Bonus...

Just as I was coming to terms with waiting around all day for a 20.15 flight, father and son team, Gary and Brian have hired a car and invite me for a drive out into the Rocky Mountains. We head past down town Denver and on to Golden, a sort of tourist town with a river flowing through the centre . Gary buys me a "snow cone" and we wander around a market before heading off in the direction of Mount Evans, a 14000ft peak. We detour to Red Rocks with a built in amphitheatre which has a "who's who" programme of bands on over the year.

We grab lunch which takes care of my last US$ and drive off towards Mount Evans. Only in America can you drive to the top of a 14000 foot mountain. There are also plenty of mad people cycling and jogging to the top. We drive up endless hairpins, surrounded by high banks of unmelted snow. The road has no barrier as we get higher, it's been damaged over the winter by ice, it's narrow and there is a vertical drop awaiting anyone who puts a wheel in the wrong place. Seriously scary. And it's taking for ever, and I'm getting concerned about getting back to the airport on time.

We eventually make it to the top and it is FREEZING! Well, 3c and a gale force wind and it's hard to breathe. We take a couple of grab shots to prove we were there. Curiously I get a mobile signal at the top.

We head back via a short cut on the interstate and Brian gets me back to get to the hotel in time to get the shuttle to the airport.

From leaving the hotel to home takes 19 hours and I'm glad to see Liane and the kids at Newcastle Airport.

Final thoughts.

This was one arduous week, with over 3000 miles clocked up. It was expensive and the elusive tornadoes wouldn't come out to play.

Was it worth it? Would I do it again?

Hell yeah!!!

Cheers

Adam

And back to base...

Chase Day #6

Or not really. We've got to get back to Denver today and it's just as well there is no weather to chase. There is some stuff kicking off in Chicago but that is so far away it may as well be on the moon. All we have to look forward to is a very long "A to B" drive.We're up at 9.00 and head back to "Yesterdays" for some breakfast and head west.

We detour to Ashfall Fossil Beds in Nebraska; 11.8 million years ago a "super volcano" erupted in Idaho and the subsequent ash ejection covered everything downwind. Buried in what was a small lake are the fossilised remains of hippos, horses and other mammels. These are being excavated and are now housed in a large viewing gallery. Fairly interesting and it breaks up the journey.

We end up in Wendy's for "lunch" (oh yey...) in Grand Island on the I80 (hey look, there's Fort Cody Trading Post) then push on to Denver arriving at 20.00.

A return visit to Ruby Tuesdays for a steak and some beer (pretty good actually) and it's off to bed.

Total Miles: 616

Nature of the beast...

Chase Day #5

Up at 7.00 in Woodward for a 8.00 start. This is the day it's supposed to happen...It's very windy today and I manage to load up some more of the blog. As I'm formatting this on a small screen I'm not sure how it will look on a larger screen. I couldn't get Skype to work this morning, so no calls home. Breakfast is...McDonalds. Yuk. And so was lunch,

Target area for today is initially north Kansas/South Nebraska but this changes to north east Nebraska. The weather is moving North at 60 mph, it looks very difficult to chase. The best bet is to get in front of it and intercept it as it rushes past.

We went through Stockton, Kansas and I see that there is a Norton not too far away. This day has been talked about amongst the chasing fraternity for weeks and there are dozens of them on the GPS map. We drive and drive and have to cut through a storm to get further east. We eventually stop at the Historic Missouri Valley on the Lewis and Clark trail and take a few hurried snaps as the weather hurtles by. We then cross the Missouri into South Dakota and book into the Days Inn in Yankton. We have dinner in “Yesterdays” and ask the waitress if there is much to do in town. There isn't.

So nothing happened today, apparently anywhere. There will be a lot of disappointed chasers out there, all that chat having come to nothing. But that's the nature of chasing, you have a 20% chance of seeing a tornado over the week and it is not an exact science. There could be stuff happening but that could be several hundred miles away. If you treat the really violent weather as a bonus you won't be disappointed, just touring the Great Plains is a result in itself.

