Night Storm Chasing Techniques

[cdcollura]

Good day all,

I chased at night several times, even hurricanes ... But for the sake of this thread, I'll stick to thunderstorms / tornadoes.

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Warren - Excellent opinions, many of which I second ... And "highly do not recommend" storm chasing (any storm chasing) at night.
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In my own opinion, chasing at night opens up a whole different aspect of both "the experience" and risks involved.

The risks are very obvious, as the lack of adequate light impairs visibility (which may already be imaired even in the daytime to begin with - from precipitation). Seeing "important" / dangerous areas of the storm is much more difficult at night.

Having data makes night chasing safer ... The big word here is "SAFER" and not "SAFE".

Last year, on May 29, 2008, with all the data we can shake a stick at ... I was chasing the Tipton-Glen Elder-Jewell storm in Kansas, which produced multiple tornadoes, including a large EF-3 wedge (Jewell) by night-fall.

I continually had the storm tracked on radar after dark, knowing at all times where the meso was, and my position relative to it. I was at least 5 miles away from the "danger zone" - Or so I thought.

Above: The "core" of an anticyclonic EF-0 - Those vehicles are almost "up on 2 wheels"!

A small, anticyclonic tornado, developing on the opposite side of the supercell RFD, spun up in a field, then northward right OVER myself and a few other vehicles with the TWISTEX group. I saw the funnel (barely) aloft, but could not make it out to well.

Radar just showed the activity (main meso) far to our NW ... We were OK, and a window was shattered, but only shaken - I took this as a warning / lesson on chasing at night (something can always bite you) ... Had this been day, we clearly would have seen the small tornado and taken evasive action (radar and data did not help at all).

Full video of above available HERE.

Above: Another harrowing experience chasing at night, actually 5:30 - 6:00 AM in South Florida in March of 1998 ... F1 Tornado (confirmed) flips over a semi-trailer in front of me ... look ma - No data!

 

[Skip Talbot]

If you are willing to chase at night, it definitely has its moments. Jerry got the above shot on March 28 while we trailed 10 miles behind the Bird City wedge. To further my point about keeping your distance, the NWS was unaware of the second tornado on the right, even after the damage surveys had been done. If you are too close to the storm, you might wind up in between those two tornadoes, and never see the satellite, and at the least never get them both backlit in the same frame.

 

[Neil Robinson]

The biggest issue has to be road safety. Not sure of the numbers but I suspect chasers are more likely to be involved in 'normal' bumps and prangs than any other weather-related problems. At night, in poor visibility, the chances increase. On May 8th, 2008 we were on the Kinsley, KS storm (90mph plus inflow) and had to skip south out of the hole on a wet, dirt road in pitch black. It wasn't too much fun and 30/35mph was the limit really, even with some of those 'supsect' lowerings looming to the east.
Tornados are best seen in the light - keep the night for lightning!

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

I kind of think if one decides to just not chase "tornadic storms" at night(I guess that means any night chasing when tornadoes are possible) that they are just decreasing their odds of seeing something cool over a given year. Night is not a lost cause image/video wise and image wise some of the best ops can be then, with stars or longer shutter fun.

http://www.extremeinstability.com/wp/07-0626wp.jpg

http://www.extremeinstability.com/wp/07-0631wp.jpg

Tornado near Grant NE March 28, 2007. After 30-40 chases in 2007 well, the best shots were probably the ones I got right then. Chasing will always have its risks, I'm not sure how much those change once night arrives though. If you can't see what is happening at night without having data you are likely in rain. I think you'd be about just as blind and lost if it was day with no data and you were in rain, not knowing what was coming north at you. If you have data then I don't see what the big deal is. Greensburg for example, day or night without data, I'd sure hate to have been heading south on that highway into town at the wrong time. Rain rain rain....dead. Just sort of doubt day is going to be a huge help.

What I hate about night is simply driving in rain, far removed from anything real dangerous stormwise. Good luck avoiding that deal, unless you only chase in your own county or are vacationing and getting a motel. I can't stand the early storms because after winter up here the painted lines seem to really be lacking. They take forever to repaint the things and well it just sucks trying to see that blacktop in heavy rain. One thing I have started to do is pull over and wait for a semi or pair of semis to go by. Their tires will really pull that water off the road and at least give you something better to drive in, and really decrease the ponding/rutting stuff.

And yeah I realize day obviously has the edge on visibility with storms, I just don't see it as much of a cause to stay home. One doesn't need to be miles from the storm either, but watching a big tornado to the west while under the base of the same storm, well that can lead to "issues".

 

[Gene Moore]

"Having done it many times, I don't see a big difference in chasing at night vs during the day as far as the strategy and risk managements go. To me it's a myth that it's so much more dangerous - particularly if you have radar in the vehicle."

Wow, I'm going to strongly disagree with this statement. Remembering how many chasers got into to trouble last year in northern KS after dark. Then there was David D. getting run over by the tornado in the Texas Panhandle, he always has radar on. Radar only sees rain, that is the "proper sized" droplets... and of course hail. There is much more to a storm than the actual falling precip. The inflow bands, new towers going up or merging, surges in wind that may or may not have dirt in them. Then there is the forward flank issues, the radar sees rain and hail that may or may not reach the ground. Rain or hail aloft is likely not going to be seen until it reaches the lowest tilt from the site. Are we really going to be doing tilt sequences at night while actively chasing, I think not.

Night chasing is full of surprises continious lightning or not. The more frequent the lightning the better, but what happens when it quits? Tornadoes do occur without lightning on occasion ...than all you've got are power flashes.

Not all night events are equal; night chasing is easier during the late season when storm speeds are slower. This allows us to maneuver on the storm not the storm to maneuver (attack) us.

