New Hampshire Wildflowers

Two weeks on my butt in cars and tornado chase vehicles; two weeks of roadside restaurant food grabbed at odd moments through the day; two weeks of short sleep; all combine to tell me I'm not a kid anymore. 8-)

I've been taking long "power walks," hoofing as fast as I can through local hilly woodland trails, to undo whatever physical damage may have occurred from the enforced sedentary fortnight of the tornado chase. I've been home a couple days now, and I'm finally starting to feel normal again--- well, what passes for normal around here, anyway.

I have most of the tornado trip photos pared down now, eliminating the egregious flaws (Look! A picture of my thumb!) and downsizing the good ones for web-viewability. Still trying to figure out the best way to present it all--- as stills with text, as a "photostory" of stills stitched into a continuous animation, or whatnot. There also are the Blogger limitations, which severely restrict photo size and placement. I'm learning as I go...

In the interim, please let me share a little local beauty with you from today's walk: Lady Slippers, trillium, bluets, blueberries... the woods here are full of wildflowers and their scents. Gorgeous stuff!



(as always, click for larger versions)

DOW--- Doppler on Wheels

(click for higher res)

Earlier (see post below), I told you about the TIV. It often operates in conjunction with the DOW, or Doppler on Wheels. The TIV provides "ground truth" and monitors the very base of a storm, while the DOW probes the storm structure from about 100' (30m) or so on upward. Together, they can provide a very complete storm profile.

Here's a very brief video of a walk-around of the DOW:

Higher-res video

Lower-res video

Pix (Stills)

More info here.

Encounter with the TIV (Tornado Intercept Vehicle)

(Click for higher-res)

The picture and video sorting and processing is coming along nicely. Today, I saw a blurb for an episode of the "Storm Chasers" TV show on tonight (May 29 2008)on the Science Channel. It's about the TIV, the Tornado Intercept Vehicle.

I got to see the TIV up close--- even to go inside it--- during my recent storm chase. In a moment, I'll link you to my photos and a short video I put together. But to provide context, here's the Science Channel's blurb on the subject:

========

The Great Plains encompass 700,000 square miles of flatland, which is why the region is also known as "Tornado Alley." Each spring, changing weather patterns create a recipe for catastrophe. Colliding air masses crash into each other with devastating force, producing deadly twisters that ravage human life and property.

Every year, a motley collection of scientists, enthusiasts and eccentrics brace themselves for another season of storm chasing. Their goal is to spot one of Mother Nature's deadliest and most violent creations: the tornado. But for our team, seeing a tornado is not enough ... The team hopes to achieve the impossible and actually go INSIDE one of these storms!

Research meteorologist Josh Wurman has teamed up with extreme filmmaker Sean Casey to form an amazing partnership. They both share the goal of intercepting a tornado, but for entirely different reasons. Josh needs an individual who can carry his scientific instruments into the vortex of a tornado, and Sean needs someone who can direct him into the correct position to capture incredible IMAX footage. Filming from the turret of his custom-built Tornado Intercept Vehicle (TIV), Sean puts his life on the line as he endeavors to get the most elusive tornado footage ever shot. He and his battle-hardened team will risk everything as they drive the 14,000-pound armored TIV straight into the heart of a deadly twister. As the leader of the team, Josh guides the TIV and the mobile scout vehicle toward "intercept" from his captain's chair in his mobile command post -- the Doppler On Wheels (DOW) truck. Josh must make critical split-second decisions from information he gathers from his Doppler radar as the safety of the entire team rests on his shoulders.

So strap yourself into that armchair and join the chase with the Storm Chasers' crew starting Thursday, May 29 at 8 p.m. ET/PT!

===========

OK, it's me again, one of the "motley collection of scientists, enthusiasts and eccentrics," I guess. Hmmmm. ;-)

Here are two versions of a short video I put together about my personal TIV encounter:

Click for video (Silverlight; higher-quality; recommended)

Click for video (standard Youtube; lower resolution)

Photo (stills) album:
Click for pix

Next up, photos of the DOW (doppler on wheels), and then, the actual chase footage!

in other news...