A note on the food. Mostly it's grab and go at a truck stop. Time is is for chasing not eating. It is revolting (don't read the ingredients) but you eat it or starve. Next up the food chain is McDonalds. See previous comment on starving. Next up is dinner. Everywhere in these small towns shuts at 9.00 or 10.00 if you're lucky, and if you do find somewhere open you can't get a beer. Or sometimes food...Breakfast is where it's at so you have to load up on a monster bacon based feast to keep you going.

We found a truck stop that sold beer, so a couple of Guinnesses and off to bed.

Total Miles: 596

Photos from day 4

Chase Day #4: Cow...

We had a decent breakfast and set off at 10.00. Nothing much happening until late on. Initial target is north west Oklahoma.

On route we stop off at Wakita, home to the “Twister” museum as this is where a lot of the movie was made. They have a lot of props from the movie including “Dorothy”. They opened up especially for us and the lady guide talks enthusiastically about Bil Paxman. No mention of Helen Hunt...

Next stop is the Great Salt Plains famous for selenite, a crystalline form of gypsum. We pass an airstrip and then walk onto an observation platform. The Plains are closed due to “contaminated waste”. Todd, however, wanders onto the plains for a better look, Suddenly a whole pile of officious people come towards us from some portacabins telling us we're on private property and if we don't leave they'll call the sheriff! Very bizarre, so we enjoy constructing some conspiracy theories. It turns out that last year “a boy scout” uncovered some vials of mustard gas left over from the war and the place is being “decontaminated”. Close Encounters of the Third Kind or X-Files, you take your pick...

We're off again. Todd changes his mind and we're heading back towards Dodge City. While travelling down some dirt roads we pass a herd of Buffalo.

We run into a mother and daughter on tour who tag along - storm groupies!

We're looking for an isolated supercell, although there's stuff going onto th east we ignore it. It's 102f. If the cap lifts we'll be in a unique position to see a supercell and possibly tornadoes. It doesn't lift so we trudge off to Woodward Oklahoma, pizza and Super 8 hotel.

Tomorrow still looks very promising and we're up early. Let's see...

Total Miles: 407

Pictures to follow

Cheers
Adam

Day #3 Photos

Apologies for the poor formatting - the site is playing up

Chase Day #3: Get the hell out of Dodge...

Today there are contradictory predictions so we're hedging our bets and will be heading to Dodge City. We have a poor breakfast and head off. If you want tea, you have to ask for “hot tea” and as for milk. Today, by the time they figure it out I end up with some luke worm swill.

We get to Dodge City and have two hours to kill. I get some souvenirs for the kids and go to the Boot Hill museum. An old guy I sat next to on the plane was fulfilling a boyhood ambition to visit Dodge City, home to the “gunfight at the OK Coral”. I think he will be disappointed. Most of the town is shut. I get my photo taken by a statue of Wyett Earp and we're off again.

We head off to Greensberg which got totally destroyed by an EF5, mile and a half wide tornado in may 2007. I feel a bit like a voyeur and am slightly apprehensive about what we'll see. The town has, however, embraced the disaster and is selling memorabilia celebrating the rebirth.

Even a year on, nothing can prepare you for what you see. Standing in the down town area there is not much evidence that a town existed bar the indestructible concrete grain silos, Nearly everything above ground level has either been smashed or has just disappeared. I take a photo of some poor persons basement which now looks more like s swimming pool. Here and there there are the remains of walls and the concrete slabs scraped clean of habitation. I buy some more souvenirs and have a look at “the biggest hand dug well in the world”. All in all a pretty sobering experience.

We head off towards Wichita, Kansas after in interesting wind pattern. There's nothing on radar and no mention by the NWS but Todd has a hunch. Sure enough a storm starts to develop at around 6.00. We run into a Sheriff at a truck stop and he's glad to here we are off to the east. He tells us the story of how he got to Greensberg to help with the clean up the day after it happend. It's pushing 100f and we leave town.

The storms are forming a line, so no rotation and no supercell. We have a chat with a policeman who is less interested in the weather and more concerned about our driving. The storms never really get going and today looks like a bust, but that's part and parcel of storm chasing.

