Stu

Yes I was there! - deep south on the Delta managing to get into the the eye for a full 45 mins - geting out of the eye again was fun - we got BLASTED by wind as we moved North - glad we got out when we could the road behinf flooded to over car height!!! This was a signifcant storm for the towns on the delta - New Orleans got nothing http://www.stormchase.net/2008/20080901gus.htm Just getting ready now to fly from the UK to set up for Ike ... Did any of you see my live Web cam stream??

Here Here, My trip also came to an end - still 2008 has proved to be my most succesfull ever - over all I saw 13 tornadoes, including my 40th tornado which was the Quniter F4 wedge. (I walso went on to see my 41st) I am still reviewing video but a lot of footage was shot for both ITV and CH4 (to be shown later in the year)

My luck finally ran out today … Departed from Salina Kansas with a target of Coldwater, KS. Stopped in 92f heat at the petrol station in Greensburg and chewed the crud with many chasers who had gathered there. Finally a cell went up and soon went severe just West of Coldwater and I intercepted it. Stayed with it for a while but soon left for the new cell that was moving towards Pratt – ended up on the wrong side of the cell but figured that I could core punch it as the large hail was north of the road – heading East through the core I got stuck behind the slowest moving lorry on the planet. Cell motion was 36mph, the damm lorry was doing just 45mph so I spent a long time in the core. A meso developed on the cell which dragged the hail around the cell and across the road – suffered a right royal battering but thnkfully did not brake any windows – dents on the hire car are not good. Finally made ground on the Pratt storm only to be cut off behind the meso as it crossed the road in front of me – wrapping rain curtains and wind shift from North to south meant I had to stop (and take more hail)– crossed a damage track across the road before finally getting to other side of the cell – only to see LSR reports on my GRL3 that two tornadoes had formed and that I had missed them by minutes as the view was hidden by rain. Finally got to Wichita some dejected

Filmed a "truncated rope" tornado today just south East of La Crosse Kansas - also saw another pencil tornado 10 minutes later and a bit further east - pictures to follow after food. the picture does not do justice as I mainly shoot video these days - this was the last picture I took before video as the tornado became quite impressive.

Another active day in North West Kansas along the I70 corridor. Today I was able to film 4 tornadoes, and reach another miles stone in that I now have 40 tornadoes in my chase portfolio. Started the day from Colby and picked Quinter !as my target. I was worried about the cloud shield over Quinter so headed south towards clear and toasty warm temps. At Scott City I saw the first cell fire to the East and targeted it – however a duff move in taking a gravel road (which turned to mud) meant that I lost the cell – however on reaching I70 to my north I was able to move west and Capture the same cell producing a wedge then as a cone #1 Tornado as it crossed I70 just west of Quinter, I followed the meso (quite close) to the north of Quinter where it morphed into a stove pipe #2 Tornado. I was able to then move south and target the biggest wedge #3 Tornadothat I have ever seen – an easy mile wide, 10 miles south of Quinter in grove county (dirt rods again) by some fluke I was then able to get back on to the interstate to see the same tornado now reduced in width but about ½ mile wide south if the interstate – it crossed I70 just West of Quinter. (many chasers saw that tornado at this stage) Next after dark …. I was south and able to see the large ¼ mile wide cone #4 Tornado as it passed to the east of Ellis, (my 40th Tornado) Finally finished in Hayes were was able grabb the last room at the sleep Inn at Hayes – all of a sudden PaulK and Helens walks inn – we then had stake and beers to celebrate our tornadoes today.

May 22nd Report Captured 2 tornadoes, 2 and 5 miles south of Wakeeny today. However the day was not without incident! After a somewhat frustrating day chasing Supercells that were a tad too high based I finally managed to get on to a very promising cell that was spinning like a top15 miles south of Collyer, KS – unfortunatly a FLAT tyre on the car put a fork into the chase – irritating that the cell then went on to produce a tornado near to Collyer. Just when the day was almost done I intercepted a “tail end” storm just after dark South of Wakeeny. This cell then produced a cone tornado which I phoned into the NWS. Moments later the cell then produced a bowl tornado. I then elected to move East on I70 in order to keep up with the storm. 2 miles East of Wakeeny I was engulfed by extreme RFD – I can tell you that at the time I really thought the I was in Tornadic circulation and this was it !! – I was in a 4WD Jeep and I had to turn the car into the wind on the interstate to stop it blowing over – while doing so both windshield wipers turned inside out and debris smashed against the car. The next 5 minutes involved driving out of the RFD (blind with out wipers) until things calmed down. I have driven in hurricanes a lot and this was actually worse! Pete (CH4) got both tornadoes as well as the extreame RFD on film.

