Saturday, June 1, 1996
The Whirlwind gang hung around Amarillo today. They went to the National Weather Service office, and ran into Matt Crowther and Betsy Abrams, Chuck Doswell, Al Moller, and about 4 or 5 other chasers. It ended up at a kind of an impromtu chaser party in the NWS library, with everyone showing video of their chases this year.
Matt and Betsy are a husband and wife chase team. Both work as meteorologists at the Weather Channel. Chuck and Al were the chasers who took that unforgettable video from Pampa, Texas, on June 8, 1995, seen in TVC III. Dr. Charles Doswell, III is a senior research meteorologist at NSSL in Norman, Oklahoma, and participated in Project VORTEX. Al Moller is a warning preparedness meteorologist with the southern region of the NWS in Fort Worth, Texas. Both are excellent photographers as well. You can see Chucks photography on his own home page You can see Al's on the slipcase of TVC III.
One of the points of discussion is that there is good video being shot this year from chasers' "own back yard," rather than during chasing trips. Some of it is being taken as chasers are heading for somewhere else!
Anyhow, it was a nice way to end up the tour.
The new group is in, and is probably having an orientation meeting as I write this.
They include:
Christine White, a computer programmer from Dayton, Ohio, who is returning again for another tour.
Jeffrey Rowley, a Nintendo technician from Renton Washington, who is also a returnee.
New to the tour is Jim Caruso, a financial controller from Lawrenceville, New Jersey
Sunday, June 2, 1996
The tour wasn't expecting tornadoes yesterday, and didn't get them, but they did get quite a bit more than Marty was expecting. They got on a storm early, about 3 o'clock in Moore County between Dumas and Stinett, followed it southeast and then south, across I-40. It died near Turkey, Texas, but in the meantime they got video of a really picturesque wall cloud early on, with the tourists in front of it. They stuck with that storm, even though there was a tornado warning on a storm north of them, which Marty didn't really buy, because it was north of the outflow boundary and also because they would have to drive into an area with really bad roads. So they stayed with the storm they were on, and it did produce tornado warnings. They were right there, right on the scene, undernearth the updraft, and would have seen a tornado if there was one, but there wasn't. They had a hail of a good time, though, with big hail. Big ice bombs! They could see them falling from the sky and splattering on the roads. And they got some great hailstorm video when they purposely drove under the hail just for the experience. The stones were slushy...loud but not damaging. The biggest ones they saw were golf balls. Tennis balls and baseballs were reported just about 3 miles east of them on I-40, near Conway, a little east of Amarillo. They followed the storm on down, and it went over Palo Duro Canyon, west of them, with perfect backlighting. It tried to become an LP supercell, had a nice cinnamon swirl base, and it tried to become a flying saucer but couldn't quite make it. There were no winds up there, not enough to make real supercells, but definitely big time instability and big hail. What a way to start a tour! It was this groups first day, and Jim's first chase. A good chase for sure!
Monday, June 3, 1996
Marty and the crew drove all the way down to Roswell, New Mexico on Monday to look at high-based clouds that never developed into a storm. No tornadoes, but they saw some pretty wild open spaces, and smelled the desert after a rain. They visited the UFO Museum in Roswell, then headed back to Portales, N.M. for the night.
Tuesday, June 4, 1996
The Whirlwind gang had a really good day on Tuesday! They saw an LP supercell with 3 little needle funnel clouds in Hooker in the northeast Texas Panhandle. Later on, near Miami, Texas, around sunset, they saw a huge field of mammatus in the southern sky, in various stages of sunlit splendor. Also looking west, the sky and land were incredible fluorescent colors--very scenic and green country, a mesa, a farm house, and that gloriously colored sky. Marty took a whole roll of slides and shot a lot of video, which he thinks may be his best mammatus photography ever. Beautiful stuff! Prize winning stuff! Everyone is really happy about the day.
