Where Were You When...

There are many dates that are permanently a part of your memory. You know exactly where you were and what you were doing the moment you found out about that life-changing event. The most common one of my generation would be September 11, 2001 (I was flipping channels while eating breakfast and came across The Today Show shortly after the first attack). But, I will also never forget May 20, 2013, the day an EF5 tornado devastated the city of Moore, Oklahoma.

The day started out simply enough. I am off work on Mondays and chose not to work overtime after seeing the forecasts a couple of days out. I had been out storm chasing the day before and had decided to stay home on this day. I planned, instead, to go watch storms develop to the west of Norman from a hill on the northwest edge of town in a new residential development. As the morning rolled on, I looked at models and forecasts from the National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center. Storms began initiating early in the afternoon and I started packing up to head out to the hill. Trey's afternoon meeting in OKC had been canceled and he was on his way to meet up and go watch. We got to the hill around 1:45pm with my puppy, Paisley. I set up my tablet to record a time lapse video looking to the west. Trey and I pulled up RadarScope on our phones and watched the storms develop in front of us. There wasn't much to see in the clouds in the distance but we waited. A supercell started to intensify and show signs of rotation west of Newcastle. I started streaming a local news station on my phone and heard frantic calls of an impending tornado development. Within a minute, we saw the funnel cloud form with a tornado appearing a minute later (here's the video from my tablet). The twister rapidly expanded  right in front of us (from EF0 to EF4 in ten minutes according to the NWS report).

apologies for the quality. it's an old camera shooting 4-5 miles away (see more at Google+)

After about ten minutes, the tornado was no more than a large, dark cloud from our vantage point. We quickly packed up our things, grabbed the dog, and headed north. The road was full of traffic from onlookers in both directions. We safely pulled off the road and crossed the street heading to a field where we could see the storm (later measurements indicated we were about 3-4 miles from the tornado). As it once again lacked definition and we knew it was headed toward an urban area, we turned around and headed back to my home to watch the coverage on TV.

I soon realized I didn't have cell phone reception and my replies to Veronica's concerned text messages were not being sent. We got home and I tried to send instant messages via Wi-Fi to Veronica which she didn't receive right away in the basement she was seeking shelter in. My cell phone remained without coverage until sometime in the middle of the night when Verizon was able to get backup towers in place. I sent out a tweet and Facebook status and e-mails to let friends and family know that we were okay. Veronica soon came home and we watched the stunning images of the devastation in Moore. Suddenly, the day was no longer just another stormy day in Oklahoma, but a major event.

After two hours of nonstop coverage and saddening news, Veronica and I couldn't take any more of it and diverted our minds to movies and TV shows. Our church, JourneyChurch.tv, quickly mobilized volunteers and resources through the night and into Tuesday. As I drove to the church to drop off food and some blankets, my eyes filled with tears thinking about those who lost loved ones and those who lost their homes. But they also filled as I thought about the Church coming together to help the community. 

In the coming days, it was difficult to return to normal life while thinking about the gravity of what just happened. But weather continues around the world and life goes on as normal for us, by the grace of God. But May 20th is certainly a day that I will never forget.

Journey Church has not stopped helping those in Moore recover from this tragedy. To see how you can volunteer or donate to the efforts, helpMOORErebuild.com is the place to go.

For my wife's account of the day's events, check out her blog post at Passion, Pink, & Pearls.

My Chase Story - May 19, 2013

Throughout the work week leading up to Sunday, May 19, anticipation had been building about a strong upper level trough forecast to propagate eastward over the Plains. Plans had been made: if the forecast looked good, my friend, Trey, and I would be going storm chasing on Sunday, an off day for both of us. As the day grew closer, plans were made with Kenny Tapp and Ashton Cook to go out Sunday afternoon.

We loaded up and hit I-35 northbound around 1:30pm that Sunday. We targeted a location in northern Oklahoma based on the latest available information from the Storm Prediction Center and hourly models. As we drove, storms began initiating and quickly developing to our southwest. We pulled off, looked at radar, and made the decision to head south toward a supercell moving toward Edmond. As we got into town, the many trees and buildings on hills made it difficult to get a good vantage point. A spot was finally found at the entrance of LifeChurch.TV in Edmond and we watched the wall cloud and rain curtains closely for rotation. Around 4:20pm a weak tornado formed to our west (pictured). Later surveys would find EF1 damage in Edmond from this short-lived twister.

As the storm tracked east-northeastward across I-35, we moved to our east to get further ahead of the storm. Large volumes of traffic on the two lane road complicated our efforts but a glance out the window provided a glimpse of a new tornado forming around 4:25pm to our northwest.

The storm continued its track and our east-west oriented highway was becoming further and further displaced from the rotation. Terrain and numerous trees obscured views of the tornado that barreled toward Carney, Oklahoma. The tornado had also become rain-wrapped making us unsure of what we saw but we were fairly confident we caught glimpses of the twister. We tried to keep up with the tornadic storm but limited, unpaved county roads and suburban traffic made it nearly impossible. As the rotation weakened around 5:30pm, we turned our sights to the south as another supercell developed.

We dove south, ahead of the storm, and got into our prime position with a great viewing angle of a wall cloud to our west. We watched carefully for several minutes as it moved to the northwest then north of us, still above the ground. 

The radar indicated circulation was too weak and the storm ended up not producing any tornados. Further to our south, another storm had been brewing over Norman. My wife, Veronica, and our puppy sought shelter at a friend's house as the tornado sirens blared throughout the city. Later, this storm generated an EF4 tornado that ripped through parts of Shawnee, Oklahoma and other small towns, northeast of Norman. Giving up on our weakening wall cloud, we headed south and east once again to get ahead of the next supercell. 

The movement of the storm caused timing issues as we attempted to cross ahead of the storm to the east. It became clear we weren't going to make it ahead of the storm on our north-south highway. Punching through the hail core (with nickel sized hail or smaller), we dove east on another county road. The circulation on radar was to our south but nothing was visible through the rain. We were within a mile or two of the circulation but with no visibility and an uncertain track, we had to bail out and head back west (it turned out the tornado had already lifted but for safety's sake, we made the right decision). We continued to try to follow the storm from a safer position and got some views of the wall cloud but the supercell would not produce another tornado.

As daylight faded and the storms weakened, we began our trek home, stopping in Henryetta, Oklahoma for a late dinner. The day had not been a wild success photographically but we saw two tornadoes and I had now seen three total in my five chases. But nothing prepared us for what was to come the next day...

For more photos, see my Google+ album here