Scariest chases and close calls

[Stephen Barabas]

June 26th 2009 I had intercepted an embedded high-precipitation supercell storm in the town of Washington, Connecticut. At the time I did not know it had gone supercelluar since I lacked appropriate technology such as mobile internet and thus radar. The weather didn't seem so bad, that is until the rain and winds picked up in a hurry. I pulled over to film for several moments until a gust (I'm thinking about 70+ mph ) came through. My cup anemometer measured I believe 45 mph, but there was plenty of trees and buildings around me to induce frictional perturbation and inaccurate readings.

In any case, there was a large tree limb that went down behind me and landed on power lines which I was stupidly parked underneath. I didn't know at the time since it was raining hard and my windows were fogging up. Well, I found out as soon as that limb hit the lines and caused the transformer to blow out behind me. Soon enough trees and limbs were falling over and I scrambled to get to a safer spot. This was difficult due to the rain and my fogging windows (Something I truly need to have fixed) as well as other motorists trying to get to safety. It was quite a moment; A stupid one on my behalf, but very exciting in par. I'm sure not as scary as some others' experiences. . . but hey, in Connecticut, that's pretty intense. Especially when you're always surrounded by trees and power lines.

A friend of mine called me and told me that while I was up in Washington, Connecticut, the storm developed a TVS and about 45 minutes later moved on to producing an EF1 tornado in Wethersfield, CT, but of course one could never see the tornado due to the HP nature of storms in New England, as well as the trees.

Good times. I love storm intercepting in New England.

 

[Kevin Walters]

The two scariest situations for me: #1 Driving through heavy rain as pieces of wood, shingles, and sheet metal started falling all around me. I was chasing alone trying to avoid debris and see the road through the driving rain. Oh yeah, there was a mile wide violent tornado less than four miles to my South. Not knowing the exact location of the tornado with basically no visibility at my location was scary. #2 Coming home from a chase in 1995 with a severely hail damaged Toyota pickup truck and seeing the look on my wife's face. Now that is scary!

 

[Mike Bennett]

#2 Coming home from a chase in 1995 with a severely hail damaged Toyota pickup truck and seeing the look on my wife's face. Now that is scary!

Of all the scary moments I've read on this thread, this has got to be the scariest one. This is something I've feared I'd have to face for a long time, but (knock on wood) haven't had to yet. Great scary moment Kevin.....

 

[Susan Strom]

My scariest time for sure was due to flash floods. The year was either 2001 or 2002 and It seems that Clovis NM is perfectly designed so that flood waters from everywhere else drain right into downtown. After driving through a storm that brought a yellow light of concern up for me (night time, complete darkness, 2-lane road with nowhere to pull over-no shoulder and everything flying sideways from left to right as we went north. I had to drive on the yellow line just to see where I was going; visibility only 1/4 car length in front of me) we ran into deep and rising waters when reaching Clovis. It was already nearly midnight and we had no motel that we could find to check in to after a long day of driving and chasing. So I took a vote among the passengers: who would rather stay, possibly for hours in this spot, and who would rather try our luck at pushing through. . The vote was unanimous to push on.. so we did and terror seized my body as I felt the tires start to slip from the pavement. I drove with one tire on the elevated median strip to help us gain traction.. Thank God we made it, but then we ran into 4 more just like this in Clovis alone. It was truly terrible.

You are very lucky Stephen. I too hit a flash flood (in darkness) when I had my pickup truck. Inside was a log. I maneuvered off, after some tense moments there when I could feel the vehicle slipping. It is good to point out how dangerous flash floods are. I have learned from living in the desert that flash floods typically contain about 40% solids. It is a pavement-scouring milkshake filled with sand, logs, debris, snakes, scorpions, cactus-parts and barbed wire ranch fence. Best to avoid them at all costs and turn around or wait it out. They tend to recede quickly, which is their only saving grace.

