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John C Chasing In The US!

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martinastro
Martin Mc Kenna
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« on: May 13, 2010, 04:22:30 pm »

I've started this thread on behalf of John C on this forum who is curently in the US chasing storms. I've informed him that if time is short then simply send me an email and I will post the latest on here, or if he gets the chance he will do so himself. John has already seen a tornado, he wrote...

''Hi Martin On a laptop in Clinton OK. Borrowed laptop. Saw tornado, a brief one at Carter yesterday,Carter OK. aw wonderful Mama,can you let the guys know on yours,I don't like taking time of chap letting me borrow this laptop. Probably stay here. Tornado was brief and was confirmed but not a classic. Very active here. Sorry for brevity''

I wish John the very best of luck and hope he brings back some nice images for us  Smiley
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rjgjr
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« Reply #1 on: May 13, 2010, 08:40:28 pm »

Congratulations John on viewing the tornado. I've been watching the weather in The Plains ever since you started. Monday and Tuesday were sure wild ones. Outlook doesn't look very condusive for near future, but only Mother Nature knows for sure!! Good luck John. Thanks for putting this thread up Martin.
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martinastro
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« Reply #2 on: May 15, 2010, 03:46:27 pm »

Latest from John...

''It's 9.30 am I'm on this borrowed laptop but I can't use the curser very well, I prefer a mouse lol. I'm in Azona TX. What a fantastic storm last night, we had to move 3 times as the C-G's were getting too close, I heard a zip and then a whiplash crash,unfortunately it was HP not LP so we had only 5 mins. Then the rain came so we drove 4 miles ahead, I even got C-G's in evening light hand held because the C-G flickered for long enough to trigger the shutter. Can you post for me on your site,the chap with the laptop wants to Email too so I have to be quick. We're staying in TX for 3 days and storms every day''.

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martinastro
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« Reply #3 on: May 17, 2010, 04:42:19 pm »

John kindly takes time out to share the latest info from his US chase tour...

Monday 10.30am. Stayed in a 5 star last night, still here, briefing at 11.00. We're in Odessa TX and willhead west towards New Mexico - good 3 day outlook. A storm died quickly yesterday but I got a superb CG shot. OKC had baseball siz hail yesterday, the worst hail storm ever for them, but we are in Texas. We went through US customs at the BIG Bend national park way in the SW corner of TX 70 miles from the mexican border and they had a customs post there, we drove by a mile. They took a car ride and passed us and saw us photographing the sky but the silly sods stopped us on the way back and checked passports and asked where our first US entry point was when we flew in - the guide told me to stop cracking jokes or we'd get locked up, they don't have a sense of humour lol.

Quiet day yesterday but 3 good days from today and a massive risk (tornadoes) area, the whole of TX and some of OKC. We've been very lucky with the high level of activity. I've used the video too on my new 5D11. Haven't seen Tyler though lol. I think we won't go out of TX and OK according to the forecast.

Cheers,
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« Reply #4 on: May 17, 2010, 06:43:25 pm »

lol, glad to hear John is having a good time, I've only been out one day that he's been down there, I mainly stick to Nebraska and Kansas storms, its rare that I get down into Texas or Oklahoma, I just don't have money to spend on gas to get down there. Possibly will chase in Texas on Wednesday, but the only day I've chased while John has been over here was May 10 and storms were moving at 60mph so we hardly ever stopped, oh well... it was worth it to see 4 tornadoes! Smiley
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rjgjr
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« Reply #5 on: May 17, 2010, 09:23:00 pm »

Unfortunately, and a growing sign of the times here in the U.S., Passports, Customs, and the Mexican Border are nothing to joke about with the Border Patrol in that part of the country, no matter what you look like!!! Glad the weather is to your liking John, and good luck in the coming week.
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martinastro
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« Reply #6 on: May 19, 2010, 02:14:08 pm »

Latest from John...

We are 6 hours behind you it's 7.15 am we're in Borger TX. Saw another supercell yesterday in Dumas TX sirens went off, nearly made a 'proper' tonado but not quite, two funnel clouds but we got in traffic going through the town and the buildings obscured view a bit, well a lot. It was like watchig hell dececend on the town. The sheer marker was 160!!. A bigger day today in West OK we are very near. Staying in another 5 star hotel at Borger. The other place where a t storm was was Stuinnet, I suppose if you google Stennit and Dumas you'll see exactly where I am but today is 30% chance for tornadoes. Unfortunately all the storms have been HP rather than LP but I videod C -C lightning last night using the caera 5D11. Please excuse any typos. lol


« Last Edit: May 19, 2010, 02:16:22 pm by martinastro » Report Spam   Logged

martinastro
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« Reply #7 on: May 21, 2010, 08:55:52 pm »

New update from John...

