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US Trip

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JohnC
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« on: May 21, 2011, 06:25:19 am »

Using my iPod where there's wi-fi

Day 1 was Monday and yesterday Thursday was the first for storms.the fields here are parched due to the fraught
We v
Have stayed in TX OK and KS and stayed in Kansas most of today. At last the wiinds are coming from the SE  bringing the moisture up from the Gulf. we got in at 11.15pm tonight and we're staying at a Best Western in Wichita and storms are forecast for thisregion tomorrow but I won't know where we're off to until after briefing at 10.30 am tomorrow and then  we get off straight away so no time to post here

We saw a supercell yesterday and photographed it with difficulty as the inflow was at 45-50mph,that was at Great Bend KS ,we alsodrove through torrential rain and sunset storm photos near Dodge city

Today we stayed in Kansas and drove through Greensberg where a storm was winding up.We drove through 1" hail and torrential rain with visibilty down to 20 metres

We got on three storms and the last they said was a supercell but it was backlit by a setting sun and we got west of it to see that at it's best,I think that only my 2008 chase had anything like this but this surpassed it,it was surreal to look at and I got fisheye photos of it-15mm Sigma 180 degrees, we photographed some lightning but it didn't come to much.all this was near was at a olde called Isabel between Pratt (I kid you not lol) and Wichita

It was worth the trip just to see that.

I don't have the means to post photos ,sorry..no laptop just thiPod .
We're 6 hours behind you here.

Will do my best to keep you updated, so far each motel/hotel has had wi-fi.

Cheers. John
« Last Edit: May 21, 2011, 06:28:04 am by JohnC » Report Spam   Logged

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markt
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« Reply #1 on: May 21, 2011, 09:21:06 am »

Great update John!  Sounds like you're having lots of fun!  Keep us updated if you can and look forward to seeing the pics on your return!  Have a great holiday!!!  Wink
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rjgjr
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« Reply #2 on: May 21, 2011, 03:35:39 pm »

Hi John,

Looking forward to your images when you get back. Sounds like the action is all around you. My niece flew into Little Rock, Arkansas on Friday night and they really had to dodge some large storms on the way. They had tornado warnings all the way to Hot Ssprings where her father lives. It's tough to be everywhere at one time. Hope you have a great time and catch the big one!

Richard
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JohnC
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« Reply #3 on: May 22, 2011, 07:35:47 am »

Great to see your post, Richard

Late in - midnight at Emporia Kansas.
Four supercells today and watched a near tornado it didn't make it down but the rotation was awesome this was at Lake Shawnsee Kansas and we stopped to watch lightning at Waverly Kansas and saw two funnels lit up by it, kept out of the way of 2" hail too earlier on,a very active day.I saw three anvils simultaneously and that was 2.30pm they were at 58,000 feet then a fourth developed, Manhattan Kansas

I think it will be Texas tomorrow and next major events Monday and Tuesday,it's all fired up

Google Tornado Reading Kansas,it and another town hit, there's an open Facebook page so people can communicate were told at 11.00pm by a part time fireman,it was hit at  9.00pm 70 miles from us.




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JohnC
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« Reply #4 on: May 22, 2011, 07:40:36 am »

I find operating this iPod hard,One wrong press and lose text so  that happened just but it looks ok I think  must get off to bed- 1.38am
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« Reply #5 on: May 22, 2011, 10:22:54 am »

Thanks for the updates John, things are really kicking off over there, love the sound of the sunset supercell, the near tornado and the lightning-lit funnels...wow. I got your email about yesterday's sunset sky and did a check on facebook, the images I saw really blew me away - sunset supercell with large mammatus and lightning all at the same time - a true photogenic jackpot - insane  Smiley
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JohnC
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« Reply #6 on: May 23, 2011, 03:23:38 pm »

Please excuse mistakes also couldn't get a signal.
Not so much fun to it now Mark.

We saw the South West City wedge but through rain and poor light it. Doesn't sound like a train but  jet on the runway revving up. Then we drove on and saw  it had hit a bungalow and parts of it damaged but It's reported the occupants were only injured the SUV was trashed and a power line pole snapped into but it had those white terminals on it not just a pole with one wire and we had to drive round it the lightning was tremendous and earlier we had to get back in the van as it was dangerously close ..CG's and CC we also had to take shelter from 1.75 " hail we got out and picked them when it finished and we needed a bite to eat but at the shop the rain was so heavy only two braved it I just ate an apple.

I'm in Tulsa it's 9.10 am and I hear we're off to SW Oklahoma . There are storms through today and tomorrow forecast as severe with potential for more tornadoes we seem to be experiencing a major outbreak as the rearm moist Gulf air is dragged up by the dip south in the jet streamed the weather presenter said 'conditions for the perfect stirm' they're firing even now in places even right ip into the Chicago area

I hear the volcano is at it again and UK airspace nay be closed next weekend just when I
I'm due home. I was caught by it last year taking 44 hours no sleep to get here.

Better get my stuff together briefing at ten I'll see if I can let you know where we're heading before we drive off I need the hotel wi-fi I might mail the location easier than getting in  here

Photos? We do our best but many have no time for a tripod and we have to Wang up the ISO it' s often 'panic' time. out of the van 30 secs later the shout to get back in then we fall over each other and often the last couple in get Khitai with hail or torrential rain as the wait for those infront to pile in
John

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rjgjr
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« Reply #7 on: May 23, 2011, 04:37:52 pm »

Good report John, it really sounds like they keep you on the run. It's very hard to say have fun, a good time and wish for storms when we hear what happened to those poor souls in Joplin, MO last night. Make the best of though!

