Rich on the Road

Watching another round of storms roll in tonight with visiting family members -- folks from California, for whom our Texas thunderstorms are truly frightening.  They rarely see anything approaching this fierceness of rain and wind.  Just looking at the radar -- all the reds and yellows and swirling systems -- clearly makes them nervous.  And the big thunder boomers make them jumpy.

 

Photo courtesy: imacmike

On the other hand, having grown up on the northern end of Tornado Alley (farm country in southern Minnesota) this seems pretty tame.  In fact, I've always enjoyed a good thunderstorm.  Angry thunderheads building on the horizon, spectacular light shows, are good entertainment.  At least, until baseball-sized hail starts knocking holes in the roof and gusts of wind begin tearing the fence down. 

Over the years, I've had a chance to do stories with professional storm chasers and the tourists who spend thousands of dollars to tag along with them in search of violent weather.  It's a growing industry.  Last spring I spent two days chasing with Martin Lisius's outfit Tempest Tours.  We went nearly to Wyoming in search of tornadoes and the storm systems that spawn them.  Actually caught a funnel cloud on tape, though it never touched the ground.

The day may come when thunderstorms lose all their entertainment value for me.  That sort of happened with my hurricane chasing career -- after I actually caught one in South Carolina -- Hurricane Hugo in the late 80s if I remember right.  Spending the night in a hurricane shelter with the windows crashing in took all the "fun" out of it.  I never volunteered for the assignment again.  Though, I was sent a few times anyway.

Here's hoping this one stays entertaining.  And, doesn't do any serious damage.

Rich

 

A friend who blogs by the name of clearskies sends along beautiful pictures taken from the 43rd story of a building in downtown Dallas last Tuesday.

Clear skies writes in part:

"...tough day for driving; but certainly a beauty from the perspective of the 43rd floor.  It seems that perspective is the key to all beauty."

Just thought I'd share.

Rich

I grew up in Minnesota.  I'm the only one in my clan that made it out.  The rest -- still up there.  In what is turning out to be a bitterly cold winter.  I offer the following story as exhibit #1 in the case for why I shall never live there full time again.

 MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - It lived up to its name: The temperature in International Falls fell to 40 below zero Monday, just a few days after the northern Minnesota town won a federal trademark making it officially the "Icebox of the Nation."

It was so cold that resident Nick McDougall couldn't even get his car trunk lid to close after he got out his charger to kick-start his dead battery. By late morning, the temperature had risen all the way to 18—below zero.

"This is about as cold as it gets, this is bad. There's no wind—it's just cold," said McDougall, 48, a worker at The Fisherman, a convenience store and gas station in the town on the Canadien border.  "People just don't go out, unless you have to go to work."

Residents of the area use electric engine block heaters to keep their cars from freezing.

"You plug in your car, for sure, and you put the car in the garage if you can," McDougall said. His garage is full of other things, so he had to park outside—a "big mistake."

The previous record low in International Falls was 37 below, set in said meteorologist Mike Stewart at the weather service in Duluth. The cold was expected, he said: "When the winds finally died off and the skies cleared off, it just dropped."

The temperature also fell to 40 below in Embarrass, 80 miles southeast of International Falls. That's just one degree above the all-time record in Minneapolis, 250 miles to the south, that was set in January the weather service said.

BRRRRRRR

Rich

Something interesting is happening in the politics of Global Warming -- elements on the Right and the Left are trying to pull Americans toward the Center.

On the Right, Newt Gingrich is telling conservative supporters they need to take climate change seriously, that the evidence of it is overwhelming and that we need to do what we can to protect the environment.

On the Left, new voices are trying to convince their people that "doom and gloom" tactics won't get anything done, that instead they need to get to work on promoting new technologies and tactics that promote change.

