Jackpot.
Iowa is a crappy place to chase severe storms. On the plains, the roads are usually a north-south, east-west grid, and that makes it easier to get to where you need to be to view the storm--and possibly its tornado--in contrast to places like Iowa, where rolling hills, while pretty, necessitate that the roads wind and twist, and are thus difficult to navigate.
However, we knew that Caryn (our co-guide), Heidi (my wife), and I, were good-luck charms for Iowa. As far as Heidi and I, when we were out chasing with Roger (the other co-guide) and Caryn the previous time we were in Iowa, we saw twelve tornadoes (eight at night!).
Thus, good-luck charms aside, although we knew there was a significant threat for an outbreak, we also knew getting into position to see any of them would be difficult (if there was one at all). So while we witnessed three tornadoes yesterday (Wednesday, 6/28/17), if it wasn't for a clearing through a well-placed open gate, we wouldn't have gotten a good picture of any of them. As luck would have it, I got into position take this picture:
The tornado is the sliver of a tube on the right side of the cloud lowering (wall cloud). Note the clearing I was in. We were stuck on the road, unable to see anything, because of the hills and trees, when we noticed a field across the road through an open gate. We took advantage of it and saw this little guy. It was the second tornado that we encountered, and it was extremely short-lived.
Here's another picture showing its funnel cloud before touching down. It actually looks more impressive here, but, strictly speaking, it wasn't a tornado at that point.
We thought the entire lowering would drop and form a wedge (trapezoid shape) tornado, but it never did. Instead, we got this little guy. We'll take him.
The first tornado we saw lasted so short a time that I couldn't get a picture of it. Since it was largely invisible (a tornado isn't required to be visible), it wouldn't have made a good picture anyway.
The third tornado we encountered was the type of tornado I hoped I would see for my entire life--a white elephant-trunk. *Unfortunately* all I got was a fleeting glimpse of it as we drove by at the tail end of its existence, and I could barely make it out. So I don't consider that quest completed. From the pictures I've seen on the Internet (go looking for them, I don't have permission to use them), I know if we were in a better position (and had been there earlier), we would have seen what I've been looking for.
Well, there's always next time! I'll take a day with *any* tornadoes. This was my 31st day chasing with Roger, and while I've seen twenty tornadoes, I only saw them on five of those days. So while, on average, I see a tornado 65% of opportunities, I still only saw tornadoes only on 16% of days, or a one-in-six chance. Doing the math, this translates to a 65% chance of seeing a tornado on a six-day tour. Indeed, I am four-for-six.
And I've been very fortunate in that I haven't had a chance to sight-see due to no storms. HOWEVER, earlier in the afternoon, we did get a picture of a covered bridge in Madison county:
I won't compare this to the covered bridges in New England.
Here is the GPS track of this chase.
Today (Thursday, 6/29/17), there is also a significant tornado threat. We should be in the Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa and Missouri border area. Crossing my fingers! Tomorrow (6/30/17) has an enhanced threat for severe storms in the Ozarks. Yikes! Iowa is a downright cakewalk compared to the Ozarks! It'll be interesting to see our ultimate strategy for Friday. Saturday (7/1/17), the last day of the tour, will probably be spent chasing in eastern Colorado.
No comments:
Post a Comment