Ryan McGinnis
EF5
Here is part two of my Vortex 2 retrospective.
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Josh Barnwell looks at the wall of monitors inside the DOW6 radar truck. These are radar images from past storms. As you can see, they get some "holy CRAP!" data outta those radar dishes.
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It's pod deployment practice day! Vortex 2 had a down day in Salina, so they made the best of it by doing a practice deployment. This involved having someone drive a pickup truck (or "van-nado") down the road at a constant 20mph while all the probe teams scramble to deploy the pods and get out of there before getting killed. This is a surprisingly big logistical nightmare when you have this many probe units working at once, but they pulled it off without a hitch.
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Sean Casey watches the van-nado approach. Yes, those are brand-new giant red pneumatic spike-anchors on each side of the TIV2. And you thought it couldn't get any more badass.
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Behind the DOW in Kansas. When travelling with Vortex 2, this is pretty much the view you see all the time. Well, either this, or a row of 40 cars leading up to this. It was fun to listen to the trucker CB traffic as we'd all roll by.
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The DOW6, set up and ready to rock in Goshen County, Wyoming. I think this may have been the first legit wall cloud they'd seen all year.
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Here comes the funnel! Brian Pollack (shooting for the Weather Channel) in the foreground.
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Will Grey, a freelancer for New Scientist, films out of Phil Berg's probe truck.
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This is it! One of the probe teams deploys in Goshen County, Wyoming. From left to right: Mike Tittel, Lindsay Bennett, Tim Marshall, and Brian Pollack.
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Tim and Lindsay lay down a second probe.
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Whoa-a here she come...
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Okay, it's time to RUN! Tim Marshall at left, Lindsay Bennett at right.
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Success! The probe teams recover their tornado pods, some of which have taken a direct hit. From left to right, Chris Bowman, Andrew Arnold, and Matthew Rydzik. Chris appears to have found some nice hail.
End Part 2
Continue to Part 3
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Josh Barnwell looks at the wall of monitors inside the DOW6 radar truck. These are radar images from past storms. As you can see, they get some "holy CRAP!" data outta those radar dishes.
![](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm3.static.flickr.com%2F2454%2F3991674437_b12594f78d_o.jpg&hash=239155c9e0babb373212ce3a463d1326)
It's pod deployment practice day! Vortex 2 had a down day in Salina, so they made the best of it by doing a practice deployment. This involved having someone drive a pickup truck (or "van-nado") down the road at a constant 20mph while all the probe teams scramble to deploy the pods and get out of there before getting killed. This is a surprisingly big logistical nightmare when you have this many probe units working at once, but they pulled it off without a hitch.
![](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm4.static.flickr.com%2F3601%2F3991674347_4428e53ebd_o.jpg&hash=a3b3e02aae7b46e829ffb342a09fdd71)
Sean Casey watches the van-nado approach. Yes, those are brand-new giant red pneumatic spike-anchors on each side of the TIV2. And you thought it couldn't get any more badass.
![](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm4.static.flickr.com%2F3459%2F3991674535_f0663e8a3e_o.jpg&hash=c11748c0090f8958bc10c99a7cbdb54e)
Behind the DOW in Kansas. When travelling with Vortex 2, this is pretty much the view you see all the time. Well, either this, or a row of 40 cars leading up to this. It was fun to listen to the trucker CB traffic as we'd all roll by.
![](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm3.static.flickr.com%2F2542%2F3991674577_4d2c86e444_o.jpg&hash=5779b2d9aaf8dd68a187b30ad1fc551c)
The DOW6, set up and ready to rock in Goshen County, Wyoming. I think this may have been the first legit wall cloud they'd seen all year.
![](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm3.static.flickr.com%2F2586%2F3992434544_bc1eb6e1c5_o.jpg&hash=b4ba8d05c7675c47cd099246923f2d27)
Here comes the funnel! Brian Pollack (shooting for the Weather Channel) in the foreground.
![](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm3.static.flickr.com%2F2430%2F3770881498_f24342429e_o.jpg&hash=a380fd9679782c8ca573a77be82c2bdd)
Will Grey, a freelancer for New Scientist, films out of Phil Berg's probe truck.
![](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm3.static.flickr.com%2F2450%2F3609523088_39a223367a_o.jpg&hash=f6145c06ccf474e47b5231154e78e771)
This is it! One of the probe teams deploys in Goshen County, Wyoming. From left to right: Mike Tittel, Lindsay Bennett, Tim Marshall, and Brian Pollack.
![](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm3.static.flickr.com%2F2633%2F3991748867_0b352f9949_o.jpg&hash=db4dd7b2e08078d623bf995bdcb34b19)
Tim and Lindsay lay down a second probe.
![](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm4.static.flickr.com%2F3435%2F3733114618_cb34befc64_o.jpg&hash=f30b9a46aa19a41aa5466485a8a161b0)
Whoa-a here she come...
![](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm4.static.flickr.com%2F3326%2F3608708825_73139fd677_o.jpg&hash=73fe9ba71f14b3df96d0bfd8efafaab4)
Okay, it's time to RUN! Tim Marshall at left, Lindsay Bennett at right.
![](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm4.static.flickr.com%2F3479%2F3737073297_b419d9c43c_o.jpg&hash=0e30c49c317c10a5c38c16926ad23651)
Success! The probe teams recover their tornado pods, some of which have taken a direct hit. From left to right, Chris Bowman, Andrew Arnold, and Matthew Rydzik. Chris appears to have found some nice hail.
End Part 2
Continue to Part 3
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