Chase Account from March 28th Near Hedley, and McLean Tx

Ok, suffice it to say by now everyone knows this was an exceptional chase day. Last I heard there were 67 tornadoes logged from Texas through Nebraska. Sadly there were at least a couple of fatalities in Oklahoma. I had kind of been boycotting this chase for awhile because it was March and I thought I was going to have to drive to Nebraska. At the time I wasn’t really up for such a long chase. I created forecasts several times as the week wore on, but pretty well ignored all other sources of info. The night before the event I was seriously thinking the area near Childress might be good along the dryline so perhaps I should consider it, but I was way tired. By the time I got up and did a forecast it was apparent that something worthwhile was going to happen, and if I didn’t go I would be sorry. I quickly went through all the data even though it was late morning, and chose an area between Childress and Lubbock as the target. I planned and thought I could get out by 12pm and still make that area, but surprisingly didn’t get out until 1pm!! Arghhh! LOL! Perhaps I do this subconsciously to challenge myself more? I don’t know. it's not like I need more challenging I don’t think.

Anyway the road up went quickly and without difficulties. I got some updates over the phone from David Douglas and it was great to keep in touch with someone interested in the evolution of the chase. Thanks David for all your input. Basically I just shot to my target area hoping initiation would hold off until I got there. Originally I was thinking it wouldn’t go until nearly dark, but there was a chance it might go a bit sooner like 4pm CDT or 21Z. Turns out the 21Z was correct I went as quickly as reasonably possible. I forget where it all started now (it’s been a week). I recall there was a north storm that was tornado warned moving to the north east and then a storm that I could possibly reach began forming to it’s south. I was headed for the south storm anyway because I figured it may cut off some of the good air / inflow to the north storm. Plus the anvil I believe was almost raining on the inflow area or the north storm. I shot through Aspermont taking 83 north. North of Paducah I took this crazy, hilly, winding road Ranch 1440! I’ve been on this road during other chases it it’s just insane with all the turns, zigs, and zags but as far as I could tell it was still the best intercept route. I shot up toward Turkey, Tx, but eventually all the water, etc I had drunk was wearing on me and I had to pull over. I put the Tahoe on the side of the road in what turned out to be mud. Arrghhh! I did my business and tried to get the vehicle to go, but it was stuck and tires spinning. Fortunately it is 4wd so I literally prayed and tried to get it to switch over. I never use the 4wd hardly ever so I think it’s all rusted and gummed up. Well, I finally get it to kick into 4wheel low and I come right out! Now this whole time a tornado warning is in progress with reports of tornado on the ground. I’m freaking out because I’m SO close and stuck in the mud! Ok, well I get out but then I can’t get it out of 4 wheel low gear! I just start pushing buttons, 4WH, 4WL, 2WD, park, neutral. Finally the vehicle is moving and I throw it in reverse by accident. This promptly kills the engine. Yes, I was in a panic!!! I think I get out of the vehicle and pray some more - not sure, but I am jumping up and down cursing and banging things. Finally I climb back in start the engine. I push 2WD numerous times while stopped and moving. Finally it goes back to 2 wheel drive. I had visions of driving 10’s or hundreds of miles in 4 wheel low! I would have done it too, but at a crawl I probably wouldn’t have caught much and would have probably destroyed by transmission or 4 wheel drive.

Finally, with that debacle behind me, I race away in 2WD and somewhere near Turkey, (before or after) I come around a turn and begin seeing the tornado! David Douglas is on the phone the whole time as I am screaming and freaking out. Pay Dirt! This road still has many zigs and zags in store for me as I activate the dash cam. Unfortunately my dash cam has a fixed swivel that can only be adjusted by loosening the mount itself which makes thing get out of position. I’m holding the phone as I zig and I zag and with another hand I’m loosening, moving and tightening the mount on the dashcam as the tornado position swings from one side of the road to another. I don’t have a clue what this looks like in review yet, but I plan on checking it soon. I believe I caught much of the pandemonium on tape, but not sure how much of the tornado stayed in the viewscreen and for how long. If there’s anything interesting I’ll probably post the video for fun. So anyway this continued for some time as I videotaped and shot off some pictures with the digital camera.

From Turkey I headed on up to hwy 256 near Brice where I began witnessing an immense amount of chaser convergence for March on a weekday, and not in Oklahoma. I don’t know where all the people came - very interesting. Anyway it looked like practically every chaser and their brother’s dog, along with lots of locals, spotters, and cops were out. I came upon what looked to be a bit of a traffic jam or road block near Brice, but after I stopped to pull off and shoot pictures and moved a bit closer it was clearing. It did look like a bit of a circus, but I was mostly focused on the storm. The tornado which had been ongoing and initially resembled a ‘dead man walking’ from my perspective, morphing a few times had finally culminated in a long, long lived rope out stage. By the time I was at Brice there was an RFD clear slot to the north, but most of the stronger tornadic part of the storm was making it’s way to the northeast. This didn’t stop the majority of chasers who decided to stay in this location and videotape / shoot pictures. Many chasers elected to take the road north through Brice, but I was pretty sure this would put me behind future development. I raced east behind a long line of other chasers toward Memphis.

Finally reaching Memphis and watching Street Atlas I realized all the cars were going to turn left at hwy 287. I hadn’t seen enough tornadoes yet so I elected to beat them to it; however I didn’t want to try and pass that many cars. I noticed many of the roads in town forking to the left also hit 287 so right before everyone hit the turn I took a short cut through the edge of town. I shot out right as friend and chaser Gene Moore was passing in front of me. LOL! Surprise, surprise! Gene was pointing at me - ha ha! It’s weird how you can just run into someone in the middle of practically nowhere without even being in contact with them, or even knowing if they are out. I stayed with Gene for awhile north toward Hedley, but anxious for the storms I moved on ahead. I elected not to initially turn at Hedley because I wanted to see the development of what was then occurring up close so I went straight. However I quickly ran into a road block. I believe a semi had been overturned or something. There were many large trucks blocking my continued path with cops signaling and it would have been chase over had I stayed there. Instead I made a U turn and shot back to Hedley and across the railroad tracks as quickly as possible where I chose hwy 203 to hwy 273 and north toward McLean.

Here on 273 it was even worse convergence it seemed than earlier. Many of the chasers I had been ahead of had got back in front. Conditions were wet and twilight was upon us as our area to the northwest was tornadic and mostly rain wrapped. It is hard to say what all was going on up there, but likely there was a wrapped up tornado in progress. Having been in these situations in the past I knew to just keep trying to get on the leading edge of new development, and Threatnet was showing many shear markers over 100mph I recall. Many chasers pulled off and watched what was left as darkness fell, but I continued north. It began taking on an eerie feel to it with occasional quick flashes and bolts of lightning, lots of stronger gusty wind blowing, minor flooding, rain (sometimes atomized), and of course chasers with their blinding light bars making it hard to see what was ahead. For awhile most of the chasers stopped as I continued on into the darkness. At that point there were only a few cars left ahead of me that I could see. Threatnet was showing numerous shear markers, and the gps was showing I was inside them. I believe I was inside the one reading 138mph. There were some funnels and then finally a larger more bulbous lowering appeared just to the left of the road and it kept getting bigger and lower. It finally touched down and made a nice tornado in the dark as I took  a picture of it. Later it became anchored more and turned into a stove pipe as it neared McLean as I recall. There may have even been a couple of tornadoes in progress at the same time. It was hard to tell. I eventually became a little worried about the RFD from the west coming in, etc and decided to back off a bit and give it room. From here the storm moved off and I ended my very exciting chase.

Tornado Extreme Storm Chase