Nothing to do with tornadoes, but just had to share this. It looks like a special effect from a sci-fi movie, but it's real, and astonishing:

(click for hi-res)

"Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera acquired this image of Phoenix hanging from its parachute as it descended to the Martian surface. Shown here is a 10 kilometer (6 mile) diameter crater informally called "Heimdall," and an improved full-resolution image of the parachute and lander. Although it appears that Phoenix is descending into the crater, it is actually about 20 kilometers (about 12 miles) in front of the crater."

More:
http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/

"Holy sh*t"

I'll explain the title of this post in a moment, but I'm happy to report that I'm back home.

After the storm chase day, we arrived at the motel in Amarillo at 2AM. Checkout was 11 the next morning, and it seemed earlier than that when it arrived.

My sister and I drove the 1000 miles back to the Pensacola area mostly in a long push, driving until 2AM the next morning (partly to eat miles, and partly because we'd both forgotten it was Memorial Day weekend, and all the Gulf Coast area motels were packed). We stopped at or called maybe 8 diferent motels before we found an available, suitable room.

We got back to her home at 7PM Sunday and copied the 2.47 gigs of photos and videos we brought back to her home system. We then had a very pleasant evening in a first-ever reviewing of a few of the photos and videos over pizza and beer with some family members.

I was surprised at how hard the whole "almost eaten by a tornado" experience was to put into words.

I left West Florida the next morning at about 9, heading home. I made it to Maryland before I started to feel tired enough to matter, so I pulled into one of the Interstate's service plazas and slept in the car until I woke up, using no alarm. After about 3 hours; I woke as dawn was lightening a showery overcast.

I made it home at about 3PM today, including an interim stop to pick up my accumulated mail at the tiny local post office. The postal worker, a pleasant, gray-haired lady, had to make two armload trips to bring it all to me. Yikes!

But it's now 5pm. I'm sitting here on my sofa for the first time in 2 weeks. A laundry is churning away, cleaning my accumulated clothing. The mail's sorted, and I'll be spending a chunk of the evening wading through the "must open" mail. The house is quiet and clean. I have a cold beverage handy. I'm showered and feeling fresh. A warm breeze is blowing through my living room, the outdoor air fresh and clean from mild afternoon thunderstorms.

Feels good.

I do need to sleep sometime soon. In two weeks, I personally drove 5230 miles, and the actual storm chase tour covered 2569 more, for a total of 7799 miles (12600 km). I already have a long, aerobic walk planned for tomorrow.

I also have a ton of catching-up to do, but I'll have something posted here in a day or so, and I'll try to make it worth your while.

This video (BELOW) is from the chase I was on. It was shot by Steve Carey, the guy sitting in the seat directly in front of me in the SUV. It's real-time, shot live and unedited, just as it happened. This is almost exactly what I saw when we realized the tornado was headed for us, and the tour leader, on the CB, ordered our driver to escape: "Put it in 4-wheel drive and go for it."

It's an intense moment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GC7U-i5i5eM

Please remember that the tornado never got closer than probably a full 60-90 seconds away. (It's longer than it sounds: Go ahead--- count from 0 to 90 by seconds, and imagine how much ground you could cover in a large vehicle in that time.)

In short, this was an excellent adventure: Like committing to a sharp turn on a motorcycle, or sighting a large carnivorous fish while you're snorkeling, or camping deep in the wilds where humans aren't automatically at the top of the food chain; we got to experience something rare and amazing and, yes, dangerous; but the planning and execution prevented the potential harm from being realized. The illusion of control is a wonderful thing, isn't it? :-)

More to come!

in a word: wow!

Back in Amarillo with spotty email contact.

