by little every year. Unless our County road supervisor does anything bout it, eventually that road becomes farmed. Most farmers around here don't plant onto the roads. I have though seen some farmers plant onto gravel roads where they can. From looking at your pictures Danny your guys situation is this. The road you dead ended on was actually a road. It was probably used only to haul crops out of the fields. Probably hasn t seen public travel in years. Just farmer travel. So, instead of the farmer controlling weeds on the road he just started to farm through it. Now, is it his right to do that? Do you have the right to push him through court, because he cultivated and farmed a road out? I am not an attorney, just a farmer. Also, more than likely you guys, were probably the first ones to travel on that road in the last 20 years. In all honesty how were you to know that road would have turned out that way. You know looking at Danny's pictures I would not kick myself in the a** over it. Too close to the tornado, well you were the ones chasing it, so you knew what you were capable of handling as chasers. Anyways, I would suggest this if you ever get delormed again like this. I would have continued down that little path. My gosh we can all gripe and gumble, but when things are intense, how much time do we have to pull out a map, and lets see take this road or that one, what bout that one. You have to react. Unfortunately, for you guys it didn t turn out like you thought. The farmer carved that path through the wheat himself. Why? He knew that s where the road was 20 years ago. I hope this somewhat shedded some light on your whole incident. As a farmer myself, just telling you what I see from my prespective. Glad you made it out of there unharmed. Your hearts must have been pounding after seeing those pictures. Keep chasing the way you please.

 

[Matthew K. Hartman]

I will, Bart... because you asked me to in a respectful way. I appreciate that, at least.

I'm not always looking for a specific reaction, Bart. I just try to prove my point(s) when people aren't paying attention. Adam stated that they were concerned for their safety and that was the reason they had turned off the dead-end road into the field. I perceived his video in a completely different light (I think most would by the way they were acting) so I wanted clarification. And a simple reason why the video was taken down. That's all.

I wasn't there, so I'll never know completely what the situation was. But, I'll go back to my initial point of this entire ordeal and leave it there:

Responsible, safety-minded chasers would never put themselves in this situation to begin with. Knowing the natural progression of your storm(s) and the conditions of your ambient environment should always allow you to calculate a safe distance and the sufficient time to maneuver around a storm. I was taught to chase this way, I've always chased this way, and as a result, I've never been so close to a storm to have to make a life-or-death decision. If I do, I promise to post video and pictures up here for everyone to ridicule me. Because I only deserve that for making poor decisions that have gone completely against my principles.

Regards -

Matt, would you please shut up? Are you simply dragging this out just to keep getting a reaction?

 

[Matthew K. Hartman]

Thanks for the response, Adam... I was just curious why you took the video down.

I don't agree with this being a "moot point." If you, me, or any other chasers in here can teach newcomers that being close to storms is dangerous, then maybe we wouldn't have such a large problem with chaser convergence, reckless driving, or the last-ditch efforts that chaser may have to perform out in the field.

I have viewed education as the key to chasing safely and I've been a VERY strong advocate for that in the past. I've been questioned, ignored, and put down for how serious I take this hobby of mine and people lose sight that I'm actually trying to do good. I get frustrated, make rash statements that may not be justified at times, but the ultimate goal for me is to get everyone on the same page. To chase safely and responsibly. It's a very difficult thing to do when you have so many people in here with different backgrounds, different interests, different techniques, and different objectives. It's very difficult.

I never meant to specifically point you or anyone else out with this event and what transpired, but when only a very select few respond to a point I'm trying to make, it sure makes it look like I am. I apologize if I implied anything like that.

To you and everyone else involved, I'm glad you got out of this situation well and that you're taking care of the issues at hand in a responsible manner.

Good luck in your future endeavors...

...yea you can argue the whole "dont get yourself there in the first place" but that is a moot point.

 

[Danny Neal]

It is important to note that Ben is very excitable around tornadoes. He loves the rush and likes to express those feelings whether the tornado is 2 feet away or 2 miles. Look at his videos on youtube and you will see this. I can guarantee you Adam and I were not enjoying ourselves. It is not often you hear fear in my voice but I was one multiple vorticy away from ****ting myself. I have been chasing for a number of years so I have learned to stay calm and collected no matter how much I want to explode inside. Ben just likes expressing himself verbally. Nothing wrong with that and I guess it did come off as like we were "enjoying" it. If you notice you don't hear a peep out of me except for the occasional GO or Jesus we are F'd. A couple nervous laughs but there was hardly any WOOOOOOOO YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH SCOORRRRREEEE out of Adam and I. Again I am not saying Ben was wrong for being excited, but he had the best view of not one, not two, but three tornadoes bearing down on us. Whether he was scared or not, I don't know, but I see how we all can be grouped into the "careless" stereotype. I just wanted to make clear. I can't control how others react or handle their emotions, only my own. It was my personal belief that we would not have survived had we not bailed. Storm was moving at 15 mph and we were 4-5 miles ahead of the meso. In my 13 years of chasing I have been getting close for about 7 and this is the first time I have ever encountered a storm that behaved that way. Afterwards while talking to Mike Umscheid he likened the similarities to the parent Greensburg supercell minus the multiple monster wedges.... take that for what it is worth

