Tornadoes I’ve seen – Childhood-2013

Tornadoes I’ve seen – Childhood-2013
KEY: play_button: Video available, : Photo available
Count Date My location Rating Summary Remarks
001play_button 1967-04-21 2050Z Belvidere,IL F4 24 killed (most at Belvidere High School) First tornado I recall vividly
002 1967-06-11 1820Z S of Rockford,IL F1 Did $4M damage
003 1975-06-28 Fargo, ND F2 Mile-wide stovepipe tornado over farmland Tornado NE of Moorhead,MN; viewed from highrise dorm(!) – preceded by monster mammatus field

Roger Jensen’s photo of this tornado is in the Grazulis ‘Green Book’
(NOTE: recordmeteo.com shows two tornadoes (F3,F4) at this date/location, Grazulis notes F2 only)
004 1976-08-19 1955Z Fargo, ND F1 Brief, weak tornado to the north viewed from highrise dorm(!)
005 1976-08-19 2000Z Fargo, ND F1 Brief, weak tornado to the southwest viewed from highrise dorm(!)
006 1976-08-19 2015Z Fargo, ND F2 Brief, weak tornado to the southwest viewed from highrise dorm(!) – did $12M damage w/F1s above
007 2001-05-28 near Perryton, TX F0? Chasing w/Stephen Levine
008 2001-05-30 Archer City, TX ? Chasing w/Stephen Levine
009 2002-05-04 Eola, TX F0 Brief, weak tornado First tornado as a ‘tornado tourist’
010 2002-05-05 Happy, TX F2 2 killed; many buildings destroyed My first ‘really good’ tornado video
011 2002-05-07 Cullison, KS F2? _summary_ First time chase *by* a tornado. YOW!
012 2003-05-08 Yates Center, KS F2? Wedge tornado W. of town “It’s beautiful!! I Want to marry it!!”
013 2003-05-08 E of Yates Center, KS F1? Narrow rope tornado Drove along damage path afterwards
014 2003-05-09 Oklahoma City, OK F3? Night tornado slams into OKC Never seen so many power flashes!
015 2003-05-10 2156Z Clarence, MO F0? Rain-wrapped stovepipe N of US36 Saw a total of 5 tornadoes in 10 days with Tempest Tours in 2003
016 2003-05-10 2156Z Clarence, MO F0? Segmented tornado N of US36
017 2003-05-10 ~2230Z Monroe City, MO F0? Elephant trunk tornado N of US36
018 2004-05-10 Limon, CO F0? Chasing w/Scott Weberpal
019 2004-05-10 Limon, CO F0? Chasing w/Scott Weberpal
020 2004-05-10 Limon, CO F0? Chasing w/Scott Weberpal
021 2004-05-10 Limon, CO F0? Chasing w/Scott Weberpal
022 2004-05-10 Limon, CO F0? Chasing w/Scott Weberpal
023 2004-05-10 Limon, CO F0? Chasing w/Scott Weberpal
024 2004-05-12 Attica, KS F3? Chasing w/Scott Weberpal
025 2006-05-05 Patricia, TX ? Rain-wrapped tornado. Poor visibility for us Paul Sirvatka & friends caught the cyclonic twin
028 2006-05-05 Patricia, TX F0? Anticyclonic tornado! (see below)
027 2009-06-09 2359Z near Dyke, IA F0 2-minute tornado just N of US20 First ‘catch’ on a rare solo chase. No time to set up video!
026play_button 2011-05-22 Southwest City, MO F2? Large wedge tornado; homes destroyed Part of the Joplin, MO tornado family
029 2011-05-23 O’Keene, KS F0 Brief, weak touchdown _remarks_
030 2011-05-25 Ellsinore, MO F1? Tornado sped NNE across US60 A rare chase in southeast Missouri pays off for our team.
031 2012-04-27 near Council Grove, KS F0 Weak, brief tornado Kelly DeLay grabbed great shots of #29 and #30. See the Webby Award-winning Clouds365 Project website for photos of these
032 2012-04-30 S Wellington, TX F0 Weak, brief tornado Memorable because one of our vans was axle-deep in sand and mud only minutes beforehand. Almost missed this one (or worse)!

18 April 2013 – Call to action

Two phones ringing and several alarms (computers and weather radio) are sounding.

Naperville EMA has activated the weather unit, but I’m shaking from head to toe, due to sleep deprivation. Lots of flooding going on in the area! I expect to see dozens of these today:

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I needed to get to work before water bars my way! 

