IT'S HAPPENING... we just can't see it!

Gahhhh so close yet so far I guess is what I can say about yesterday's chase. We were on the right storm but we didn't see the tornado at the time. We moved about a minute before it crossed right where we were. But first to the previous day, where the beers were already out despite the group not having seen a tornado just yet. We had a long drive from St Paul, Minnesota to Kansas City, Missouri and it was decided to have all the Aussies (and a Pom) in one van. Um hello! I'm pretty sure it started with me having a beer with lunch then one of our tour guides (and resident alcohol connoiseur) Kevin encouraged everyone in our van to grab some drinks and we started downing them. There was a bit of singing, a bit of drinking - we even stole some people from the other van. Red Van became Party Van. I think some people regretted it in the morning.



Louise (UK - Essex), me, Nicole (Ballarat), "Chip" (Alice Springs)and Michael (Melbourne)

But everyone made it to the van for the big chase day. We travelled just under three hours south to Wichita, Kansas and just got into Oklahoma before we saw storms start to fire (maybe a tad earlier than expected) to our northwest (but conveniently, storms were moving south fairly slowly). It was a bit of a blur when the chase began, I don't know exactly where we were, but storms were exploding like we'd never seen before.

Massive updrafts!!!

Mammatus - an indication of strong updrafts

Storm's a coming - time to take the roof off this van!

But then of course we got on the best storms of the tour and there were road blocks in the form of COMBINE HARVESTERS on the road followed by a dozen semi-trailers. It was SO frustrating but we cleared them and found it pretty smooth sailing. After a little bit of driving things started happening. We got out of the van for a better look and I got this shot:

All this was getting sucked up into the storm

 Then I saw this:

Wall cloud - the place tornadoes drop from, usually

Not long after, we found a nearer wall cloud where it was ALL happening. It's kind of hard to explain, but there was rotation on the ground (dust devils) and in the sky (funnels) but none of it connected to each other, new clouds getting sucked up into the storm - it's hard to explain. But we couldn't stay long, the storm wouldn't let us! We took to the dirt roads to go south to stay in the "notch" of the storm. We had a few photo stops before the storm REALLY matured and we found a main road to wait and watch.



Imagine all that spinning anti-clockwise. You wouldn't have had to imagine it if my video I was trying to post below loaded.

Rotating funnel poking out of the clouds

(Insert video here - it was good)

The side of the highway gave us an excellent 360 degree view of the storm. Rain curtains were wrapping around the storm, the wind was up and we started hearing tornado sirens. There was a powerflash (the wind had pretty much ripped the power lines off down the line, under which we standing) and the rain was coming. We had to move!! So in the van we went, moments before the rain (which we later figured out had a tornado hidden in it) passed. We went a little way down the road before stopping again. Another great funnel had formed (I got video of it - the upload failed :S) so we watched that die then THUMP. A golf ball. THUMP. A tennis ball. No, a sporting goods store didn't get sucked up into a tornado. These were the sizes of hailstones that began to fall around us. Back in the van!!! Photos of hail the size of GRAPEFRUIT emerged shortly after. That's at least a 5 INCH circumference. Big stuff!


Tornado was in behind this rain

(A video was supposed to here but the internet had other plans)


But the excitement ended there as another storm crossed this monster's path and it descended into mostly heavy rain and some hail. We traversed the storm down to Norman, Oklahoma where we had dinner. The storm eventually caught up with us while we were in having dinner, which cut out the satellite TV (much to the annoyance of all those watching Oklahoma City Thunder getting towelled up in the NBA playoffs). Today we're heading to Kansas to chase. I'll look out for Dorothy for you! Or if you like you can try to spot her yourself on the live stream - live.tvnweather.com. We are the Extreme Tornado Tours tag. Let me know on Facebook or Twitter if you are watching and I'll try to give you a wave.

