Safest, best parts of storms, to see tornado?

[Carol Sidofsky]

I know that there are probably exceptions to all rules, but here goes!

If a supercell is heading due East, for example, (before it might become a right turner), I think I'm supposed to be south of the southwest end of the storm, to avoid precip from hiding a tornado, --right?

If a supercell is heading northeast or southeast, and thinking of the supercell as, let's say, some 4 legged wild animal--I should be somewhere near the critter's rear right leg, --right?

But, what if a supercell is heading due NORTH, or, due SOUTH, or NORTHWEST, or SOUTHWEST? Thinking of the supercell as a 4 legged animal, where should I try to be, to best see a tornado, without it being hidden by rain, hail, etc.?

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For non-supercell storms, what do you suggest, for safest, best positions to try to be in, to see landspout tornadoes, in Colorado? Or, is this not easily predictable?

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Since I'm not an experienced storm chaser, and not a meteorologist, should I try to follow a storm (but might not be able to keep up), or should I guess, and try to let a storm come to me?

I'm going to order a video from stormtrack, to get some more basic understanding about storms.

Thanks for being patient with us non-experts!

Carol
cell: 970-531-5000
fsds@rkymtnhi.com

 

[Jeff Duda]

Carol,
I suggest you look through the stormtrack archive's Educational Forum section, specifically thread #6. I think it will give you the answers you are looking for. Good luck and if you have any more questions, please ask.

 

[Matt Hunt]

In theory, that might be the safest place to be, but in my experience in chasing is that normally you have little control over where you are due to the road system and/or storm motion and speed. Unless you're in an area with a grid road system, it becomes difficult to stay on one side or the other. Personally, I think the best VIEW is to the north of a storm heading due east.... in the inflow region. That's because it's clear to the south (assuming it's a discrete cell), so you will have great contrast of the tornado. And if it's a right-mover, that's not too dangerous of a spot to be either, however there's a narrow region there, and you might get into some big hail. The problem with being to the south is the rain/hail core is behind the tornado, making it low contrast and difficult to see sometimes. As far as where to be if it's moving another direction, simple, just rotate your position the same degree as the storm movement (i.e. east motion = north position, north motion = west position).

 

[Greg Stumpf]

Personally, I think the best VIEW is to the north of a storm heading due east.... in the inflow region. That's because it's clear to the south (assuming it's a discrete cell), so you will have great contrast of the tornado. And if it's a right-mover, that's not too dangerous of a spot to be either, however there's a narrow region there, and you might get into some big hail.

If you are a novice storm chaser, I would recommend NOT taking this position on the storm. This is a very high risk area to be, and many things could go wrong: very large hail, occluding tornado hooking left right at you, rapidly losing visibility as the core overtakes you. Sure, you can maximize your chances of a high-contrast view, but leave this part of the storm to those with years of experience under their belts and the observational knowledge to recognize and negotiate the dangers. Even I, after 24 years of chasing, have only found myself in this position a handful of times, sometimes due to navigation errors, but only otherwise due to careful navigation and acute situational awareness.

Novices should either stay ahead of and to the right (as viewed from behind; which is usually south) of the tornado path, or ride with an experienced chaser if you want to be more courageous.

 

[Matt Hunt]

Eh... it really depends on a storm by storm basis. You can be to the north of the tornado, yet still be a couple miles away, giving you plenty of time to adjust should the tornado change paths. That is if it is not moving too fast. I wouldn't be in that position on any 60mph EF-4's. That's part of situational awareness. Knowing the potential for that day, whether tornadoes are likely to be strong or weak, how fast they're moving, what direction they're moving, how big the hail is in the core, and what your road options are, and your "escape route" should things go bad. Again, I didn't say it was the SAFEST place to be, but it's the best VIEW, as from what I interpreted the OP was asking about the safest, as well as best view of the tornado. The other best view would be directly in its path, to be quite honest.