 

[Ben Holcomb]

Fact of the matter is I wasn't really excited we were in a field.. It was more like 'Holy crap, we're in a field??!?'. I was in the back seat of Adams Expedition, and had my window down and was hanging out of the window at that point as much as I could (I'm quite pudgy to say the least, so it's not like I was hanging completely out of it) and really had no idea we were actually in a friggen field. I thought worst case we were on tire tracks or something. It wasn't till after that point in the video that I actually realized that... oh crap we were really in a field.

As far as fear, I don't really have any. Call it stupid, I don't know. Maybe I have something wrong in my head (probable) but I have done numerous close intercepts and had things blow up in my face multiple times this year. Most people have a point where their brain tells them 'this is stupid' and my brain does not do that.

Earlier when the tornado first touched down, you can hear me begging Adam to get closer to the tornado and he refuses. I haven't reviewed my video, but I am pretty sure he calls me nuts or crazy. Turns out, after driving down that road today, that we would have probably been fine 100-200 yards closer, but I can understand a reasonable persons fear at that close proximity.

 

[Jesse Risley]

Responsible, safety-minded chasers would never put themselves in this situation to begin with. Knowing the natural progression of your storm(s) and the conditions of your ambient environment should always allow you to calculate a safe distance and the sufficient time to maneuver around a storm. I was taught to chase this way, I've always chased this way, and as a result, I've never been so close to a storm to have to make a life-or-death decision. If I do, I promise to post video and pictures up here for everyone to ridicule me. Because I only deserve that for making poor decisions that have gone completely against my principles.

Regards -

What is and is not a "safe distance" is a very subjective term, even to reasonable chasers. Who gets to decide what that distance should be, given the structure, direction and speed of any given storm?

Keeping what even a very conservative, punctilious chaser would consider to be a "safe distance," and allowing for a carefully calculated, maneuverable path to continue following the storm, is relegated to being a moot point IF the road network suddenly ends or doesn't exist as shown on otherwise relatively veritable mapping software.

We all know that mapping software can have some flaws, but even a careful chaser can find themselves in trouble if they have to retrocede 2-3 miles (or more) on a storm that every reasonable person would agree was a respectable distance away, yet takes an unexpected turn and begins to take aim on that chaser's location. The bottom line: no one chasing storms is really immune from having something similar to this happen.

 

[Mike Kovalchick]

Few pics taken the day after to set the scene.

I was standing from where we entered the field looking out southeast ward towards the cars/trucks. If you look close, you can see signs of high water.

The picture of the tree/rock pile is where I wanted to run for shelter...looking basically East where the road was suppose to be.(Should be obvious there was no where to go/hide.) Note that almost all the crop damage was right next to the fence line. That was my Subaru behind the farmer's tractor.

 

[Rob H]

I'm glad everyone got out safely, and it's nice hearing that the community pulled together for the most part on this issue. We had our own phantom road that kept us from being in the thick of it, and the irony is that our phantom road might have kept us from being stuck in the mud as well.

This has been a fairly interesting season so far, and it's not even half over...

 

[Doug Ott]

Wow. Looking at those pictures, you had zero options for shelter. Flat open, and no ditches. Just one question? The tree and rock in your pictures, is that where the road was suppose to be? I am assuming so. I think that s what you were saying in your post. If that is the case, looking beyond that, there is a good chance you would have been driving to Minnesota before the next road popped up. I would venture to guess in that desolate area up there, alot of those roads have been farmed over. How bout that little trail behind your subaru? Is that where your drove into the farmers field and got stuck? Or is that where the road should have been? Oh. What did the farmer say bout it being road? Personnaly, the wheat does not look good at all. Had you have insurance take care of it all, the farmer would still hae named his own price any ways. In my mind, he probably saw a way to pick up little extra money, since it looks like a poor crop. When it comes to keeping people happy in the this world, I would say that was reasonable. In any case you guys were all fortunate, and good to hear that everything is being settled out. Sounds like one experience that you will never forget. I would have been more lenient, but all because I chase as well. I understand that we all do/will get ourselves into unseen situations. Just the natrue of the game.

 

[Kory Hartman]

What is and is not a "safe distance" is a very subjective term, even to reasonable chasers. Who gets to decide what that distance should be, given the structure, direction and speed of any given storm?

This is the safe distance MKH is referring to:
Radar Image

Look for the icon on the far right side of the screen under "Columbia".