On the way home, I checked out the flooding about a mile from home

Bolingbrook Flood - 17 April 2013
Flooding of the East Branch of the DuPage River at Bolingbrook, Illinois – April 17, 2013



Lisa’s Big, Fat Camera Collection







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Video


Top to bottom:
A. JVC
B. Panasonic
C. Panasonic
D. JVC GZMH77U HDD camcorder
E. Canon Vixia HDD+SDHC camcorder
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SLR / DSLR

Top to bottom:
A. Pentax ME super SLR
B. Pentax K1000SE SLR
C. Pentax ZX-5 SLR
– Focal M-200 flash w/W.A. Adapter & color filters
D. Pentax K20D DSLR w/pro master 7200EDF Digital flash

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Pentax lenses:

Top to bottom, left to right:
A. Sakar 0.42x fisheye
B. Pentax 35-80 AF
C. Pentax 28-70 AF
D. Tamron 28-200 AF
E. SMC Pentax-F 80-200
F. Toyo 200mm


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Support (tripods, clamps, etc)


Top to bottom:
A. MX2000 (brand unknown) tripod
B. Bogen 3001 tripod
C. Dynex DX-SW040 monopod
D. (2) Sima SVP-3 Videoprops
E. (2) ultra-compact “toy” tripods
F. Various Manfrotto quick releases

(No, Jim [Reed] and Bill [Reid — ‘no relation’], I do not plan on dragging all this to Oklahoma for this trip (LOL!) )

11 April 2013 – Soggy times

It’s been raining three days in a row and sometimes heavily:

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Finally, northern Illinois is beginning to emerge from the drought.
It’s the perfect weather for contemplation and handling details for my upcoming storm chase trip. During the off-season, I’ve done lots of reading, ingesting books like Tim Vazquez’s “Weather Radar Handbook” (ORANGE BOOK).

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In anticipation of chasing for ten days with famed storm photographer Jim Reed, I read “STORM CHASER: A Photographer’s Journey”.
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I had intended to go through it over several days, but read through it in a single sitting (unlike the ORANGE BOOK, which I’ve been nibbling at for weeks). I felt it would be beneficial to read Jim’s book to better understand him and his guiding principals of storm photography.

As it turns out, Jim and I have had interesting parallels in our lives:

Jim Reed Lisa Beal REMARKS
Born Springfield, Illinois Rockford, Illinois Also close to the same age
Raised in Midwest? Yup Yup _
Non-traditional family Raised by single mom One of three adopted children.
Raised by almost-single mom until 10.
(Dad traveled 5-6 days a week.)
We may have watched the Brady Bunch, but we were not members!
1st memorable storm Hurricane Camille
(with mom)
Belvidere, IL tornado
(with dad)
Dominant parent present during first memorable storm experience gave a sense that “everything’s going to be OK” (and it was).
Moved from Midwest to West Coast (California) to East Coast (to New York) Off to the big city!
Returned to Midwest Kansas Illinois Returned after college in both cases
Einstein connection Ja! Ja! God may not play dice with the universe, but he seems to be good at poker.  I remember this during storm chases!
1960s TV connection Gilligan’s Island Gilligan’s Island Theory: the seven characters on
Gilligan’s Island represent the Seven Deadly Sins.  (What would Dawn Wells think of that?)
Dedicated chase vehicle Ford Explorer
(as of 2006)
Chrysler Town&Country
(from 2011-date)
_
Seen lots of tornadoes 40+ about 30
(I’m re-checking)
Easily half of those I’ve seen were with Tempest Tours. Saw 6 on
10 May 2004 afternoon near Limon, Colorado.
(“Thank you, Dr. Weberpal!”)
Winter photography experience First chapter in the book captures this Several photos from Antarctica used on Oprah for Jerri Nielsen’s appearance. Jim will be supplying 2013 Tempest Tour 2B guests with signed copies of his book during the tour!
Camera collection Nikon-sanctioned photographer Started with Pentax while working for the Antarctic Program OK, Nikon! I’m tired of Pentax stuff being ‘niche gear’ that’s both expensive AND hard to find.

We’ll have plenty to talk about on the trip. I’ll have to remind myself that there will be a dozen people vying for his time, including Jim Reed.

To hear Jim speak about our  trip, check out this YouTube video ( 2:14-):

Extended Interview: Jim Reed, extreme weather photographer (KRCG)