Angry Planet

JOURNAL - MAY

May 31 - Norman, Oklahoma

My stint guiding for Cloud 9 Tours is now complete and I am switching from "tour mode" to "TV mode".

The next two weeks will be spent filming a new episode of my TV series Angry Planet. This show is all about hail so the goal is to find the biggest, baddest hailstorms we can and see how big these hail stones can get.

The crew for this trip consists of myself, fellow Canadian storm chaser Mark Robinson, cameraman Peter Rowe, U.S. storm chaser Jack Kertzie and Australian adventurer Nik Halik

Yesterday was a shake down day where we finished getting all the equipment prepared and the vehicles ready for the chase. Luckily, the overall weather pattern for the next couple of weeks looks far more favorable for severe weather than the last month has been. That would not be difficult since the month of May has been one of the slowest in history for tornadoes and other severe events.

Let the chase begin!!...Again.

May 28 - Fort Stockton, Texas

Another round of storms in the same general area kept us in Fort Stockton another day. We were treated to a very nice storm near Marathon, Texas that had a very mean looking hail core on radar. Since the storm was moving so slowly, we were able to pace it for quite a while before we moved into place to let the strongest part overtake us.

The hail was plentiful but not huge and I took the opportunity to step out of the van and gather a few samples. The hailstones hurt when they hit but it wasn't too bad and I've grown quite used to it by now.

After it passed, we treated to a very nice rainbow display amongst the gorgeous scenery in that area.

This was likely the final chase day four tour two since we'll have to start heading back to home base in Oklahoma in the morning.

May 27 - Fort Stockton, Texas

After a long drive west, we intercepted a severe storm south of Marathon, Texas which had plenty of hail and rain but there were very few roads that we could use to keep up with it. Because we ended up so close to Mexico, we even had to stop at a immigration checkpoint where all the foreign chase guests (and myself) had to have their I.D. checked.

The best part of the chase today was the beautiful sunset and the vast landscape.

May 26 - Fort Worth, Texas

We typically avoid storm chasing in urban areas due to visibility problems and snarled traffic but today a supercell storm formed west of the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex and moved into the urban center. We maneuvered through the traffic and found a great vantage point in a residential neighborhood.

A severe thunderstorm warning was issued as the storm approached and we kept pace with it as it continued east. There were several reports of large hail.

May 25 - Childress, Texas

Weak storm in the Texas Panhandle - What looked like it might have been a good storm going up in Texas ended up shrivelling up and dying as we watched it. The environmental parameters were just not strong enough to support organized storms.

May 24 - Guymon, Oklahoma

Today was a travel and sightseeing day as we moved south from Kansas to the Oklahoma Panhandle in anticipation of some potential storms on Monday.

Along the way we stopped in at the picturesque Monument Rocks near Oakley, Kansas and then moved on to Greensburg which was mostly leveled during the EF-5 tornado that made a direct hit on the town in 2007. A lot of rebuilding has happened in the past 2 years but it is still very evident that the town still has a long way to go.

May 23 - Colby, Kansas

Meager storms were chased today, mostly a small line of storms in southern Nebraska which briefly got strong enough to warrant a severe thunderstorm warning. During the chase, we came across numerous vehicles from the VORTEX 2 project who were taking measurements on the same storm.

After dark, we attempted to catch some lightning that was illuminating a roll cloud and we met with mixed results.

May 22 - Hays, Kansas

My birthday has arrived and unlike the past two years, there will be no tornado. In fact, the pattern is so bad that many chasers are considering this to be the worst chase season in decades!

Tour groups like ours are feeling the crunch. We have clients who want to see storms but there just aren't any to be had right now. The multi-million dollar Vortex 2 project is running around chasing rain showers and have yet to intercept even a decent supercell storm, let alone a tornado. This is bad.

Many storm chasers are rescheduling their trips out here, some are considering canceling altogether. At this point, we'll be going after any marginal setup but even the Storm Prediction Center's 4-8 day outlook shows "Potential too low".

2009 may go down in storm chaser history as the single worst, epic, horrible season of all time. The only good news for me is that I have the luxury of remaining out here until mid June, so there is time for the pattern to shift but it will take a mighty shift indeed to make up for May so far.

May 21 - Hays, Kansas

The morning was spent making repairs to the van in a motel parking lot in North Platte. After a couple of hours of hammering and drilling, we were able to get the van in shape to travel. The door now opens properly from the inside (the outside door handle is still smashed) and the headlight is secure and working.

The terrible storm pattern continues and with nothing to chase today, we headed south to Hays, Kansas and took in a movie. The forecast remains quiet for at least the next few days, perhaps longer.

