The Testing Blog

As of July 1st, TWISTEX has concluded their 2010 deployments and the team is currently settling down to evaluate the many hours of research they gathered.Tim and crew have been from Texas all the way up to Minnesota gathering data to help better understand the science of tornado activity. Using several in-situ deployment instruments to gather data from the core of the supercells and tornadoes, TWISTEX captured the first-ever wind speed data at two different heights. With so much data to evaluate, it’s inevitable more will be revealed. They are eager to discover the impact their research will have in the final analysis.In addition to their great contribution to the science of meteorology, Samaras and crew lent a helping hand to those in need in the wake of tornado activity in Wadena, MN on June 17th. After one vehicle was temporarily sidelined with a flat tire in South Dakota, part of the group arrived in Wadena just in time to witness numerous tornadoes, including a wedge tornado that caused significant damage to this small town. The team regrouped in time to see another rain-wrapped tornado move over the town of Wadena from the southwest, while a smaller one was observed going through the south part. Having arrived minutes after the tornado swept through and left citizens stunned, the TWISTEX crew jumped into action and helped out those injured while surveying the massive damage left behind. Wadena ended up with extensive damage in the main path that included thrown vehicles, destroyed houses, and the loss of the local high school building. As stated by Samaras, spending time searching for victims puts into perspective on why TWISTEX is so driven to understand these powerful storms.

11 weeks, 28,000 miles, and hours upon hours of footage later, the TWISTEX team is now home. Aside from the flat tire, there were no mechanical breakdowns, safety or traffic incidents within the 5-6 vehicle convoy the entire operation. We look forward to seeing the final results of their hard work in upcoming episodes of Storm Chasers on the Discovery Channel.

youtube video clip of Storm Chasers Series from Discovery Channel

Intercepted two supercells from Torrington, Wyoming to Scottsbluff, Nebraska.  The western most cell seemed to be the one most likely to produce a tornado.  Intercepted the supercell when it was north of Scottsbluff, and when it was tornado warned (actually produced a brief tornado).  We stayed north in hopes of getting into the path of the 70+ dBZ core for in-situ hail measurements.  Did encounter some large hail (maximum size was 1.5″).  Returned to Denver for the evening

 Forecast:

Zonal flow continues over the high plains where some modest upslope remains (although the surface winds are more southeasterly by 0z).

Moisture improves significantly by early afternoon with 60+ dewpoints against the Colorado/Wyoming front range with RUC forcast CAPE of 3,000 J/Kg by late afternoon.  Thunderstorms should initiate by ~22z in the higher terrain, and (hopefully) move off into western Nebraska panhandle by 0-1z.

Are Tornado Chasers Getting Too Close?

As this video from KUSA channel 9 in Colorado shows Tim Samaras and his team of researchers came within 50 yards of a tornado on June 1st. Watch the video and read the whole article to see Tim’s perspective of close encounters.

KUSA – At only 23 years old, Andy Gabrielson has seen more adventure than perhaps most people will see in a lifetime. He has been a professional storm chaser for eight years.Sometimes it’s a matter of going out for every event and hoping you get lucky,” he said when asked how he knows where to go to spot a storm.

Gabrielson got incredibly close to a tornado in Baca County Monday afternoon. The video he shot has been shown across the country, including on NBC’s The Today Show, on which he did a live interview on Tuesday morning.

The Luverne, Minnesota resident estimates he was 50 yards from the twister. He has drawn criticism from those who say he was too close.

“It was right there. I didn’t get any closer because that’s where I felt comfortable,” he said, adding he always has an escape route. “If I had to, I had plenty of options to get away.”

Gabrielson does not chase storms full time. He is an online student at Colorado Technical University, majoring in business. He takes the spring and summers off to chase storms and he spends time at his family’s farm helping during harvest time.

Gabrielson often spends hours following storms.

“It’s almost like I stalk the tornado,” he said.

He said he watched Monday’s storm for an hour before seeing rotation.

“Finally, an hour later, after all the shenanigans, we got a nice tornado,” he said.

He adds it was the slowest moving storm he has ever seen.

“The storm was moving very slowly, about 5 to 10 miles per hour. It didn’t really change its course. The tornado, while it was on the ground, it stayed pretty consistent,” he said.