 

[Andy Wehrle]

I'm surprised Brian Stertz hasn't chimed in on this thread yet (unless I just missed it). He has about the best close call story of anyone:

http://vortex-times.com/92201chase

 

[Scott Weberpal]

I'm surprised Brian Stertz hasn't chimed in on this thread yet (unless I just missed it). He has about the best close call story of anyone:

http://vortex-times.com/92201chase

http://www.stormtrack.org/forum/showpost.php?p=259427&postcount=36

 

[Skip Talbot]

Good stories by all. I remember another good hair raising moment, and I'm surprised Chad hasn't chimed in about it. Chad Cowan and a buddy of mine were driving through Ellis, KS on the night of May 23, 2008, with Adam Lucio, Danny Neal, and co. behind us. We were trying to race an embedded circulation with notable power flashes to our west that was moving northeast, by driving north through town and then east on I-70. Coming into town with sirens blaring, suddenly the power cut out, and the next thing I knew there was a bunch of debris flying across the road. Chad got the whole shot on his camcorder. Here's a couple frame grabs moments apart as crap was flying across the road:

We made it through town and to I-70 without further incident, but man did that have my heart racing for a bit. I was stammering on the video telling Chad to step on it.

 

[Bob Hartig]

I'm surprised Brian Stertz hasn't chimed in on this thread yet (unless I just missed it). He has about the best close call story of anyone:

http://vortex-times.com/92201chase

I've read Brian's account several times. It is one hair-raising story.

 

[Dustin Wilcox]

We were trying to race an embedded circulation with notable power flashes to our west that was moving northeast.

I'd have been a little nervous too if those power flashes were to my SW with the NE storm motions that night, those were some intense powerflashes looked like the thing was tearing through a nuclear power plant...actually it was more than a "circulation" and wasn't exactly embedded...Jeff and I watched a pretty decent tornado cause those powerflashes just a couple miles South of Ellis, your heart was racing for good reason, the tornado dissipated JUST before entering Ellis...

 

[Skip Talbot]

I'd have been a little nervous too if those power flashes were to my SW with the NE storm motions that night, those were some intense powerflashes looked like the thing was tearing through a nuclear power plant...actually it was more than a "circulation" and wasn't exactly embedded...Jeff and I watched a pretty decent tornado cause those powerflashes just a couple miles South of Ellis, your heart was racing for good reason, the tornado dissipated JUST before entering Ellis...

Yeah, no doubt! At the time we assumed there was a tornado in there, and I tallied it in the log after other chasers confirmed it, but "embedded circulation" is what we gathered based on the radar data. We did have a good view into the inflow notch when we were south of Ellis, but there wasn't enough lightning illumination at our angle to pick out a condensation funnel. We more than likely were hit with RFD gusts rather than any part of the circulation, as that RFD was bowing out to the east very rapidly, and it looks like the damage paths near Ellis were mainly west of town.

 

[Damon Scott Hynes]

Good stories by all. I remember another good hair raising moment, and I'm surprised Chad hasn't chimed in about it. Chad Cowan and a buddy of mine were driving through Ellis, KS on the night of May 23, 2008, .

This is one instance where I reckon I should have been scared. I was driving north on US-283,one tornado had just left Ransom and another was forming near the corner of US-283 and KS-4. I saw whatever circulation was south of KS-4 getting swallowed up in the precip and I thought my best choice was to outrun it up to I-70 at WaKeeney. Bad decision, but I knew there was damage to the east along KS-4, the radio I was listening to said there was damage in Ransom itself, and then there was that circulation to the south.

So as I went north on 283, the precip overtook me, 25 miles of golfball and heavy rain and that second tornado somewhere in the vicinity. I'm guessing it passed me off to my east and hit the dam and lake. But that's the problem--I didn't know that but I didn't care, either. There were a couple abrupt windshifts along 283, and I remember saying to myself "Yep, I know what that means", but I kept going. If I could find a quonset hut, I might have looked for shelter, but I remember my mindset was that I just knew there wouldn't be one.

