Night time tornado chasing - WHY??

[John Diel]

I have a little different perspective. Since I am "reporting" to either Television or Radio live, I need to get out at night. Severe Weather doesn't stop just because the sun went down.

I also have the advantage of someone at the studio following where I'm at and watching the radar for me. I'm working on financing a wireless data connection which would even be better.

 

[Ben Cotton]

I used to be dead set against chasing at night. "Only morons chase at night," I would say. Then came April 17, 2004. Mike Kruze and I drove all day from KLAF to Ft. Dodge, IA. It was nearing sundown when the storms started going. After such a long trip, I'd be damned if I didn't give it a shot. We spent almost 5 hours cruising around in the dark, trying to get our first tornado (we were successful 3 days later in Jamestown, IN). The NWR was on the entire time, and we had an excellent atlas to guide us around the road networks, and of course we were on the phone with our nowcaster Kevin Peters for the duration of the chase (when we had signal).

During this time, we learned to love lightning flashes (and there were a LOT of them). We kept our distance well, and always had our escape plan in mind. The only time I was ever concerned was when we were stopped by a train just west of Manly with a potentially tornadic cell headed straight for us. That's one of those unexpected situations that can trap novice chasers (such as myself) and legends alike.

Since that night, my attitude towards night chasing has relaxed significantly. I still won't go after embedded supercells in a squall line after dark if there's tornado potential. Generally, I'll opt to spot as opposed to chase after dark. Besides, its hard to get a good lightning shot during the day.


Ben

 

[Tony Laubach]

Rarely will I intentially chase after dark. May 12 was an instance where I was returning to my base for the night and happened to come across the nighttime tornado.

I don't have the equipment to be chasing after dark, and when I am intentially out there, it's either because its in the city of Denver and is normally a severe storm within well lit city limits, or its cause I am heading to base for the night and happen along the storm.

I've had a couple bad nighttime experiences with storms and tend to want to avoid chasing after dark, but as Gabe posted, photos like that make it a temptation. If I'm far enough away from the storm, I'll chase it, but rarely will you see me getting close to a nighttime tornatic storm.

Lightning is a whole other story, though! I LOVE chasing lightning after dark!

 

[Gene Rhoden]

(Gene's alter-ego here.... 8) )

Well this thread's been out here for a while but this is the first chance I've had to actually read it now that we're all coming down from TESSA. I would like to contribute to the discussion, but not in a complicated manner. Sometimes you get entangled in eloquent reasoning when talking about why you did what you did when.....and I don't think any of that would help matters.

Night chasing is one issue, our May 9th 03 OKC tornado chase is another. Normally, I avoid chasing anything at night like the plague. It's not hard to understand why - you can't see storm structure, it's hard to place features, and it's easier to get into trouble. It's also more lonely, somehow.

Would I do May 9th 2003 all over again? No. Did I enjoy it? No. Was I terrified? Yes. If I could, would I erase it from my memory and make it as if it never happened? No.

Gene and Tim decided to go after this supercell at dark from our home in Norman. Why? Did they want to spot? No. Did they think they were going to see tremendous structure or heart-breaking, high-contrast tornadoes? No. Did they do it to keep people safe in their beds? No, get real. This area is so awash with spotters and chasers that any reporting is becoming obsolete......unless you don't hear it being reported on the radio.

Gene and Tim decided to go after this storm for one very simple, real reason. An obsession. A love so deep that it can't be eliminated or understood. They live off and for storms (among other things). And a storm looking like that on radar just coming into the western edges of OKC? They were damn well gonna experience it.

Me? I wouldn't have gone after it. Why didn't I stay at home? Because being with them experiencing it is far better than sitting at home worrying about them. That, and I like to think that I have at least a smattering of their type of passion in my own blood....

Scores of chasers got into "trouble" on the night of May 9th 2003 in OKC. Hank Baker saw debris flying.....he was north of our tornado. Dave Gold and SLT sheltered in Cracker Barrell's freezer-room. Some other chasers did what may be considered the smart thing to do and booked east with the meso......they had trees fall on them. I believe we were entirely right and justified in seeking shelter the way we did......I'd rather be hunkered down under concrete girders than trying to take a white-knuckle drive east and get out of it in the pitch black.

Chasing this storm wouldn't have been nearly as possible without one person that night. Bob Conzemius. He was deployed and chasing with the DOWs - and coordinated things masterfully on the radio. He relayed what he was seeing with the DOWs observations to the spotter frequencies which in turn was relayed to anyone listening. His reports probably saved a lot of people (including us) from getting into a helluva lot more trouble. He is a great guy.

What happened happened. We wouldn't have executed the chase if we hadn't thought we were equipped to deal with it and understand it. Like Tim said - we're not proud of what we did. We don't go driving into tornadoes deliberately. On the night of May 9th 2003, we thought we could chase this storm.....and Mother Nature gave us a firm wrap around the knuckles as a reminder of just who is in control.

What did I come away from it with? Well.....very vivid memories. A tanglible experience with a weather phenomenon that will never leave me. A greater respect for what we chase and how we chase it. A greater understanding of just how quickly these storms can change character.........and a bond with Tim Marshall that endures to today and always will. There's a spark when Tim and I meet up or chase together......real friendship......and I don't get that close to many people.

My 0.02,

Karen Rhoden

(Our May 9th 2003 video can be seen on our recently-released DVD, Violent Prairies:
http://www.stormskies.com/ViolentPrairies.htm)

 

[George Tincher]

I've never tried anything at night besides spotting from a static position. Too many trees and hills in this area to make such a situation even remotely safe. In fact, it's bad enough during the day in my immediate area, although the terrain does improve as you go west.