The New York Times has a a short video report on its internet site that lays it all out.  Take a look.

http://video.on.nytimes.com/?fr_story=e9e69b28dbb10
f15ccc2eab7e179fa8fc0f59b7e

 Rich

All of us have grown weary of the never-ending deluge that this spring and early summer have become.  But, no one is more beat down about it than our dedicated weather staff -- Dan, Evan, Ron and Maria.  The constant stream of flash flood warnings and watches, the storms that require extra vigilance and keep them here all hours of the night -- they don't show it on the air but, I know, it's been a tough few weeks.

And, matters have been compounded by vacations.  Ron Jackson, who is constantly in a backlog situation with his vacation (take it now or lose it) and Evan have scheduled time off in June when, normally, it is sunny and dry and there's not much to forecast.   Ron will be back next weekend, but, until then, the rest of the staff is taking up the slack.

We often joke about telling the weatherman (or in Maria's case weatherwoman)  to make it stop raining.

Believe me, right now -- if they could -- they would!

Rich

Heading Home From Flooding on the Brazos

Freaky moments surrounding the 10pm live shot on the Brazos River near Tin Top. Terrible timing -- doing TV in the middle of a Mayfly hatch. Thousands of what look like giant mosquitos (creepy but harmless) swarming off the water and entranced by our lights, swirling around my head, crawling on the back of my neck. It's moments like that where I earn my pay.

Now fog has rolled in, making the drive home a little spooky. Hopefully, it will clear when we hit the freeway.

Just as we were leaving the river started rising a little more dramatically. It will be a nervous night for folks along the river. But from what we're hearing there has not been a lot more rain upstream.

Rich

Brazos River South of Tin Top

A trio of young men with a rubber raft (we think it's the same bunch from earlier who were chased off by firefighters and sheriff's deputies before they could launch on the other side from where we're standing) are making a show of getting ready to take a ride in the flooding Brazos. We're trying hard to ignore them, guessing that publicity would only encourage something stupid. It's a reminder of how determined some people seem to be to put themselves in harm's way.

Thankfully, this story gets -- apparently, at least -- less dire by the moment. We've had some sprinkles here but no hard rain and I've been watching the radar for rain upstream at Possum Kingdom Lake and have'nt seen any. That could change in a hurry but for now it's looking better.

We did our live shot for Fox4 at the top of the nine pm newscast and then, about 9:15, did a repeat for the Fox affiliate in Houston. In my ear, I could hear another reporter doing her thing from Marble Falls in the Hill Country. Sounds bad there.

One more live shot at ten and then we'll bolt for home.
Unless the yahoos in the raft get in trouble and have to be rescued. It would be hard to ignore that.

Rich

South of Tin Top

The Brazos is rising but not as fast as we feared it might. Flood stage is 25 feet. It's over that now and expected to crest at about 28 feet -- bad but not catastrophic.

David Tafalla and I are working out of the satellite truck at a boat ramp where FM 2580 crosses the Brazos just south of Tin Top. The flood of '91 was the last one here and it had water lapping at the bottom of the bridge. It will have to go 10-15 feet higher to do that again. And, if it does, where we're at now will be under water. But we've set out markers to keep track of how fast the river is rising and in the four or five hours we've been here it's only gone up a couple of inches. We've also got the news vehicle pointed toward higher ground.

Three floodgates have been opened at Possum Kingdom Lake. It will take a few more hours for that water to get here. Local authorities seem to think if the Corps of Engineers doesn't open up a 4th floodgate, things shouldn't get much worse.

Tin Top volunteer firefighters, sheriff's deputies, and EMT's are standing by here -- along with a fluctauating crowd of spectators. Across the river we watched a couple of yahoos try to launch a rubber raft in the river. Stopped by the firefighters they left, vowing to launch elsewhere. Not smart but about par for the course in this kind of event.

It has sprinkled on and off here but skies are clearing.
Fingers are crossed.

Rich

Flood Chasing in Parker County

I had other plans for tonght but the deadly deluge of 2007 has intervened.
Photographer David Tafalla and I are headed for Parker County where the Brazos River is over its banks and forcing evacuations. Photographer Paul Beam has been shooting video in a subdivision south of Weatherford called Horseshoe Bend -- where folks are packing up and getting out -- one of five communities along the Brazos that have been declared disaster areas and where residents have been ordered to evacuate by Parker County Judge Mark Riley.