We head off to Blackwell Oklahoma and are booked into a Comfort Inn. As we head towards the hotel massive (non-tornadic) storms are coming our way and there is lots of lightening in the distance which lifts the gloomy mood. We cross a bridge over a lake which is instantly recognisable from the film Twister where the cow flies through the air.

We get to the hotel just as the storm hits. The rain is torrential, the wind is breathtaking and lightening is flashing every second. When it eases off I go out and try my hand at taking photos of lightening. I've tried this before and it's not easy. I get a couple of iffy shots and the storm retreats into the distance, so I go to bed. I'm totally knackered and am relieved to go to bed by 10.30. I find out in the morning that another storm came in at 11 and had even better lightening than the first. Bummer.

Total Miles:417

Photos in next post

Cheers
Adam

Chase Day #2: Messy...

I'm up at 7.00 to get sorted out, still not sleeping too well. I'm watching the Weather Channel and there are already storms just to the north of us and tornadoes are likely in our general area. Yey!

We go down for breakfast and are on the road by 10. Todd is less enthusiastic “too messy”. We finally head off to the delights of Wallmart to pick up provisions. Today's target is NE Kansas.

We stop for lunch at McDonalds and then head off towards Colorado, I'm not now feeling too confident about today, however a there is shear and a storm starts bubbling up at 16.00. We park up and watch the storm develop. It looks nice, and there is the odd bolt of lightening in the distance, and reports come in of GRAPEFRUIT size hail in the core. Conditions change and the storm runs out of fuel so that's that.

We head off east down the I70 and end up in a Super 8 hotel in WaKenny, Kansas. Dinner is in a beer free Pizza Hut and it's off to bed. I finally get wifi and do a couple of hours on the blog and bed by 1.30.

Total miles: 363

Cheers

Adam

Chase day #1: Mothership...

A few problems with Wifi have delayed posting for a day and there is no (Orange) mobile coverage anywhere.

Target area: Eastern Colorado

Left for breakfast at 9.00, anticipating a short driving day, we set off east with the target area being refined to north east Nebraska. A 5% chance of a tornado is better than nothing but I'm not that confident, although we are likely to see a supercell.

Heading down some back roads we drive past some nuclear missile silos. Spooky. We head into Nebraska and then west into Wyoming which is new to me - I'm hoping to see Cheyenne or even Laramie. We stop at a diner for a "leisurely" lunch, I have one bite when Todd races in: "we gotta go now!", and it's game on. We do a u-turn and charge off back into Nebraska. There's a small cloud in the distance barely registering on the radar, but that's where we're headed.

We continue to track eastward and stop off to watch, and sure enough we get a couple of lightening flashes. Silverlining Tours drive past, but hey we were there first. We continue east and the National Weather Service issues a tornado watch, and sure enough the storm starts to intensify. There's more good news, there are no competing storm systems to interfere with our target's development; this could be a classic supercell.

We stop again and a state trouper drops in for an update. A wall cloud is starting to develop. We're off again, trying to stay to the storm's south east for the best view of the action. This is a classic chase; we stop, then Todd shouts "go", we dive back into the Suburban SUVs (4x4) (much better than being in a van), the V8s are floored and we look for a better position and so on, making sure we stay ahead of the precipitation. We get hit by 10mm hail - it's reported as being 3.5 inches in the core so we don't hang around. I remember to switch on the camera's GPS to record our locations

We stop again, and from nowhere a massive lightening bolt hits the ground right in front of us accompanied by a staggering clap of thunder. Unbelievable, that was too close. By now the DOW trucks have arrived and Silverlining Tours have caught up, and there are a number of other chasers on the scene. Kudos for Todd to be first to the action.



We watch the wall cloud rotating underneath the storm and a tornado warning has now been issued. The supercell is looking textbook, strong warm inflow winds are sucked past us into the storm and corkscrew upwards and Todd advises that a hook echo is forming on the radar - a classic tornado precursor.




We get back round to the south east and are rewarded with a "mothership", a perfect supercell. I struggle to get it to fit into a 10mm lens. There's clear rotation but she won't drop a tornado. It's been such a spectacular chase that nobody is really disappointed.