Wednesday, June 5, 1996
The crew is spending the night in Newton, Kansas, busted. They could see a big storm between Topeka and Kansas City, barely visible in the haze. That was exactly what Marty feared would happen, and they almost stayed in Amarillo for that reason. But in the 15 day convective outlook, the SPC(Storm Prediction Center) changed the severe area from eastern Kansas to central and eastern Kansas, so they went for it. And they did have a tornado watch earlier, but it was cancelled further south. It was left it in up north.. Looks like it was all capped where the tour was. They got a call from Bobby Prentice at about 4 o'clock. He was in Beloit, southwest of Concordia, Kansas. He might have blasted east on Interstate 70 and got the storm, but that would have taken him into terrible chase country. Once again, tornadoes may go up after dark. Marty has seen it many times. They will just have to see what happens tomorrow with the front as it moves into Oklahoma.
Thursday, June 6, 1996
Marty and the gang hit yet another dissappointing tornado watch that did not produce tornadoes. It has been the way of the season this year. There were in Wichita Falls tonight. They stayed ahead of the front all the way down. They never saw anything really interesting. The best event of the day was a spectacular shelf cloud that they saw first thing in the morning as it was moving into Newton, Kansas at 7:45AM. They talked to Jim Leonard and he said there was a chaser party planned for Saturday, and in Norman. They will probably go. It doesn't look like there will be any weather for about 12 years, Marty says, but who can tell, maybe next week!
Friday, June 7, 1996
They visited the Texas longhorns and buffalo in the open range on the Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge, northwest of Lawton, Oklahoma today. They also drove up to the top of Mount Scott, which is adjacent. They had a spectacular view, it was a beautiful day, with clear visisbiltiy, the kind of day you'd like to be on a mountaintop. Of course, we all know that beautiful weather sucks, but when we have it, we go sightseeing. Tomorrow evening is the storm chaser party at Vince Miller's house. They will be there, enjoying and contributing.
Saturday, June 8, 1996
Today was laundry day, and the chaser party at our friend Vince Miller's home. Vince, formerly with the Weather Channel, was the Meteorological Consultant for the movie Twister. Ordinarly, Marty warns his "tourists" that they won't attend any chaser parties unless there is absolutely NO chance of bad weather(which of course, is actually GOOD weather). In 1992, he was videotaping a tornado while the party was going on in Dallas! But since there WAS no chance, they did go, and the crew got to meet some of the big names in chasing that they had always heard about. They spent a very pleasant time outside on the patio, barbecuing hamburgers. Then moved inside for three hours of video. Most of the video was from the two storms that eveyone were on: Benkelman-Atwood on May 22th, and Rolla-Kansas, out by Elkhart on May 31st. Gene Rhoden had some really nice scenes, including towers, with his new camera. Real professional quality pictures--building cumulus, lightning, and a couple of decent tornadoes. Can't see ground contact on either one, but they were good. In attendance were Jim Leonard, Chuck Robertson,Bobby Prentice, Gene Rhoden, Charles Edwards of Cloud Nine Tours, the Whirlwind Tour group, Bob Moore from Phoenix, Matt Crowther and Betsy Abrams from the Weather Channel. There were rumors of slim possibilities in the high plains of northeast New Mexico on Monday. So the gang will sightsee on Sunday, visit the bombing site and whatever else they have time for, and maybe drift west, getting set for any possibilities on Monday. Thanks Vince, you throw a nice party!
Sunday, June 9, 1996
The down time continues. However, this group is a particularly enjoyable one, and get along well. They visited the bombing site in Oklahoma City, then to Kirkpatrick Center, the Omniplex Science Museum and Planetarium. They took some video there. They made a little music video, karaoke style. Then Christine was videotaped when she got in and was strapped into the gyro "thing" that spins every which when you give it a push. The museum has a little weather station, so Jim was videod "reporting the weather". They took pictures in front of a backdrop painting of the anatomy of a supercell and tornado. Then they drove back to Amarillo, with a slight hope of something on Monday. Looks bleak, but they are hoping.
