In this short preview, Reed talks about his passion for the most dangerous weather on the planet!
ExtremeTornadoTours.com guides 4 tour guest to several strong tornadoes, with 2 being simultaneously on the ground north of Dodge City Kansas on April 18, 2009!
Storm chasers David Drummond of DrylineMedia.com and Ben Holcomb outran this large tornado in the Texas Panhandle on April 29th. The tornado crossed the road 200 yards behind them! Follow along with David, Ben and the rest of the TVN crew on TornadoVideos.net for live storm chasing video!
Video trailer for the NEW 2009 Tornado Extravaganza DVD! Available in the TVN Store!
Incredible time lapse of the life of the Aurora, Nebraska supercell and tornadoes!
Video from a brief tornado that occurred inside Great Bend, Kansas on June 20, 2009.
Footage of the June 15, 2009 Elbert County, CO tornado from Verne Carlson! Verne streamed these tornadoes LIVE right here at TornadoVideos.net!
Randy Denzer chasing through central Texas on June 11th, 2009.
Meet Gizmo! The ultimate canine storm chasing machine. Gizmo is the new addition to the storm chasing team, and will be trained to point out the first signs of tornadoes - from a safe distance of course! She is a Yorkshire Terrier, because we were looking for a dog of sufficiently small size so that she doesn't take up too much room in the Dominator! This dog is going to be the most spoiled pet in the history of mankind. Check out Gizmo in action in the video below...we'll continue to provide video updates throughout her life on the blog and through video blog updates on our I-phone app!
Another early-season snowstorm is pounding Colorado! Accumulations of 6-12" have been reported from Boulder, Evergreen and portions of Weld County. Heavy snow can also be expected today in northern New Mexico and western Kansas. Verne Carlson is streaming the event from Golden, CO, so be sure to check the Live page for the latest.
Also, tonight is Storm Chasers, episode 5! Don't forget to tune in at 10 PM eastern on Discovery Channel!
Ida has been downgraded to a tropical storm, with maximum sustained winds coming it at ~ 70 MPH. At this time it appears that Ida will weaken gradually throughout the day, with landfall occurring tomorrow morning, probably very close to Mobile, AL. The greatest threat from Ida will likely be heavy rainfall, with 5+ inches possiblein areas of eastern Alabama, Georgia and the Florida panhandle. A notable surge of 3-5' is also anticipated, which could threaten property along the immediate coastline. As with any landfalling tropical system, tornadoes will also be possible. Dennis Sherrod will be streaming from Alabama, with other TVN live streamers possibly on the scene as well, so be sure to follow along on the Live page.
Tonight's episode of Storm Chasers features the May 13 chase day, which was the day of the devastating Kirksville, MO tornado. A number of chasers had dangerously close calls with this very strong, rain-wrapped tornado. TVN was able to collect unprecedented data to go along with some incredible video, and Tim Samaras and Twistex had an amazing chase as well. Tune in to Discovery at 10:00 PM Eastern to see what unfolded; feel free to comment!
As anticipated, Hurricane Ida intensified last night with several bursts of convection near the center, which has drifted northwest toward the northeast Yucatan and the island of Cozumel. A few days ago, it looked like Ida would pass well east of the Yucatan, but if I knew this track would verify then we probably should have deployed to Cozumel. The minimum central pressure is now at 984 mb with maximum sustained winds of 80 knots, and the NHC believes the intensification has plateaued. While Ida will likely remain a hurricane through about 48 hours, very rapid weakening and transition to extratropical storm appears likely as the storm nears the Central Gulf Coast and a strong mid-latitude trough moves in from the Southern Rockies. A majoritiy of the modes are actually showing a recurve of Ida just as it nears the Florida Panhandle, so the center may never make landfall! Nevertheless, we may have some live streaming teams down in the area, so stay tuned to the live page throughout this event.
Activities at the National Weather Center in Norman, OK kicked off a short time ago and will continue into the afternoon. Included on the schedule are a storm chaser car show, an amateur radio demonstration, and a variety of meteorological presentations. TVNwill be on hand as well - hope to see you there!