 

[Mike Krzywonski]

This book has beneficial info. regarding positioning & storm motion: http://www.weathergraphics.com/chasing/

 

[Danny Neal]

http://nrnilstormchaser.blogspot.com/2011/01/how-to-view-tornado-and-decide-tornado.html

 

[John Wetter]

There are so many good sources for this information on the web...

In my Skywarn classes, I always tell people to just set themselves up so the storm is moving left to right in front of them. Stop worrying about directions as it's all relative. Left to right... That's all you need to know. Stay out of the notch until you get some experience.

 

[Carol Sidofsky]

Thanks for all your replies! I appreciate all your helpful information!

I followed Jeff Duda's links--which helped me to find Mike Hollingshead's "Storm Structure 101 Educational DVD", and I'm buying this from Mike!

I'll try to follow John Wetter's suggestion of "setting up" to have storms going from left to right, from my vantage point(s).

That does answer a lot of questions:

If the storm is moving from S to N, I should probably be E of the storm (near the back end/rear right side?);

If the storm is moving from N to S, I should be W of the storm (near the back end/near storm's right rear side?);

If the storm is moving from NE to SW, I should be "NW" of storm (near the back end/near storm's right rear side?); (is this correct?)

If the storm is moving from SE to NW, I should be '"NE"' of storm (near the back end/near storm's right rear side?); (is this correct?)

And for a typical/classical Colorado supercell moving from SW to NE, I should be SE of storm (near the back end/near storm's right rear side?);

And, for a classical supercell storm moving from NW to SE (like a right turner of the previous type of supercell), I should be SW of storm (near the back end/near storm's right rear side?);

Did I get these "intentions" right (to avoid getting clobbered by core)?

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What about non-supercell potentially tornadic storms? Are there any positioning hints for these? If yes, are they the same or different from setting up for supercell storms?

I'm anxious to see Mike Hollingshead's DVD, too!

Carol
cell: 970-531-5000
fsds@rkymtnhi.com

 

[Jeff Duda]

What about non-supercell potentially tornadic storms? Are there any positioning hints for these? If yes, are they the same or different from setting up for supercell storms?

Since the class of "non-supercellular tornadic" storms is much less organized (both in terms of the group and of the storms themselves), it's difficult to give you a good response in a short amount of writing. But here goes:

The only two general types of non-supercell thunderstorms that produce tornadoes are 1) ordinary cells that produce landspout tornadoes or waterspouts, 2) and squall lines.

1) Although I have not chased storms that produce landspout tornadoes, it seems to me that such storms do not produce as much precipitation, nor in an organized form (no forward flank downdraft or rear flank downdraft, e.g.). Thus, as long as the precipitation is not blocking your view of the tornado, which can be on just about any side of the storm, you will be able to see the tornado.

2) Since squall lines are generally more common than supercells in more parts of the U.S. and the world, I don't bother chasing squall lines. Unless you're comfortable driving a high speeds in very heavy rain to catch up and pass back through a squall line from the back side, generally you just let the line come at you and see what you can see as it passes. Since tornadoes can occur along the leading edge and within the squall line (say, in the case of an embedded supercell), it's very difficult to say where to be for that either. Again, if you happen to be close enough to where a tornado forms along the front end, then you'll see it. Otherwise you won't. I guess you could look for notches along the high reflectivity gradient along the frnot of the squall line since that can indicate locally stronger inflow and possibly a circulation, but those are very transient and you probably won't be able to chase one down if you're more than a few miles from it when you spot it on radar. Regarding chasing squall lines with embedded supercells...look at the reports thread for 11 June 2008. That was a good case of a squall line with embedded sups (one such storm produced the EF3 that hit the Little Sioux Scout Ranch tornado in western Iowa). This can be very dangerous since rain will most likely obscure your view of any tornadoes associated with embedded supercells in a squall line. I wouldn't reccommend it at all unless you're standing near a place of high safety (like near your house or a storm cellar dug into the ground).