The jet stream is way up in Canada and the moisture from the Gulf of Mexico has been shunted by the big low that has been drenching parts of Florida...Tough times for desperate storm chasers, including the huge Vortex 2 scientific research project that is currently out in full force for the next few weeks.

May 20 - North Platte, Nebraska

Today was an "Interesting" chase day. There was a marginal risk for severe weather in the Nebraska Panhandle and we were in position for it. We headed north from Sidney to Alliance and had some time to kill so we visited the local roadside attraction known as "Carhenge". It is a replica of the original Stonehenge, except for one important distinction... The whole thing is made completely of old cars.

The automobile art piece was actually a fun place to visit and I even took the liberty of climbing up on top of the structure (I have a habit of climbing monuments and attractions).

As we were finishing up at Carhenge, storms began to fire up and so we dashed off and got into chase mode. The main storm we targeted never really got its act together and the road network in that part of the state is terrible so we spent a lot of time driving great distances, just trying to catch up with the storm and find a good viewpoint. We did get to see some decent structure, some small hail and a few pretty rainbows but everything came to a screeching halt when the unexpected happened.

A deer darted out in front of the van... Collision was unavoidable.

Even though I leaned on the brakes, it only slightly lessened the impact when the big buck hit the front driver's side headlight. It then spun around in the air and impacted the fender and door. The deer died instantly and the van was in rough shape. The headlight and turn signals were dangling out of their sockets and the hood, fender and door were badly dented. I couldn't even open the door to get out, I had to climb out the window to inspect the damage. There were even two dent in the side where the hooves hit the side of the van.

The bottom line is that nobody in the van was harmed and it was still drivable after we taped it up a bit. This is the second year in a row where a deer has jumped out in front of me... With the same van!

May 19 - Sidney, Nebraska

There is some hope for storms in the Nebraska Panhandle region tomorrow so we've been driving all day to get from Amarillo to Sidney, Nebraska. In total, today we put down over 500 miles through 4 states and 2 time zones. It is a bit difficult, but that is what you have to do if you want a chance at seeing big storms, especially with such an unfavorable weather pattern like the one we have now.

As we pulled into Sidney, we were greeted by a thunderstorm that was pelting us with 60 mph gusts, picking up all kinds of dust, debris and tumbleweeds.Hopefully, this is just a prelude to more storm action tomorrow.

May 18 - Amarillo, Texas

Just a quick update since we don't have any storms to chase right now. We drove from Oklahoma into Texas where we stayed at the Big Texan and enjoyed a nice dinner. Tomorrow we will be heading north in the hopes of finding some storms in the high plains.

May 17 - Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

The weather pattern ahead is looking rather grim for storm chasing, with a large ridge of high pressure dominating the central U.S. Because of this, there is little chance for severe weather over the next few days. Today we saw the sights in Oklahoma City.

May 16 - Wakita, Oklahoma

On the way back to home base of Norman, Oklahoma, some of us wanted to drop in on the little town of Wakita, in north central Oklahoma. Quite a bit of the movie "Twister" was filmed here and they have a small museum dedicated to the film shoot that took over the town. When we arrived, we were pleasantly surprised to find out that numerous members of VORTEX 2 also had the same idea. VORTEX 2 is the world's largest tornado research project and it is currently underway for 6 weeks. The project includes numerous radar trucks, instrumented probes, and aircraft. The goal is to gather data to better understand the origin of rotation in tornadoes.

It was funny to see the "Dorothy" probe from the movie sitting beside the real thing which is intended to be placed in the path of oncoming tornadoes.

After hanging out with the VORTEX crew for a while, we continued back to Norman to greet the tour 2 guests. Today is the overlap day between tour one and tour 2 so we ended up having about 40 people come out to dinner simultaneously. In the morning, we drop off the tour 2 people at the airport and the y head while tour 2 is just beginning their adventure. For now, the weather pattern is not looking great, with a ridge of high pressure to contend with. I suspect that the next few days will be spent sightseeing since storms will not be in the forecast for a while.

May 15 - Ottawa, Kansas

Tornado Watch - Our best chance for tornadoes today was to try and get on any early forming supercell storms that could form out ahead of an approaching cold front. We began the day in Topeka and storms fired up early. We blasted north, not expecting much, especially since it was still before noon. We were treated to a rather potent storm cell with hail and tremendous amounts of rain. We stayed in the core of it for a while, then decided that we should move south in order to get into position for the expected afternoon storms that had much better tornado potential.

Right on cue, a line of storms began to form ahead of the surging cold front. Ahead of this line, there were a few storms that able to pop up, so we targeted the farthest south of the bunch. This "Tail End Charlie" storm had the best potential to be severe since it didn't have any competing storms to the south. We zig-zagged all afternoon and did manage to observe several wall clouds that exhibited rotation but none of this rotation was strong enough to produce a tornado.

