Nugget Property
8 years ago
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
May 10, 2010 Chase (Braman, OK)
We flew into Oklahoma City on May 9, 2010. Once we got to the hotel we discovered we had a major hardware technology problem. The tool we use to see where the tornado is in relation to our vehicle was just not working. This is a problem for obvious reasons, but even more because the SPC had just upgraded the convective outlook for the next day to a "High Risk." The next day was going to be big and we had no eyes to see the storms. The next morning, we got up early and patched the problem. We actually downloaded some software that would help us stay safe. It wasn't as good as the other technology...but we could at least see.
We started our chase north toward the Kansas border. We had just passed over the border when we decided to head back south. There are not always a lot of great places to turn around on the interstate, so we drove a little farther than we wanted to. We got back on the chase and started driving through some pretty heavy rain. Suddenly, the rain stopped and we noticed golf ball with some baseball sized hail on the side of the road. Then small debris fell from the sky. When we looked up, we saw the circulation. It was well over head. As we drove further down the road, we saw what we had just missed. 
A tornado had just overturned several 18 wheelers. Some occupants were just climbing out of the cab. We had luckily missed the tornado by seconds. There were power poles down, trees sheared off, traffic signs bent over and some completely destroyed. We turned around to chase the cell. The problem with this set up was the storms were moving at 70 mph. These storms were just too difficult and unsafe to chase. We did our best to keep up, but all we found was more minor damage the storm had inflicted on other towns down the line. We chased the storms until dark. Our day ended in Joplin Mo. The next day we drove back to Oklahoma City for our plane ride home.
A tornado had just overturned several 18 wheelers. Some occupants were just climbing out of the cab. We had luckily missed the tornado by seconds. There were power poles down, trees sheared off, traffic signs bent over and some completely destroyed. We turned around to chase the cell. The problem with this set up was the storms were moving at 70 mph. These storms were just too difficult and unsafe to chase. We did our best to keep up, but all we found was more minor damage the storm had inflicted on other towns down the line. We chased the storms until dark. Our day ended in Joplin Mo. The next day we drove back to Oklahoma City for our plane ride home.
The storms on the 10th, ended up firing from Dallas, TX all the way north to Wichita, KS. inflicting the most damage near Norman, OK. Unfortunately there were 5 deaths in Oklahoma on this day. A lot of chasers were caught off guard with the speed of the storms. Some said, they didn't even know what hit them. I think for the future, if storms are ever predicted at these speeds, it might be better to set up lawn chairs somewhere, and just watch the storms go by. It's always important to remember the power of Mother Nature.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
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