Safely Chasing Tornadoes?
Chasing and safety seem to be contradictory goals. When the National Weather Service tells us to seek immediate shelter, “chasers” are looking to get closer. And if lightning bolts start hitting the ground, we’re attaching our special lightning triggers so our cameras can photograph the bolts.
But staying reasonably safe is necessary on every chase. During orientation, the co-owners of the chase company go over the rules.
They explain how they will not drive through the pouring rain of storm cores. Rain-wrapped, invisible tornadoes may lurk there, along with large damaging hail.
Also, there are one or more escape routes. Since supercells and tornadoes usually move northeast, we’re most often south of the storm with several “outs.”
In addition, they won’t drive on dirt roads. Rain quickly transforms them into slippery mud, potentially stranding you in a ditch.
And sometimes you aren’t allowed to cross the road to take pictures. A sudden uninterrupted stream of traffic moving away from the storm may trap you on the wrong side of the road for precious minutes.
Finally, we remain six miles or more away from lightning. And anytime you feel rain, we quickly head into the van because raindrops mean lightning risk.
“Get in the van…”
It’s important to know how fast you need to get back in the van. Sometimes it’s a routine location change. Other times, the situation has become dangerous, and we need to move quickly.
The three variations of “Get in the van…” provide that vital information. The first variation is a simple “Get in the van.” It means it’s time to calmly pack up your gear and to return to the van for a move to the next location.
The second variation is “Get in the van now!” This instruction means the situation is becoming dangerous. It’s time to grab your gear and make a bee line for the van.
The third variation is “Get in the f***ing van!!!” It means we’re in danger and need to leave NOW.
I’ve only heard variation #3 a few times. The first time was in 2016 when I saw my first tornado near Perryman, Texas. It was exhilarating. The twister dropped closer than anticipated. As we watched it move away, it just kept getting bigger and more impressive.
Suddenly, I heard “Get in the f***ing van!!!” and we sped away. Inquiring into the reason for variation #3, we were told the tornado was getting bigger because it decided to reverse course towards us. Oops…
The Shot
On May 28th, we were chasing a storm with an impressive shelf cloud near Hugoton, Kansas. We stopped where a piece of farm equipment would provide some context and scale to the scene. The brown cloud above the ground in the middle of the image is a small haboob, an intense sand-and-dust storm blown by the outflow winds of the approaching storm.
After about three minutes, we heard “Get in the van now!” Safely back in the van and on the move again, we asked what was going on. The latest weather service reports and radar had us located two minutes away from 78 mph winds and golf ball sized hail.
It was a good call to leave when we did.
Thanks for looking,
Chuck Derus