Do I ever get scared?

[Dave Lewison]

Locking up the rear brakes will, in most cases, cause the back end to fish tail a bit, but counter-steering can keep you going straight, assuming you don't have a heavily crowned road (and you often do on muddy roads). Furthermore, downshifting does the same thing, but with even less control over the spinning/locking up of your rear tires than carefully applied and modulated emergency braking.

Well, I guess we should qualify if we're talking about a front wheel drive or rear wheel drive vehicle. If RWD, then I'd agree with you, downshifting has the same effect as e-brake. But in a FWD vehicle, downshifting provides braking to the FRONT wheels, which is where the majority of the vehicle's weight is, and also where the control inputs are felt at the road, so that's where you'd want braking applied if possible. Since there's less weight over the back wheels, especially as the vehicle slows down, they are more likely to lock up than the front wheels.

In either case, we're talking about maintaining control. You don't want to do either of these things (downshifting or e-brake) if you're going fast. And if you're blasting down a muddy road at top speed, you're probably gonna regret it!

But this is starting to stray off-topic.

 

[Robert Rohloff]

David, after getting hit on May 5th I know what you are feeling. I have had a couple of weeks to chill abit. I will limit my night chases to near home at this point. I want to know the area before I get out in the dark. I have to say my allwheel drive Subaru saved me big time when I was blown off the road, I was able to keep going and not lose it. My car will be down for a week the first part of June for repairs.

 

[Joey Ketcham]

[FONT=&quot]I am among those that hate night chasing, I absolutely hate it and rarely do I night chase. I just don’t like the fact that I can’t see what’s out there.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Just recently on May 5th my chase partners and I were east of Ellinwood Kansas, I believe it was Ellinwood, and it was at night and there were reports of a ½ mile wide tornado on the ground just southwest of us. Now keep in mind.. the area was hit by the storms the night before, there was no electricity – in fact a nearby town to the east had no power at all. I mention this because at night we rely on power flashes, well.. no power = no power flashes.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]So it was at night, reports of a ½ mile wide tornado to our southwest and we’re out in the middle of nowhere and not much lightning so we didn’t have the advantage of that either. I really just didn’t feel comfortable being there; admittedly I was nervous being there. My thing was this, if that tornado took a right turn we would have been screwed. I’ve seen it happen before and have been caught in a tornado’s path because of this. I didn’t want to risk this with a ½ mile wide tornado.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I remember at one point someone wanted to get west more and get closer. I thought that was just nuts. We could have probably gotten closer, but if we did and that storm/tornado decided to take a right turn we could have easily been screwed and put in the same situation that David was put in. Some may say "well if the winds shift, move.. until then you're ok".. that's fine, but when the winds begin to shift it maybe too late.. 1/2 mile wide is a pretty big tornado and you may not have enough time to get out of the area.. and in fact that happened to us...[/FONT][FONT=&quot] even at the location we were at, we had a funnel cloud develop right on top of us. We had been sitting there for a while, suddenly the winds shifted and we had to get back on the highway and jet east.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I love chasing, but at the same time I don’t have a death wish. I am one of those that thinks about the what if’s. Sure, we could stay on the east side of the tornado and get right up to it – but what if it suddenly takes a right turn? It happens, it happened on [/FONT][FONT=&quot]May 29th, 2004[/FONT][FONT=&quot] to me and Ken Johnson. We were east of a tornado watching it when suddenly it turned right – we were no longer in a safe position and we had to jet south.[/FONT]

 

[Susan Strom]

Jeez, yow. Glad you're ok. Sounds like you had a brush with something menacing in the dark to be sure. Your story reminds us yet again that Nature can throw any of us a curve ball no matter how experienced we are. I'm glad you posted it.

Do we get scared? I don't think we'd be honest if we said we never got scared. One night my jaw dropped after this bolt from the blue shot 10 miles across the desert. I was photographing an entirely different storm, and here comes this horizontal thing out from the north. I only got the end piece on film, the thing was miles long. This is the stuff that reminds us that we're not dealing with a controlled laboratory.
http://www.lightninglady.com/photos/LLBoltfromtheBlue.jpg

 

[Van DeWald]

I bet every single one of us have had at least one time where we may have questioned whether or not we were in over our abilities. My questionable time was May 5 of this year, the night after Greensburg. I was trying to get ahead of the line of tornadic storms as they were moving through/toward Ellsworth shortly after 10 pm. My cell connection had timed out thus no radar data, but I thought I was far enough ahead of the circulation. As I drove onto I70, I encountered 80 to 100 mph winds, the most intense winds I've ever been in. At that moment, my cell connection came back, and the radar image updated showing my position smack dab in the middle of the TVS couplet and I was seriously questioning why I was there. Having fear only shows that we're human.

 

[Scott Bell]

David,
glad to see you survived the brush with disaster! I know an encounter like that would shake my resolve as well. Be patient with yourself.

It sounds like you have some friends that are helping, which is good. Hang in there man.