That's the area I'll be concentrating on tonight (unless events take us elsewhere) so I will try to keep you updated here on what David and I encounter. We will, of course, be filing stories at 5,6.9 and 10 on Fox4. We'll hook up with Paul and the Sky 4 team, gather the video and begin to produce packaged and live reports.

Just weeks ago Possum Kingdom Lake was down by several feet. Now it's full and the Corps of Engineers has been forced to open flood gates -- threatening communities all aong the river to Lake Granbury and beyond. Flood stage is 16 feet. The Brazos is still rising and could crest above 21 feet tonight.

Pray for the rain to cease.

We'll keep you posted.

Rich

Somewhere North of Amarillo in either Colorado or Oklahoma

David and I are on the move, with the prospect of spending this entire Friday just trying to keep our Dodge Durango between the ditches. It gives me lots of time to ponder.

I get statistics each day on how many individual users view this modest attempt at blogging and it looks like several hundred of you have been following the sporadic posts over the last two days. I think it may give you a good idea of what it takes to produce a TV news feature. It reminds me of a saying that's popular in the Army -- "Hurry up! And, wait." We've done a lot of hurrying up and waiting. Thursday we spent 11 hours driving -- from 9am to 8pm Dallas time -- before we finally caught a big dramatic super cell. And, then, David had to scramble like mad to get the video he needed before the sun went down. The resulting feature, I hope, will be action-packed and exciting to watch. The process of producing it was most often painfully slow.

I penned a comment in the last blog Friday about how the"elite" on the east and west coasts largely view those of us in the middle as "fly-over country." Or, as one of my brothers is fond of saying, "just a bunch of beer-drinking Jesus freaks from fly-over country." I don't drink much beer these days but I'll cop to being a Jesus freak. And, this really would be alien country to someone who has spent their entire existence in Manhattan. I grew up in a tiny town not unlike several we've driven through over the last two days. I would not want to go back. I'd go stir crazy without the amenities I now enjoy in suburbia. But, I know also, that for someone who enjoys rural life the insanity of the city would make them miserable. I love New York but living there would be a challenge. God has blessed me with a great job in a big TV market (6th largest now) that suits me just fine -- and allows me regular opportunities to get out and see the wide open spaces.

I'm just a little sick of seeing them right now.

Rich

Fort Morgan, Colorado We finally caught a super cell that spawned a series of tornados -- and as predicted in northeast Colorado. We got a dramatic show -- a layered ceiling of black, roiling clouds, lightning and wind -- all nicely illuminated by the setting sun. But, no twister showed itself to our intrepid, international group of chasers and the whole effort left photographer David Tafalla and me a very long way from home -- a verrrryy long way from home.

Thank God for mobile internet service. I got on the computer and found us a hotel in Lamar, Colorado. It's at least a two and a half hour drive from here. That puts us in after midnight with a 9 or 10 hour drive home in the morning. This is one of those road trips that will be remembered as a lot more fun after it's over and a few weeks in the rearview mirror. But, for the Brits and Tank the American there are eight more days to chase and they've departed east for wherever Bill decides tomorrow's prospects are best for intercepting tornadic storms. I must say, I'm not sure I could hold out for another week plus. From early in the morning till late at night. That is the life a storm chaser, as the Tempest Tour group is learning.

 For the Brits it's been a double dose of Americana -- seeing our unique severe weather, along with a good deal of the America they would never see on a standard tour -- the back roads and small towns that the "elite" in the east like to call "fly-over country." Personally, it's the America I'd like the rest of the world to see and experience. But, I'm tired and sick of driving and ready to be home. Unfortunately, that's a long ways a way. Rich

Eastern Colorado

We've been on the road forever! Or at least it seems like forever. Eastern Colorado is flat and as unscenic as any place I've encountered in America. It makes Iowa look like the Swiss Alps. And, so far at least, it's not producing any weather --though Bill R. assures us the conditions remain ripe for the development of super cells. If it's going to happen it needs to happen soon. As I write this it is approaching 5pm and the skies are still very blue with just a few friendly looking clouds off to the north and west. We need angry-looking, huge thunderheads, roiling with black and gray clouds -- anvil shaped monsters to terrify the locals and produce our perfect, photogenic twisters. Preferably, in some flat stretch of wheat fields with good emergency-exit highways.