Eventually, all the storms congealed into a massive squall line that overtook us. At this point, the chase was basically over for the day.

May 14 - Topeka, Kansas

Not much to report today since it was just a travel day to get from Illinois to Kansas in order to get into position for another round of storms on Friday.

May 13 - Canton, Missouri

It's getting late so I'll just make a quick note here...
 
Tornado Warning - With a moderate risk issued by the Storm Prediction Center and good chances of tornadoes, it was inevitable that we would end up chasing today. The problem was that only one storm in our target area was producing tornadoes and it was far enough away that we had to scramble to get to it in time. There were numerous reports of tornadoes coming from this storm as it past just north of Kirksville, Missouri. We were already on an intercept course but by the time we got to the storm, it had already wrapped up and turned into a huge, high-precipitation beast that was too dangerous to get too close to.
 
We did get up as close to the circulating portion of the storm as we could but there was just no way that we were going to be able to see anything in there, especially since it was starting to get dark.
 
After the chase, we wound up crossing the Mississippi back into Illinois where we stopped to eat in Jacksonville where we encountered intense lightning and hurricane-like winds.

May 12 - St. Louis, Missouri

It's funny how plans change. 2 days ago we were planning on chasing in western Kansas but the setup looked too marginal there and it would put us out of position for the potential severe weather outbreak further east on Wednesday so we turned around and headed up Interstate 44 from Oklahoma into Missouri.

I am expecting a widespread severe weather event tomorrow across large portions of Missouri and Illinois with damaging winds and the potential for tornadoes. Even though we are now much farther east than our typical "Tornado Alley" territory, we are highly motivated to try our best to get the worst weather possible.

A large portion of today was spent in St. Louis where we visited the famous arch that sits on the bank of the mighty Mississippi River. It is quite impressive at over 600 feet high and plated with stainless steel. We even rode up in the pod-like elevators to the top to get a view of downtown St. Louis.

May 10 - Dallas, Texas

Today was low key. We started off in Hillsboro and relocated north into the Dallas area to take care of some of the more mundane tasks like laundry. Not very exciting, I know, but a necessary part of storm chasing.

In the evening we all proceed to dinner and then afterwards, some of us went out location scouting to see if we could find a nice vantage point to shoot pictures of the Dallas skyline. While circling around, I spotted an excellent spot out of the corner of my eye, a highway overpass that was close due to construction. It gave us a great view of the downtown buildings at night and was a nice end to a mostly uneventful day.

We stayed there for quite a while, experimenting with different exposures and photo ideas. I didn't really expect to find such a great vantage point but we lucked out.

The next severe weather day looks like it will be in the northwestern Oklahoma/southwestern Kansas region on Tuesday. For the time being we will be positioning ourselves to chase

May 09 - Hillsboro, Texas

Bustola! I knew that the storm chances today were marginal at best but we figured we should at least get south of the cold front and wait to see if any storms would form. Well none did and we were not too surprised. Most of the day was spent waiting at a truck stop, snacking and playing poker.

 
Ah, the glamorous life of a storm chaser...

May 08 - Ardmore, Oklahoma

Tornado Watch - A large portion of today was spent waiting for storms to fire up in our target area in Ardmore, Oklahoma. We waited for hours at a Love's truck stop and waited... And waited. It seems like all the storms this past week have been popping up just before dark. I'd love the chance to get one of these supercell storms earlier in the day.

Anyway... Dave Patrick, a friend of mine joined us on the chase today but the storms were not fantastic despite the tornado watch being issued. A combination of late initiation, hills, trees, bad visibility and mediocre storms made it tough to get too excited about the atmosphere today.

Or maybe it's me. Perhaps after all these years, I'm getting jaded? I don't really have an answer to that question but at least we had a good, albeit non-photogenic lightning display tonight.
 
I need some better storms... And Soon!!

May 07 - Independence, Kansas

Today was a blue sky bust...

 

There was potential for storms in southeastern Kansas and we hurried to get into position from Denton, Texas but a capping inversion kept a lid on any thunderstorm development in our target area. We were treated to a nice sunset so it wasn't a total loss. We are expecting better potential for severe storms tomorrow.

May 06 - Dallas, Texas

Since the closest storms today were off in the deep south of Louisiana and areas east of there, we had nothing to chase today. The next few days are looking very interesting and I expect several chase days to come.