I am going to target Chyenne and then ether move North of West later int the day

I am currently in Oklahoma City, but this afternoon I am flying to Denver where I meet up with a documentary crew from the UK (CH4) for an active few days chasing. Note that I am chasing on my own (solo) for my final week and I DO expect to see more tornadoes. *currently* the game plan is as follows (subject to refinement) Wednesday – Wyoming, Wheatland on I20 but I am also watching the Texas panhandle for this day – if the cap brakes then watch it! Thursday – SE NB / NW/KS – no brainer – head for the triple point for meaty wedges moving north at 20 mph Friday - Same as above but a tad further south – (meaty wedges moving north at 20 mph) Saturday – Texas panhandle – again – (meaty wedges moving north at 20 mph) Sunday – TBA

Hi Paul, Did you pass us when we were pulled over on the hard shoulder? if you did then you were seconds from seeing the tornado. Howerver a few minutes later a thin rope tornado formed -(I did not see it) did you catch it at all??

Started the day In Wichita Falls, TX after a somewhat disappointing chase day the day before. Our Target was Central Texas where a surface low was pforecast to pull Gulf moisture up towards the Higher terrain of New Mexico and into an eastward moving dryline. Lunch was stopped short at Abilene as cells started to fire along the dryline to our west. We targeted a cell that was North West of Big Spring near to Ackerly. The cell was showing good rotation and a brief landspout tornado was observed for a good two minutes under the updraft (note that dust plume did not reach up to the cloud base) In order to keep up with the updraft we dropped back down to the interstate where a smaller cell to the south merged with our cell. We then observed a 5 minute elephant trunk tornado near Iatan, TX, just North of Interstate 20. This followed by a brief pencil tornado 5 minutes later. Time for the elephant trunk tornado was 4:56-5:01. We almost got cut off by the cell but were able to get ahead of it again by driving through the core East down I20. At Abilene we took the option to re Gas before dropping South East down highway 36 – unfortunately we were cut off by hail and once the hail size reached 3 inch (teacup) we broke off the chase – shame really as we were just two miles from our East option and our only option to keep ahead of the storm. Great calibration steak dinner in Abilene afterwards :o Picture is of tornado No2 North of the Interstate.

Yesterday was a bust - lack of H500 / H850 shear meant that any storm that formed was a liner string bean - more over the cap was strong and early day cloud cover over South central Oklahoma stopped storm formation. The best storm formed right in my original target area KS/OK/MO tri state area - why I left this area I will never know - I was suckered by the mod risk area... I did managed to take a peek at the same storm that Gorky was one (at one stage I was just 1/2 mile to his south observing the storm) while the storm did show some sturcture it was not a supercell - what a waste of low 70's Dew points - worst is...this was the last chases now for a number of days..

LOL there was a reason that I chased (but still busted) in Kansas yesterday as I wanted to over night in Salina ready to drop South and East (Kansas)

I tired my luck with the surface low in NW Kasas (on the Dry Line / Cold front tripple point) but busted - ) still I wanted to be in Salina tonight (ready to postion for tomorrow's setup- I am not liking Texas right now... My target is actually KS/MO so I figured that a run out to there would fill my day if nothing else.

Chance of a chase tomorrow in South West Nebraska on the high plains - *if* we can get any moisture up there..

I want to start by saying how sad I am to hear of the tremendous loss of life during today’s storms. (19 and counting) I also want to say that I will NEVER ever chase down in South East Oklahoma again – it is impossible! Started the Day from OKC where our initial target was Fort Smith, Arkansas. Observed three high based Cells to the North and West of Fort Smith before deciding to target new cell development that has formed on advancing dryline in Eastern Oklahoma – Sadly our intercept route took us through the dreaded Quachtia Forest and mountains of SE OK. Was able to position on the middle supercell perfectly – trouble is a damm mountain was in the was of the notch – not to worry decided to get the “tail end” supercell – near to Broken bow. 15mph curvy roads and racing forward motion of the supercell meant that we had to core punch North of Broken Bow in order to get a view of the meso – too late! Rain curtains moving North West across the road told us that the meso was danger close and a wind shift to the South West confirmed that the meso had crossed the road just to our south – after proceeding with caution the top half of a tornado was observed briefly (5 seconds) as it came out of the rain not 300 meters to our South on the left of the road. This was tornado confirmed as we shortly crossed a damage track (downed power poles / broken trees on Highway 259, 4 miles north of Broken bow. Due to the roads / trees / mountains this was a frustrating chase which I wont bother with again in the future. I got 0 pictures and 0 video of the tornado but it was observed by many who were with me.