May 16, 2015
"There are some things you can only learn in a storm." - Joel Osteen
In moments of adverse weather, many of us run the other way and hide. However, there are a select few of us that run towards it. Maybe we are a little crazy, adrenaline junkies, or have a few screws loose, as some would suggest. No matter what the case is, we love it, it's a passion, an obsession, and it never goes away.
On May 15 of 2015, Beth and I loaded our digital cameras, camcorders, laptops, and other gadgets into the car and set out on our 15 our drive to Oklahoma. Traveling west on I-70, as those who have done it know, is not exactly the most exciting drive. Especially when it's dark and your chase partner sleeps for what seems like 10-11 of those hours you are driving (but was really only 1-2, but she had a good excuse since she had just flown back from Florida that day).
We started to get tired around 3am, but once the moderate risk came out (and we got some caffeine and snacks), we were re-energized for the rest of the trip. After traveling all night long, we finally arrived at our target city of Enid, Oklahoma around 8am.
The morning and early hours were less than eventful as we looked through forecast data and watched the grey skies move over us, with only a few peeks of sunshine. Finally, by mid-afternoon thunderstorms developed in the Texas Panhandle, and the chase was on, or so we thought.
Storms that initially developed were very weak and almost as quickly as they developed, would weaken. Leaving us with only one choice: head south where the atmosphere was more conducive for severe weather.
As we drove southeast through Oklahoma, storms quickly developed just south of the Oklahoma/Texas state line and moved northeast. It was clear we were on a crash course with the supercell storm of the day.
As we surged to the east and to the south of the large, almost mountainous storm, we could see this severe storm closing in on us. At about this time is when the storm became tornado warned with storm spotters and chasers reporting a large tornado on the ground.
Beth and I put the pedal to the metal and quickly raced south to get out of the path of the dangerous storm. After getting south of Tipton, we stopped and watched as the towering storm approached from the West. We watched the large, dark, and ominous storm move just to our north, rotating as it did.
Attempting to get closer, we could see a wall of hail about a mile from us. The blue-green sky ahead was nerve-wracking to us because we were in a rental car. We decided at this point not to drive closer so that we did not damage the car (like many of our friends that day did). We had also heard from other chasers that the tornado had been rain-wrapped almost immediately, and that the chance of seeing it was slim to none.
However, as the storm moved past us, Beth was snapping pictures every few seconds hoping to capture something. When reviewing pictures on the long car ride home, we realized we had indeed captured the tornado!
If you look just above ground in the middle of the picture, you can see the faint cone of the violent EF-2 tornado move across the field! Although we only ended up with one supercell to chase that day, it ended up paying off with many photogenic shots and our second tornado of the year!
It was then time to get some dinner and head back toward Indiana. We had a long and stormy drive ahead of us, as cloud-to-ground lightning repeatedly stuck close by, and the blinding rain kept us at a steady crawl in traffic on the interstate. We both agree that we will never go 40+ hours of drivng and chasing again without sleep!
Location: Tipton, Oklahoma
Service: Storm Chasing
Price: Can Be expensive!
Website: N/A