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APRIL
28 - FLIGHT TO DALLAS/FORT WORTH.
 An early start to catch a coach to Heathrow. The flight itself on a
British Airways 777 was as expected. I sat next to one of my fellow UK chasers
on the flight (Stu_London) which was good but a chatty American was sat on my
other side and talked to me about all sorts of things and what to go and see
in the Dallas area so I didn't get to chat to Stu much. 10 hours is a long
time to be on a plane (for me) so it was nice to land. Unfortunately there was
a bit of a hiccup as the customs forms given to us on the flight were out of
date so I had to fill it in again before I could get through immigration. Stu
kindly waited for me and then we got the bus transfer to the hire car place
where we met up with the rest of the gang including the legendary BBC
meteorologist, Michael Fish MBE. Meeting him was to be one of the highlights
of the trip. Space was made in the rear of the rented Chevy Tahoes to
accommodate our luggage and we had a chat on what we hoped to see during the
10 days.
There was no severe weather forecast for a couple of days so we had to plan
things to do until then. Sunny and hot at 25°C. The group decided to drive to
Decatur to spend the night, however when we got there we found nowhere had
rooms available so se headed east a little bit to Denton where we booked in to
a Best Western for the night and ate at a place called Cracker Barrel.
Finished off the night with cans of beer. Took some test video and
successfully edited it on my laptop (glad I took it along) and uploaded it to
Youtube (you can find links to my videos on the Video
page. |
APRIL 29 - POSITIONING FOR SEVERE WEATHER.
The severe weather we were hoping to hunt down was forecast to be in
Kansas the day after next so we had a good 400 mile drive planned today to
position ourselves in the state so that we would not have to go far for a
storm.
So we settled on Dodge City as our base for that night and away we went.
10:45 - Travelling towards Oklahoma City, north on I-35 and we were to stop
for gas an lunch en route.
14:00 - We ate at KFC in Moore, OK and once again headed north on I-35, then
headed west on I-40, then north on Route 270/281 through Geary towards
Watonga, then west and northwest to Seiling. Witty banter was had in the cars
and over the radio between cars and we were all enjoying ourselves including
Mr Fish!
17:20 - Well we didn't make it to Dodge City because we had enough of
travelling for one day so we booked into a Days Inn at Woodward, OK. Did some
more videoing for Youtube en route. Checking forecasts and other data from the
Storm Prediction Center every few hours. We remained optimistic as to what
Mother Nature would gives us over the coming days. |
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APRIL 30 - VISITING GREENSBURG, KANSAS.
 Another down day before storms so we planned to visit Greensburg in Kansas
which was devastated by the first EF5 tornado on the new enhanced Fujita
scale, nearly one year ago on May 4, 2007.
10:30 - The internet connection in the Days Inn was flaky this morning so
could not upload any video. Generally the free wifi access is good in motels
and certainly a welcome feature. Heading north on OK Route 34, then KS Route
1 and Route 183. We stopped at the OK/KS border at 11:30 to take lots of
photos and video. The Tornado travelled quite some distance along Highway 183
before hitting Greensburg which was apparent by the large number of newly
erected electricity poles we saw en route.
14:00
- The devastation in Greensburg one year on is still haunting - it took a long
time to clear the debris and much of the town is still derelict - some new
homes have been built but many residents are still living in mobile homes.
Incredibly only 13 people were killed in the tornado, thankfully as it was
slow moving the sirens sounded 20 minutes in advance giving the poor people of
the town a chance to seek shelter - not easy at night. Our of our group, Pete,
talked to a woman who was in tears as she sat on there step where a church
once stood and picked through the rubble - this reduced Pete to tears too.
Chasing tornadoes is exciting but the stark reality of the devastation and
loss of life overrides that.
The town was getting ready to welcome President Bush and his entourage to
commemorate the anniversary of the tornado. TV crews were in abundance and we
talked to a very young security person about what has happened in the year
since that fateful night. Greensburg managed to survive over 100 years before
this - let us hope that it is not devastated like this again, but you cannot
argue with Mother Nature and I remember Greensburg was lucky in 2002 when I
chased with SLT as a tornado passed close to the town and hit Pratt further
east. The risk is there every year. We had lunch in Pratt.
22:00 - After travelling some distance more we ended up in Wichita, KS. We
enjoyed dinner at Chilli's. The time difference was catching up with me now
and I was looking forward to a good night's sleep but having to share with
someone who snored rather loudly meant that sleeping was difficult for me! A
few others stayed up drinking and playing poker! |
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MAY 1 - OUR FIRST STORM NEAR
FREDONIA, KS.