It's 1.30pm Friday and we've arrived back at the base hotel at OKC and I fly home in the morning. Had a good day yesterday. On the 19th there were a couple of hundred chasers on a storm and some idiots-two -had flashing lights on and a siren !! I haven't seen this but go to Stormtrack.org/forums and go to 519 chaser convergence. Stu Robinson posted and said the two idiots blocked his tornado escape route. The one culprit owned up, an ex. cop believe it or not and he's been hammered on the site by other chasers, really hammered and he's apologised humbly but we saw him and his buddy in another vehicle overtaking and caused an oncoming car to pull over out of the way. He could be prosecuted if someone tells the police, peiople have it on video too Ugh. The poster Alex Fisher was in our van-he's almost a fully fledged lawer and knew the State's law on driving etc. and quoted it. lol

Had a good day yesterday at Malone and Irene TX south of Dallas, no other chasers around lol. Oh dear me Martin. I've dropped my new 17-40mm lens and auto's gone. I'll need to send it to a Canon repair place in cambridgeshire but hopefully can claim on the insurance. I fly home at 11.45 in the morning, well from OKC to Washington-London. I have to say that the best photos were of the wonderful mamma with the sunset on them at the start of the trip-classic, unbelievable, I've only seen photos like that in books. I alwayswanted to see mamma like that. It'sbeen great being with Brian. I'm looking forward to seeing how the 5D11 video went. 10 days is enough really, it's tiring doing this day in and day out, out of the van, back in in double quick time before we get slammed by torrential rain or hail, nearly got caught yesterday Lol. Got a lovely sunset yesteday but in a small town with telephone posts and wires, they're all over here.

I stay overnight here in this hotel at OKC and fly home in the morning back in London at 6.00am Sunday London time.

Bye for now,

John
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« Reply #8 on: May 24, 2010, 02:51:55 am »

Hello folks. Got back yesterday,Sunday at 10.00am,in the house and fell asleep from 2-5 pm and tried bed at 9.30 but as you see I can't sleep,it's 2.45 am Monday.

We'll have a Mac Book soon ,as I believe they call them,a Mac laptop 13 " ,for next year and I'll have a proper mouse with it ,that curser plate is so hard for me  to use ,also I won't feel pressured by someone standing waiting for me to do the post/mail which causes me to rush and make typos etc.

It was a great trip but can you believe this,I lost 4 lbs.  in weight. I  just had a good breakfast, cereals,toast,fruit mainly and then apples/bananas in the day, not chocolate bars, Twix's,crisps , pop etc. that everyone else got at every (lol yes, every) stop we made for the loo or petrol and sometimes I'd just have a ham roll if it was late,too late for a proper dinner and had chips  (fries)only 3 times and that was with steaks which as you'd expect are excellent. I was  also tired when I started because of the ash cloud delays so hopefully next year(May 16) I'll  be ok from day one.

I messed up on photographing  day 2's Cg's,  I was zoomed in too close and  Brian  Morganti (guide)heard  me cursing and pointed out to me that I had the 70-200 on the 1.6 X 40D and told me to get it on the full frame  5D 11 so  when I put the 70-200 on the full frame 5D11 it was fine so I didn't use the 40D atall after that except to photograph a bird called a killdeer (Richard and Tyler will know that bird). I got one shot of the sunset lit sky with the very close Cg's, so close we had to move on quickly.That happened a couple of times, they say the main threat to life and limb is not the tornadoes but the Cg's.


I'll get my head in order before starting on the photos so I'll see how I feel later today but I feel dozy right now.

That hail storm  at OKC was 2.25 inches and caused a lot of damage,I saw ads. on the tele by the OK state authorities telling people where to get the damage to their cars assessed.

I also took several minutes  C>C lightning  video with the 5D11,it looked good in the LCD but that was the first time I've used it and I do need a different tripod,the one I had took way too long to errect and dismantle,Brian had a very good one that he collapsed in 5 seconds ,if that,  so I'll get that one . They shout to get back in the van(quickly ) as the hail.rain.Cg's approach and I need to be faster collapsing the legs ,at the moment I have to unscrew two twist locks on each leg Ugh. Brian M had an excellent tripod that dismantled in seconds so I'll get that,also you just pull the legs out, no locking mechanisms-Manfrotto 458B. We live and learn as they say.
« Last Edit: May 24, 2010, 02:55:35 am by JohnC » Report Spam   Logged
martinastro
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« Reply #9 on: May 24, 2010, 03:30:57 am »

Glad you are back John, going to take a while to get the sleep pattern changed. Here's that storm track thread on the chaser convergence.

http://www.stormtrack.org/forum/showthread.php?t=24105
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rjgjr
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« Reply #10 on: May 24, 2010, 04:52:53 am »

Sounds like you had a great trip John and glad you are back safely. I remember seeing Killdeer on the inland lakes in Southern California, and they are a close relative of the Snowey Plover, a protected species here on the Southern Oregon Coast, and look very similar in appearence. Looking forward to your great photos!!
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paulster78
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« Reply #11 on: May 24, 2010, 02:50:46 pm »

Welcome home John, im eager to see your images as well.   I was following that hailstorm on some of the chaser cams and the damage reports following it on News9, it was insane.
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