My First Chasing Experience

[alex24x]

Hi, I'm Alex. I am new to this forum and just wanted to open up with a First Chase Experience post.

So me and my girlfriend were driving cross country from Southern California back Home to Connecticut. I planned this whole trip around a severe weather day.

So on June 20, 2013 we arrived in Northern Nebraska in a town called Valentine, Nebraska. Skies were blue with a strong southern wind. I looked at my RadarScope radar app and noticed a few forming cells in Southwestern Nebraska. So i had a decision to make, Hope storms form where I am in Valentine or take a drive an hour and a half West. Let me say I am a Jeff Gordon fan (nascar driver) lol. So i look at a map and see the town of Gordon, Nebraska in Northwestern Nebraska and last minute decided we drive west.

We get to the town of Gordon, Nebraska and stop at a local gas station for the typical energy drinks and junk food. we look to our south and notice tall beautiful storms moving our way. so i make the typical rookie chaser mistake and head south on a dirt road. storms start getting closer and closer, winds get stronger. We approach our first ever Supercell Thunderstorm, moving North-Northeast around 45 mph. I lose cell service and cant access radar to look at this storms progress.

When i last looked at the radar 15 minutes prior it was Severe warned. Little did I know as we were core punching, this storm had been Tornado warned. We see our first circulation and small funnel fade away. winds start reaching 60 mph and rain is falling heavily, we cant see anything or hear anything other than the rain slamming on the roof of my girlfriends Toyota Yaris. Now ive done a lot of studying and research and know quite a bit about weather and chasing. So when we noticed the rain change direction to the south and rain drops moving upwards on our car windows, I then knew we were in trouble. I finally get service and radar showed a scary sight, Tornado to our East, and our West withing 200 yards of us. Sky turned greenish and was ominous looking. After it all passed I was shakey but my smile never left my face the entire time. We drove Back to the gas station after it passed and spoke with the employees. They stated a big Stove pipe tornado was moving across a corn field across the road we were stuck on. 6 power poles were ripped from the ground.

Moral of this story is, learn everything you can about storm formation, chasing safety, and everything else that will help you not make the same mistakes I made.
The experience was amazing, and scary, but i would do it all over again if i could.

Im here to learn as much as possible about Supercells and chasing before i end up back in the country.

I have learned a lot since then and spend hours watching videos and reading about anything i can. My girlfriend is also just as passionate about chasing as i am. we cant wait to be back out chasing.

So if you read this long post of mine lol, please leave some advice or your opinions(polite opinions) and let me know what i couldve done different.

thank you for reading, and hope to hear from all of you

 

[Bob Schafer]

Welcome.

For most, the type of experience you describe is a really interesting day. For others, it changes everything. Forever.

 

[Marcus Diaz]

Sounds like a good day to me. Hell my first time out chasing was somewhat similar. It was May 6, 2008 I think. I sat west of Plainview, TX watching a supercell approach me from the southwest. I watched a wall cloud develop and started getting hailed on with golfballs. I was getting really excited. At the time I was the only person on this road as it started to pour down like crazy. Next thing I know, 2 GMC Yukons pull ahead of me. It was Reed Timmer and Discovery Channel. Being a total newb I thought I was some hot stuff being on this storm now. The rain stopped and the wall cloud was ramping up just to my SW. I got out and talked with Reed and Joel, who were pretty nice about meeting this newbie chaser. They talked about what was happening with the storm. About this time the rotation became fast and a skinny funnel poked down but there wasn't enough for it to actually touch down. After that, we all split our own ways. I drove into Plainview only to see and feel outflow from the storm. So, called it a day. It was actually not bad for my very first chase.

 

[Skip Talbot]

Hi, Alex, welcome to Stormtrack and thanks for sharing your account. Your first chase experience sounds similar to mine (and probably similar to many of us). I core punched a tornado warned left split at night during a high risk outbreak. We didn't see much and got pretty spooked. It was exciting though, and I was eager to try it again while learning from my blunders.

Just a little friendly ribbing, but how did you come to the conclusion that the tornado was 200 yards from you based on the radar?

 

[Jeff Hawkins]

Welcome Alex, thanks for your post, and sharing your wisdom gained from that experience. I have a part of me that says 'what the h*** were you thinking???' but I'm immediately reminded that I've done stuff that I now look back and realize was really dangerous and stupid at the time, mostly because I didn't know better. I've used those 'lessons' to learn how to be smarter and safer (no claim to being competent at those items yet of course...still a student). Sounds like you are doing the same. One part of your post caught my attention though, where you said "..i would do it all over again if i could". Do you mean you would literally put yourself smack-dab in the middle of a tornadic circulation again if you could? I'm not sure you meant that. For me, I'd avoid that like the plague! I want to live to chase another day.

 

[John Olexa]

Moral of this story is, learn everything you can about storm formation, chasing safety, and everything else that will help you not make the same mistakes I made.

Welcome to the group Alex. Glad to read this ^ You're off to a great start, with thinking like that. Happy & safe chasing to you both!

 

[Shane Adams]

Welcome to the forum Alex. Your account reminds of my own first chase. We had FM radio for intermittent wx bulletins and otherwise just drove blindly into a circulation. When the rain finally cleared we saw a lowering. I pointed the video camera at it just before a small tornado formed. Totally lucky and random, but it hooked me for life.

 

[John Olexa]

...It was Reed Timmer and Discovery Channel.

I'm reading Timmer's book " Into The Storm" right now.

 

[mikedeason]

You certainly jumped in the fire on that first chase and I'll admit, I'm a bit jealous. That's one of the most data sparse areas in the plains as well as having some of the worst roads and you still managed to score a Sheridan/Cherry County tube. That's an awesome way (and dare I say, old school way) to start a chase career!

Welcome to the forum.

 

[Rob H]

This is a good first post - other noobs should take note. Alex, I did the same thing on my first "chase". Core punched a tornadic storm, missed the tornado, but came across some flipped cars (police were there), and drove back home. My second chase I drove white-knuckled in a precip core for over two hours.

In my opinion, the best way to learn is to team up with someone experienced. If that's not really feasible in your neck of the woods, just start sponging material from these forums, and especially the archives.

 

[Timothy Finn]

Alex, welcome. My advice is to hit up MetEd, and take some free online courses. I actually did that before I started chasing, and I found out real fast, having some forecasting knowledge is awfully helpful when your radar and data are not available!

There's no real "start here" at MetEd, but I recommend beginning with Mesoscale Meteorology. It'll give you the basics that will be very helpful when you start looking at models, and forming your own forecasts.

Good luck, and enjoy yourself.
Tim