We'll keep you posted.

Rich

The lunch stop today is at the K-Bob steakhouse in Dumas, Texas. Still three hours from "where we want to be," says Bill Reid, who is running this show. It's looking more like southeast Colorado instead of the northeast part of the state which is good news for David and my drive back tonight and tomorrow

During an Amarillo stop for gas this morning and a quick side trip the the Big Texas -- famous for it's 72 ounce steak meal -- free if you can consume it all in under an hour -- our five tourists from Great Britain got some great Texas flavor.
Limos pulling up with longhorns on the hoods. Ten-gallon hats, lots of Old West color. The High Plains are in bloom with wildflowers, we're passing horses and cows and oil wells in the Panhandle. It clearly strikes them how flat wide open our spaces are.
Andrew Cockerell from Eastleigh, England told us last night that the first day of storm chasing had already "greatly exceeded my expectations." Hopefully, we can continue that trend with more dramatic storms today.
Rich

Childress, Texas

This trip is turning out to be more than I bargained for. I fully expected to range as far north as Oklahoma. Even Kansas. But, I've just been informed by Scott that our target today is NORTHEASTERN COLORADO! Here we go. Photographer David Tafalla and I had planned to chase through tonight and then head back to DFW. It may take us two days to get home.

That said, we are having a blast! The group of Brits is delightful and the one American (a big burly guy with a silver crewcut named Richard AKA "Tank") is just as fun and enthusiastic.

The alarm woke me a lot earlier than I wanted. I'm stiff and sore. Not sure why. But, raring to go.

The one fly in the ointment on the home front -- Catherine called late last night to say that part of the backyard fence is down. Not the news I wanted to hear. But, no one hurt. Play on.

Rich

Aftermath of the Storm
Headed North and West

Wow! What a wild ride it's been already for myself, photographer David Tafalla and the Tempest Tour storm chasing expedition. I'm just catching up now at a chicken joint in Decatur with the storm past us and tracking northeast. Storm chasing is over for the day and, having determined that the best chance for super cells tomorrow is in southeastern Colorado, the Tempest Tour gang is on the road for there. We have called ahead and booked hotel rooms in Childress, Texas for the night now -- still about a six-hour drive from where we will need to be Friday afternoon. This storm chasing is hard work.

Our first weather encounter came about 4:30 today just north of Granbury. We'd been heading toward Stephenville and a monster storm when we encountered a smaller rogue cell that ended up producing a couple of twisters. We saw one near Godley. It came out of the cloud and about halfway to the ground before being swallowed up in the storm squall. Storm chasers try to stay ahead of or behind the storms, so they can film them. We ended up right in the middle of a couple nasty squalls as we navigated back roads -- following the storm on radar and trying to anticipate where it was headed and what it would do. A lot of rain, high winds and some fantastic lightning displays as we wound through Joshua, Cleburne and northwest into Tarrant County.


All this is very exotic for the five Brits on our tour. Thunderstorms are rare there -- tornadoes almost never occur. In fact, the storms in Tornado Alley (a large swath through the Central Plains) are unique to the planet.

Bill Reid is leading this tour, along with Scott Weberpal (a college student from Wisconsin) and they are driving us hard. We've already been warned not to drink a lot after 3pm because no stops are made when storms are being pursued. The t-shirts they've handed out have a cartoon on the back with a tour leader telling the group "No we can't make a potty stop! We're chasing an F-5 Tornado."

We'll sleep tonight -- then be back on the road at 9am. I'll check back with you all at breakfast.