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VORTEX2 Day 4 Back to Oklahoma

stevesisney — Wed, 13 May 2009 19:57:58 +0000

Bad, overpriced breakfast at my okay hotel in Childress, Texas was followed by watching the VORTEX2 team (they stayed at the Hampton Inn) enjoy relative luxury and a free breakfast. Now it is back to Oklahoma.

Jacob Carley, Purdue, uses his computer in luxary in the lobby of the hotel as VORTEX2 prepares to leave the panhandle of Texas back to Oklahoma on Wednesday, May 13, 2009. Photo by Steve Sisney, The Oklahoman

After four days trying to shoot researchers deploying a research pod in the path of a storm, my safety minded driver drove past the deployment of the distrometer (laser rain guage) and by the time we turned around and I had jumped out of the car, the pod was out and on the ground. I got off three frames with a flash on camera. Two minutes and a mile later, the rain came in sheets, hail made the researchers put on bicycle helmets, and the light dropped to nothing. My flash shorted out after a coouple shots of the outside of the van. With my second camera maxed out at 3200 ISO I had to shoot at 1/15 second at f2.8. One shot was somewhat sharp.

Isaac Hankes and research scientist Glen Romine from the University of Illinois deploy a laser distrometer to measure particle size, rate, and direction (raindrops) as members of VORTEX2 track an emerging super cell in central Oklahoma on Wednesday, May 13, 2009. Photo by Steve Sisney, The Oklahoman

Isaac Hankes and research scientist Glen Romine from the University of Illinois deploy a second laser distrometer to measure particle size, rate, and direction (of raindrops) as members of VORTEX2 track an emerging super cell in central Oklahoma on Wednesday, May 13, 2009. Less than a mile from deploying the first unit, the light falls to almost nothing, the rain comes in torrents, and they must now don head gear to protect from the quarter sized hail. Photo by Steve Sisney, The Oklahoman

–Steve Sisney…

VORTEX2 Gathers in Texas to Wait

stevesisney — Wed, 13 May 2009 05:00:48 +0000

We left Clinton in half panic mode to get to the target area in the Texas panhandle. I’m beginning to think this was just a trial run to see how fast you can muster over 100 people and 40 vehicles. The drive was cold and damp till we got half way into the panhandle (the scientists don’t want the media to disclose the exact location because of safety concerns). We went from temperatures in the 50′s to temps in the 80′s after traveling about 150 miles. We also went from fog to sunshine. The meteorology community had on their shorts and flip flops and I was sweating in jeans and a long-sleeve shirt. I wish they had a clothing forecast.

Erik Rasmussen, co-principal investigator, shows the members of VORTEX2 data and the reason for targeting the Texas panhandle. He is giving the morning briefing in the restaurant of the Ramada Inn in Clinton, Okla. on Tuesday, May 12, 2009 at 10:00 am. The order came to leave immediately for Texas. Photo by Steve Sisney, The Oklahoman

Conrad Ziegler, research scientist with NSSL (left), Renee Curry, OU graduate student and scout car driver, and Mike Biggerstaff, University of Oklahoma professor, confer on a more precise target for the SR1 doppler radar on the third day of VORTEX2 as the team arrives in the panhandle of Texas on Tuesday, May 12, 2009. Photo by Steve Sisney, The Oklahoman

A member of the "Sticknets" mobile mezonet deployment team waits for a super cell thunderstorm to develop early in the afternoon. After leaving temperatures in the 50s in Clinton, Okla. in the morning the temperature at this rest stop approached 90 degrees. The crew of VORTEX2 searched for super cell thunderstorms in the panhandle of Texas. on Tuesday, May 12, 2009. Photo by Steve Sisney, The Oklahoman

For a gallery of Tuesday’s photos click here.

-Steve Sisney…

VORTEX2 Destination Clinton, OK.

stevesisney — Mon, 11 May 2009 17:30:54 +0000

I heard from the Erik Rasmussen, co-chief investigator for VORTEX2, that the best staging area for Tuesday weather is in Clinton, Okla. The vehicles are leaving throughout the day to rendezvous in Clinton. I saw a team member in the parking lot of the Norman Holiday Inn putting Rainx on the windows of her vehicle. She is from Oklahoma City. Saw a guy carrying his computer around the parking lot and thought he was testing equipment. Turns out he is from Italy and was using his laptop web cam to show the radar and other vehicles to his friends and co-workers back home. Small World.

Jennifer Standridge with the National Center for Atmospheric Research puts rain shedding material on her vehicle as the group prepare to leave for Clinton, Okla. on the second day of VORTEX2 prepares to leave for Clinton, OK as a staging area from the Holiday Inn in Norman, Okla. on Monday, May 11, 2009. Standridge is from Oklahoma City. Photo by Steve Sisney, The Oklahoman

Gabriele Formentini from Italy uses his computer web cam to give a tour of the parking lot to his friends back home on the second day of VORTEX2. He and other scientists are preparing to leave for Clinton, OK to stage for Tuesday storms. The Italian audience get a tour of vehicles parked at the Holiday Inn in Norman, Okla. on Monday, May 11, 2009. Photo by Steve Sisney, The Oklahoman

Clinton residents Pauline Lee and her daughter Jennifer Lee couldn't help notice the Doppler on Wheels, command and support vehicles lined up in the parking lot of the Ramada Inn on the second day of VORTEX2 as the team arrives in Clinton, Okla. on Monday, May 11, 2009. Photo by Steve Sisney, The Oklahoman

Doppler on Wheels, command and support vehicles line up in the parking lot of the Ramada Inn on the second day of VORTEX2 as the team arrives in Clinton, Okla. on Monday, May 11, 2009. Photo by Steve Sisney, The Oklahoman

See Monday’s VORTEX2 gallery by clicking here

-Steve Sisney…

Tornado Intercept Delayed by Good Weather

stevesisney — Sun, 10 May 2009 19:31:41 +0000

It’s ironic. After packing my bags, charging my batteries and kissing my wife goodbye, I arrive to the VORTEX2 meeting to find no viable targets are available. Trip cancelled because of good weather.

I did get an idea of the size of the project. The auditorium at the National Weather Service was full of researchers and grad students (most of them peering into laptop screens) who also found out that Sunday would be a day to test equipment instead of a day to travel to severe storms.

Also ironic is the fact that a lot of the science used to predict no super cell storms and no-go for Vortex2 was derived from the information gathered years earlier by VORTEX1.

The indicators for upcoming severe weather that co-principal investigators Josh Wurman and Erik Rasmussen alluded to in the meeting this morning show that we will probably leave Monday to travel to northwest Oklahoma for the first showdown.

George Bryan, National Center for Atmospheric research in Boulder, Colo. and about 100 of the team for VORTEX2 attend the 10:00 am. update and hear that there isn't a target storm for Sunday or Monday on the first day of VORTEX2 at the National Weather Service in Norman, Okla. on Sunday, May 10, 2009. Bryan is in charge of weather baloons for the project. Photo by Steve Sisney, The Oklahoman

Team members Andrew Arnold and Rutger Boonstra work on software as the team uses the first day of VORTEX2 to test equipment and software at the National Weather Service in Norman, Okla. on Sunday, May 10, 2009. Photo by Steve Sisney, The Oklahoman

-Steve Sisney…