Countdown to 30 (part 1)

Note: When I take to the road to observe storms this year, it will be my 30th year to do so.  A personal milestone I guess… a lot longer than most and shorter than the few handfuls of “old vets”.  Either way, I thought I would take the time to break down the past 29 years as we quickly approach the 2011 storm season.  It’s sad to say that I have forgotten more than I can remember, but hopefully there will be a few gems to enjoy in here.

Part 1

A storm chasing “career” which began in 1982 actually got kick started in late 1981.  My parents knew that I had a strong interest in weather and shopped at Radio Shack in old Shepherd Mall in Oklahoma City for a scanner which would allow me to hear storm spotters.  Little did they know that the person that would be helping them at the store was a meteorology student from the University of Oklahoma.  He had been storm chasing (whatever that meant) for several years.  After opening my presents that Christmas, Mom told me the story about Kenny Hutchison who worked at the Radio Shack.  There was no way that I was going to let that opportunity pass me by.

During the weeks after Christmas, I frequently visited the store talking to Kenny and listening to his storm chase tales.  He had many of his photos at the store – the most amazing collection was of the May 22, 1981 Binger day.  I remembered this day well from the previous year.  Not only for it being my dad’s birthday, but one of the few times that we actually gathered blankets and pillows with the possibility that we would have to take shelter as the powerful storm approached Oklahoma City.

Despite being shy by nature, I never had a problem barging in when it was something that I had a strong interest in.  It didn’t take long for me to get the words, “Can I ever go with you?” out.  To my surprise, Kenny not only didn’t have a problem with it, but was willing to come pick me up when the chance arose.  It was a long January and February waiting for the first shot at severe weather and a chance to finally chase.

On March 14, 1982, I got the call I had been waiting for.  Kenny said that the following day looked very promising for severe weather and he would be at the house around Noon to pick me up.  I was only 14 years old and knew that for a couple of years, I would have to rely on the “pick-up” to be able to chase.  I am indebted to Kenny for this, to be honest; I don’t think I would have ever had the patience to deal with someone like this.

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We targeted storms that were forming near Duncan and would be racing east-northeastward.  My first ever stop on a storm chase was in the town of Elmore City where we watched a rotating wall cloud and kicked around some large hail that was laying on the ground.  The sirens were going off in town, people were running around – the whole scene was rather surreal.  Our stop didn’t last long because these storms were moving about 50 M.P.H. and we had to get rolling to keep up.

We stopped at Stratford to look at hail larger than baseball size.  I had never seen anything like that before!  This was starting to get really cool!  We were driving east down Highway 19 – with a bit of urgency – while heading up and down the rolling hills.  When we topped one of the hills, Kenny yelled “TORNADO!”  We shut it down and got out of the car to start taking pictures.  By gosh, there it was… just like all the books I had read on the subject; A classic tornado.  We were far enough away to feel safe, and just far enough away to not know that it was moving through the city of Ada.  It stayed on the ground for about 10 minutes and six miles… killing one person and injuring 36.  We didn’t see much more from the storm as we tried to follow it east into the trees and hills of eastern Oklahoma.  It didn’t matter, I was hooked.  It was everything that I thought it could be and more.  I wanted to see more – I wanted to learn more.

I often wonder if I would have maintained the same amount of passion for the hobby if it had not been for the success of the first time out.  I read where people have gone 60 or 70 times before seeing their first tornado.  I think my interest was strong enough to have kept going, but the success on the first time probably helped things along.

I only went out with Kenny on a handful of occasions that year, but another one of our days was a very successful one as well.  On May 11th, we observed three large tornadoes in southwest Oklahoma.  The largest was one mile wide near Friendship.  This was actually the second tornado I had ever observed and was responsible for two fatalities.  Thankfully, killer tornadoes are not the norm.  Despite the rough start, only a handful of tornadoes that I have observed in 29 years of chasing have killed anyone.  Coming up on destroyed homes and bodies is not a pleasing thought and something that I am glad to say that I have been able to avoid.

The first year was a rewarding one.  In fact, I was probably a little spoiled.  It still hadn’t set in with me how hard it was to actually see a tornado.  I would get a hard, long lesson starting the following season.  It would be another five years before we saw tornadoes again.