We've been tearing down dirt roads since 14.00 and it's now 22.00, the storm is losing energy and so are we. Onto McCook in the south of Nebraska, Wendys for a burger and to a Days Inn for bed at 00.30. We were supposed to pick up provisions at Wallmart that morning but the chase put paid to that. I'd had nothing to eat or drink since lunch, most of which got left behind, but who cares.

Total miles: 531

Cheers
Adam

Anticipation...

I'm still on UK time and wide awake at 3 a.m. which is a pain bearing in mind how arduous this week is going to be. Anyway, at least it gives me the chance to add a few words to this blog.

We had the briefing yesterday and it looks a promising week. Today the target area is eastern Colorado so it will be a shortish drive and no doubt there will be lots of waiting around waiting for storms to fire up. There is activity expected on most days with Thursday looking "potentially ominous" according to the National Weather Service. They also mentioned similarities to 1974 in their briefing which was the biggest tornado outbreak in modern US history. I'll try not to get too excited - these things will frustrate you if they can.

As usual many of the chasers are from the UK and it was good to see some friendly faces from 2006. The big talking point was the Quinter, Kansas tornado the tour intercepted last week. This was a massive wedge rated at EF4 which, at a somewhat inconvenient moment, changed direction and headed for the group who had to take avoiding action - the wrong way down the interstate! Here is a clip of the action:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=GC7U-i5i5eM&feature=related

So, I'm all packed and ready to go. A quick work on Skype - I set up an account before I left the UK and it works great - I can make calls via my computer back to the UK for 1.6p per minute - compared to £1.10 using the mobile. I should also mention the cameras; chatting to Wendi, her DSLR packed up last year while touring the devastated town of Greensberg, Kansas and she didn't have a back up. I (surprise, surprise) have brought a few:

Nikon D200 with 16-85 f3.5-5.6 VR for general photography
Nikon D40x back up with Sigma 10-20 f4-5.6 ultra wide
Nikon 17-55 f2.8 for lightening and dark conditions
Nikon 70-300 f4.5-5.6 VR for distant objects (the 70-200 f2.8 is too big)
Mamiya 7ii and 65 f4 film camera for vistas
Fuji f30 pocket camera for social/video clips

It all packs neatly into a Tamrac bag. I also brought a Benbo tripod/Kirk ball head essential for lightening/dark conditions. It might appear a lot of stuff, but you can't be fannying around changing lenses when the action starts.

We'll be off for breakfast soon (usually the only proper meal of the day) then onto Wallmart to pick up provisions, nuts, fruit, cereal bars, water etc. Once the chasing starts in earnest we don't stop for food. Or the loo...

One last point for now, apparently you can track our progress at http://www.stormspotterlive.com
and looking for "stormchasing.com" on a map.

Cheers
Adam

Best intentions...

Well so much for rattling on with this blog before getting to Tornado Alley. Life got in the way. Apologies for any typos, I'm a bit groggy. So, here I am in the Red Roof Inn in Denver having survived the journey from Middlesbrough via Newcastle Airport and Heathrow. I would have written some more on the way, but I couldn't connect to any of the free Wifi hotspots. Can't even connect to the one in the hotel but the LAN point works just dandy, and as I have several hours to kill before meeting up with the tour I'd better pull my finger out.

The 2006 tour was pretty epic.

A torturous 30+ hour journey from Teesside, a night at Gatwick, a missed connection at Houston, finally arriving at Oklahoma just in time to miss the safety briefing... (note to self: arrive a day earlier next time, if I'd been really late I'd have missed the tour). Meet the team - 6 guides/drivers (including Todd Thorn the tour leader) and 18 paying guests, and out for dinner and drinks and bed by 12.30. Todd announces we're up at 6.00 a.m. with a target of Valentine, Nebraska. Doesn't look too far on the map unless you look at the scale (Liane)...