Monday, Jun 10, 1996
The crew is in Amarillo. They took the tour of the National Weather Service office and then went out and watched lightning from a briefly severe storm near Hereford, southwest of Amarillo, at and after dark. Probably more of the same tomorrow, more northwest flow, routine Panhandle thunderstorms and more lightning. Maybe they will get lucky on Wednesday in eastern Colorado--some Colorado upslope magic. It is difficult to keep spirits up with the way this week is looking, but this group had the proper attitude, and they can appreciate the smaller entertainments--so they are plugging on.
Tuesday, Jun 11, 1996
They are still waiting for the storms to return. Tuesday was a travel day to Limon, Colorado, where they will wait for the cold front. The rest of the week should be stormy.
Wednesday, June 12, 1996
The Whirlwind gang went from Limon, Colorado to Guymon, in the Oklahoma Panhandle. Yes, that rhymes. They had stopped by the Goodland Weather Service office and looked at the data. The Storm Prediction Center indicated the possiblility of supercells in the Panhandle. Even though the wind shear was favorable, the winds at all levels are very weak, and so the likelihood wasn't very good. Yes, the day was a bust. There was some lightning in the distance, but it seemed to disappear every time they stopped the car to get out the cameras! There is a possiblility of storms for the rest of the week, but it seems doubtful that there will be photogenic storms. But they will be playing the northwest flow and the upslope stuff that goes up on the the Rockies or nearby in the high terrain and then moves out into the plains. They will probably be playing that for the next three days, until the tour ends.
Thursday, June 13, 1996
Marty et al are in Springfield, Colorado tonight. No severe weather today, but they didn't expect any either. They finally got their lightning photography, though, day-time lightning photos, near Kim, Colorado. This was along Marty's favorite road in chase country, hwy 160(?). It runs between Springfield and Trinidad in Baca and Las Animas Counties in the Kiowa(?) National Grasslands. It is beautiful, wide open country, high plains, with a few mesas. When it is clear, you can see the Rockies in the distance. They couldn't, of course, because there were storms in the way. But that allowed them to get good lightning video and stills, with a herd of agitated cattle in the foreground, upset by the storms and/or their presence. Anyhow, that is about all you can expect under the ridge. Tomorrow there is supposed to be a better chance of stronger storms. Oh, the crew also broke in the official Whirlwind Tours frisbee! They tossed it around for about an hour near Boise City, Oklahoma as they watched the cumulus gathering.
Friday, June 14, 1996
It was time to trek on back down to Amarillo towards the end of the tour. There were a few nice photo ops, with lightning and real pretty sunlit CBs in the dazzlingly dark blue eastern Colorado sky. There was a little bit of last minute storm photography, although it was not a chase day. This ends a very frustrating year, chase wise. This last group traveled 4200 miles(near the record for his tours), compared to about 3100 miles each for tour 1 and tour 2. A lot of driving, and not a lot to show for it. The big day was the very first day of the tour, and the supercell dropping big hail on I 40 was nice too.
Saturday, June 15, 1996
Mother Nature humbled all of the stormchasers this year, the year of Twister, the year of the stormchaser. As for the Whirlwind Tours "tourists," they certainly did get the "stormchase experience." Unfortunately, it was the frustrating version, with a very poor year, but that goes with the territory. Marty himself drove 11,000 miles during the tours, and the groups saw a total of 9 supercells, and although they saw a lot, there were no really photogenic tornadoes. They had no mechanical problems until the last evening, when they left the restaurant to find a flat tire! The tourists all arrived home safely. When Marty arrived home in Norman, he was greeted by a severe thunderstorm warning, an interesting welcome home. Marty intends to go chasing later this week with Jim Leonard. Who knows, the best chase day of year may be just ahead!
The journal that we kept for the first WhirlWind Tour of the year is now on a page of its own.
The journal that we kept for the second WhirlWind Tour of the year is now on a page of its own.
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