April 24th 2010 Extreme chase day

This chase log could probably be summed up in one word..."AAAAAHHHHHHH!". But where is the fun in that?

This day consisted of every single emotion you could probably think of. Our chase started late Friday afternoon when we left our town and headed to our initial target city of Birkley, AR. We arrived around 11pm and bunked down to for the night. Hopes were high that Saturday there would be a major outbreak with a high risk going to be issued. Sure enough when we woke up at 6am the SPC issued a high risk a little further south of us in MS into LA and AL.

Our target city shifted east into MS to Batesville, MS. It was at this time excitement was getting high! Then the issues began. Radar began to fail (would only update every 30 minutes at best) while the entire time the massive supercell in LA was forming. Thinking things couldn't get any worse, our cell card broke and our data abilities completely gone. All we had was GPS and a weather radio. It was at this point I believed our 1300 mile chase was going to bust and I honestly nearly broke into tears in defeat

While my dad was in the gas station getting some food, trying to figure out something to salvage the chase, a horrible message came across the weather radio. The NWS in Jackson, MS just issued a tornado EMERGENCY for Yazoo City, MS and even broke in personally (instead of the automated message). It was an eerie feeling! My heart sank at this point and I felt horrible for what was about to happen. I hoped everyone was going to listen to this warning but I hate a terrible feeling about it.

I looked quickly at where the cities in the path were, and decided to make a desperate move in an attempt to salvage the chase. We were headed for Durant, MS on I-55...the entire time the tornado emergency airing on weather radio. Halfway down to Durant, a new report flowed in saying Yazoo City was hit by a large wedge tornado with numerous injuries and severe damage. Again...I was terrified for the people in the path of the tornado

We arrived near Durant over 15 minutes before the tornado was supposed to reach the city and sat at a vantage point just off I-55 facing southwest. As we were watching Durant, MS was issued under a tornado warning with sirens blaring in the background. Just over the horizon above the trees, we could begin to see an "area of interest" with a massive amount of motion into what was still a large tornado on the ground. At this point, I made a stupid mistake that nearly got us injured or killed. The inflow into the large tornado fooled me into thinking storm motion was in that direction

The decision was then made to move to east of Durant and find another vantage point. As we were driving through the center of Durant we began to get pelted with tree debris like I never had before. Tree limbs were coming just like it was raining. I knew we were in some deep trouble and began to get scared for the first time in storm chasing. Last I had heard there was a large wedge tornado that may had done EF5 damage. Was this my last day on earth alive?

In the center of town, we turned left to go east and saw right in front of us rain curtains beginning to rotate. Thinking the tornado was off to our right I told my dad to floor it and get out of town NOW! Just as we came around the curve we could see the inflow winds picking up the rain on the road and sucking it into the tornado. We all at the same time screamed STOP! Coming to a screeching halt, we could see the edge of the tornado coming through the trees, 200ft to our right. Thanks to my dad's quick reaction, he threw it reverse. The whole time we could see the trees in front of us collapsing and breaking. We were so close that our truck was nearly rolled by the RFD into the tornado! And at our closest point, we were only 100ft or so away from this tornado!

Once reality set in that we nearly drove into a tornado, exhilaration and excitement set in. Did we just do what I thought we did? I made several attempts to call into 911 and let them know a tornado was STILL on the ground heading northeast but could not maintain a signal long enough. I felt completely and totally helpless, and again at this point I wanted to burst into tears in frustration. Our report not getting in COULD have someone killed further downstream. We made an attempt to catch back up with the storm but with the terrain and no data, we thought better of it and turned back around to Durant.

Sure enough, trees were uprooted and limbs snapped right where we had been only a few minutes before. We surveyed the area to make sure everyone was alright but to us it seemed like the damage was limited to trees with minor damage to homes (consistant with high end EF1 or low end EF2).

Go to this link to see the storm relative velocities from Jackson, MS radar: Reflectivity/Velocity images

So what did I learn from this chase? Make certain you know storm motion and direction! My mistake nearly injured/killed me, my dad and a couple friends of mine. I also learned just how many emotions you can feel during a chase. We all went from excitement, to complete and total despair and defeat, back to excitement and terror. I cant even imagine what the victims of Yazoo City, MS felt and the storm chasers who arrived right after it struck. Honestly...I'm kind of glad I WASN'T there, and I don't think I would have been ready for it mentally. I have CERT training...but some of the gruesome things I heard from chasers there it was horrible. We nearly drove to Yazoo City, MS and I wish I had to lend a hand but at the time we felt we'd get more in the way than anything. Just something to remember for next time really. It sounds bad...but something like this will happen again eventually

Just my thoughts on this chase. It was definitely an eye opener to me and glad that it wasn't our last