Amazing day yesterday. Tracked a storm from "inception," where a puffy cumulus breaks the atmospheric "cap" that normally limits growth; through the explosive growth phase to where it's forming a wall cloud (an incredibly short 30 minutes or so--- like watching a bomb going off); to a large, full-fledged F2 or F3 wedge tornado on the ground (another 30 minutes); to where it falls apart into an tornado-less, but still-violent thunderstorm (maybe another 30 minutes).

It's extremely rare to witness the full life cycle of a tornado. One of the people on the tour said he'd been trying 7 years to see somehing like that. A scientist on the tour said he'd been waiting all his life.

Most exciting moment: when the tornado shifted path and headed towards us. We had to drive the wrong way on an Interstate to gain a safe buffer. At closest approach, the tornado got with about 1/4 mile. It was chaotic, fascinating, and yes, fun. We could have filled the tank of one of the SUVs with the amount of adrenelin we were collectively pumping.

"Our" tornado was near Quinter, KS, and mostly just chewed up some cropland and fields. The overall tornado outbreak was enormous, and we saw, dodged or chased storms from 5AM Friday until we got back to Amarillo at 2AM Saturday (today). Local Kansas news reports: here and here.

I'll be on the road about 4 more days, mostly traveling, so email will remain spotty for a while. I have over 700 megs of photos, and will post the best when I have time to settle in and process it all.

Amazing!

(PS: Someone named Mike Theiss in the Quinter area got a photo of the tornado I saw. this will give you the idea, until I can get my own photos up: http://tinyurl.com/4p3ly2

Mike Theiss' Photo:

)

looooong day

From mid chase:




Lots of activity, so-so results. We're all fine--- I know some of the news reports made it sound like Armageddon out here. It wasn't.

Long day tomorrow, too. I'll post it all when time and erratic Internet connections permit...

first chase

First, please let me say how nice it's been to be getting emails from you. My post on faith-based vs. scientific beliefs generated a fair amount of email from readers, and it was a real pleasure to get your mails--- even from the folks who think I'm full of it. :-)

For the last 10 years, I've been privileged to get thousands of emails from an intelligent, involved, and interesting group of readers, and I'm beyond glad to see that many of you have found and are reading this blog. I'll respond to your emails ASAP.

To the matter at hand: The weather did change today, as predicted, and our tour leader did what he was supposed to do: got us well positioned. It was a "severe" rated storm, albeit not tornadic, but we were positioned almost perfectly to view a tornado had it developed. (The trick is to find a vantage in the southeast quadrant of the storm, beneath the rain-free base, in the inflow path.)

As it was, we saw heavy rain and hail, and lots of lightning. The National Weather Service radar did see an "ETVS" or elevated tornadic vortex signature, but it never approached the ground. In fact, the storm never quite made it to supercell strength: It was just a kick-ass, Great Plains severe thunderstorm, and fun to chase. We followed it for several hours between Colorado and Nebraska, until it fell apart at dusk. I'm in the town of Ogalalla Nebraska tonight.

The Blogger software is not so wonderful in handling photos, so please let me point you at my Photobucket pages to see the pix. First, you'll see some exploring I did in an oil field while we were waiting for the storms to fire up. I wandered around a nonfunctioning oil well, and saw what was to see in the surrounding grassy field.

Next, you'll see in-car photos as we chased and approached the storm. The rest of the photos are pretty self-explanatory.

slideshow:
http://s225.photobucket.com/albums/dd54/flanga_bucket/stormchase2/?action=view¤t=5ced4186.pbw

album:
http://s225.photobucket.com/albums/dd54/flanga_bucket/stormchase2/

It's late, and tomorrow should be an even longer day as the storms develop. The National Weather Service instituted a "severe storm watch" for the area a full 24 hours in advance; an unusual event, and a sign of how sure they are that major storms will develop.

As corroborating evidence, the TIV
("tornado intercept vehicle" http://science.howstuffworks.com/tiv.htm ), a unique Mad Max-looking contraption designed to drive directly into a tornado and survive; and the DOW ("Doppler (radar) on wheels" http://aaron.ou.edu/dow/ ) are both in the area tonight.