Unbeknownst to the average viewer, plenty of suspense-filled action and gripping drama unfolds during filming for Storm Chasers that is completely unrelated to tornadoes. To illustrate, early this season as a classic blocking patternwas dominating the southern Plains, a TVN vs. Scout show-down was held at a local go-kart track. Joel Taylor was TVN's driving force in the event, but he was no match for the mighty Danny Cheresnick. Ruthless behind the wheel, Danny's supreme skill and tenacity on the race track is unparallelled; though this cannot be substantiated, it is rumored that he actually taught Marco Andretti how to drive. Click here for a peek at what went on. (All body slams and aerial karate kicks have been edited out, in consideration for those viewers sensitive to blood.)
Later in the season, and not long after the Kirksville tornado event, TVN's courageous medic Bobo had a particularly lousy encounter with the local wildlife at a hotel in St. Joseph, Missouri. Although we understand that these things take time, everyone at TVN remains hopeful that Bobo will eventually fully recover from his bloodcurdling ordeal.
Find out more on Bobo's nightmarehere. Stand strong, Bobo!
Given that right now is spring in the Southern Hemisphere, we are currently in the midst of the Argentina-Brazil tornado season, which will continue through about February. As posted earlier, there have already been several tornado outbreaks down there already, and El Nino is only intensifying the South American tornado season. Our plan is to head down to Argentina in late December into January for a few weeks, and see if we can pull off some successful storm chases down there. We'll be uploading our videos to TVN immediately after the chases, and will even try to stream some live video...So stay tuned for updates! In the meantime, here are some new South American tornado videos I found this morning because of my need for some tornado action during the off-season. Notice how the clear-slot/RFD in these videos cuts into the meso from right to left before wrapping around the tornado cyclone in a clockwise direction. This could get confusing!
I hope everyone enjoyed the 3rd episode! Personally, I was curled up in the fetal position in agony during most of it, but don't worry, the next episode is when the real action starts and will be non-stop tornado intercept insanity from here on out. It was difficult to watch the Joel situation unfold...One thing that was not shown is that he continually backed out of 5-6 chases before the one shown in this episode, and if we executed on his schedule, we only would have seen a few tornadoes last season. He has several priorities that are higher than storm chasing, and I can't continually devote all my energy to convincing him to chase the "marginal" setups, especially when those are when we've seen some of our best tornadoes in the past. Over the last several years, I've had to go on many solo storm chases as far north as the Canadian Border because I couldn't convince him to chase, and it's very difficult to pull the all-night drives solo with a chase the next day. That's one of the main reasons Chris moved down from Michigan, so I could have a dependable chase partner with equivalent passion for seeing tornadoes and executing our scientific goals. Of course, Joel and I are still really good friends, and hopefully he'll be back behind the wheel of the Dominator next season..
Next episode shows the Kirksville, MO tornado, and it will feature some TVN footage from inside the tornado that has not yet been released! So be sure to tune in. This was our first intercept with the radar on top of the vehicle, and we had it pointed horizontally to calibrate. We then returned it to Radiance Technologies to fine-tune, and had two intercepts on June 15 and 17 with it pointed in the vertical. Once those episodes air, I'll share some of the vertical wind results we collected in those tornadoes.
Discovery also just released a new behind-the-scenes clip showing camera operator/producer Chris Whiteneck in the field! He has been in the back of the Dominator for the last two seasons, and is definitely one of the best camera operators in the world - working for Dirty Jobs and Deadliest Catch before Storm Chasers. To watch this clip, click on the link below and select the "Mobile Storm Chasing Office" video...
You may recognize the Jack-O-lantern at left from last year's Storm Chasers season finale, or from the T-shirt on sale in theTVN store!This is brought to you by Nicole Giuliano from team TwisterData! Below are a few photos from Halloween in Michigan. Reed goes all-out for Halloween, with his bravery always on display in his choice of costume. As a side note, he also reports that several trick-or-treaters were brought to tears by the likeness of Jason Voorhees (or Friday the 13th infamy) situated by the front door. Jason is pictured at far-fight with Reed, his sister Cortney and mom Susan, in the photo below, left. We hope you had a happy Halloween!
