Your "Oh no..." moments

[Ryan McGinnis]

Thought this would be a fun thread to kick off -- what are some of your "Oh no..." moments while chasing? You know -- that moment where you realize you've either made a serious error or were caught unaware or suddenly grasp that you're in some sort of extreme peril that you weren't anticipating. When have you felt that feeling in the pit of your stomach that tells you you're in it deeper than you meant to be?

My personal "oh no" moment came near Alvo, Nebraska on 3/23 last year. After punching for a good 20 minutes through the heavy rain on the north part of the tornado warned storm via I-80 and then dropping south through the hail, I finally emerged into the inflow, right inside the hook of the storm. My plan was to go east on road DeLorme indicated; the storm motion was fast and I was being rather stupid that day and cut it so close that only a paved road would give me enough speed capability to outrun the storm. I get to the road and it's crappy looking gravel. Visibility starts to get poor, with cloud decks only a thousand feet up, if that, and moving fast. I get that "oh no..." feeling, suddenly realizing that I've just put myself into a situation in which I'm going to get run over by this storm whether I like it or not, and I have no idea if I am far enough north at my position to be out of a tornado track and I really didn't want to bust out my car windows with hail. Finally, about a mile and a half to the southeast, I see a large rotating debris cloud on the ground zipping right along at 60 or 70mph, so there's the tornado. But the sky is also rotating almost over my head to the west, so I'm hoping I'm not about to get run over by an occluding meso or something. I ended up pulling into the driveway of a home, knocking on the door, and taking cover with the foulest-mouthed elderly man I've ever met.

I think what I learned that day was that no matter how much you have invested in something, you have to try to think with a clear head. I'd spent so much time and effort trying to get ahead of that storm, which was bullying itself NE at around 65mph, that the idea that I was five minutes too late to get in front of it just didn't register. It almost ticked me off that I could miss it by such a small margin, so I pressed ahead anyway, counting on that dumb paved road that turned out to not exist. Luckily I didn't emerge from the hail to find a wedge or something.

 

[Jason Foster]

I hope Amos chimes in on this one...although his story with Eric N just a few years back has been told, it is very cool. Love hearing that.

As for me...two words:

Hurricane Charley

Enough said.

 

[Jason Young]

I agree would love hear Amos tell the story of Tulia , and Simon on the Hallam Neb.

Mine would be either be getting lost at Comanchie Lake back on 6-7-07 ( I think the date is right ) . Trying to turn around at night , in heavy rain on a small Dam . The other one would be 2-10-09 , punching the core from Ringling to Lone Grove , Ok. in a nightmare of heavy rain and wind , with that beast to my south .

 

[Jason Boggs]

This year on March 8th when I realized I forgot my still camera. I said to myself that I would see something really cool since I forgot something of importance. See my avatar for the really cool thing I saw that day.

At least I did remember to bring the video camera!

 

[Andrea Griffa]

My personal "oh no" moment came in Topeka on may 12 2005 when I was in late for Tx Panh show because our cingular pcmcia card broke down. We were forced to stay at a cingular shop too many hours cause of long substituting procedures and we couldn't arrive in time to Plainview,Tx missing those incredible tornadoes. When we saw'em at the Tv: "Oh no, whatta'XXXX...."

 

[Dave Marshall]

I had one February 18th of 2008 in Reynolds, GA. I was chasing with a total newbie, my wife's best friend. It was her first chase ever. We headed west out of Warner Robins after a few modest HP supercells crossing the AL/GA border. The laptop was down, so my usual chase partner was talking me in to the storms from home. He had me take a left down Bob's Road in Reynolds with the promise that "In just about 2 miles you'll be right on the storm".

We got down to the area he had in mind and stopped beside a field. I had heavy precip to my east about a mile, and ragged clouds above me. "Hmm. outflow, and not very organized looking" was my thought. My view to the west was obstructed by trees, but didn't look promising. It looked for all the world like I was right on the back side of the storm, and there wasn't much to see. I told him it looked like it was falling apart, and I was going to head back north and catch another cell. The entire time he was insisting there was a tight couplet on radar just to my northwest.

As we got back into the truck and headed back north, about 200 yards north of the field I looked to my left (west), and through the trees (no leaves in Feb luckily!) I could see a huge wall with a small wedge tornado less than half a mile away, moving right towards us at about 45mph. I raced back up north to the town, and we sat and watched a small EF1 skip right through the field we had been stopped beside. My rider was ecstatic, and so was I...Once I found some clean underwear. If we hadn't moved, I wouldn't have been able to see that tornado until it broke through the trees about 250 yards from us.