Sub-par storms sapping spirit

Much like our frustrations, the storms have been building this trip. But unfortunately like our storms, our plans to see tornadoes are becoming a right mess. The lightning shows are little consolation. If I spend another five days here without seeing a tornado, I don't know how I will be able to come home. How can you come half way across the world to the home of tornadoes, twice, and not see anything.  It can't happen. Surely.

It's just hard to keep going on these long days. Today we drove seven hours to be frustrated by several more hours of chasing before being let down again. U guess at least last time we got to see some sights. This time I've been able to meet a few more nice people, and go into a few more states of the US. You'd be hard pressed to find a mid-west  state I haven't been too now. I guess that's something. I wish I didn't have to go half way across the world to do it. But I guess it means I can chase storms in Brisbane and have the same luck!

Despite our disappointments, I'll take you through the highlights of the past few days. After spending the night in St Cloud (which was a pretty rowdy night for some of the others)  it was windy, and rain and cold outside our hotel alongside the Mississippi River. I had a good chat to Reed Timmer, the navigator of Dominator 2, and was able to hold an intelligent weather conversation with him! I guess I half know what I'm talking about then. He's keen to go tropical cyclone chasing in Australia sometime. We both were of the feeling we had to go south towards Sioux Falls, South Dakota as soon as possible! We got there within about an hour of storms starting, and conditions were quite hot (think 30 and humid) compared to St Cloud earlier (13, wet and windy). Perfect conditions for storms... or so we thought. The storms were choked off from accessing the surface moisture and died. I think we all died a little inside too. Our chase didn't finish until about 10pm (the sun was still up) so decided to make a quick trip to Sioux City, Iowa. Funnily enough, the previous day's birthday girl Shanda (whose family joined in our dinner at the hotel in St Cloud) LIVES in Sioux City so she got to sleep in her own bed. Lucky!

My pics from the day:

Oh a storm is raging... not so much

Sunset storm... kind of

The sun sets on another below-average chase day

Today was a 50-50 choice between Minnesota and Nebraska. All weather models were pointing to the northern target as our best shot. We made the drive, arrived well in time and chased an isolated but growing storm, which looked promising. Unfortunately, it died and we chased a slow-moving MASSIVE supercell, which had tornado warnings on it. It was the only storm to chase, but having the high-precipitation storm 'stop and drop' (new term, coined by me) was inevitable, sadly. It cause some major flooding in Minnesota. It just did not stop. There weren't any tornadoes in Nebraska either, so at least that couldn't bring us down. We lobbed into our hotel at White Bear Lake, outside of St Paul, Minnesota just before midnight.

Our guides Dave Holder and Blake Knapp like most chasers, attempting to find out why our storms keep screwing us around.

On approach to the monster storm

The monster fizzer on radar, with tornado warnings

Stormchasing is off the radar for tomorrow as we head back east and south towards Nebraska and the following day we're hoping for storms around Kansas-Oklahoma. We're hoping. It's the best chase country and if you're going to see a tornado, it's gotta be there right? Right???

Not much doing... yet

If we weren't keen enough to get out and find an elusive tornado this tour, a dose of Twister has helped this enthusiast get pumped for some weather action in Minnesota tomorrow. But funnily enough for all of Twister's excitement and drama, the film shows how different that is to reality, especially in 2012. I guess chasing is a little more advanced than when the film was made and the approach to chasing appears far more sensible in reality. I guess you just have to come out here and chase to know what I mean. It was the first time I'd seen Twister in a while, so it was interesting to make comparisons based on personal observations.

Today provided a chance for us to get in position for some chasing in Minnesota. It was a good thing really considering several of the group had a rather big night in Eau Claire. I only had a few drinks with dinner so turned in early to catch up on some sleep. We're in St Cloud, Minnesota tonight (how ironic) so we shouldn't have to go too far to see storms flaring up. But it could be a bit of a grind with a far longer drive than to the south on the Sunday. Of course, it won't be a grind once we've seen a tornado. Sunday (Monday AM in Australia) looks like being our day. I hope. We kind of got a bit of a taste of a few storms yesterday, experiencing some 60-80mph winds, but the storms just appeared disorganised and unfavourable to tornadoes. One was reported near where we were in northwest Wisconsin, but the photos seemed unconvincing. Here's my only photo from the day.