Scott

 

[Paul Austin]

Thanks for sharing, David. Seriously frightening. I'm sure many on this board, especially those who chase at night, have feared for their very lives at some point in their chase careers without experiencing half of what you did - debris, 100+ mph measured winds, power flashes, no visibility, no escape, terrible road conditions, and the knowledge of what was most probably occurring. It's a completely helpless feeling. There is no shame in sharing this. Fear is a profound experience. I'm glad you were being watched-over that night.

One lesson I hope I've learned this chase season: No matter how much experience or knowledge a chaser has, it is still a very serious and dangerous business. Every storm has a "mind of it's own", so to speak. Even with all the fancy toys we chasers now have, predicting on-the-spot when a cell will decide to take that right turn, or cycle with a resulting left-turning tornado (Greensburg - MESO group) is nearly impossible. In fact, I think the improvement of our collective understanding of textbook supercell behavior, coupled with the tech toys we have tends to make us more courageous and sometimes more careless at times. I am not criticizing your chase or decisions here. This is just a general commentary and observation of my own behavior and thought process.

I think in time, you'll get back on the horse, but even if you don't, you have nothing to be ashamed of. I'm very glad to hear you are ok. Maybe your next chase should involve a chase partner or two. Best of luck, and may the One watching over you continue to do so

 

[Charles Kuster]

Wow that was an incredible experience! I think I would have been terrified too. I hate night chasing and rarely do it. We did watch the lightning from that storm from a distance, but did not really chase it.

As for the maps, we use the Rand McNally atlas. It is usually right, but it has been wrong a couple of times. Glad to hear that you are OK!

 

[Brett Adair]

David,

Myself, Matt and Evan were watching you as we began out track back to Alabama from chasing earlier in the day. I noted that you were in the bounded weak echo region of that cell and you seemed to be stationary for some time and I just had a feeling that you were in some kind of trouble because I know from reading and watching your work and chases that you try your best to avoid a situation like that. We are very thankful to hear that you made it out and okay. This is the second near tragedy we have had in the last 2 months and both were very quick to happen and we have to do something about this. I know it's inevitable unavoidable at times but this is just too much for one season. I started to call and see if you were okay, but I didn't know if I should. Next time I will definately to do so. This case proves to me how important the spotter network can be and how we should check on our fellow chasers via phone or any other method if we feel they could be in a bad situation. I'm sorry that this had to happen to you David. We are praying for ya buddy.

-Brett-

 

[Grant Gutierrez]

My chase buddies and I had a crazy night on May 4th of this year. We were chasing a cell to the NE of the Greensburg cell and ended up with a night chase. We headed E from Alma, Nebraska, towards Franklin. We started to punch the core but turned back after we started getting hit by hail. When we got wireless internet (we depend on hotels for our internet unfortunately), WeatherTap's Radarlab HD was showing a TVS just to the E of where we turned back. That's the closest I've come to a situation such as this, and I'm still thankful my gut told me to turn back. I'm very cautious in any situation where I can't see, with my own eyes, just what the storm is doing. I'm glad you made it out okay and hope to never get into another situation like that again.

 

[Laura Hedien]

David- Thanks for posting your story. That took guts in and of itself. Very glad you are ok.
I hope people take your story to light before someone does get injured or killed. It is a matter of time unfortunately.
The "it won't happen to me" thing will happen. And I am not saying this of Dave personally.
Everyone will get to the POINT and think I should stop here but to get that photograph or video clip will push just a little further. I've read that a few times this last month on this board- not from Dave- "Maybe I was too close...." They drove into it- not got caught in it. If you even think you're too close, then you are.
I for one do not want to read about a funeral for a chaser.
Don't play with Mother Nature. Stay back and watch her.
Be safe...
Laura

 

[Kem Poyner]

Ever get scared?

When you hear your own voice on video saying " God Please! No No No Please No" It changes the way you chase at night. I have one of those from a few years back in Lela TX. I play it once and awhile to keep me in the right frame of mind.....I won't agressively chase at night. I watch from afar! Thanks for posting that story David, glad you are OK. Kem

 

[Jim Tang]

Wow, thanks for sharing David. That takes guts. I suspect this happens far more times than everyone thinks - this is the third (fourth, counting the police officer fatality) time that a chaser/spotter has been hit by a tornado this year. Glad you're okay.

 

[Paul Stofer]

Glad your okay David! This makes me wonder if Delorme has a placefile kind of like GR. That way, if someone experiences muddy roads that appear to be paved on the map, they can draw or plot that the roads are poor and upload it for others to download into their software some how. A way of us all helping eachother out with poor road options? Not sure how feasible that is, but it sounds like a good plan.

 

[James Siler]

David

Reading your story brought back feelings from my event on the 5th of May. What you were describing was also what I was feeling. Reading your post got me teary eyed, I will admit, cause of the complete feeling of help lessness. It was and is a terrafying experince. The more I think about it though, I feel more emotonally upset (for you) cause you were solo. I had my chase partner and Amos was also with one of his friends. I hope you do continue to chase. You always seem to get some great video and pics. If you don't I understand. But I am truly glad you are ok, talking about it does help. If you ever need a chase partner and I am available PM me and I shoot you my cell, if you continue. That way your not alone. Again, glad your fine and healthy. Take care.