Do you core punch?

[Jordan Hartley]

I voted sometimes. I have only had to core punch 3-5 times since I started chasing and everytime I took the gamble it has payed off. Of course, I only do it if im out of position and need to relocate to a better location near the storm and I dont endorse it. The most exciting core punch I ever did was on June 12th, 2004 in between Mulvane and Derby in SC KS. Me and my roomates lived in S Wichita(What a summer that was and we had to get to Mulvane so that we could get on the south side of the mesocyclone that was a mothership. The core was moderatley heavy at times mostly hail the size of golf balls and a few tennis ball size at most. I remember being able to see through the core the whole time and when we got to the N side of Mulvane we watched the first tornado form. Then as the first one died out we quickly drove through town and relocated about 2 1/2 miles south of town almost under the meso mind you, the coloring was wicked it was like orange everywhere and it lit up the belly of the meso and we watched the 2nd tornado form. Funny thing about that was we were on K-15 which runs NW-SE out of Wichita,Ks and the tornado was only about 1/4 of a mile away from the hwy about 1 mile away from us. We were parked behind a local TV crew filming the tornado and we watched as the tornado grew, but it wasn't really growing and it wasn't moving left to right across K-15 like it should have done so it dons on me hey this thing is coming right at us and as soon as I realize that the hedge row 1/4 mile away from us is being ripped out of the ground and we all freak out and bail down the hwy. The tornado crossed the hwy right where we were at. I watch out my window as the thing snapped trees and telephone poles like tooth pics... that changed the way I looked at life that day lol. We drove down K-15 and paralleld the tornado for about 7 miles before we stoped and watched it rope out. Later we drove E and watched the Rock,Ks tornado with the guys who used to run stormguy.com. Had we not core punched that day we would have never experienced what happened that day so I just say be safe and play your cards right.

 

[Bill Tabor]

I agree, and qualify it with sometimes. I assume we are talking punching supercells... right? It totally depends on the storm, it's speed, road network, and the situation. The type of storm, and whether it is tornadic or developing in tornadic conditions is important. I'll punch smaller storms all day long. I'll risk quickly sneaking under an LP (even though they can be known for unseen large hail). Larger classic's and hp's give me pause. Often these are tornadic storms already, or they should be moving in conditions favorable to create tornadoes - otherwise I wouldn't be chasing. I prefer not to lose my windshield. It is a mess to cleanup, makes you have to repair, and drive slow, and can cost you the tornadoes. Oftentimes I core punch as I am overrun or had bad planning - it just happens sometimes. Very large destructive storms such as classic's and hp's can also potentially have serious microburst winds that could roll you if you aren't careful. IMO if they look really, really nasty on the outside sometimes they really are. I can't recall that I have punched a nasty HP near the hook on purpose. As Brian mentions and as I understand you can potentially go from bad visibility and heavy rain almost directly into the tornado. Usually there is some relief around this Bear's Cage area to give you a chance to see the tornado first, but I've heard that is not always the case. You can also come out directly in front of it and get slammed (i.e. from the west) real quick leaving you potentially not much in the way of road options.

Core punches (of the extreme variety) at night obviously would be even more dangerous. I've been caught in some of these types of cores at night out chasing...scary, not too much fun - well except after the fact and you come out intact.

Most of my punches would be from N/S on tornadic supercells to get into position. Dan mentions an intruiging strategy from the west. I've come in from the west, but usually just take it slow making sure everything is cool until I punch out. Things are a bit weird from this direction.

Often I punch from other directions to pass completely through storms such as E/W to get to a supercell to the west for instance. Sometimes I find out these less developed storms can be stronger and full of more wind than I expect.

Threatnet is nice, and does help to a degree, but I've seen it be grossly off timewise so that the storm position is far shifted in reality from what is showing on radar when you actually view the storm visually. You really have to be careful with Threatnet and give it even a margin of error over the 5 to 10 minutes Dan mentions. I'd say sometimes 15 to 20 minutes. I followed it one time at night with Gene approaching the front side of a tornadic line and I was headed home, and decided to believe it. I gave it a margin of error. I was going to drive N/S as the storm came in from the west. Turned out the meso and developing tornado was only within 1/4 mile by the time I passed to it's east and south - LOL! Fun to watch, and entertaining on the trip back, but also a bit unnerving.

In truth after years of trying to "chase" storms I learned to wait on them as much as possible. Try and forecast, plan and be in position. You can make much better time on dry roads. Often I will go around a storm to get in front if there are good roads and I can drive quickly. Getting stuck in a storm can really slow you down, but it is a judgement call based on the situation. In the right situation you can get plenty of magic from the right core punch and save a lot of time, particularly if you are going from storm to storm on an outbreak day and want to see which are producing best.

 

[Tim Samaras]

My answer:

Yes.

Rain, hail, tornadoes, and cats.

Tim

(Mike H-I'm KIDDING on the last one..I married an animal lover, so I love cats, too. I also like ribeye steak, burgers, chicken, and pork roast)

 

[Verne Carlson]

I answered yes. Coming from Denver, west to east, it seems I am always playing catch up from leaving home/work too late and having to approach the storm from the west.

If I can get out the night before and the storms are not moving too fast I'll try not to core-punch unless necessary. Of course, every storm/road network/situation is different and you have to adapt your strategy.

If it looks like the storm is not going to be tornadic I like to 'sample' the core by driving into it and seeing how large the hail is and then either get back east or find a car wash bay and let it come down hard!

 

[Josh Richardson]

I answered yes as well, mainly just on a few of the wimpier storms though, nothing to heavy. If there is very large hail then definitely not but sometimes the boredom factor comes into play as Mike stated.