Richard
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markt
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« Reply #8 on: May 23, 2011, 10:17:53 pm »

Great to read your updates John!  Smiley
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« Reply #9 on: May 24, 2011, 01:06:11 pm »

Hi John, great reports, been checking daily blogs from people you are chasing with and from the look of things you are really starting to see furious mother natures wild weather, I also see you have been caught on camera a few times. 

Thanks
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« Reply #10 on: May 24, 2011, 03:31:48 pm »

Sounds like a very serious situation John!!, I have been following the latest via other US chasers on facebook, the killer tornadoes have made it onto the news here today, the scenes you are experiencing sound epic, visually stunning, but also very frightening so take care and don't get too close to those wedges. Thanks for the update and good luck with the rest of your chasing - with luck the wind direction will have changed and you will have no problems with ash for your return home  Smiley
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« Reply #11 on: May 24, 2011, 03:41:35 pm »

John just emailed this to me....

Hi Martin,Poor signal her in Guthrie Oklshoms google Slerp Inn It's sometimes hard to ppdt so could you do one for me pleaseGoogle Stormbruiser.com fir full acccount-

http://www.stormbruiser.com/

it's the site of pme of our guides-tempest,main man running it.Photo graphed. A tornado but poor visibility it sounded like a jet engine EF 3 were now told , it was one and a half miles away-awesome also got lovely funnels. We were 25miles from Joplin 104 killed but today- Tuesday now 9.00am - is set to be a great danger tornado danger day and the hotels are full of chasers and TV people are in many hotels Tornadoes forecast over Ok KS Tx we're only travelling two hours away.Got close up to a massive non- rotating wall cloud two fields away jt very loww like something out if hell I took fisheye pjotos of it as. well and we had run to the van as we saw green clouf- hail and we lookef for shelter and went in a car wash bit I wanted to photograph it and stood in the car wash and got drenched you'll never seen anything like it unbelievable but the drains on the roads coped but built for it though. 
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« Reply #12 on: May 24, 2011, 05:29:44 pm »

John wanted me to post Roger Hill's Silver Lining Tours site here as they should be featuring news and images about the latest tornadoes...

http://www.silverliningtours.com/
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markt
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« Reply #13 on: May 24, 2011, 08:33:28 pm »

John is having fun!  I'm jealous!
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JohnC
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« Reply #14 on: June 01, 2011, 06:47:07 pm »

Back home..took 24 hours to get from Houston. .

I'm editing the photos  now (after recovering from jet lag) but one of our group has already put up this video on Youtube of the EF3 Ellsinore  Missouri tornado that we saw. At briefing that morning, 400 miles away, the guides were reluctant to go to MO to chase because of the poor visibility-hills and trees and also the danger that poses because you can't always see a tornado with enough time to get out of the way so, riskier than seeing them on the Plains. We were 5 miles from it - you can understand why I questioned that when you see the footage,looks like it's just down the road so to speak but it was so big it seemed closer than it was-they checked the odometer from where we were to the destroyed home etc. and it was 5 miles. As it came towards the road the guides shouted 'tornado' I shouted 'where ? lol..It just looked like a black sky to me above the tree line, then I saw it. We were about to pull in to a petrol station just before it came along which was only a mile from it (obviously before it came along) but it was closed so we drove on to the next one. What amazes me is that looking at it the unwary wouldn't be aware just how lethal it was, it just looks like dark low cloud moving along but it seems this was massive  as you'll see from the footage. When I told one of our guides that I'd probably carry on driving thinking it was just low cloud he said that's what people think and then drive into it and get killed. The guides were frantically signalling to drivers to slow and stop. It was travelling at 45 mph. too .Two brothers lived in the mobile home  that was on the top of the Interstate 60 embankment - It's not a home with the foundations of a regular home,it's taken there by lorry and erected on foundation(support) blocks on site. They were aware of the impending doom and jumped in their car and went down the road to their mother's house and stayed safe but returned after the tornado passed to find that their home was across the dual-carriageway and had been shredded in the forest. Also there was a metal horse box  by the home and that had been lifted up too  and transported across Interstate 60 and dumped in the forest. We stopped at the scene the following day.  Infact,I'll go to the  trees photos now and get them in this post and keep this incident together.You'll appreciate that I didn't want to cross the road with a camera and photograph the foundations,you can see the family members on the embankment. One of the our group took a collection and went to the family members and gave them the  money,infact a couple in our van thought it was unethical to photograph even the tree damage and the bits of the home construction and the horse box in the forest. It made a difference to me that no-one, not the horse either - was killed.

http://www.youtube.com/user/oviscopophobic

This first photo was taken from the forest side of the dual carriageway I60 and the home had been on the top of that bank set back. The second photo is of the area to the right of the drive-in to the home. The rest are of the forest  opposite the embankment where3 the home was.Infact looking at the write-up with the Youtube clip I see that Darren is saying that there were two homes destroyed,I was unaware that there were two destroyed.








I took this next photo to show the twisting motion of the winds as it wrapped this item around the tree trunk-obviously you have to imagine it when the tree was upright.









The horse box









Part of the home construction.






















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