 The
SPC had increased the storm threat to moderate for today as a cold front
advanced eastward so we were quite exciting about seeing our first storm
and hopefully a tornado. We decided to head slightly NE and see what
developed. Hopefully the cap would break and kick off some decent storms.
People back in the UK were enjoying the videos I had uploaded to Youtube
so far.
11:20 - We travelled NE to Emporia using the I-35 Kansas turnpike - just a
few dollars toll to travel about 60 miles - compare that to the M6 toll!
13:30 - We had lunch at Wendy's and did a bit of shopping at Walmart.
15:00 - Now heading south on route 99 towards Madison. We became concerned
that the SPC had lowered the risk again to something non-existant and
hoped that they were wrong!
15:30 - Headed east on route 57 through Gridley.
16:10 - Now south on route 75 to Yates Center.
16:30 - East on route 54 to Iola.
17:15 - Headed south briefly on route 169 and pulled off the highway to
stop and check data from the SPC and on the Barons system while scanning
the skies willing the cap to break. Suddenly warnings were issued for a
severe thunderstorm 75 miles to the SW moving NE and we could see the cap
had indeed broken. The chase was on and we zoomed off south on route 169
again.
17:45 - Trying to position ourselves for the storm - headed west towards
Buffalo on route 39.
18:15 - Our direction was now towards Fredonia along route 400.
20:00 - We successfully bagged the storm near Fredonia. We watched it from
two locations - the second being along a county dirt road so we hoped that
it wouldn't get bogged down with mud from the rain but we had chosen a
sweet spot. Unfortunately the storm did not drop a tornado but we were
more than happy to see a decent supercell at last!
23:30 - After watching the storm we headed off to Independence, KS to stay
the night and as we checked into the hotel we were treated to a fantastic
lightning show as the storm cell moved away from us slowly. Captured some
great lightning on video which I could not wait to upload to Youtube. We
were very happy. |
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MAY 2 - COLD FRONT CLEARANCE -
COFFEYVILLE AND SIGHTSEEING.
 9:30
- I was soundly asleep when awoken at 2:30 by a vicious squall line
courtesy of the cold front passing through. Apparently I slept through
most of it but watched it for 5 minutes - gusty winds, horizontal rain and
continuous lightning - fabulous. Unfortunately as I was so tired I did not video it
but many tour members were awake to watch the spectacle and video it. I
took an hour of video of the chase yesterday which would prove to take a
couple of days to edit and upload.
It was certainly colder compared to the day before - the sun was out but
the bitter wind made some people have to wear jackets or jumpers - a bit
like the UK really!
15:00 - As this was another down day with no more storms for a while we
had to decide what to do. Someone had told us about Coffeyville which had
suffered tremendous flooding in July 2007 so we went off to have a look.
The low level parts of the town were now dry but certainly abandoned with
lots of properties boarded up. Lots of mud was around indicating just how
bad it must have been. I have found the following
PHOTOS which do indeed show the extent of the floods. The upper part
of the town was as normal so we had lunch there before deciding where to
go next.
We went to visit the site of the Little House on the Prairie (SW from
Independence just off Route 75) where many of us took lots of photos. Not
quite my cup of tea but always interesting to see bits of Americana like
this. Some other stormchasers turned up as well - we had seen them at the
hotel last night so we thought they had followed us LOL.
We then drove west on route 166 to Sedan where the longest yellow brick
road was to be found. In Sedan itself we searched for some time trying to
find it and when we parked up and asked someone where it was we were told
we were standing on it!! We looked down to see a few hundred brown bricks
with names engraved. So it turned out to be not as impressive as we
thought - oh how we laughed! We did also wonder why it was here and not in
Liberal where the Wizard of Oz house is located!
Drove further west on route 166 through Arkansas City then S on I-35 again
into Oklahoma to spend the night in Oklahoma City. |
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MAY 3 - 72oz CHALLENGE!
 Our
hotel for the night on the outskirts of OKC was a Days Inn. We did try to
book into a hotel closer to the centre of the city - in particular close
to a bar called "Hookers" as lads will be lads - enough said LOL.
Unfortunately all hotels/motels in the city were full for some reason
hence our stay in the suburbs!
We ate at a themed bar (the name of which escapes me now) and the waitress
said that a good place to go in the city was "CityWalk" - a large complex
of different themed nightclubs - so a couple of the guys got a cab there
(and back about 4am!). By the looks of them this morning it looks like
they had a good night even if the after effects were somewhat unpleasant!
No storms to chase today so we planned to drive to Amarillo in Texas to
eat at the Big Texan Steak Ranch. Now they challenge punters to eat a 72oz
steak there with all the trimmings - if successful then they don't have to
pay - if not then the meal is $72!. Our brave man Stu decided he would
attempt this feat but as he was one of the guys that went to CityWalk last
night he didn't feel like doing it when he got up - but by the time we got
to Amarillo he was ready for it.