Yesterday's storm

Today also gave us a chance to catch up with the TVN (TornadoVideos.net) crew, who have a hand in running the tours. Here's their tornado intercept vehicle, Dominator 2, below topped with their data recording equipment, cameras and data probe cannons:

Dominator 2. Yet to dominate much this season.

Reed Timmer, stormchaser and extreme meteorologist, runs the whole show. Fellow Dom 2 rider Chris Chittick, who knows how to hold a camera to put it lightly, actually celebrated his birthday today. It was one of three in the touring party. We also celebrated those of Kara and Shanda, who ironically is originally from St Cloud. She certainly earned the day off driving. She has been excellent at the wheel, which she has done every tour this year while also producing books for each one. Shanda is a machine, but even machines need a bit rest once in a while! While we were completing our group dinner and drinks, there were several reports of tornadoes in Kansas, but we were never a chance to get to them and light was poor.

Hopefully I don't sleep in this time and get up prepared for some potential exciting weather tomorrow afternoon. I'll probably ride in blue van, which houses the live stream (live.tvnweather.com). When you wake up in the morning, you never know, you might see the group pursuing a tornado. Hopefully I have an exciting tale to tell you all for my next blog.

Positive start for reunited crew

The old tornado chasing gang of Shanda, Val, Melissa and I was back together again yesterday to seek redemption for our tour of nothingness in 2011. And today we almost got what we were looking for. But more on that later. Yesterday was a bit of the reunion and team meet and greet, but most of the bunch knew what we were in for with all but three having been on tours in 2011. We were all able to bond immediately comparing stories about our entertaining tour leader Dave Holder, who provided a few funny highlights last year despite not seeing tornadoes. Dave's an English citizen but has lived in the US most of his life having spent time in Philapelphia  and studied in Oklahoma. You wouldn't know he was English unless he told you (or you read my blog). He does have a few rather interesting traits, which is part of the reason people keep coming back. Everyone has a story about Dave. The good thing is he's an Oklahoma City Thunder fan (for those NBA lovers out there). I adopted them as my team having spent a bit of time in Oklahoma last year.

But before we get to talking about our LONG drive on our first chase day, I have to mention the State of Origin. Queenslander!!!! You beauty. I got up at about 3.45am in Denver to set up the live stream on my laptop. I tried so many sources that wouldn't work and JUST got in before the game began. The first half went off without a hitch, but by the time I hit the second the stream had it and I had some commentary coming through over Facebook before getting the feed back for the final 10 minutes. I thought:

1. Michael Jennings deserved to see the sin bin coming in third man in throwing a flying right hook to spark the all-in near the start.

2. NSW stuffed up a heap of chances and made bad choices, which is why they lost the game.

3. Cameron Smith and Brent Tate were our best

4. NSW had a good expansive game, good kick and chase and put pressure on Qld.

5. Qld had a hopeless kicking game and the defence was pretty loose (until NSW got close and made errors)

6. The Inglis try at the end probably wasn't one but at the end of the day Qld had the upper hand before that try was even scored. Add to that we would have got the ball back 10m out due to a NSW knock on in that play before the ball was kicked out of the hands of Inglis.