We left Stephenville and headed into Dallas where we totally overwhelmed the poor staff at one of the local camera shops. Imagine 20 storm chasers all descending on the store all at once... They made a few dollars off us today. We then headed to the historic spot where President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963. There are several X marks on the street that represent where JFK's limo was when the shots were fired from the Texas Schoolbook Depository. We even stood at the "grassy knoll" area where the alleged second gunman was supposed to have been.

A few of the guys had some fun jumping over a nearby water fountain, trying to keep dry (unsuccessfully I might add).
 
From there we went to the scene of the Dallas Cowboy's training facility that had the roof blown off last Saturday by a sudden downburst of wind from a severe thunderstorm.

After a great cajun food meal, we are now settled for the night in Denton, Texas, getting ready for a chase tomorrow in Oklahoma.

May 05 - Breckenridge, Texas

Tornado Watch - Today's forecast was a tricky one. We knew that there was going to be the potential for storms in north central Texas, so we targeted an area just north of Abilene and sure enough, one lone supercell formed and tracked right through our target area.

It formed late in the day so therefore we didn't have that much opportunity to chase it before it got dark but it had an excellent look on radar with a persisant hook echo. The whole storm was right turning which typically enhances any tornado potential and it looked like it was close to producing a tornado several times during its lifespan.
 
Despite the storms excellent structure and rotation it never did put down a tornado but it was a HUGE hail producer. There were reports of hail stones up to the size of grapefruits!! On stray baseball sized stone hit John's vehicle right in the windshield and now it has several concentric rings around the impact area. Too bad has wasn't rolling video when it hit.

 

All in all, today's chase was excellent. We were on the only storm in the target area and were in excellent position the entire time. Luckily, we were able to find a place to stay without driving too far. We somehow were able to find 16 available rooms at the Best Western in Stephenville.

May 04 - Palo Duro Canyon, Texas

Today we visited one of the most beautiful spots in the Texas Panhandle, Palo Duro Canyon. It is like a smaller version of the Grand Canyon in the middle of the Great Plains.

It is common to have several high water crossings, especially at the bottom of the canyon and these are always fun to drive through so I couldn't resist...
 
 
Tonight we are spending the night in the town of Childress and I have high hopes for organized severe thunderstorms tomorrow. The forecast looks good and we are already in a good position so all we have to do now is wait and see what Mother Nature cooks up for us. I don't expect to have to drive too far in the morning so we can probably take it easy and get a late start.

This will be the first official chase day of tour one and my first chase day of the 2009 season.

May 03 - Amarillo, Texas

With no storms to chase yet, we have some time on our hands to take it easy and enjoy some of the local flavors so we drove from Norman, Oklahoma to Amarillo, Texas where we enjoyed dinner at one of our favorite places to stop in Tornado Alley: The Big Texan Steak Ranch restaurant.
 
This place is known for it's tacky western decor, strolling country & western musicians and its huge slabs of beef. Everything IS bigger in Texas!!

 

This time, tour guest Ray Skinner from the U.K. decided to take on the big steak challenge. He had to try and eat a huge 72 oz steak dinner with baked potato and shrimp, and he only had one hour to complete his task.
 
Ray pulled off a valiant 43 ounces and filled himself up as best he could. Congratulations Ray. Maybe next time you'll finish the whole thing. I know I couldn't do it. I tried a few years ago and only finished 41 ounces.

May 02 - Norman, Oklahoma

Delays, delays... Ah, the irony of it all. As it turns out, several clusters of potent thunderstorms rolled through the Dallas area which caused air traffic chaos and ended up delaying a large number our arriving guests. The entire day was spent driving to the airport... Waiting...Waiting more, then driving back. Repeat this several more times and you get the idea.
 
...And we're still missing one! Still more delays stranded one of our guests in Chicago and he won't be here until the morning.
 
There looks to be a good chance of severe weather on Sunday, but it is too far east in the hills and jungles of Louisiana so we are NOT going to blast out and try to intercept it. It would not be worth the effort to drive all that way for nothing but some wind and rain. Instead we'll take it easy for the first couple of days and patiently wait for the weather pattern to swing back around.

May 01 - Norman, Oklahoma

Well I made it. Let the chase begin!!
 
Okay, well not quite yet. Everything is all set, the vehicles have been prepared, the computers are ready and starting tomorrow morning, the tour 1 guests start to arrive. The day will be spent picking everyone up from the airport and then once the entire gang is assembled, we'll have an orientation and safety briefing, getting everyone up to speed on what the daily routine will be like and how to keep from getting killed out there in the field.
 
The town of Norman feels like my home away from home. It is my home base every year when I'm down here storm chasing and since I spend so much time here, I guess it kind of is a second home for me. Of course, I spend so much time travelling all the time that wherever I lay my hat seems to be my home.