He made a valiant attempt and ate 58oz which by any means is difficult
enough for most. A Californian guy sat opposite him and managed to
complete the challenge - only to bring a lot of it back up again a few
seconds later but he still was declared a winner!
It was a good meal and we stayed in the rooms adjacent which were all in a
Wild West theme complete with swing doors into the bathroom (SLT did not
stay here in 2002). |
MAY 4 - STILL NO STORMS!
I was getting a bit bored with the down days now and relishing the few
chase days that were forecast - but today we had to travel again to
position ourselves for any storms. There was a slight risk of storms in SW
Kansas forecast for today but we weren't going to hold our breath or we
would die! Ironically back in the UK, especially in the SE there were some
decent thunderstorms - typical!
It was a cold night in Amarillo with temperatures getting down to about
7°C - but at least the day would be nice and warm.
13:00 - Had lunch in Dumas. Later stopped to take photos at a small place
called Texhoma on the (TEXas - OklaHOMA) state border.
16:00 - So from Texas, through the Oklahoma panhandle and into Kansas, and
we decided to stop in Liberal to have a look at Dorothy's House (from the
Wizard of Oz) - well it is tornado related after all!
18:30 - We travelled to Garden City in Kansas to stay the night in a
Holiday Inn Express - a bit more expensive than we had been used to but we
could do with some luxury after travelling a lot. Hopefully a good place
to chase any storms that pop up - fingers crossed! |
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MAY 5 - CHASING AGAIN AT LAST -
OKLAHOMA PANHANDLE.
 Well
that was certainly a nice hotel - had a swim in the pool and a soak in the
spa (and boy was it hot - like being in a bath!).
We were not entirely sure about our location for today - we would only
know later in the day as any storms developed. We did think we would have
a long drive though.
There were good storms 50 miles to the NE of Garden City overnight - just
a shame they weren't closer!
13:00 - Decided to head SW in the direction of Dalhart (back down there in
Texas - that is the thing about stormchasing - you tend to go one way then
end up going back in the other direction again and stopping in the same
places!)
We stopped for gas in Liberal (see what I mean!?). A certain member of the
team dashed off to the Oz souvenir shop to some peoples annoyance -
sometimes people don't understand the priorities of stormchasing
especially when a chase is on!
15:45 - A little earlier we had lunch at Subway in Stratford (NOT
upon-Avon!) and to check on data - storm cells were beginning to pop up
now which was good so we had to decide which one we thought was worth
chasing. We set off E on Route 15.
16:45 - Having stopped to scan the skies and check the Barons/GRLevel 3
again we decided to turn around and head back W on Route 15 and then N on
"ranch" road 1290 to Texhoma - this all seems rather familiar! We decided
to go and chase a supercell that had formed in the Oklahoma panhandle.
17:00 - Headed N from Texhoma on Route 95 to Elkhart - rather annoyingly
there were some roadworks that were not signed so we had to take a small
diversion along some interesting dirt tracks! Then headed NE towards
Hugoton on Route 56.
We learnt that a huge supercell was raging over Garden City at this point
delivering 4 inch hail !!!!! (yup we should have stayed where we were!!)
19:00 - We caught up with the supercell and continued to chase it in the
Hooker, OK and Liberal, KS area. It had now become mesocyclonic - we were
praying for that elusive tornado. Headed down to Hooker on county highway
19. The storm is moving slowly SE. We stop at intervals to take photos and
video.
23:00 - We drove up Route 54 and checked in to a Day's Inn in Liberal, KS
with the storms still raging - rain coming down in torrents and frequent
lightning. Ordered in pizza and drank beer. Still disappointed not to see
a proper tornado so far. Apparently there was a small land spout captured
on one of the guys cameras near Hooker but I did not see personally
witness it or capture it, more's the pity. |
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 MAY
6 - A GOOD CHANCE TO SEE A TORNADO???
Another chase day and a good chance for a tornado to form from a
supercell.
The most probable chance of storms today seemed to be down in Texas so the
guys planned to head to Childress and see what developed from there. After
waiting for a certain individual to make yet another visit to the Wizard
of Oz gift shop we set off.
14:30 - We had lunch in Shamrock (yes the town had an Irish feel to it -
nice for one of the team - John - but sadly we could not find an open
Irish bar to drink in!) Headed towards Lubbock as that area now had a 10%
risk of tornadoes to form from the SPC - fingers crossed!
17:15 - The cars were fuelled in Plainview and off we set again.