 

[Terry Tyler]

Thats going to be a 12/9/08 in Yazoo City, MS. This was back in the day when I didnt have the mobile internet and amp I have today. I just basically used WiFi hotspots to get my way close to the storms. Around 4:00PM, strong low-cape storms began forming in a stratified mess coming across the MS river at about 45mph. An EF-2 had been reported in Alexandria, LA and close to 3 inches of rain had already fallen ahead of the system across the MS delta.

Here is a picture of a Tornado Warned storm. I almost missed it due to the poor visibility and rain enveloping it.

I came up the highway into Yazoo City. When in Town, the sirens were going off and my WiFi updated. I heard on the radio a Tornado Emergency had been issued and I knew I had got myself into some pretty deep stuff. This is the actual radar image saved by my level3 as I pulled into Yazoo City.

Long story short, I came into Yazoo City on the heels of the tornado which prompted a Tornado Emergency for the city. I never saw it and quite frankly Im glad I didnt. I don't mind being close to tornadoes or violent storms. What I do mind is being close to them and not knowing where they are. When you lose control of the situation and dont know which is the right option, that is where the fear sets. If I can't make a visual and have a clear cut plan of action, It scares me.

 

[Jay McCoy]

This year on March 8th when I realized I forgot my still camera. I said to myself that I would see something really cool since I forgot something of importance. See my avatar for the really cool thing I saw that day.

At least I did remember to bring the video camera!

No Jason I think your Oh No moment came back a few years ago when you and Matt Hines were rapidly gassing up at that Texico in Childress as a tornado hit and passed just a few hundred feet north of you and all the power went out and you had to haul ass east to avoid getting caught in it!! Forgot the exact date but I am sure you have it etched in your mind.. Great story though. F2 wasnt it??

I have had a few but one of my biggest was June 2nd 1995 when I headed south out of Hereford, Tx and had to core punch a cell entering Dimmit. As I busted through the hail and rain I almsot ran smack dab into the Dimmit F3 monster (Vortex1 was all over this beast) as it crossed the road and scoured the asphalt. Scared me so much I almost busted back north through the core..lol

 

[Shawn Gossman]

Mine would have been on May 08, 2009. I chased a very weak tornado from Hurst, IL to Zeigler, IL. (A photo of it). Once I lost it, a friend called and said the wind was coming to me and it was very severe. I pulled over into a graveyard and rode it out, best place I could find with few trees (southern IL is very rural and wooded beyond the crop fields). I think I said "Oh No" and other profanity lol once I saw about 50 trees uproot and fly through the air in front on me... 1000's and 1000's of trees uprooted during that derecho, and that aint no joke !

 

[Ben Holcomb]

June 5, 2009 with Scott Bennett. We had been sitting idle for quite a while, watching the beautifulness that was that supercell go from our NW to our NE before following it. I edited video, and took lots of pictures while we were stopped, and pimped myself all over Facebook and what not.

We get ready to go, and I got everything packed up. About 4 miles down the road I realize my brand new HTC Touch Pro wasn't anywhere to be found..... "Oh no...... Scottttttt we need to go back...."

Found the phone back on the side of the road, and saw a second tornado that nobody else saw, but Wurman apparently talked about in Denver that they could see on Radar. I guess things happen for a reason and someone was looking out for me that day

Or I'm just lucky with my own stupidity!

 

[Adam Lucio]

There have been a couple, but I will link you to one where I actually say "uh oh" before the windshield goes bye bye. Fast Forward to about 1:50

 

[Kem Poyner]

Oh no!

My Oh no! almost cost me my life. May 15, 2003 it was after dark. With the coaxing of a couple other chasers parked at a gas station off I-40 in Shamrock Texas we decided to caravan West. A confirmed tornado was headed our way, tracking along I-40 on the North side. It was about 6 miles away. The plan was to head out to the Lela overpass and catch a few shots of the tornado during lightning flashes then get out of the way. (yes...very stupid idea).
So Im parked on the access road at the overpass...standing outside my new Ford Explorer Sportrack. As planned lightning illuminated a very evil tornado just to out West. Did you know lightning will not give you a sense of direction a tornado is moving? They all track to the Northeast...right?? (yes..very stupid assumption). Well it was heading South/Southeast...it crossed I-40 about a mile or two up the road in the dark. Next lightning flash....no tornado!?? where did it go?..It was due South of me and decided to turn straight North...right at me. I had no idea where it was until I seen the gas station on the South side of the overpass being ripped up and going up into the air. It was moving across the overpass coming at a very fast pace. My keys were in my pocket and I was about 20 yards from my truck. What to do?!
I knew an overpass is not a good idea...but my legs started running without any imput from my brain...I was running toward the tornado! Im pretty sure I broke some records in the 30 yard dash. I ran down the grassy hill and parked my but in the grass with my back against the concrete wall just before the opening going under overpass. I held onto a piece of conduit that ran into the ground and the tornado went right over me! The side of that bridge protected me from the flying sheetmetal of the gas station. The wind had a ripping effect on my skin and I was getting sandblasted with mud. I seemed to last a very long time. I kept my video camera cradled to my chest and protected my face. trucks and cars were flying off the interstate just below me into a small ditch. I survived...some injuries but nothing serious...my new truck was not so lucky.
Howard Bluestien was recording data of this tornado from a mile or two to the East. Here is a map from that sneaky tornado as it snuck up on me.
Kem

