May 10th - Chasing The Back Of HP

Strong supercells with damaging winds, hail and tornadoes were expected across OK/KS/MS/AR region. We had to move to central Arkansas where we expected development of the strong storms. When we were on the move towards Little Rock,AR we noticed on the radar that supercells already exploded over OK and KS and it was these supercells that produced many tornadoes, including the deadly Picher,OK tornado. After checking the forecast models in Little Rock we moved S towards Sheridan,AR and then W towards incoming supercell which was active for quite some time. We went onto the I30 and later stopped at quite nice place in all that jungle mess where we had a reasonable view to the W. But when we did that we made the biggest mistake as we let the supercell overtake us. That meant we had to race NE to Little Rock and then SE towards England because of the poor road network. When we were driving to England we almost gave up on the storm as on the radar it seemed as it was weakening. The northern tornadic storm near Jonesboro was too far away and we decided that we should continue follow this cell and core punch it. When we were driving E towards Stuttgart,AR we noticed on radar the storm got shear markers (they indicate storm's rotation) and with each update the indicated speed was higher. When we reached the N side of the town the tornado was probably already in progress, but as we were behind the storm we did not know that (later we learned that it was actually a multi vortex tornado). We managed to get on the main street but as we were driving S we noticed some snapped branches (straight line winds) and hail damage. We almost managed to get out of the town when we noticed downed power pole and a car stopped in the middle of the road. We squeezed under the lines further down the street and that is when we realised the tornado struck the town when we saw all the damage, minute or two before our arrival. We agreed that we should move down the road and try to help people, as we noticed some houses were quite badly damaged. Eventually we got stuck on some street in SE corner of the city because the power-lines were blocking the way (rough guess is the E 22^nd Street). We directed the traffic away from the lines and under the place where it was possible to cross as we did not know if they were hot or not. Besides if the truck would hit the lines it would bring down a lot more power-poles in a domino like effect, which could be pretty bad for the near houses. I am not sure how long we were there, but I guess it was at least an hour and half, in the rain. In the end I caught cold, had sore throat and was tired as hell.

May 9th - Visiting The Greensburg,Kansas

We began the day with the breakfast in small, but very nice diner with excellent food. After that it was decided we go to the Greensburg, the small town which was destroyed last year by the May 4^th EF-5 tornado. Marko introduced us to his friend Scott, whom he met last year, and he then showed us around, telling us stories about the past and recent life. We met up with his wife, mom, father and we got see his new business, stained glass studio. It was a really great day, I enjoyed talking with them about everything. It is interesting to see so much will and optimism in person who lost everything in just 2 minutes. Thank you Scott and Susan, you made a great day for me – actually I enjoyed the stories and discussions so much I totally forgot about the clear skies and strong sun. Result – sunburns! :) Thank you again and I wish you good luck and all the best with the house and the future in general.

May 8th - Monster HP In Kansas

In the morning I felt a lot better and was pretty happy that pain is gone. We had a looong drive ahead as we had to reach SW Kansas from Ardmore,OK. While we were driving trough Oklahoma we noticed on the radar that cell exploded in near Colorado/Kansas border. On the radar it began shaping up quite nicely and I was wondering if we will be able to make it there in time. But Macca assured us there is no worries and we actually made it to the cell. It looked really nice, had a nice structure, except for the radar which looked somehow strange – like it had an eye, as cyclones have.

We were chasing that cell for quite some time which later transformed into HP supercell, with reported tennis and golf ball size hail. We were constantly driving ahead of it and in between did several quick stops for photo shooting. The inflow winds were also amazing, up to 70 mph which lead to the downed power poles, snapped branches etc. We booked a room in Pratt,KS and had no real plans for the following day, except for the rest which we needed like Sahara desert needs water. :) I hope you can imagine how tired we were after approx. 2500 miles in 4 days.

May 7th - Day Of The Pain

As you already know, “the dinner” at 2 AM brought my health status gauge to the minimal. And to add more crap to the table we had to drive quite a long way to the N of Dallas,TX to the known town of Gainsville,TX. There we saw “the circus” – the DOW, the TIV group (no TIV though) and the video group which are taking footage for the next series of Storm Chasing with DOW and TIV, which is usually a good sign that we were at the right spot. (after several days we learned that TIV2 had some problems and that they were preparing TIV1 again)

The cell spawned to our SW and we decided that we should move a bit closer which we did. But when we reached it, we realised that it weakened and off we went back to Gainsville. After a while we moved to Sherman,TX and when we almost gave up and moved to the Oklahoma storm tornado warning was issued for the cell we left before. The rotation did not last long and when we caught it and core punched it, it was already gone. We took a few shots of the dying storm and the sunset - and that was it. Because the next days activity was expected in W/SW Kansas we moved to the Ardmore,OK. I managed to survive day and the pain which was killing me inside. I also have to thank to Brad for his pills, which in combination with mine made the pain easier. The chase ended with the pretty blue skies above us and even prettier sunset.