18:00 - After heading down I-27 we went East on ranch road 54 then south
on ranch road 400 to Lorenzo. Then E on Route 82 to Ralls then South on
Route 207 with a supercell in our sights. And it was a massive one too
spitting out CGs frequently. Suddenly the road descended down off the
caprock and we decided the best view of the storm would be back up on the
caprock so we turned round.
19:30 - We chased the supercell in the Crosbyton area - fantastic CG
lightning - still waiting for a tornado!
20:20 - After heading E on Route 82 to Dickens we headed south on Route 70
and encountered some hail. Not large size but decent enough - ironically
yet again we heard that Garden City had been pelted by large hail for the
second day running - an unlucky place to be!
Alas still no tornado and this chase holiday was becoming frustrating for
me - it now seemed that I would go home without any video or photos of
tornadoes this time round. Gutted. Tomorrow would be the last severe
weather day so the last chance.
Drove to Abilene to stay the night. This day saw the most miles driven -
approx 650 miles although someone thought it was only approx 600!
Certainly was a long time in the car and a bit uncomfortable after a while
- I don't think the Chevy Tahoes are ideal chase vehicles from a passenger
point of view. |
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MAY 7 - LAST DAY FOR SEVERE WEATHER.
 The
initiation of storms was forecast to start around lunchtime today so we
had an early start to get on the road
9:30 - Headed E away from Abilene. Tour members anxious that today would
get us a tornado.
11:00 - Headed E on I-20 towards Forth Worth - our destination being
Denton for lunch.
14:00 - After taking the 820 loop clockwise around Forth Worth we
travelled north on I-35W to Denton. Denny's was the venue for our lunch,
and it was a lovely meal. In fact everywhere we have eaten has been good.
Now heading up the I-35 towards Gainsville.
15:45 - Not long after getting on the I-35 we noticed the DOW (Doppler On
Wheels) was also sharing this part of the journey with us. With Josh
Wurman at the wheel and a convoy of support vehicles it was a good sign
that we were in a good place for decent storms - a lot of chasers would be
converging on this area today.
16:00 - Into Oklahoma on the I-35 and now west on route 32 and a classic
supercell was in our sights - the excitement was building. We noted with
glee that the DOW was still following us! Chased the storm in the
Belleville area - close to the bear's cage with GCs zapping close by us.
Plenty of other chasers and also TV crews on this storm. STILL NO TORNADO!
Attempted to reposition via routes 76 and 96 via Burneyville. Kept
stopping ahead of the precipitation to get photos.
18:00 - Decided to reposition again - back E on route 32 then south on
route 77 joining I-35 back down to Gainesville then E on route 82
eventually stopping near Savoy, TX (Between Sherman and Bonham) watching a
front approach. A tornado nearly formed at the tail end of a cell but our
chances of seeing one were fading fast. You could sense the
disappointment, especially mine.
19:00 - Headed slightly south and watched the storm move away - the sun
came out and a lovely rainbow appeared. We drank beer and reminisced about
our chase days. Then headed to Sherman to eat and stay the night. |
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 MAY
8 - NATIONAL WEATHER CENTER.
There was a slight risk of storms today but we had arranged a visit to
the National Weather Center/SPC in Norman, Oklahoma. Michael Fish had a
contact there and he had arranged a tour of the building. It was certainly
fascinating to look around. The building had only been open a couple of
years which is why we had difficulty in finding it at first as our route
planning software was a little bit out of date! The tour took a couple of
hours.
Some of the team wanted to go and chase the slight risk so were a bit
disappointed to learn that a couple of tornadoes had formed from some
storm cells that had popped up some distance away. A chasers motto is
"chase a risk even if it is slight!". One of the tornadoes we would not
have seen anyway as it formed in the morning - showing that yesterdays
active storm system had kept going through the night.
After we left the NWC we drove to Decatur to spend the final night of my
chase holiday. Our final meal was at the "cow camp" steakhouse (thankfully
they serve other meat for non beef eaters such as myself!). We thought we
were not going to make it to the cow camp for a while though as we were
stuck in a traffic queue on the I-35 - for some reason that was not quite
clear. It seemed to be a broken down truck in some roadworks. |
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 MAY
9 - GOODBYE USA !
So the end of the stormchasing holiday was near. We travelled the
short distance from Decatur to DFW Airport. The tour leaders were
returning one of the Tahoes and going off for 10 days of chasing on their
own before welcoming a couple of other chase punters. So the ones going
home checked in and we said goodbye to a couple of guys who had to catch
flights from a different terminal. I spent a couple of hours with the rest
of the guys including Michael Fish as we waited for our overnight flight
to Heathrow.
The flight itself was uneventful - only 9 hours thanks to the jetstream
and soon I was back in the UK and saying my goodbyes, then off to catch
the coach back to Bristol feeling very jetlagged!! |