 

[NickMoir]

Though my "Oh no" moment was from a bushfire , the Canberra bushfire of Jan 2003 of which this moment occured in produced Pyrocumulous which had a strong tornado with it.
FYI http://earth.huji.ac.il/data/pics/Fromm_etal_2005GL025161.pdf

Anyway driving hard from the north i was trying to get to a suburb which the main fire was heading for and taking a counry road i was in effect core punching the fire from the north , smoke thickened until the driving 100kph and 45c north west winds produced a river of chking smoke across my path , i had to drive by opening my door and looking down below to see the lines on the road to keep on it! I knew fairly well where i was and it was grassland on both sides .finally a serious orange glow came up on my right , it was growing rapidly and i could not turn around. It was seriously one of those moments when you hve to really fight not to panic. The GPS was not working through the intensly thick smoke but i knew pretty well where i was so i engaged the
4WD and drove through a fence and raced across a field and after about a kilometre a i broke out of the smoke.I learnt a valuable lesson that day , which goes for storms too.......visablity is a good thing!

 

[John Vandehei]

My "oh no" moment came May 15, 2007. At that time, my only available data on the road came from a police scanner, which I used to listen to storm spotters. As a local chaser, my technique is to watch storms on radar from home, and when a promising storm comes near, I'll go after it. Anyway, one storm that looked promising was going to pass to my south. I hopped in the car, with the intent to drive south ahead of the storm, get southeast of it and watch it pass just to my north. Unfortunately, some local doing 15 mph below the speed limit on a two-lane country road where I couldn't pass messed up my plans. It soon became apparent that the storm was going to intercept me. I stopped for a few minutes at a T intersection to watch the storm before turning east to make my escape. Suddenly, in the recently plowed field to my west, this wall of dirt kicks up, similar to a haboob in the Desert SW. The first word out of my mouth was "Oh", but it was not followed by "no" (another word not appropriate for this forum). I turned the car east and floored it. The effort was futile, as the gust front enveloped me. Soon tree branches were flying everywhere. I wasn't worried about myself, but since I was driving my newer car (my wife had killed my trusty stormchasing truck by driving it around for two straight days with the temperature gauge pegged on "H"), I was worried about denting the car. Inevitably, one branch hit the car. It only put a minor ding on the hood, so I counted myself lucky. However, 30 seconds later, I here the loud BANG of a branch slamming into the side of my car. Now I'm fuming, as my like new car certainly has a huge dent in the side. A brief lull in the wind allowed me to pull over and survey the damage, which included a nice crease in the front fender. A few minutes later, the main core of the storm swallows me. As I watch the wind blow, a see a 30 foot high robust maple tree get slammed flat down on the ground in less than a second. Again, I mutter more choice words not suitable for this forum as I realized I'm in serious danger. Remember, this is southern Michigan, trees are plentiful around here. Anyway, I drive around until a find a spot that's away from trees and wait out the worst of the storm. Luckily, I got out of that storm with only dents in the car. A few months later, I finally got an iPhone, so I can get real time data on the road.

 

[cedwards]

Well, I don't know where to begin, I have had so many.
I have had a chase back in 1995 when I forgot cameras and maps.

May 12, 2005 Choosing if we should ride out hail or tornado.
http://www.cloud9videos.com/southplains2.php
http://www.cloud9videos.com/sph.php

April 5, 2003 near Woodson, TX. the storm raced forward and produced very large hail and lots of it. I lucked out and found shelter. I don't know how I avoided getting clobbered before I got to shelter. I was watching the storm well ahead of it when a baseball smashed on the ground at my feet. That was the first of MANY.
http://www.cloud9videos.com/Woodson.php

I guess I will stop here. There are so many...






I know if Rocky were to post here, he would definitely pick April 23, 2008
the "I don't like this" day near Albany, TX.
http://www.cloud9videos.com/albanytx.php