May 6th - A very Long Day

We had a looong drive from Oklahoma panhandle to the Lubbock,TX where we decided to go even more S, against NM/TX border to the town called Seagreaves,TX. A cell spawned in the NM and we hoped it would survive and eventually strengthen. While we waited CB towers were starting to pop up all around us and some were really explosive. We decided to chase one of the new cells, which was going on quite well, but was later eaten by the cell which had passed over Seagreaves. It became a real monster just when it went over the town. The inflow winds were strong and the dust, kicked in the air by the inflow winds, was being sucked into the updrafts like mad. The cell ended as HP supercell with really nice structure and just as it was passing us the sun became visible and the colours it produced on the cell were just amazing.

After the sundown, we decided to go to the town and find a room to stay in, but as we were driving N it was apparent that some of the other cells were producing copious amounts of lightning. So we stopped out of the rain and I decided, for some strange reason, that I would try my luck with the opposite cell of the cell the guys were aiming at, it was the second stop (the first stop was in Guthrie,TX were we waited for hail and lightning but the cell just missed the small village). It turned out as bad as it could as I ended with zero shots while the Macca, Brad and Marko caught quite a lot of them. I was really pissed off after that and totally without any sort of will to continue the shots, besides I was dead tired as I was driving the whole day. Want I wanted was just the bed to dive in. You guessed it, my wish was not realised. Why? After the second stop, we noticed on the radar “a hole” with no precipitation. The third stop was imminent and I barely stopped the car while the guys were already in full action. The CGs were exploding everywhere, but I was just to tired and pissed to even look around. If it was not for the Macca, I would have probably missed one the best lightning I ever caught with digital camera. He came to me and said I should go out as the lightning activity was the same as last year on the May 18^th. I did go out and got the shot worth a million bucks – thanks Macca! The lightning struck about a 1,5 km away and the thunder was amazing. I caught some more lightnings but that one just made my day. I was actually wondering what would force us to move away – close lightning or the rain. Well, the rain won this time.

After the third stop we decided to get the room, finally, and we got one in Childress,TX. And to spice up the day we went out to get the food, which was really good, but the activity it produced in my belly in the morning was not from this world. I was in the bed at around 2:30 AM.

May 5th - Chase in OK Panhandle

We started in Lubbock,TX and had a pretty long drive to the Oklahoma panhandle, where we chased some "showers" and eventually ended punching the core of the cell with at least 1 inch hail. After the core punch we escaped out of the cell and followed it for quite some time, taking photos and videos. It had some nice looking features (outflowish) under the base, but nothing was serious, so after a while we just let it go and went to the Perryton,TX. In motel we were waiting for the cold front to pass us and when it did, we packed our stuff and went S of Perryton to get some lightning shots, but sadly the clear CGs and anvil crawlers were very rare. Result – no lightning images from this day.

Chasing in SE Kansas, May 1 2008

Yesterday we had a first chase day of the season. In the end it turned out quite good even though we did not see any tornadoes.

We were positioned in the Fredonia,KS and late in the afternoon went after the cells SW of our position, near Sedan,KS. The first cell we encountered was quite amazing with nice inflow bands and structure. After about 45 minutes we let it go as it was obvious it was weakining. But, S of this one was another supercell with even better, barber pole structure. Sadly it did not produce, but the view was nice. We also got nice view of the mammatus clouds in the anvil.

Later we headed back to Fredonia,KS and after a several minutes of figuring of what to do next the tornado sirens in the city went off . We decided to chase a storm in the night so we got in the car and off we went. The chase went on for more than one hour.

After the night chase we went to Iola,KS to book a room and to try and snap some lightning photos from a incoming cold front. I can say only that we tried, and that is it (we did not expect so fast moving front). The front was so fast I barely managed to grab tripod and I had to get back in the car. Winds were high, temperature was extremely low and there was plenty of rain and hail.

The chase ended at 02:00 AM the next day. I was so exhausted that I was sleeping in the car for the last hour and a half. :)

Painful arrival to Dallas, TX

The flight was, as always, very uncomfortable and on top of that I had a really painful last 4-5 hours. I will never touch food on the plane again, it just isn't worth it. Today, morning of 28th, I am feeling better and hopefully during the day I will be tip top again. :)

The weather is sunny and quite cold. This years start of storm chasing is slow, there are possible chase days at the end of this week. Looks like sunscreen is a must buy this year also. :)