Last night, for those watching the west Texas event, a tornadic supercell spun up at dusk southwest of Big Spring, TX. Coming back south into the warm sector I was able to intercept this cell while it was passing over the city. This storm was nothing like the one's I had witnessed during the day, it was a monster with striations all the way up to the anvil, really beautiful. The large scale circulation entrained the FFD precip from the anvil back west into the midlevel circulation and around the storm, that was a rare and stunning sight. There were two tornadoes reported but I was not able to photograph either. I think one was "around back" from my easterly viewpoint considering where it was reported. I worked my way up into the large notch and optical vault between the FFD and the circulation riding that spot for about an hour as it move NE along FM 350. On two occasions I had power flashes and one time they were persistent. As they got very close I took drastic action to get clear of what might be causing them....at this time most of the lightning was intracloud and coming down from the anvil, not back lighting the subject. I set shop again further east and suddenly the power flasher were there again, about two miles away, one burned green like a welders arc. For a new age chaser being two miles away is deep into a comfort zone, but at night on a storm moving at April speeds, that's getting too close for me. I set my digital camera to 1000 ISO with a 1.4 lens and took a series of 1-2 second images across the field of view. The shots came out like daylight, in fact too bright with lightning. There was no tornado, but there was a shallow bulbous lowering moving along the inflow banding. Knowing what was or was not lurking in the darkness can be a great comfort. Getting scared at night or much worse panicking can ruin the chase.

As it turned out I never got good photography of the event, but I did enjoy being part of a spectacular rotating storm. The anvil to ground lightning was just too frequent for me to risk standing outside, especially when it's striking out of clear air miles behind my back. If this had happened in the 80's for example I would have bailed out on the storm. Today's high sensitivy cameras can be another tool for seeing what's back in there. The image doesn't have to be sharp, all it needs to do is give us the information we need at the moment. Some storms are approachable, and for me, some are not.

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

"Having done it many times, I don't see a big difference in chasing at night vs during the day as far as the strategy and risk managements go. To me it's a myth that it's so much more dangerous - particularly if you have radar in the vehicle."

Wow, I'm going to strongly disagree with this statement. Remembering how many chasers got into to trouble last year in northern KS after dark. Then there was David D. getting run over by the tornado in the Texas Panhandle, he always has radar on. Radar only sees rain, that is the "proper sized" droplets... and of course hail. There is much more to a storm than the actual falling precip. The inflow bands, new towers going up or merging, surges in wind that may or may not have dirt in them. Then there is the forward flank issues, the radar sees rain and hail that may or may not reach the ground. Rain or hail aloft is likely not going to be seen until it reaches the lowest tilt from the site. Are we really going to be doing tilt sequences at night while actively chasing, I think not.

I don't think anyone is saying chase solely by radar when they refer to having radar/data in the vehicle. I know when I refer to that I'm simply saying so that you have some idea where things are when you are in the rain, or just the fact you are out there. I wouldn't think to try and chase directly by radar day or night, but yeah it's going to be a huge help knowing where the tornadic sup is that is a county or so away as you navigate whatever. And that knowledge...eh...chasing doesn't seem so dangerous at night.

Are people getting into any more trouble at night than they do during the day though? I doubt it's some huge percentage. I can quicky think of two recent legit tornado hits that were not in the dark. Speaking of northern KS I can recall Edwards and company having "fun" May 29, 2004. Sure people get into problems at night, I just doubt it's much more so than the day ones...especially if your goal is not to.

 

[Jason Young]

I have chased many time at night and loved it , till the Lone Grove tornado . Waiting for a power flash and then find that you within a mile of a fast moveing EF-4 . Then almost ripped my weather station off my truck due to a low power line . Not being able to see , make's it were I think twice about night chasing.

 

[Rick Schmidt]

I would have to say that it's not a practice I favor all the time, at least not for a novice or one that does not have MANY chases under their belt. However, I do agree that it has its rewards, such as the Greensburg wedge that I followed. But, I must point out that I was very fortunate in my timing, and spotting features that lead me to stop at the perfect time to turn around and follow the tornado. BTW, I did not have my radar working the entire time I was chasing that storm.

 

[Stephen Levine]

I love chasing lightning at night, and have done so since 1977.
Here in the Prairies, I avoid core punching storms that have large hail reports, and in fact try to stay out of hail altogether.

With severe warned storms, my goal is to drive to their outer boundaries and photograph the lightning and structure therein. Then leapfrog with them as they move east.

The biggest and scariest thing that I have dealt with at night has been the flash floods so common in W.TX, E.NM and other semi-arid areas. Driving back to a motel after filming earlier evening storms, I have experienced sudden lakes on two lanes where earlier no water existed at all anywhere in the area. The area west of Lubbock (like between Lubbock and Muleshoe) is particularly bad for that, and after my first ponding in that area, I drove 40 MPH on those two lane roads. Also after one chase, driving through Tucumcari, NM was a truly hair raising experience - - it seems that that city is built for water to all drain into their downtown area.

Another danger I ran into, again after filming late evening and sunset storms, was running into sudden exploding cells as discrete storms merged into an MCS.
On one trip, thirty miles from the nearest town, it suddenly started hailing on us.. and hearing the thuds and with no trees or lights around, this was quite scary.

For non-tornadic/non-supercell storms I have driven through them at will with no problems since I first started chasing in 1977. This is particularly refreshing during our traditionally dry searing summers here in N.TX and also in the thunderstorm deprived winter season.

 

[Ric Burney]

Night time chasing does have its share of suprises. On 04/16/2009 I was leaving Post, TX driving east. The cell I had been watching that afternoon had already crossed in front of me and was moving northeast, off to my left. It was getting dark and I was making my way back toward home. I encountered a narrow hail swath on the road in the middle of nowhere. I just eased off the gas and coasted over the mess.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dv6TmmbcYA