 

[J.B. Dixon]

I said No to this poll question. Honestly, if I've got no business being in a core, and if it's obvious to me that there's nothing good that can come of it, I'm perfectly fine with being a spectator and dodging it, if I can. I've been fortunate enough to have some decent luck on my chases over the past 5-6 years, and I've done it without one hail dent. I know it's a badge worn with honor to many on here. But personally, getting a hail beat-down is really not what I'm out there for. That being said.....I'll gladly watch everyone else's videos of baseball/softball hail!!

The two things I can stay out of the way of (the vast majority of the time) are TORs and hail. Lightning is the one that bugs me the most.

 

[scott r currens]

The short answer is yes I do.

I can think of several situations where I wouldn’t core punch (after dark, speed burners, some HP’s) but for the most part I have no problem with it. You just have to know where you are at within the supercell (WXWorx helps) and understand your options. One of my favorite positions to shoot a tornado is from the north side looking south. Core punching often gets me to this favored position. My chase vehicle is a paid for 2000 Chevy S-10 with 100,000 miles and lots of dimples, so I am not that worried about damaging it. Although losing windows is something I try to avoid, S-10 windows are relatively inexpensive and available at most Chevy dealerships, so replacing them isn’t a big deal. Now that I think about it, it’s amazing that I haven’t lost I window since 2002.

 

[Mike Peregrine]

I answered yes, just because I end up doing it out of necessity sometimes. It's easier to do up north where the roads are more plentiful and you've got more options.

I don't like hail. In fact, I hate it and it makes me feel vulnerable to the storm. So I avoid it if at all possible. Sometimes it isn't.

For me, worst case scenario happened this year with the Fillmore/Savannah, Missouri storm. Cored it to end up smack in front of a fast moving, mama jama tornado in the dark. While it was definitely one of the more exciting moments as rainbands surrounding the tornado were literally swirling around my vehicle, it's not one that I particularly want to re-live anytime soon either.

 

[Billy Griffin]

Back in 1993 and again in 1999, I was chasing for an OKC TV station on a storm in northern OK (both times near Enid). The meteorologist on the air advised me to head south to get a better view of an approaching tornado that had become rain-wrapped. I made the mistake of listening to that advice and going against my gut feeling - bad move!

Now keep in mind, this was back before the days of mobile internet, live radar / GPS, etc. - all I had were two-way radios and an old bag phone.

Going south into the core of that storm proved to be one of the worst situations I have ever been in. I lost every window I had on a 1992 Chevy Suburban. I had hail dents so bad, the truck was a total loss. I think Rocky remembers one of those times when he and I met up with each other, so he knows the amount of damage I'm talking about!

Unless it would involve a situation to avoid potential danger of being caught in the path of a tornado, I would not choose to core punch. There are just too many variables - you can't see, you could easily wreck, damage your vehicle, injure yourself (or worse), so to me - it's not worth it. There will be more tornadoes other days. If it's a core of significant or unknown intensity, I'll do my best to avoid it.

 

[Robert Edmonds]

I've answered sometimes, but I haven't been successful, in that I have never gotten to where I've wanted to be in time, by doing it. So, usually if I'm trying it, it's probably a sign I just didn't get to where I wanted to be in time. Probably why I try it sometimes, and not more often because it doesn’t seem to be all that helpful.

 

[Shane Adams]

I used to be all gung-ho about it, but now that I've experienced the financial damage associated with core-punching, I really try to avoid it. I've never been into hail anyway, so unless I'm totally out of position, I don't mess with it. Chasing has become too expensive as is, and since I get zero back from it, it's all money out the window for me. So I try to limit what I'm spending as much as possible.

As far as the experience itself, even giant hail gets old after a few minutes. You hear some loud bangs, glass breaking, then it rains inside your car. After a while, it's not a big deal anymore.

 

[Stan Rose]

We sometimes core punch, out of boredom for storms we're reasonably certain aren't tornadic, and of course by accident if we're stuck in a bad spot. But, generally we try to avoid strong sup cores. Note that avoiding the "core" is no gaurantee--we and dozens of others had our windshield taken out by the Patricia TX tornadic storm last year, when we were practically in clear air! Baseballs can be carried a fair distance if the winds are strong enough.

 

[Angie Norris]

If you'd asked me this question when I lived back east, the answer would have been yes, practically always. That was back in the days of mostly squall line chases, so the worst I could possibly run into was heavy rain and marginally severe straight line wind. Now that I'm in the Plains, I try to avoid the core as much as possible. If I'm on a storm and I'm seriously out of position, plus reasonably confident the storm is non-tornadic, I will core punch to get in better position, but as a rule, if I've misjudged my position on a storm, I'll just sit back and take what I can get. Trashing my car (and maybe trashing me) isn't worth taking the chance.

 

[Ryan McGinnis]

Sometimes, but usually not. Mostly, I look reeeal close at GRLevel 3 first. I don't if there have been any gorilla hail reports with the storm, and I don't if there is any hint of a velocity couplet. The one time I really wanted to, but didn't, was last year on an April storm in Kansas. (I think it was the one you got that tube on, Mike -- I'm still jealous!) I sat at a gas stop and waited for the core to pass a mile ahead of me. When I got going again, I drove around and by metal debris from a silo torn up by the tornado and spread out over a few hundred yards of farmland.

GRLevel3, which factored in my decision to sit put, earned it's keep for me on that day, lemme tell ya!

 

[samuel stone]

Almost never, and only if we have good reason to beleive th the hail is no bigger than golfball.