Also,while you're waiting for tonight's high-impact episode of Storm Chasers, check out these videos showcasing the brilliant cameramen who spent this season with TVN -- Chris Whiteneck, aka CDubs, and Robert Seaman, aka Tornado Ninja. Click here to see the videos! Feel free to comment!
Tornadic supercells are exploding from east Texas into central Arkansas, in association with the dynamic system impacting the central U.S. Tornadoes have been reported in Camden, AR as well as within the Shreveport, LA city limits. Radar presentation suggests that the tornado that went through Shreveport may have been strong to violent, with a massive hook evident on reflectivity and very strong velocity signatures.
Tornado watches currently extend from eastern Oklahoma southeast to the Gulf Coast of Texas; this is a developing situation, and those in the watch areas should definitely monitor weather conditions closely, as the presence of strong shear over the watch areas raises the likelihood for any tornadoes that do form to be strong.
Also, on the western side of this system, heavy snow continues to pound the high plains into the Rockies! Check out these photos sent to us by Boulder, CO residents Kurt and Carrie Mulder! They received around 18" of snow, but mentioned that the snow compressed/compacted somewhat overnight.
A powerful late fall season storm system is plowing across the Central U.S. at this time with not only winter storm conditions across the Central Plains to the northwest of the surface low, but also dangerous severe weather this afternoon and overnight in the warm sector. An incredible low level jet resides over eastern Oklahoma and Texas east to Arkansas and Louisiana, with 70 knot 850 mb flow common to the east of the cold front currently surging across central Texas. CAPE values are in the 2000-3000 J/kg, which is huge for this time of year and the relatively low sun angle, and in combination with the intense low-level jet, 0-1 km EHI values are exceeding 7-8, especially over East Texas into Louisiana where clearing has occurred this afternoon. As of around 1:30 pm CDT, tornado warnings have already been issued for two supercells in northern Louisiana exhibiting very strong low-level rotation. I'm thinking this will be a long night for people to the east of the cold front, especially over East Texas, southern Arkansas, and Louisiana, with several tornado reports likely by morning. If I wasn't being dominated by the Swine Flu here in Michigan, I would definitely be chasing this event. For the rest of you who aren't chasing, be sure to check out the Live Weather page by clicking the "Live" tab above!
The season's first major snowfall is occurring from the Dakotas to Utah and New Mexico, with heavy snow projected to last through tomorrow! Accumulation of more than 18" can be expected over most of the warned areas, with much higher amounts to be expected at higher elevations. This system will also bring very strong winds, meaning that drifting will likely pose a significant problem, especially in the wide-open expanses of eastern Wyoming and Colorado and western Nebraska. Verne Carlson is currently streaming the storm from the Denver area, and reports that they have already picked up 6" at his location! Check out the conditions in his area by clicking theLive tab!
Reed and Chris are back in their home state of Michigan for the next several days, and while they're in the Grand Rapids area they'll be visiting some of the local elementary schools to talk tornadoes! The photo at left came from Ada Elementary this afternoon!
It looks like a severe weather event may be shaping up for the southern plains into the Great Lakes region later this week; we'll be monitoring development, and be sure to check out Holdercast to see what Dave has to say as well!
The Dominator is cruising along the southern shoreline of Lake Erie right now, heading for Michigan to begin the next overhaul for the 2010 chase season. Above are a few photos Reed and Chris snapped this morning in western New York. The fall colors are past-peak, but still make for a nice drive! They're also streaming their trip to Michigan, so be sure to click the Live tab to follow along and chat!
Also, Episode 2 of Storm Chasers airs tonight at 10:00 eastern on Discovery! Click here to view the trailer!Tune in to watch TVN take on the Texas Panhandle and eastern New Mexico!
The video above highlights TVN's chase from April 29th, a day when multiple tornadoes were observed in the Panhandle, while the one below recaps David Drummond and Ben Holcomb's incredible experience from the same day, as they outran a large tornado that eventually crossed the road behind them! David and Ben streamed these tornadoes LIVE as well!
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