Stay tuned!

not a great day

No one controls the weather; a lack of storms is no one's fault. And the weather is changing. There should be more to see soon.

But geez, our tour leader is a piece of work. We started today in Scotts Bluff, Nebraska, like this:


OK, SUVs need service, and a slow weather day is an OK time to do it.

But then, with no attempt at consensus, and apparently only because our leader wanted to do it, we drove for hours to South Dakota to spend some time at Mount Kitschmore.


As you may know, Mt Rushmore was conceived from the get-go as a tourist trap by local civic leaders hoping to reverse the decline of the region after the tail end of the gold rush in the Black Hills. They needed something to draw tourists, and so commissioned the big sculpture. It has nothing to do with South Dakota; it could have been sculpted on any mountain, anywhere. It's a deeply cynical, wholly artificial thing, cloaked in patriotism, but designed solely to draw tourist dollars. (And fabulously successful, at that.) Kitsch on a grand scale is still kitsch.

I had suggested we visit the nearby Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, a wholly natural feature largely ignored by tourists, and good enough to be a National Monument. Much better than a sculpture that could be anywhere, the local fossil beds are intrinsic to their location, and part of what makes the area what it is, down at the level of its most fundamental geologic history. No; our leader made the unilateral decision to join the crowds at Rushmore's artificiality.

More hours of driving later, back into Nebraska, and he turned off to an Indian casino for a "30 minute" visit, because he wanted to gamble. I stayed in the car with several others; I take reasonable risks for pleasure, but the certain losses of casino play simply don't appeal. If you play long enough, you will lose, guaranteed. What's the attraction?

Ninety minutes later, he emerged. He stayed the extra time, we were told, because he got involved with his gaming. Gee, swell.

In the meantime, some small storms had popped up back near Scott's Bluff. He raced us southward, hustling us through rest stops because time was short--- time he had wasted gambling.

We missed the storms.

Tonight we're back in in Scotts Bluff. The weather looks better (or worse, depending on your viewpoint), and we may see something in the next couple days.

This guy had better be a god at storm chasing, because the rest of his business performance really, really sucks.

Grrrr.

the cast of characters

There are some exceptions, but this trip is populated mostly by geeks (of which I am one) and nurses (of which my sister is one).

There's a Bulgarian astrophysicist, currently working at Harvard in Massachusetts; a solar x-ray specialist. Before getting into solar science, she specialized in binary star systems where one of the stellar partners was a pulsar. She was interesting to talk to, and I think she was glad to be able to discuss her work a bit. She's young, but even in her short career, solar science has evolved so fast she's gone from trying to glean information from columns of numbers to being able to watch near-real-time movies of X-ray events. And if that's not enough, here's proof of her geekness: she carries some of the solar movies on her laptop. Other people have pictures of families, pets, cars, etc; she carries home movies of her local star.

There are several nurses about my own age--- all very nice ladies--- and one very young, bubbly and personable, pneumatically enhanced nurselet from Southern California; a child of her environs, she believes in "the metaphysical properties of rocks and crystals." Um, OK, that's nice.

There's a couple from the Nederlands, here on their third storm chase. So far, they've seen some nice storms (although not on this trip), but no tornadoes. Hmmm. Very pleasant, very friendly people; Rob and Helle.

There's a bus driver from Scotland who signed up for 4 back-to-back one-week trips this year, hoping to ensure a tornado sighting. He's painfully shy, but nice when you can get him to speak, in his delightful Glasglow burr. (He may have a low opinion of Americans, though. He told us he was "from Scotland... in the United Kingdom." Oh, *that* Scotland.)

There's a Canadian who now lives in New Zealand; a SoCal real-estate broker; a geologist, a 911 operator....

And more; 17 of us in all, spread across three large SUVs. Tour etiquette says you change vans every so often, so we'll be with different passengers from time to time.

