Tornado! (Part One)

I’m not insane. I have my reasons for wanting to get within 100 yards of a tornado, as I explained earlier. Anyway, there’s no turning back now, as I’m now sitting in a motel in western Oklahoma City, awaiting the first chase day tomorrow.

A chronology of the events leading up to this night, on the precipice of my first-ever storm chase, follows:

1. The Yazoo City tragedy.

A couple of weekends ago, a tornado hit Yazoo City, Mississippi, demolishing homes and lives as far as the eye can see. But this was an unusual event, as the statistics show: 170 mph winds, 1.75-mile wide width at one point, and a damage path length of nearly 150 miles. And 10 people lost their lives, while others had their lives merely turned upside down and emptied like the morning trash. Staggering.

I’ve heard chasers talk about the emotional swing associated with their profession. You’re barreling down the highway with this gorgeous funnel descending from the sky, lightning dancing all around. The ultimate adrenaline rush. Then, you drive through the town the tornado just tore to shreds, and you realize what power they’re capable of. It’s really sobering.

But I guess it also provides extra motivation to keep the chases going, so we can better understand the nature of these beasts, ultimately leading to the prevention of such disasters.

Not to mention the floods in Tennessee last weekend.

But on a lighter note…

2. My suddenly paternal-like employer’s words of “reason”.

So I’m sitting in the office the other day, when my boss was made aware of my upcoming venture and the 6 days of vacation that came with it. (And when I say “made aware” I mean “reminded him again”. I swear, I reminded him more times than I have fingers.) His reaction was like most people I’ve told: somewhat surprised and not without the obligatory “You’re crazy!”, but all in all very positive. What was funny was yesterday afternoon, when he popped his head around the corner to give me the following words of advice:

“You're probably going to be the one with the most common sense out there, so please don't let them talk you into something that isn't safe. I mean, if you’re headed straight into a tornado, speak up."

Yes, daddy.

I think he’s missing the point. It’s because I left my common sense 180 miles behind back in Dallas that I’m even going on this trip. I’m not SUPPOSED to have common sense. In fact, I don’t even WANT to have common sense.

And even if I did listen to that voice, what would I do, demand to turn around and go home? I would imagine that chasing a tornado is like that moment when you're going up a roller coaster, and you sure as hell don't want to drop a thousand feet, but you're about to and you have no choice. You’re GOING to fall a thousand feet. Not being able to turn around is the THRILL of the ride.

I guess it is nice to know he values my life -- or at least my contributions as an employee.

3. First impression: this is going to be a LOOONG week.

In my amateurish attempts to analyze the weather patterns for the coming week this morning, I noticed the only day that the Storm Prediction Center at the National Weather Service even hints at severe weather activity is NEXT Monday. Complicated chart:


Bummer. And it didn’t exactly help that I saw not one cloud in the sky today. And I’ve been in two states. (If Oklahoma counts as a state. Boom!)

Now I’m thinking, what’re we gonna DO with all this time? Remember, I’m getting to OKC on a Wednesday, and the first chance of action isn’t until Monday? That’s four solid days of NOTHING. In OKLAHOMA. As you can imagine, this was a disappointing finding. I was dealing with this reality all day, all the way through the whole 35-minute flight from Dallas to OKC. (By the way, I wish I could fly everywhere in 35 minutes. That was pretty awesome.)

*gloomy sigh*

4. Next impression: this week is going to be TOTALLY NUTS.

I arrived at the Clarion Hotel a tad skeptical for our “meet and greet” at 6pm. My tune did a 180 quite quickly.

I met a couple of our guides and my fellow tourists, all very awesome people. First of all, I hear the plans for the week. The patterns have changed a little, and we’re now going to NORTHEAST KANSAS first thing tomorrow, because there’s a near-moderate risk of severe activity. This is news to me...

Second, all of these guys are a total blast. At the risk of saying this prematurely, I’m pretty sure there’s no way I’m going to be tired of everyone after seven days of chasing. One guy even has a Swiss accent, nicknamed "Klipsi", because he travels the world following solar eclipses! (More on him in a later post, I'm sure.)

The meet-and-greet was followed by a three-hour drink-Bud-Light-and-get-to-know-each-other session at a bar across the street conjoined to a very plain-looking La Quinta Inn. The perfect spot for such an occasion. All with the anticipation of a 5-and-a-half hour drive tomorrow towards Manhattan, Kansas, in search for the first supercell of the week.

And oh, the icing on the cake? That “slight” risk on next Monday predicted by the NWS I mentioned earlier? Yeah, everyone here is abuzz, because that is now apparently looking like the “BEST SETUP OF THE YEAR SO FAR”.

Sure, maybe they’re exaggerating. But does that really matter? Even if they are, these guys are giddy at the mere possibility of such an event next Monday, just like me.

And really, hanging out with those types of people is 90% of the reason why I did this.

More tomorrow from Kansas.