My beginnings in weather

I thought it would be fun to recount the experience that got me into weather. This is my storm chasing blog, after all.

The 24 April 1993 Catoosa F4 was not a well documented tornado. The only video I know of that exists is from a dash cam of a Catoosa Police Officer who unknowingly nearly drove into it. Most of the details about the storm itself were either gathered from the National Weather Service office in Tulsa or from the aforementioned CPD dash cam video. The other details are based off my own memories, or that of my parents.

24 April 1993. It had started out as a nice enough day. It was 4 days shy of my 6th bday. We were in the process of moving to Tulsa, OK, where I would spend most of my childhood. Late that afternoon, we were driving west along US-412 (Formerly OK SH-33). My mom and brother were in Mom's Pontiac Bonneville, and my dad, grandpa, and I were behind in my dad's late 70s Chevy 1/2 ton with a fully loaded U-Haul trailer. Unbeknownst to us, a tornado formed in East Tulsa near 6th St S and 135th E Ave at 1750 CDT. We saw the storms building from a distance, as there is a considerable amount of flat land in southeastern Rogers County. We had no idea that it was tornadic, however, let alone having quickly developed into an F4. The most unusual thing I remember seeing was the strange color of lightning. I've only seen it that color once since then. It was a dark orange as opposed to the blueish or whiteish that I usually see.

Around 1800 CDT, Mom and my brother were traveling through what was the I-44/SH-66/US-412 interchange (I-44 now runs concurrent with US-412 for another mile east) when she was hit by the tornado. Their car was picked up and thrown. Meanwhile, Dad, Grandpa, and I were some distance to the east. I'm not sure exactly how far behind we were, but I would estimate around a 1/2 to 3/4 mile due to landmarks I remember seeing before we were shrouded in darkness. We drove into what appeared to be just an area of heavy rain, but was likely the wall cloud. Once inside, visibility went to nothing and we were pelted with debris. From what little information I have been able to glean since, I estimate we were southeast of the tornado and were encountering either the Rear Inflow Jet (what other chasers have named the "Ghost Train"), or the outermost edge of the circulation. The tornado was rain wrapped for most of its life, and during its entire time as a violent tornado.

At this point, we all realized we were in a bad spot, not knowing that Mom had just been in a much worse spot. I was 4 days shy of turning 6, so Dad and Grandpa (both from southeast Kansas) likely knew far more about what we were in than I did. I just knew that it wasn't good where we were. By this time we had stopped, as we couldn't see the road in front of us. Dad told me to duck underneath the dash while we rode out the storm. Before I ducked down, I remember seeing something large flashing past the headlights. To this day, I do not know what that was. The front end of our truck lifted off the ground.

It felt like an eternity, but was likely only a few minutes as the tornado dissipated at 1803 CDT. Once things cleared up, we continued west along US-412 and saw the devastation left by the tornado. We attempted to go north on SH-167 to check on the family farm, but came across downed power lines in the midst of the destruction and were forced to turn back. We merged back onto I-44 towards Tulsa, and saw along the way that Bruce's Truck Stop at I-44 and 161st E Ave had been destroyed. Upon our arrival at our new house, Mom filled us in on what happened with her. Her windshield was broken, but amazingly there was no other major damage to her car. Dad and Grandpa later went back and took another route, finding minor damage there. They made me stay home as they didn't know how safe it would be.

This experience struck a spark in me, and I immediately started learning everything I could about weather in general, and severe weather in particular. Over the next year, I had checked out every book I could find in the school library about weather (thank goodness for the Dewey Decimal System, or I would have had one hell of a time finding anything). We had cable at the house we moved to, and The Weather Channel was part of the cable package. Between that, all the books, and the local meteorologists (Travis Meyer of KTUL, now KOTV, and the late Jim Giles of KOTV), I learned how to track storms and I use that knowledge (along with a healthy gut instinct forged in that F4) when I'm out in the field. Even my family contributed to this, as they taught me how to read the wildlife and livestock to know when something was coming.

I'm now learning how to use computerized models such as the GFS and NAM to do my own forecasting, having relied previously on SPC outlooks, satellite imagery, and surface maps to plan my target area. Once out in the field though, I draw on what I learned starting over 20 years ago, combined with my proven intuition. I would love to meet Travis Meyer again (I met him a few times as a kid) and pick his brain on the forecasting side of things.

By the time Twister came out in 1996, I already had three years of tracking under my belt. My parents bought me a road atlas that I used to plot where I would want to be during outbreaks. To this day, I can draw a map of NE Oklahoma from memory from those days.

To think it all started in a matter of a few minutes on a warm spring day in '93. All it takes to start a fire is a spark, and the fire has been burning ever since.

It's almost that time

It's almost that time. Time to prepare for another storm season. Last year was quiet, which was ok considering I was strapped for cash, having moved back to my home state of Oklahoma and starting a new job. This is a new year though. New truck, new equipment, new outlook on life from my renewed faith. It almost seems (and feels) like a new me. And with that, I have a new blog. I'll continue to post from time to time on my personal blog, but that won't be relevant to my chasing. When I'm able to get out and chase, I'll post on here a brief synopsis of my chases, as well as any pictures or videos that I happen to get.

So here goes. Here's to a good season and I will spend the season of Lent praying specifically for the safety of all chasers during our chases.