Day 1
Up early and off and I am seriously knackered. Some of the guests doze, but as usual I'm just too tall to get comfy. There are three vans packed full of gizmos, laptops and satellite internet. I'm sat with Wendi, a firefighter from Massachusetts, and we have couple of English guys and a couple of well to do Indian ladies. It doesn't take long for the banter and CB wind ups to start and I'm quickly into the comfort zone of smut and innuendo. The "Skywarn" logo looks exactly like the rear of a woman with cellulite wearing a thong. Seriously, how can nobody have spotted this before?!? http://www.skywarn.org/

We drive, and drive, and drive. For 14 hours. Though Oklahoma, through Kansas and Nebraska and eventually wind up in the small town of Murdo, South Dakota. A few of us, doubtful of much happening with the weather, find a tiny bar with one customer and chat to the lady owner. It hasn't rained for months and the farmers are in real trouble. If it rains we can drink for free! Suddenly the TV switches to the Weather Channel and the weather radar looks insane. We jump outside and it looks like the first day of the Somme. I've never seen lightening like it. Todd was spot on, most of the other chase tours went to North Dakota and missed the fun. I Run back to my room, throw on my wet weather gear, grab my cameras, tripod, video and leg it to find the rest of the team who've found a good vantage point behind the hotel. All the lights go out and we are hit by a powerful gust front.

I set up my camera and take some pictures. What's that lit up by the lightening flashes? I'm the first to spot it and suddenly I'm having severe reservations about the whole trip. I'm really quite scared. Fortunately, the phenomenon dissipates quickly. Jeremy, one of our guides later confirms the tornado after studying his video. I really couldn't sleep that night, but by morning there was no sign of the previous night's fireworks. And, no, we didn't make it back to the bar. Total miles772.

Day 2
Target for today: Back to Oklahoma! It doesn't look too promising, definitely no tornadoes and possibly nothing at all.

Another mind (and bottom) numbing 13 hour drive later we are rewarded with a stunning sunset and spectacular lightening show as we hurtle down the back roads before retiring to a hotel in Blackwell. Tomorrow looks very promising. Total miles 696.

Day 3

The guides are very excited, perfect conditions for a tornado. We meet up with Josh and the DOWs and before you know it we're in a convoy with myriad storm chasing vehicles including a team from Texas Tech University, the inspiration, so I hear, for the film Twister. We end up in a hotel car park in Liberal, Kansas and wait. The Discovery Channel interview Todd and some of the guests. But the conditions for supercell formation fail to materialise as does the TIV- the Tornado Intercept Vehicle - which had broken down as it tends to do. We're all pretty gutted, and tomorrow's prospects looks poor. To cheer us all up we head to Amarillo, Texas and the famous Big Texan Steak Ranch, a Mecca for storm chasers and home of the 72oz steak. $75 or free if you can eat it, and all the trimmings in 60 minutes. Total miles 453

Day 4
The target for today is eastern Colorado and a 5% chance of a tornado. As we come over the brow of hill we are confronted by an octogenarian farmer towing a trailer full of cows, meandering aimlessly across the road. He turns across our path, and despite heroic efforts by our driver, we are the innocent party in a fender bender. The farmers daughter turns up and we all trudge off to the local sheriff's dept in Springfield (d'oh!) to fill out paperwork and are then back on our way. We end up in a field north of Tribune, Kansas on the border with Colarado. No tornado but a very photogenic storm and a decent lightening show. Then off to Garden City for the night, where cows get turned into McDonalds. "Eat beef, stay slim" is the logo on the "facility". Total miles 479.

Day 5
Nothing doing today, so we're sightseeing in New Mexico and climb Mt. Capulin, an extinct volcano. I got to the 8200 foot summit and the views were spectacular (confession: you drive most of the way) and took a few leisurely snaps. Something had bitten me (snake? shark?) a day or two earlier and my right leg was swelling up. Back to a local hotel. Total miles 451


Day 6
We set off on the journey back to Oklahoma City. The weather isn't cooperating so we stop off at the Big Texan Steak Ranch for yet more beef and watch the 72oz steak challengers puke into buckets. Nice. I remember to get the kids some T-shirts and caps. Our hotel in Oklahoma City is next door to the Rodeo Club, part night club and, when the lights go on, a real live rodeo, with real cows and real cowboys. Very surreal. My leg is in a bad way so troop off in search of some pharmaceuticals and then bed. Total miles 351.

