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.

JoshCast #22 - Take, Take, Take

Take a peek at my CD collection and you'll notice Jack White -- in his many forms -- makes quite a few appearances. And one more will arrive on May 11 when The Dead Weather's new album hits shelves.

It's funny, I picked up a Raconteurs album a couple of years ago. That wasn't enough.

Got a few White Stripes albums. That wasn't enough.

Picked up the first Raconteurs album, then the first Dead Weather album. Still not enough.

Yes, my appreciation for Jack White's prolific and unusual nature is not unlike the theme in the White Stripes' "Take, Take, Take" from Get Behind Me Satan, where an obsessive fan just can't get enough from a celebrity encounter:

Nikon D40 Training Camp

In preparation for my upcoming storm chasing adventure in -- count 'em -- 10 days, I figured it's probably about time I started learning how to use my recently acquired Nikon D40. And by "learn", I don't mean poring through instruction manuals. I mean taking it straight out of the bubble wrap, venturing to Turtle Creek in Dallas on a gorgeous Saturday, pushing all the buttons, spinning all the dials, and otherwise probably breaking this modern marvel of photographic technology...

Perhaps I embellish. I did have my amateur photographer buddy with me to make sure I didn't accidentally toss it into Turtle Creek.

I still have miles to go, but I at least learned how to use the camera in "Auto" mode. Baby steps. The top 4 results of Nikon D40 Training Camp:





Full album here.

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.

Realism vs Pessimism

A philosopher I know back home in northeast Texas, who lives amongst the trees at the end of a dirt road 5 miles from the nearest grain of asphalt or slab of concrete, imparted to me (through my dad) a nugget of wisdom which I often ponder but which I almost certainly will butcher:

If you keep your expectations lower than high, then (1) you won’t be disappointed when the best outcomes don’t happen and (2) you’ll be pleasantly surprised when they do.

I struggle with this idea sometimes. I like to consider myself a positive person for the most part, so it’s my tendency to expect good things to happen given the right effort. That's what being an optimist is all about, right? Well, there are times when negative outcomes, due to circumstances out of your control (or often times within your control), happen.

Letdown follows. Because you were expecting something better to happen. That sucks. But follow the above principle, and experiencing that fall off the emotional cliff may be less likely.

Careful application of this adage results in stability and even-headedness, and I would argue that it leads to a pretty healthy way to approach life. Contrary to my natural tendency, it’s actually not pessimistic to predict the worst and “brace yourself”. It’s being REALISTIC.

Notice I said “careful application”. It’s a delicate balance, and I think this approach can be taken too far. If you prepare for the worst to happen ALL the time, that’s approaching cynicism: a quality which neither I nor Conan O’Brien cherishes. Maybe if you rush to prepare for the worst case scenario, you subconsciously will steer the outcome towards the negative (even if not the worst case). This isn’t being realistic; it’s being PESSIMISTIC. And once the stink of pessimism invades your mind, it’s awfully tough to shake it off.

But back to being realistic for a moment. One cool corollary is that you can be realistic while remaining OPTIMISTIC on the whole. True, life doesn’t work the way it’s supposed to all the time. However, when it does happen to work out the way you think it’s supposed to, you appreciate it all the more, simply because you have the presence of mind to realize that something not-so-great COULD have happened, but didn’t. Maybe that positive realization reinforces a positive outlook on life.

Ramblings.