For that half-hour, I was in a situation where not only could I not see any structure, but sardonically, I wouldn't have been able to see what was going to kill me! That was what would have pist me off, not seeing anything! My angst would have overcome whatever fear I should have felt.

After the season--with all the HPs--I decided I was getting sick of being so stupid. A lot of things still might kill me on the road, but getting cored by a TOR-warned HP won't be one of them. Probably .

 

[Scott Olson]

Good stories by all. I remember another good hair raising moment, and I'm surprised Chad hasn't chimed in about it. Chad Cowan and a buddy of mine were driving through Ellis, KS on the night of May 23, 2008, with Adam Lucio, Danny Neal, and co. behind us. We were trying to race an embedded circulation with notable power flashes to our west that was moving northeast, by driving north through town and then east on I-70. Coming into town with sirens blaring, suddenly the power cut out, and the next thing I knew there was a bunch of debris flying across the road. Chad got the whole shot on his camcorder. Here's a couple frame grabs moments apart as crap was flying across the road:

We made it through town and to I-70 without further incident, but man did that have my heart racing for a bit. I was stammering on the video telling Chad to step on it.

Snap, crackle, Pop.

 

[Laura Duchesne]

May 15, 2009 Pampa, TX

I was chasing with Ron Gravelle and Jack Kertzie and some other friends for two weeks and this day was going to be our last chase before heading home. We were intercepting a tornado warned supercell near Pampa and saw a funnel cloud in the distance (another chaser was closer to it, and it was indeed a tornado). As we neared the storm, the structure became more visible, so we pulled over to take pictures. I could see a wall cloud getting wrapped in precip. The inflow winds were hauling towards the storm and after a few minutes, it was beginning to rain so we loaded the two vans to continue on. Well, just a split second after, I heard the most defening crack of thunder I ever heard at the same time a bright flash occured. Then I smelled a burning smell right after. Apparently one of the vans had taken a direct lightning strike, so it was a good thing we all got inside the vans before it hit. I don't think I've ever been that close to being hit.

Well, after that, we decided to head closer to the storm, but unfortunately it was starting to become one big mean rain wrapped mess. We pulled over again, and there were about tennis ball sized hailstones falling - practically sideways, smashing into the van. The rear flank was pretty intense, mixed with the rain and hail. Ahead of us, we could see a rotating collar cloud with something dark hidden underneath in behind the precip (later confirmed as an EF-2 tornado). We knew there was something in there, but we didn't want to advance any further to find out what it was. We just couldn't see the darned thing! Well, the hail was getting heavier and the rear flank winds were increasing in strength, and then all of a sudden my ears popped and my sister screamed. Then my adrenaline kicked in - I told my friend we had to get out of here now. Something was not right. I looked behind me and the side window had imploded, either from the force of a large hailstone combined with the strong winds, or we were getting too close to the possible tornado, or the lightning strike had heated part of the window and made it weaker. Apparently the other van behind us had lost all of the side windows on the driver's side. Yikes. We turned around to get out of the rain, and duck taped the side windows to keep us a bit drier until we found a motel. We stopped in a little run down motel in Pampa where kind folks helped us out. Glass bits were everywhere! My sister had one of those Monster drinks and a piece of glass punctured the can and completely drained it. She had a small scratch on her back from the glass impact, but that was all for injuries. While standing in the parking lot, I was actually shaking. A part of me still wanted to chase, but another part of me was saying thank goodness we got out okay. I must say we got a little more than we bargained for that day. Those Texas-sized HPs can be pretty nasty. That experience won't easily be forgotten.

 

[Mike Bennett]

My first tornado was a direct hit. The date was sometime in 1982-83. I was in a roundtop barn about 2 miles south of Fairview,OK. I was in my early 20's. A storm blew up right over us. I wasn't into chasing yet. I was working and not really paying a lot of attention to the wx that day. The business was a tractor and hay equipment sales and repair company. The storm developed so fast and produced the small tornado very early after development.

