Tornado! (Part Zero)

At the beginning of Field of Dreams, Ray Kinsella recounts his life up to age 36. Pretty ordinary, in the scheme of things: grew up playing baseball, got mad and stopped speaking to his dad, moved to California, then got married and had a kid.

I haven’t done any of those things, and I’ve got a dozen years until I will share his age. But then Ray sums his life’s story, “Until I heard ‘the voice’, I’d never done a crazy thing in my whole life.” Then, the fantastical movie kicks into motion: Ray hears a voice that tells him to build a baseball field, baseballers from the twenties show up for some reason, everyone has a few laughs, yada yada yada.

Now you’ll probably be relieved to hear that, unlike Ray, I don’t hear voices. But about six months ago, out of nowhere, I was overcome with the feeling that, like Ray, I hadn’t done a crazy thing in my whole life, and that needed to change very soon.

Cue the crazy YouTube video that will demonstrate (sort of) what I’ll be doing in two-and-a-half weeks:



OK, so I won't actually be intercepting a tornado (on purpose), but I am going storm chasing. Essentially, I follow behind these guys (yes, these very guys in the above video) in an SUV a "safe distance" back -- but not so safe that I didn't have to sign a waiver confirming that I might die. Close enough to see a tornado from a few hundred feet, far enough to not get tossed into the air like a cow in Twister.

I head to Oklahoma City on May 5. Then, we pile in an SUV and go wherever the action is for six days. Could be eastern New Mexico, could be northwest Wisconsin...who knows? Back to OKC May 12, hopefully with a renewed passion for the science and an SD card full of ridiculous pictures.

Ever since I was little, I've had this passion for meteorology. Tornadoes, hurricanes, you name it. I was fascinated by their well-defined structure, massive size, and complex inner-workings. Had I listened to my less practical side, I very well could have ended up studying/working in the field (although it's still not too late). But alas, I ended up a computer science major, thus forcing my hobby to remain just that: a hobby.

But now that I'm going on this trip, I can call it more than just a hobby. It's a bad-ass hobby.

I just hope something interesting happens in the heartland sometime between May 6 and 11. Some evidence suggests that this may not happen. From TornadoVideos.net (the organization affiliated with my upcoming quest): "This time of the year, there is often great anticipation associated with the massive troughs crashing the Plains nearly every week, but there are usually one or two critical elements that are not quite adequate for a large-scale event to transpire. ... The big hurdle during these potential events will usually be warmer temperatures aloft, which can lead to convective inhibition despite the plentiful moisture and high instability."

Lots of meteorological jargon that I hope to better understand a month from today. Even if I don't see a tornado from up-close, at the least this will be a REALLY educational venture. And if I do see a tornado, so much the better. Or even just an awesome cloud formation...anything related to supercell activity, like this:


I did recently buy a netbook AND a refurbed Nikon D40 to document the journey. Posts will be upcoming. As John Hodgman would say, you're welcome.