West Alabama Stormchase 2010

I had a chance to chase some weather over in Alabama on Saturday. Took a day off work as we had a rare "High Risk" here in the South. I left home at 4am to catch up with some friends to try and intercept some storms. As I drove through the early morning darkness lightning was already dancing across the sky. Ominous signs of high instability and things were only getting worse before it got better. I met up with Mike and Sarah just outside of Birmingham and storms were already going up and producing tornadoes and severe thunderstorms. As is the case most of the time here in the South they are all rain wrapped and hard to see. We drove on letting some tornado warned storms pass to our south and set up for a while near Tuscaloosa Alabama. While watching the radar, forecast models and planning on a final place to intercept we began to hear of a large and violent tornado on the ground over in Mississippi. Then the news of a direct hit on Yazoo City. Not something you want to ever hear, but the die had been cast and we prepared to hear more news like this for the rest of the day. Leaves a bad feeling in your stomach knowing these beasts are dropping from the sky and in populated areas. Time for some quick planning to decide when and where to meet these storms inbound for our region. We decided to head north and get into position to capture images and video of the long track super cell that dropped the tornado on Yazoo City. Heading quickly north out of Northport Alabama things were lining up good. Storms to the west of us and we had the luxury of time to get into position. Road options were pretty good with escape routes in various directions. Safety first when involved in a chase. Its not about getting close at all costs. Its doing it safely and living to chase another storm, another day. (Keep watching the Discovery Channel..Someone will get killed one day) With a good road network in place it takes a little tension off of you. Then you begin to rely on the gear you brought. GPS mapping and "live street level radar" is a must when chasing. We rely heavily on these items but sometimes things can go wrong no matter how well you prepare. We just had no idea how true that was about to be..
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Not to far out of Northport I noticed a lag in the radar updates. No real problem as sometimes it happens due to servers at the NWS being hit with lots of web traffic. They always catch up and resume operation. We drove on but soon it was obvious that a serious lapse in radar updates was occurring. I radioed Mike and he and Sarah had noticed the same thing. I switch over to a different data stream with higher resolution and got a update. The Yazoo City monster was moving quicker that we thought, but we were still safe and still in range of catching it. This storm is what they call a "long track super cell". Its tornadoes can stay on the ground for a long time. It's also associated with violent tornadoes. It keeps it rotational characteristics and continues mile after mile, sometimes crossing whole states and dropping numerous tornadoes. Well, this is what was heading our way and we were headed to the small town of Fayette to set up and wait. 30 miles out I lost data service. Mike and Sarah radioed they were having the same problems. I figured we would pick up another cell tower soon so onward we went. 40 miles later? No service and now our cell phones were dead. We rolled into Fayette with zero data and no way of getting any. So you improvise. You steal wi-fi from wherever you can. (insert evil laugh) We rode around and finally found a weak signal from somewhere and got a update. Looks like we were now in the path of the storm. Oh this couldn't get any worse...right?
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When this happens it gives you a lot to think about. What do we do, where do we go, Do we make a run for it, where can I get some real good sushi today. Ok ok ok..that last one really did cross my mind as I had a craving for some. Mike and Sarah found a Wi-Fi spot at a gas station and I did recon, driving around town and some nearby county roads, trying to find a place where we could see the western horizon. The areas was very lush with trees and hills blocked every view and after a quick 20 min trip I found nothing. The countdown was on and we were running out of time. When I got back Mike and Sarah had met up with some Skywarn volunteers and they were busy trying to help us get data and a good place to set up. They succeeded and we wound up, of all places, a funeral home. Yeah, I did see the irony in this. As luck would have it the funeral home network was security protected. Mike had been up the road trying to grab a signal and I somehow grabbed a weak signal from who knows where and captured an image that showed we were out of time. The sirens began to wail across the city and then........ I lose my data stream.
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What do you do? There it is, its what you drove 400 miles to behold in all its power. So what do you do?.... There was no choice but to let the beast pass by and not try an intercept. So frustrating to be so close and cant make the chase. Then you think of the people back in Yazoo City that are being pulled from the rubble, some alive some not, lives changed forever and you snap back to reality. Live to chase another day. There will be more storms...
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After the storm passed a gentleman from the funeral home ran out to my truck, smiled and said here is the passkey. He thanked us for what we did and wished us a safe trip. With data in hand we had several storms south of us trying to cut us off. some were having tornado warnings issued on them. We decided to make a run for it and try and beat them before they cut us off. True, it was a calculated gamble but we felt it safe enough at the moment. We grabbed one last radar update, judged the distance to the area we had to be past before we get nailed. Then you drive...I am not one for driving like an idiot and we were safe as we could be. But lets just say we were not letting any grass grow under our wheels. A few miles out of town we broke through the heavy rain and found ourselves looking at a large tree across the road, blocking both lanes. Not a problem, snapped a quick picture and then drive right under it on the shoulder! Hey, gotta improvise sometimes and with tornadic storms just miles to our west this time was definitely one of those times. We did make it south just as the area behind us was issued several severe thunderstorm warnings.
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Later we entered Northport and then Tuscaloosa. My phone began to go crazy. Catching up on all the texts, emails, voice mails, missed call notifications etc etc..I even think I heard it make noises I didn't even recognize!.LOL! My air card lit up, showing it now had a signal. Mike and Sarah were logging back in, catching up on their Twitter updates and issuing their own,looking at storms off to the west once again....

AAHHHH!!! Civilization!!!

So after all of the days events we find a place to stop, decompress and finally laugh and let off stress. Being with good friends on a chase is something special. Sure the chase is exciting, but its the other half that completes it all. Friends of the chase, in the chase. Wouldn't have it any other way! Special Thanks to Mike "Alabama Mike" Wilhelm, Sarah Vines for a rather interesting day LOL!. Also want to thank the Skywarn volunteers in Fayette Alabama who really came though when we needed help. Unsung heroes you were that day guys...Thanks!!
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So now I have 400 miles to drive to get home and storms are already building in my path. I could only think of one thing..

Where is some sushi!!!!!