It rained at this location very little as the core of the storm developed right above us and moved to our NE. We stepped outside on the south side of the building and witnessed some small metal outbuildings (emphasis small) get lifted into the air about 2 blocks to the southwest. It never occurred to us it might be a tornado, I was just thinking wind the whole way. We ran inside and closed the overhead door and while looking out the small windows on the overhead door we were blinded by dirt being blasted from the dirt lot where the tractors and hay balers were parked. Suddenly, the overhead door began to push in like it was breathing. Initially, we tried to push back to keep it from blowing in. We still did not know what we were dealing with. There was 4 of us standing at the door and someone yelled "run". We all ran and ducked behind some tractors that were being repaired. The door blew off the tracks and was suspended in mid-air like an airplane wing. The only thing that kept it from coming all the way through the shop was the steel cables on both sides. The wind came rushing through the shop and completely blew the north door off its hinges. It was an absolutely INCREDIBLE force. It died down after about 15 seconds or less. The tornado continued into town and did some minor rooftop and tree damage on the eastside of Fairview. I would probably rate the tornado as an FO or weak F1 when it hit us. It was several minutes later before we came to realize we were hit by a tornado.

A final interesting note: Roundtop buildings or barns are constructed of a wood frame and covered with sheets of tin. The tin is fastened to the frame with 1000's of nails. Each nail has a rubber seal on it to prevent leaks. After this storm passed, another one moved in behind it. When it began to rain, the barn leaked like you wouldn't believe. Upon further inspection we realized the barn swelled and pulled the nails away from the rubber seal. Basically, it almost exploded with us inside. The tornado passed and the tin relaxed back to the frame leaving the nails in the pulled state. WOW!!

 

[Mike Bennett]

My bad!!

My first tornado was a direct hit. The date was sometime in 1982-83. I was in a roundtop barn about 2 miles south of Fairview,OK. I was in my early 20's. A storm blew up right over us. I wasn't into chasing yet. I was working and not really paying a lot of attention to the wx that day. The business was a tractor and hay equipment sales and repair company. The storm developed so fast and produced the small tornado very early after development.

It rained at this location very little as the core of the storm developed right above us and moved to our NE. We stepped outside on the south side of the building and witnessed some small metal outbuildings (emphasis small) get lifted into the air about 2 blocks to the southwest. It never occurred to us it might be a tornado, I was just thinking wind the whole way. We ran inside and closed the overhead door and while looking out the small windows on the overhead door we were blinded by dirt being blasted from the dirt lot where the tractors and hay balers were parked. Suddenly, the overhead door began to push in like it was breathing. Initially, we tried to push back to keep it from blowing in. We still did not know what we were dealing with. There was 4 of us standing at the door and someone yelled "run". We all ran and ducked behind some tractors that were being repaired. The door blew off the tracks and was suspended in mid-air like an airplane wing. The only thing that kept it from coming all the way through the shop was the steel cables on both sides. The wind came rushing through the shop and completely blew the north door off its hinges. It was an absolutely INCREDIBLE force. It died down after about 15 seconds or less. The tornado continued into town and did some minor rooftop and tree damage on the eastside of Fairview. I would probably rate the tornado as an FO or weak F1 when it hit us. It was several minutes later before we came to realize we were hit by a tornado.

A final interesting note: Roundtop buildings or barns are constructed of a wood frame and covered with sheets of tin. The tin is fastened to the frame with 1000's of nails. Each nail has a rubber seal on it to prevent leaks. After this storm passed, another one moved in behind it. When it began to rain, the barn leaked like you wouldn't believe. Upon further inspection we realized the barn swelled and pulled the nails away from the rubber seal. Basically, it almost exploded with us inside. The tornado passed and the tin relaxed back to the frame leaving the nails in the pulled state. WOW!!

Sorry, I meant to put this under the "Your first tornado" thread. I guess it sort of applies here to. Mods, you can delete it if you want...I moved it to the correct thread.