Anyway, I'm glad Tim, Gene and Karen made it through that situation safely. I'm sure they didn't get so close on purpose.

-George

 

[Gabe Garfield]

Just a quick correction:

The pics I posted (from June 10) were shot by Doug Raflik, not myself. I was on the other side of the storm, and it was just as beautiful.

Gabe

 

[David Wolfson]

Greg, I was with the Dave Gold/Roger Hill's Silver Lining group Gene mentioned during the storm on Tim's DVD you describe. TTI we had stopped chasing for the night and were eating at the Cracker Barrel in Edmond. As the minutes went by the nowcasts from chasers and moles at the SPC and NWS to Dave got more and more alarming. When the barrage CGs started and the antenna farm disappeared everyone in the restaurant crammed into the walk-in freezer that passed for their "storm shelter". Shortly thereafter the power went and all you could hear was the deafening rattle of hail and various expletives in the total darkness.

Fortunately, the F0/F1 passed about a mile south and wasn't the violent 1/2 mile wedge being reported by the nowcasters, or I might not be writing this -- no joke. The freezer was actually built into a flimsy lean-to on the west side of the restaurant.

Enough time has passed and this is a suitable thread to give an opinion I've held for awhile about the incident. If you're mobile with dangerous storms in the vicinity it's a serious error to go to ground or "stop chasing". The big risk of nighttime chasing is that you put yourself in a position relative to a storm you'd never do in the daytime in a million years. You stop being the chaser and you become the chased. And I can vouch from personal experience, that's a whole different thing!

 

[Gene Rhoden]

Originally posted by David Wolfson
Greg, I was with the Dave Gold/Roger Hill's Silver Lining group Gene mentioned during the storm on Tim's DVD you describe.

Enough time has passed and this is a suitable thread to give an opinion I've held for awhile about the incident. If you're mobile with dangerous storms in the vicinity it's a serious error to go to ground or \"stop chasing\". The big risk of nighttime chasing is that you put yourself in a position relative to a storm you'd never do in the daytime in a million years. You stop being the chaser and you become the chased. And I can vouch from personal experience, that's a whole different thing!

Well - first of all it was me that posted here, not Gene. :roll:

Secondly - I respectfully disagree with your idea that it is a "serious error" to "go to ground" as you call it. I would much rather stop and take shelter when in the immediate path of a tornado, than carry on running around like a blue-arsed fly. The chances of you coming into contact with tornadic winds is FAR more likely if you are moving across the area encompassed by the storm's meso, than it is if you stop and make yourself just one point to be hit. But then that's just the opinion of myself, Gene and Tim, who were there.

I don't care whether I'm a chaser or the chased.....I care about coming out of it alive.

KR

 

[David Wolfson]

Sorry, Gene! :?:

As usual I probably wasn't precise enough. I wasn't for sure intending to criticize your actions, Tim's, or the others who found themselves in a bad place while chasing that night and did what they had to do. I was -- well -- more referring to the situation involving the Cracker Barrel, where -- well -- people who should know better stopped chasing. There was plenty of time and plenty of information to get us clear of the storm. That's the serious error I was talking about.

 

[Tony Laubach]

David,

I think I see where you're coming from, and correct me if I'm wrong, but I think stopping for the night and having a tornatic storm come barreling through is purely accidental. Unless you stopped at the resturant KNOWING a tornatic storm was coming, in which case, I think you have room to say oops. But if you just stopped for the night and a tornatic storm formed while you were eating, I'd just say you were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Nighttime storms are hard to really forecast, and I would think that I wouldn't change my stopping places at night based upon the chance of storms, but needless to say, it just sounds like you were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Regardless, because you were in that situation, I think you made the safer move between staying and fleeing.

 

[David Wolfson]

Tony, you bet the gods leading us knew there was a tornadic storm coming at us for several hours. We stopped at the restaurant to "let it pass" south of us before proceeding on to where we would be staying the night. The gods were getting nowcasts for at least a half hour reporting violent tornado(s) on the ground tracking basically in our direction. 'Nuff said! It was a major "Oops!" IMHO.

 

[Gene Rhoden]

Originally posted by David Wolfson
Sorry, Gene! :?:

I was -- well -- more referring to the situation involving the Cracker Barrel, where -- well -- people who should know better stopped chasing. There was plenty of time and plenty of information to get us clear of the storm. That's the serious error I was talking about.

Oh OK no probs. Yes I had wondered what you all were doing at the Cracker Barrel. I heard you got some serious hail.

Karen.

 

[David Wolfson]

Not enough to bust up or dent anything as I remember, Karen. And the worst part was ... we missed dessert!

[duh! I just saw your sig/initials at the end of the posts]

 

[Gene Rhoden]

Originally posted by David Wolfson
Not enough to bust up or dent anything as I remember, Karen. And the worst part was ... we missed dessert!

Well that just won't do - that's unacceptable. As a female - you are preaching to the choir about missing dessert!

I'm sorry for your experience, but I know Dave Gold and the guy's an A-1 person. I am sure there were exceptional circumstances involved in this situation.

Karen

 

[David Wolfson]

Karen, amen on Dave and Roger as A-1! But everyone including them can learn from the experience. Dave was actually rather shaken that night, and admitted at the time in all his considerable experience, as I recall, it was the only time he's ever had to take shelter from an approaching tornado. Honestly the only exceptional circumstance I believe was inhibiting our booking well clear of the storm was that it was getting late (after 10 p.m.) and the last night of the tour. So there may well have been a situational incentive to get us bedded down so they could prepare to receive the next days' guests.

This whole thread is about nighttime chasing and how decision-making under these circumstances can get anyone -- even the best and most experienced -- into serious trouble. That's the spirit I know we're all talking about these things, and it just might save someone's butt someday.