Our leader is an erstwhile electrical engineer who started chasing storms as a hobby after being laid off. He has no formal training in meteorology, but has over ten years in the field reading weather maps and figuring out storm tracks. It leads to odd juxtapositions: he's extremely knowledgeable about the behavior of large storms in the American midwest, but has no larger-scale view of the weather. He is, for example, a climate change skeptic--- a truly bizarre point of view for someone in his position. It's made worse because some of those on the tour regard him as a general meteorological expert, which he absolutely is not, beyond the movements of tornadic systems. His views on climate change follow the all-too-familiar pattern that started becoming acceptable in the Reagan years: Start with a belief, reject the facts that don't fit, and call it "science" anyway. Many people in positions of supposed authority now espouse "faith-based" this or that, to the detriment of public discourse and public policy.

"It's a huge, huge scam," he said. "This climate change thing will make Enron look like a field day."

True science, of course, goes the other way: You adjust your beliefs to fit with the available facts. If new facts come in that don't fit with what's gone before, you gotta change your beliefs, no matter how comfortable you were with the old ones. In fact, you don't really believe in science unless you're willing to completely toss what you think is true in the face of new, objectively-proven data that shows your previous beliefs to be false.

Sorry--- that's a hot button of mine. I'll try to restrain myself.

Bottom line: It's an interesting group!

an interesting day

Had a few interesting moments today...

Yes, that's a rattlesnake--- a 13-year-old rattlesnake. It crossed my path in Scott's Bluff National Monument. (http://www.nps.gov/scbl/)

Most of the day was considerably less exciting as we moved way northward to the border of South Dakota to position ourselves to follow a developing low pressure trough that should appear here Wednesday night. The scenery was pleasant; I'd passed through this exact same area on my motorcycle a year ago:


Scott's Bluff is quite scenic: "Towering eight hundred feet above the North Platte River, Scotts Bluff has been a natural landmark for many peoples, and it served as the path marker for those on the Oregon, California, Mormon, and Pony Express Trails. Scotts Bluff National Monument preserves 3,000 acres of unusual land formations which rise over the otherwise flat prairieland below."

From the top:











I was walking alone, working off some minor frustrations with our tour leader (more on that, later), when I saw this guy cross my trail:



He slithered into some bushes, and I called to the others, so they could see.

Note the eye, below, peering at me.


Steve, another tour member, who teaches herpetology, knew what to do, albeit in direct violation of about 900 Park Service rules: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryww4ChLtIM

Success!




He carried the snake back to the rest of the group. Here, my sister is counting the rattles.


Thirteen in all.


The snake was later released, unharmed, in exactly the same place as we found it.

Tomorrow, we'll probably do more basic sightseeing, waiting for the weather to develop. Can't rush mother nature!

A long first drive, heading towards promising weather

Long day today, prepositioning ourselves for anticipated heavy weather (maybe) around midweek. We left Amarillo, TX this AM (Sunday), drove through Oklahoma and into Kansas. Tonight, we're in extreme western Kansas, on the Colorado border. In about 48 hours, somewhere around here, some interesting weather should be starting to take place.

Here are some shots from today with very brief descriptions (it's late; I'm tired... ). I'll flesh this out later. =====================================================================================
The small town of Cactus, Tx, was hit by a tornado a year ago. Some debris hit the local water tower:




All over the plains, oil wells pump fossil fuel and agricultural wells pump fossil water; a testament to extreme short-sightedness. But here and there, at least a few pioneers are trying to use renewable resources:

Very empty landscape:


Jets add aerosols and CO2 directly to the midlevel air; a warming factor. But the contrails block sunlight; a cooling factor. Trying to figure out the net effect on climate drives some environmental scientists slightly nuts.

Vast openness:


Some of the roadside accommodations were a little primitive.


This cow had happier days:

Monument Rocks:
http://www.washburn.edu/cas/art/cyoho/archive/KStravel/bigrocks/pyramids.html




Ancient layered seabed:


That dark circle in the middle (this is a shot looking up) is a cliff swallow nest, dug into the soft chalk:

A whole flock was active:


And there's one of the little buggers now:



Not much else going on there...


More later!