Postscript: After a nightmare journey home my leg was very swollen to the point where I could barely walk. Convinced I had DVT I went straight to the hospital, but after a dose of antibiotics the leg slowly went back to normal. Yes Mam, I remembered to wear the special socks...

And on to 2008...
This looks like being a record year for tornadoes, the last couple of weeks have been amazing, but that is all history. The beginning of next week looks flat, but the end of the week could be very interesting. We shall see!

http://www.stormtrack.org/forum/showthread.php?t=16659

I'll post as and when I get the chance

Cheers
Adam

I don't need an excuse for gadgets but...

It all makes perfect sense to me. It's just not possible to accomplish anything unless you have the right gadgets. I'll come onto the photographic necessities soon, but what else do you need to survive a week in Tornado Alley?

Let's start with the mobile; notwithstanding the fact that there is no (Orange) mobile phone coverage anywhere north of Oklahoma City, the old Nokia N70 no longer cuts the mustard. Enter stage left the LG Viewty coming tomorrow. And one for the wife. In purple. Actually this one requires no justification - they are free with big savings on rolling up the mobile and broadband contracts. Less the cost of the spare batteries, charger, memory cards...How on earth did I manage without a 5mp camera and 120 fps video?

Next I need to ensure that this blog endures into the Alley. Not for me is the bloated XP driven laptop (apart from the one upstairs...and the one I use at work). No, my machine of choice is the amazing Asus eee 701, portable Nirvana powered by open source Linux. I've even managed to install a photo editing suite (GIMP, no seriously) and Skype to make freeish home phone calls in the unlikely event that wifi and a civilised time in the UK coincide. Mated with a Western Digital Passport 250GB pocket hard drive and a geeky Skype headset, and a Compact Flash reader, and we must be getting close!

What else? PSP, iPod (it's an old mini in pink - leave the case on at all times), and of course, the cameras, but more on them later.

That's more than enough for today. Tomorrow is for 2006 and all that.

Cheers Adam

Well that's the blog set up...

19th May 2008

So what's it all about?

In a nutshell, chasing storms across the Great Plains of the USA, an area commonly known as Tornado Alley. I've been once before in May 2006 on an organised tour with Storm Chasing Adventure Tours (SCAT) http://www.stormchasing.com/ There are a number of companies specialising in this type of adventure holiday (Google "storm chasing" and you'll find a selection such as Silverlining Tours and Tempest Tours). I chose SCAT as they teamed up with Dr Josh Wurman from the Centre for Severe Weather Research http://www.cswr.org/contents/joshuawurman.htm. If you've ever watched a storm documentary, you'll have seen him in his mobile weather radar truck, the Doppler On Wheels, or DOW. I figured this must give SCAT an edge, so I paid the extra and went with them. I'll mention the highlights of the 2006 tour over the next few days, suffice to say I've booked with them again and fly out to Denver at the end of May.

Before, I crack on with this blog, there are some things you need to know. Storm chasing is:

1. Dangerous (unless you really know what you're doing or go on a reputable tour)
2. Expensive (£2k all in including airfare, not to mention all the camera stuff I "just had to have")
3. Exhausting (try 3500 miles in 6 days)
4. Frustrating (you should see storms, you'll be lucky to see a tornado)
5. Thrilling when it all kicks off. It is a "chase" after all

So do you need to be a real weather geek to go storm chasing? The answer is "no" with a caveat. The more you know about how these "supercell" storms form, characteristics of tornadoes, the geography of the Plains (hint: flat) and the history of epic tornadoes the more context you'll get, and the more you will get out of it. Watch the documentaries, read books and of course use the Internet. There are many experienced storm chasers who really know their stuff, you'll find them hanging out at places like http://www.stormtrack.org/forum/. If I'm honest, I'm not a weather geek at all, and most of the meteorology goes way over my head.

Over the next three weeks I'll be going over the build up to the tour, talking about my experiences in 2006, and from 30th May, giving a daily update of life in Tornado Alley.

Cheers
Adam