Saturns and Softball Size Hail = Hole

I wanna see, I wanna see.. Why isnt it working for me? The video that is
 
LOL, I enjoyed all the "blogger" experts who've chimed in with their seasoned, savvy opinions, which are no doubt forged from years and years of actual, in-the-field experience. The one guy who blabs "they strike me as total ametuers" kills me: exactly how, professionally, would one sit in a car that's being trashed by hail?

I guess race car drivers never crash either :roll:
 
Originally posted by Jeff Snyder
\"Mickey, we're going to have to move\"
\"No! I'm not moving!\"
Classic... :lol:
Click to expand...

Classic would be if that was David Drummond driving by when they say that. :p
 
Wow.. good stuff. I now at the time you were scared out of your mind.. but in retrospect what great footage. :wink:
 
Mick,

First of all I want to say that I am sorry about the damage that Chad's car took on May 12. I do not fault you or anyone else who got into that hail core because sh#t happens and I would be a hypocrite if I said differently because I cracked my windshield a few weeks ago.

What I see that has gone wrong in this thread is that people are praising the video that was taken as a good thing. I think that it sets good and bad examples. The good is that it shows that hail is to be taken seriously and what kind of damage that it can do.

At the same time it also shows how much popularity someone can get for getting into a bad situation like that. I am not saying it will happen but if someone sees that video it could make them think there's popularity to gain by getting good hail footage. Or even along the lines of that driving into a tornado for that matter. People may think that what I am saying is farfetched but I wouldn't put it past some people to get up the nerve to try a stunt like that. Even though you obviously did not mean to be in that situation because I know you are a seasoned good chaser and know better.

I guess to sum it up. I think every seasoned chaser knows what it's like to be in that kind of a situation and I am sure being there at the time was a 1000 more times scarier than watching it on video. A learning chaser might not get the feeling that you have experienced because they have not been in that situation like that before and I personally feel that a video like that, as crazy as it sounds may encourage them to do so.

It would be a great video to send to NWS offices so they can use it to show people that hail is not something to be messed around with.

my thoughts
 
Great discussion and thanks for your point of view.

Perhaps it could come across like you said to some newbie’s. I think the video portrays a very dangerous situation and by no means are we (Chad and I) portraying that the situation we were in was cool. I think the video would give the viewer the idea of perhaps they might not want to do this (chase). If this video were to portray two very light hearted yahoo chasers acting like it was the coolest thing in the world then I would have not even thought about putting it on the web.
People are going to perceive as they wish. There is nothing I can do about that but hope the person on the other side is a well minded person and understand the true reality of the video. I would think it be more of an educational clip than anything.

Thanks for the comments!

Mick
 
When I was out there, and I am sure the video will show this (and you will prob hear it - once I get the video up), all I wanted to happen was the hail to stop, and I wanted to no longer be chasing. The window continued to shatter in new places the longer it went on, and glass kept flying everywhere.

I wanted to go home. I did NOT want the storm to prove my wife right (that something like this was bound to happen). I no longer wanted to storm chase. This was the first time I had actually felt this in my 5+ years of chasing.

But now I look at my photos of the tornado on the ground, and the beautiful sites I saw that day, I just want to do it again. I just want to go out and see it all. I think, the damage on the car wasnt that bad, and the windows were fixable. The costs werent that much. I never have had any intention of selling my car before it completely died, and this just solidified that.

I will chase again... when and where are the real questions. But if you had asked me when the softballs were falling, I wouldve said: "If you make it stop, I will stop chasing."
 
Mickey,
Towards the end of the clip the vis is basically zero. Obviously in part because of the windshield damage, but it also seems as though there must have been a point at which you couldn't see how far away the tornado was... is that how it actually was? Did you know how close you were, or were you to busy sheilding yourself from the flying glass?
 
Originally posted by Cstok
Mickey,
Towards the end of the clip the vis is basically zero. Obviously in part because of the windshield damage, but it also seems as though there must have been a point at which you couldn't see how far away the tornado was... is that how it actually was? Did you know how close you were, or were you to busy sheilding yourself from the flying glass?
Click to expand...

The tornado was moving away the entire time. I was watching our video of this tonight and I caught a moment in all of this when we had a clear shot to blast east, escaping the hail and staying north of the tornado. Hindsight I suppose...
 
Originally posted by Cstok
Mickey,
Towards the end of the clip the vis is basically zero. Obviously in part because of the windshield damage, but it also seems as though there must have been a point at which you couldn't see how far away the tornado was... is that how it actually was? Did you know how close you were, or were you to busy sheilding yourself from the flying glass?
Click to expand...

Yes the time did come when we could not see the tornado. However, as Shane posted, I knew at that time that I was in a safe place (as far as the tornado threat was concerned at least). I knew there was a window of opportunity of safe haven from the hail but I think that it was much to close to the area of rotation. The thing is that this storm was throwing characteristics that were not textbook in nature and I found myself second-guessing myself. That constant second-guessing in itself was very dangerous.

If you were to see a few minutes or perhaps seconds before the hail started to beat us you could see how many circulations there were underneath this massive meso. I mean there were spin ups to the north of the road, to the south of the road and even some crossing the road one to two miles ahead of us. These unpredictable spin ups are exactly why I did not move closer. There was no way I was getting closer to it than I already was. It was moving off to the east and that my friend was a big relief.

The fact of the matter is I knew what I was doing and that was not to get killed. As much as I hate to say it, because I am the cause of my partners car damage, I am glad I was driving. I might not be here today had I not. That big hail was dangerous but what was two miles ahead of us was far more dangerous.

I have a wonderful wife and two great children and after all this all I wanted to do is get home. My life was far more important to me than a car. Even if it was not my car.

BY THE WAY! For any of you who have not downloaded the video clip and want to do so you might want to do it before 6pm tonight because I am getting real close to going over my bandwidth limits and need to remove it from the server. 23,000 downloads in 24 hours. sheeesssss. If I charged .50 for each download I'd be set to chase for the next 20 years. lol

Edit: Video has already been removed due to bandwidth restrictions. Any chasers wanting a copy of it pm me and I will send you a private link to it.

Mick
 
Originally posted by Robbie Cox+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Robbie Cox)</div>
<!--QuoteBegin-Jeff Snyder
Click to expand...
\"Mickey, we're going to have to move\"
\"No! I'm not moving!\"
Classic... :lol:
Click to expand...

Classic would be if that was David Drummond driving by when they say that. :p[/b]
Click to expand...

I can't really say anything because I was further down the road and off to the right under that dirt and crap. We were watching it develop in a field and decided it was time to head east when a farmer decided to get the hell out of there and came out on the dirt road in front of us going 5mph and we were basically trapped as it overtook us until we got to the next southboard mud skating experience and got blasted by all manner of RFD.

But yeah, I watched his video, and I probably would have gone on down the road a bit toward the developing tornado myself. Sometimes you can be amazed by the difference 100 yards can make from golf balls to baseballs. Of course they had no way of knowing that and had to make a decision and clearly felt more comfortable staying put than going closer to the wind. I've been caught in those nasty hailstorms and that stuff scares the hell out of me. Much more so than a weak tornado does.

Bottom line, when you get caught in something you didn't plan for, you have to make split second decisions that may not always be your best decisions, but have to be made none the less. Your past life experiences dictate what your decision will be, and whatever it is will affect all your future decisions.
 
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