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OUDAILY
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STORM CHASERS
PROVIDED BY LEAH HILL
A wall cloud in Frederick, Oklahoma, April 10, 2016. The wall cloud comes out of a supercell thunderstorm.
Meteorology students balance safety, thrill
M
eteorology sophomore Bryan Sheridan thought the chase was over. With his car pulled over to the shoulder of the road, he studied the maps on his phone one last time before calling it quits. “It was pretty much dying down. It was looking like we were at the end,” Sheridan said. Suddenly, his partner shouted in excitement. Sheridan looked up to see a rope-like shape rapidly dropping out of a cloud before it dissipated nearly as quickly as it had been created. “Just watching how quickly it happened was probably the coolest part,” Sheridan said. “Finally getting that experience to see something like that right before my own eyes is very cool — it’s very rewarding for all the work that you put in.” When skies darken and billowing white clouds accumulate in the unstable atmosphere, Sheridan and other weather fanatics take to the open roads, hoping to catch a glimpse of the stunning severe weather events promised by a central Oklahoma springtime. Sheridan said many meteorology students chase storms for enjoyment in their free time, unaffiliated with the university, which does not condone storm chasing by students, according to the school’s policy. “It doesn’t do a heck of a lot from an academic standpoint,” Sheridan said. “We do it for fun. The adrenaline rush.” The small funnel cloud Sher idan w itnessed several weeks ago was one of his best sightings to date. Spotting the unconfirmed tornado was the result of stalking the storm for several hours, tracking it from its initiation to its development into a full-fledged, wedge cloud-producing storm cell. But before venturing out into the field, the storm-chasing process begins several days in advance — the research and planning stage, Sheridan said.
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“We’ll hear a few days in advance that there’s potential storms in an area,” Sheridan said. “As it gets closer, we start to look more at models so we can get computers to tell us what’s going to happen.” Leah Hill, a fellow storm chaser and meteorology sophomore, said she plans several days in advance by looking at longrange Global Forecast System models and shorter-term North American Mesoscale forecasts to get an idea of the possible impending weather patterns.
“We like to think we know what we’re doing, and we know the basics — we know what’s going to happen, but we don’t know the intensity of it.” BRYAN SHERIDAN, METEOROLOGY SOPHOMORE
These models give clues like temperatures and dew points to help storm chasers pick a target area to approach, Hill said. Both Hill and Sheridan have their class schedules arranged so they can depart by the early afternoon if storms strike in an area to which they’d like to journey. They pile into cars in teams of three or four and drive several hours away to the area they believe is most likely to produce a storm, Sheridan said. “Right on the south flank of the storm is usually where you get a tornado, so that’s what we want,” Sheridan said. “We want to be outside the storm looking in, so we’re going try to be sure that we’re in that spot. Distance can vary, obviously, but we try to get as close as we can that’s safe.”
Positioning is key to accomplishing the ultimate goal of spotting a tornado and requires both skill and luck, Hill said. “It takes a lot of skill because you have to decide what storm you want to be on, and then you have to make sure you’re in the right position,” Hill said. “I would say even a little bit of luck — storms most of the time don’t produce anything, but every once in awhile, something might get going and you’ll see it.” In unpredictable stormy conditions, there is always the possibility the weather will take a turn for the worse. Sheridan said the dangers are constantly in the back of his mind. “It is very dangerous — like, deadly dangerous,” Sheridan said. “We like to think we know what we’re doing, and we know the basics — we know what’s going to happen, but we don’t know the intensity of it. We don’t know if this thing is going to turn into a mile-wide wedge (tornado).” Sheridan said he tries to mitigate risks as much as possible by planning multiple escape routes, obeying traffic laws, avoiding traffic pile-ups and designating specific roles for each team member, like driving, navigating and photographing. Despite his attempts to alleviate any threat of danger, Sheridan said he has nevertheless found himself in some questionable, nerve-wracking situations. Last spring, he and some friends found what seemed to be a perfect storm-viewing location just north of the Wichita Mountains. However, their one escape route veered uncomfortably close to the path of the storm, which he said had great potential to produce a tornado. “The storm was moving further east quicker than we thought, so it was actually going to hit closer than we had liked,” Sheridan said. “If it were to drop down — which it did not, we were thankful for that for once — it would have been within the
farm next to the road that we were on.” Nail-biting scenarios are not uncommon. Hill said she and her storm-chasing companions once blew two tires on a dirt road while a storm with 100 mile-per-hour winds was barreling toward them. Fortunately, she said they escaped when a friend came to their rescue. “I was pretty terrified, but at the same time, the adrenaline is really pumping, so you’re also really excited,” Hill said. “I wouldn’t say I’ve been in any life-threatening situations yet, but you know, anything can happen when you’re out there.” For Hill, the rewards of chasing outweigh the risks. It’s a form of public service, she said, because she can spot the details a radar may miss and report them to local weather stations. “That’ll help save lives, because you see something that the radar might not,” Hill said. In addition to the thrill-seekers and storm-lovers like Hill and Sheridan who crowd highways during a storm, there are some who take the pursuit more seriously. Addison Alford, a meteorology Ph.D. student, conducts research with OU using Shared Mobile Atmospheric Research and Teaching, or SMART, radar. Alford works with other graduate students and faculty members to conduct field research to better understand the stormscale evolution of various weather phenomena like tornadoes, hurricanes and lightning. The researchers set up a mobile radar truck during severe weather events to collect data, he said. Alford said the difference between storm chasing and mobile radar deployment is primarily their purposes and scientific equipment. “Many storm chasers chase just because they like to go look at a storm,” Alford said. “They do it for different kinds of purposes, but most of the time they’re not out there to actually collect data,
they’re not being funded by a funding institution such as the National Science Foundation to actually go out and collect data.” Alford said field research is necessary to make advancements in the field and improve prediction models. While they are operating in a dangerous situation, however, safety is the No. 1 concern. “We can, in a way, predict what the evolution should be, but, of course, that’s why we’re see STORMS page 2
OU’S STORM CHASING POLICY The university’s policy on storm chasing is fairly simple: OU doesn’t condone it. Here’s the full policy, from the school of meteorology’s website: “The University of Oklahoma’s College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences does not condone or encourage storm chasing by students. “Anyone who chooses to chase storms does so at their own risk and should not imply that their activities are connected with the University. The only possible exception is when students are officially included in storm intercept activities conducted as part of well-planned and safetytrained scientific projects led by faculty or scientists in the National Weather Center research units. “Storm chasing is not part of the School of Meteorology course curriculum nor should such activities take precedence over the academic activities of the School such as coursework and attending classes and seminars.” Source: OU School of Meteorology website