Gabrielson is an independent contractor for the website www.severestudios.com. The company coordinates payment from networks and production companies who buy the video from Gabrielson. Flat rates, which are often charged to networks, can range from $400 to $1,000 for a segment of video. After storm season is over, Gabrielson says production companies looking to do detailed storm stories or documentaries purchase his video for as much as $50 per second.

“I’m out there doing what I love to do,” he said. “It’s cool that people are noticing it and they think it’s cool too. It makes me feel good.”

Gabrielson says he normally chases storms alone. On Tuesday in Baca County, he was accompanied by a friend and an employee of The Weather Channel. At last check Tuesday afternoon, Gabrielson was chasing a storm near the Nebraska/Kansas state lines.

Storm chasing veteran and Colorado resident Tim Samaras said, “There is a definite rather disturbing trend that chasers are getting pretty darn close, uncomfortably close.”

Samaras was also close to Monday’s storm. You can see Samaras’ white pickup in Gabrielson’s video.

Samaras says the distance from a storm or tornado is a judgment call that comes with experience.

“For some, there’s really no technical reason for them to be that close other than to get that extreme video,” Samaras said.

Samaras says he gets close to tornados to collect meaningful scientific data, and to provide the National Weather Service with updates.

Samaras thinks people who treat storm chasing as an extreme sport are risking their lives.

“I think the first chaser death due to a tornado is actually going to be wind-driven debris through the windshield killing a chaser because he just got too close, and had to get the extreme video,” Samaras said.

May 22:

Huge success for TWISTEX on this day. Deployed the new instrument in the path of the developing wedge tornado that crossed to the north of Bowdle, South Dakota. Tornado then developed into a strong/violent tornado causing incredible damage to high-voltage line towers about 2 miles north of Bowdle. Several farm houses were heavily damaged. One tower was ripped off its footings and tossed over 300 meters. Watched 3+ tornadoes on this day. Helped National Weather service in Aberdeen, South Dakota with a damage survey, and based collectively on our findings–helped to get the big Bowdle tornado rated an EF4.

 May 24:

TWISTEX crew witnessed as many as 9 tornadoes near Bison, SD and just across the border in North Dakota.  Team attempted a couple of deployments as well with the smaller in-situ probes.  Congrats to the entire

TWISTEX An historic day for the TWISTEX group! We deployed our new large instrument in the path of a tornado yesterday in northern South Dakota with only seconds to spare. Numerous tornadoes observed/sampled including a huge wedge tornado that ripped across the prairie. High-tension power lines crumbled right in front of us—a career chase for everyone involved. Congrats to all involved. Tim Samaras May 23, 2010.

Stay tuned as we follow NTS Colorado Operations Manager Tim Samaras and Team TWISTEX.

Tornadoes, Lightning in Rare VideoTornadoes, Lightning in Rare Video

Tim Samaras is the Operations Manager for the Colorado Division of NTS. Tim has been working on research in instrumentation development and severe storm research including instrumentation package deployment on Project TWISTEX (Tactical Weather Instrumented Sampling in Tornado/Thunderstorm Experiment.)

Tim Samaras spends May and June in a van outfitted with GPS, radios, scanners, monitors, a wireless Internet connection, and satellite tracking instruments. His harrowing task: to spot tornadoes, try to put himself in their path, and then deploy newly designed probes that measure meteorological conditions in the vortex of the beasts. Then he promptly gets out of the way. “The tools I come up with have to take nearly impossible measurements.”

As families scramble to avoid deadly tornadoes, Tim Samaras races straight toward them. He careens across the United States’ notorious Tornado Alley on a mission: Predict the exact coordinates of an unborn tornado, arrive before it does, and place a weather-measurement probe directly in the twister’s violent, swirling path.

“Data from the probes helps us understand tornado dynamics and how they form. With that piece of the puzzle we can make more precise forecasts and ultimately give people earlier warnings,” Samaras explained. Since current warnings average a slim 13 minutes, every extra second of warning can be a lifesaver for residents facing a twister’s wrath.

We will be following Tim on his adventures this summer as the Discovery Channels tapes his outings for the upcoming Storm Chasers episodes due to be aired Fall 2010.

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