~~~ UPON REQUEST ... A TRUE ACCOUNT OF STORM CHASING ~~~
Wind...Fire...Rain...All that sort of thing....
(JULY, 1993 SOUTHWEST KANSAS – LATE EVENING)
I was outside looking up at the skies; tall Cumulonimbus clouds were building over-head. We were under a severe thunderstorm watch, and tornado watch, which basically meant that conditions were ripe for severe development over the next several hours.
It was hot outside, in the 90's, humid, and breezy, the thick stench of cow's blood from the slaughterhouses filled one's nostrils. Leaves on the trees upturned as sharp updrafts of air deflect off the surface. Thunder, heard off in the distance, increasing in intensity each time. I was out there studying meteorology in college, currently working as a storm chaser and weather observationist. I wasn't working that day, which gave me the liberty to go chase. I quickly ran inside and turned on the weather, studying the radar, for hook echoes and the like. Things weren't too impressive, but the watches were still out, and warnings to stay inside, or go under ground should the need arrive.
I gathered my camera equipment, (35MM w/1600 spd loaded) weather related gear and communication devices and decided to load up my car. On my way outside, I saw the infamous CB-Mammotus...A cloud similar to a thunderhead, but with breast-like marks bulging south (The clouds tornado's are spawned from.) The sky was turning a sulphuric yellow & green in color, I had little time to prepare...
I gave my upstairs neighbors the key to my apartment, (I lived downstairs.) So they would be safe, just in case. As I was doing so, the tornado sirens started bellowing. (A warning that signifies a tornado is on the ground in your county.) I yelled to my neighbors to get their kid and stay at my apartment, they yelled back, but I couldn't hear them. The wind had picked up, and gusting 40-50mph. I ran to my car, adrenaline flowing through every vein in my body. I tore out of the parking lot and onto the highway.
As a condition of my job, I had to stay in my county if I want to get paid for spotting a twister. It was never about the money, it was about the chase and saving lives. Listening to NOAA weather radio in my car, I heard that a Tornado was on the ground in the county directly to my West, and was moving due East. I arrived at a gas station / convenience store out in the outskirts of town, at the side of the highway, (as far West as I could go.) It was almost dark; wind was gusting, now near 60mph or so. I noticed a few cops were inside, instructing people to go for shelter. Of course I neglected to heed their advice, I mean...where's the fun it that?
I brought my camera, and set up my tripod in the middle of the highway. It was taking me a bit longer to set up due to the inclement weather, a car pulls up to me, it's some man & woman, they yell at me, but I can't hear them. There was some hail on their windshield. I just waved them on, showing my credentials as a storm chaser and that they shouldn't worry that I was out there. Then I heard the words...
"GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!!!!!"
And they sped off. I looked west, in the direction they were coming from. I saw a wall of dust/dirt, barreling towards me.
I just said "Awe Fuck!" Grabbed my shit, and hauled ass to my car. (CRASH!!!) "What the hell was that?!?!" I thought to myself. Then another... (CRASH!!!)...& another...(CRASH!!!) Softball size hail starting dropping all around me. It was like vases being smashed on the street. I got inside just before this wall of debris, slammed into my car. Hail pummeled the world around me, I kept my head down, but I felt my car move...Rocking, pushing, shaking, screeching....then the car started tipping backwards, I was a little scared, (CRASH!!!) My windshield just shattered. I saw blood, but I didn't know where I was cut. I had no idea what was going on, then it slowed up, and started to rain. I looked up...out where the windshield once was, but could only see the sky. I turned the door handle and it swung open. My car had been pushed into a ditch. It was dented, and vertical, but everything was ok.
I got out of my car, I had a cut on my head, maybe on one of my arms. It was still very windy, and it was pouring. I walked over to the store...it had been abandoned. Everyone was gone, the owner, the cops, I was there alone.
O.K.........
I check the weather radio, the sirens still ringing around town. They keep mentioning a tornado, headed my way, I start to doubt that what hit me was the twister. Once again, I walk out to the highway. I left my equipment by the car, it was raining much too hard. Everything would have been damaged. It probably already was...
The lights were all out it was pitch black. I peered into the darkness, lightning lit up the sky from all sides, the thunder was constant, melting patches of ice, under my feet. It was considerably colder. The temperature must have dropped 30 - 40 degrees, easy.
I concentrated on looking west. Finally, when the lightning lit up the horizon, I saw it, like a moment frozen in time. It was curved, almost like a question mark. I could see chunks of debris, possible rooftops, branches etc...circulating in it's path. The clouds, rotated around the funnel, like parts of a well-oiled machine. I could hear it...loud, like a freight train, and my ears popped. I was mesmerized by it's power; it's beauty.
Only seconds passed, when I was suddenly picked up and thrown about 20 feet by a violent gust of wind. I landed on the highway, my side & chest hurting, my car wasn't a safe haven, I ran/hobbled towards the store, a 3 foot brick structure, with 8 foot glass windows. I lay down next to it on my stomach, with my fingers interlaced behind my neck. I was whipped ferociously by winds, rain & debris, glass shattered all around me, cutting my exposed areas. I just prayed...My heart beating a mile a minute, and then it was over...
Slowly, I stood up, holding my side, the store still standing, but rearranged. I just stood there about an hour, before heading home.
It was actually a miracle (if you believe in them....) The tornado, an f2/f3, with wind gusts upwards of 140 mph, actually got sucked back up (hopping over my location) and touched down again behind me leveling several stores and homes.
I walked away with just several cuts from glass, bruises, splinters and 2 cracked ribs. It was absolutely incredible & I can not wait to going through it again!
