Some of the favourite Australian and US videos from the past

[Jimmy Deguara]

Hi all,

For those who always wandered what it was like chasing in Australia, here are some of my favourate clips from the past (the tornadoes though and some of the insane structures are from the Tornado Alley chases):


http://www.metacafe.com/watch/18292...l_violent_winds_incredible_lightning_tornado/
Part 2 of the same footage sample
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/898840/insane_up_close_tornado_footage_with_explosion_of_substation/
Windsor lightning very close bolts and thot gun thunder
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/18500...ghtning_hits_a_tree_in_a_fireball_windsor_ns/
Windsor lightning and piercing thunder like a shot gun
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1848044/close_lightning_windsor_nsw_australia/
Sample of lightning
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1847969/spectacular_lightning_and_anvil_crawlers/
One of the old classic - the Oberon wall cloud and supercell
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1847840/spectacular_wall_cloud_and_supercell_oberon_7th_january_2001/
Classic supercell Lithgow Febrary 7th 2007
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1847491/rotating_supercell_beast_of_a_supercell/
Compilation of powerful lightning storm structure
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/18293...r_lightning_bolts_storm_structure_mothership/

Regards,
Jimmy Deguara

 

[Richard Dickson]

Jimmy,
Thanks for submitting those, they were very enjoyable. I particularly enjoyed the developing structure moving towards you in the segment "Classic Supercell Lithgow, Feb 7th, 2007. You certainly had some great lightning shots to liven up the conversation. It would take me a while to get used to seeing the clouds rotate 'backwards' and I would probably wind up on the hail side of the storms at first.

 

[Jimmy Deguara]

Thanks Richard,

Yep rotating backwards. That is one thing I quickly got used to when I headed for the US the first time in 2001. It was easy to do though at times you can get yourself confused if you are not careful and the chase is really wound up on any particular day.

Glad you liked them. The classic supercell at Lithgow was a beauty - probably the best classic supercell reported in this country. It had some serious rotation compared to most other events (ohh of course the Dunoon tornado won that hands down). Goes to show you what a boundary can do to a storm despite it being not so spectacular.

Regards,

Jimmy Deguara

 

[Andrea Griffa]

Jimmy, this video is stunning!Sure this is one of the most 5 cool videos I've ever seen!

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/898840...of_substation/

I have to admitt that you were in a not so safe position, the tornado could change his path in every second and drift upon your head.Did you choose that position or were you forced by a bad road option?
The explosion is awesome, man.

 

[Jimmy Deguara]

Hi Andrea,

That tornado changed all of my concepts of safe chasing and virtual control. You can make plans and say a lot of things - I usually chase safely. But on this occasion, my mind went blank. I was drawn into this wierd experience. You see in the United States, I always know you can expect tornadoes with storms but here forget about it. It's a rare thing and especially to get so close.

So what happened on this day, I became captivated and perhaps almost hypnotised by the tornado. It was drawing me in seriously. I knew I had an escape route but whilst the tornado seemed sufficiently distant at first 200 metres or so, the tornado became wider and slowly moved closer and closer. It also suddenly began to pick up small trees and also corrugated iron and flinging around the tornado. I simply was not ready on this day for such a close encounter. I have never been so close to a strong tornado before - not even this close in the United States. The experience from this will be etched in my mind and I am now more prepared. So much happened that I cannot remember what happened and rely so much on the video for details of the event.

There also was nobody with me on this part of the chase so nonbody to say "hey let's get out of here!". What was most dangerous was that I had never been in the area before and did not have a good road map. I chose the road by chance as a minor road on a less than sufficient map. So it was luck of the road network that brought me to the correct part of the storm but luck that I was there at the correct time. I had no visuals of the storm base wall clouds or features or base rotation. There was no NOAA radio to let me know the storm was a tornadic one. Absolutely nothing! I had to adjust almost in an instance from a hail chase to tornado chasing once I turned that corner and there was the tornado. In this country, that is so much more difficult due to the limited road network, the visibility and lack of data to follow. I guess this was like a guinee-pig chase!

Anyway, as they see, I lived to see another day. I may now do things differently but I do not regret the outcome of the chase.

Regards,

Jimmy Deguara

 

[jeremy wilson]

I may now do things differently but I do not regret the outcome of the chase.

Why should you regret it, it was the experience of a lifetime! I wanna get that close everytime and I see nothing wrong with it. I believe I have enough expereince to do so with small percentages of injury or death. Good stuff Jimmy.