I'm glad I'll be home for the next game.  The lack of sleep caught up with me later that night (as I wrote this blog in the van on the way to the hotel somehow. Fortunately I was all up and ready to go when we left at 7am from our hotel in Denver. As opposed to last year, this year there are two vans, the blue van (last year's, the one with the webcam in it) and the red van (both SOOOO much more comfortable than the vans last week where we crammed 14 into one of them). It would have been wrong for me to pick the blue van as I proudly sported my Queensland jersey after our win, so it was into the red van with last year's crew, Mitch from Alice Springs, Nicole from Ballarat (again, I was one of five Australians on the tour - the other two were from Melbourne) and Cara from Illinois (C or K?). Another tour guide Blake, who has an uncanny ability to mimic accents, joined us from blue van just before we started the chase.

Red van - first session. Front - me and Shanda, Row 2 - Val, Row 3 - Nicole (L), Melissa (R), Row 4 - Mitch (L), Cara (R)

Red van... or blue van?

The first stop was the Extreme Tornado Tours custom of a morning coffee stop at Starbucks (they're everywhere). I wanted to keep going for the day so I got a chai latte as I would if I ever went to a coffee shop at home. The barista said I should chai to have a nice day. It's my style of comedy. Well I certainly needed something to laugh at on the drive, as we literally drove through the middle of nowhere (basically abandoned towns, no gas stations, no nothing) in eastern Colorado to prepare for either chasing storms in eastern Nebraska or getting into position for the next day set to be in Wisconsin. All we saw was grass and a motor racing circuit (amazingly, not an oval speedway). We stopped in at a Pizza Hut (eat-in!) for lunch. I went to order my pizza. No hawaiian. Ok, so I made my own - ham, cheese, bacon, pineapple. Sounds easy enough. Well, not if you're the waitress at the restaurant. I said it about three times and everyone else understood me, but not this lady. When she eventually took my order she thought it sounded a bit odd (has she never heard of a hawaiian pizza???).

That was about the only thing interesting that happened before we got to the serious part of the day. I wasn't expecting to be chasing storms today, but was still prepared to get some photos. We stopped in at a gas station in Kearney, Nebraska as we waited for another tour guide - Kevin, who built the Dominator (a tornado intercept vehicle which catches the eye of everyone in town when it stops or blasts through) and Dominator 2, which we are likely to see the latter and their navigator and 'extreme meteorologist' Reed Timmer tomorrow - to catch up to us. It marked the end of my tenure in the co-driver seat, where DJ Killa Grams was back in the house. The van enjoyed my chase CDs I'd done up for the trip. We stopped probably 20 minutes after Kevin arrived and joined the blue van to view some developing cumulus cloud, which matured rapidly and the chase was on! It wasn't long after that we saw several dust devils/gustnadoes and minutes later and rising dust everywhere indicating the air getting sucked into the storm. Add to that driving through 40-50mph winds and it was difficult to see and to keep up with the storm. Once we made it through the dust we saw new funnel-shaped lowerings forming once in a while, rapidly rotating clouds and a period of intense CG (cloud to ground) lightning strikes. I even heard tornado sirens for the first time as we travelled through the town of Garland. The longer we followed the more it looked like a tornado could happen, but any chance of that ended just before we hit Omaha. Reports suggested the storm we were on produced hail 3.5 INCHES in diameter. We kept on for a couples of hours longer into the night before staying the night in Des Moines, Iowa. Here are a couple of photos from the day.

Cloud lowering on our storm

Dirt kicked up by inflow winds

A proper dust devil/gustnado

Tomorrow it looks at this stage as if we will be heading north in the morning a couple of hours to Albert Lea, Minnesota before heading west and a bit further north to Wisconsin, which has a better chance of tornadoes than today. Actually we've just moment ago been told it will be a HISTORIC tornado event so get on the live stream live.tvnweather.com when you wake up and you might se us chasing one (we're the one tagged Extreme Tornado Tours or ETT or something). Our guides got on the right storm today but it didn't quite happen. But it has only been one day and it's already been better than last year's tour, which yielded nothing.

I've still got a fair few photos to upload to Facebook from Grand Canyon onwards, so stay tuned for them. Maybe if we have a down day on tour I can get them all done!