Revisiting a Tornado Experience

“The rain was more like a vaporized mist/fog, moving very rapidly. Then it began to shift around in all sorts of directions. There was a little bit of small hail, but for the most part it was this very spooky, fast moving mist/fog that would shift around quickly from all directions, sometimes even going UP! If felt as if several people were outside my chase vehicle shaking it from different directions.

I thought “Oh my God, NOOOOO! OH please NO!” I knew there either was a tornado very nearby or was right on top of me.”

That is an quote from a story I wrote back in May of 2007.

With all the stories coming out of the south lately from the recent tornado outbreak, I got to thinking about an experience I had with a nighttime tornado last May. I was also reviewing some video for a little chaser get together we had here in the Panhandle and came across the video from the dashcam that night.

While I still couldn’t see anything, the sounds of that night haunted me all over again. You see, I was caught in a tornado at night, due to poor judgment during a chase. I wrote a story about my experience just after that happened, and have published it on the main website.

I was compelled to revisit how I felt about that, with primary chase season right around the corner. I’ll share some of my thoughts and feelings about it with you here now.

As with all things, time dulls the point on traumatic events in our lives, as it has here with me. I had to keep chasing after that, if nothing than I had contractual obligations I had to fulfill. Some of those chases were at night. It was EXTREMELY stressful for me, but I got through it, like I always do somehow during tough times.

During most of this winter, I have been largely unmotivated to get out and chase any winter events, and my thoughts about an upcoming spring and a chance to chase severe weather again have been punctuated with periods of complete disinterest, followed by great anticipation. Reading again what I wrote back in May that now seems so long ago, and reading of some of the recent tornado victims experiences, had prompted dreams of my own home and town being ripped apart by a tornado, and dreams of the experience of trying to restart life after that. It’s been quite an emotional experience. One I hope I never have to endure outside of dreamland.

While my experience was traumatic enough, at least I had no pieces to pick up. I had no home to rebuild. I had the luxury of leaving that event behind in the Texas Panhandle, only to be reminded of in my writings and in my dreams and maybe the occasional flashback on the road. In that regard I am fortunate.

I have came to the conclusion that I must continue to chase storms. I have known all these years what they could do. I knew the extra risks I take by getting closer than many feel comfortable with. I now will be much more unlikely to try and beat a storm to an intersection I need for safe interception, especially at night. But I don’t think I can let that experience beat me, because to do that would allow it to take a piece of my spirit away from me. In way that is ironic, because much of my spirit I get from my experiences with nature on the plains.

It’s all to clear to me now how mother nature can take away the life she gave, and just as quickly, be it a blade of grass, a tree, a cow, or a human being. It’s a delicate balance we have with nature. One I believe I will be paying much more attention too. I have seen many incredible and tragic things on the road over the years caused by weather. A few have made me consider never chasing again. But then I realize, that I am only an observer being allowed by nature herself to view and document such things. I am powerless to make or prevent it from happening. My being there won’t make it any worse, and perhaps a report or two I hand in will make it better for someone, somewhere. Perhaps the sharing of my chase experiences through pictures and video helps others in some way, or at least brings them along that journey with me. Just perhaps somewhere in all of this, there is a greater good being done in my being out there on the road every time the storms start rolling.

So come the first good storm day, no doubt I will be out there again, even if a little apprehensive now, taking in the incredible sights this planet’s atmosphere offers and bringing it right back here for those that care to come and view. Something will be different this time. Something I can’t quite put my finger on. A feeling? An emotion? I don’ t know. Perhaps that was the beginning of a journey I will find the answers to out on some deserted road, with the wind to my back and a supercell in my face.