Midwest Chasing

Get a wide angle lens; shooting with the Sigma 17 is great but if you want more structure you need a wide angle lens.

I need to learn my video camera more too; shooting auto isn’t good.

Here’s some footage of a small tornado that formed outside of the vans:

I had a dream about tornadoes last night; a sign of what might be coming later this week?

I’m currently in Salina, Kansas. There’s not much going on today so I’m heading to Denver/Colorado Springs for the day.

Cod’s Trip 2 is leaving tomorrow; our current targets are bouncing between Olathe, Kansas and Salina, Kansas. Sunday, Monday and Tuesday look pretty bleak as the remnants of the ridge that was dominating the weather pattern finally moves towards the east coast.

Wednesday - Sunday look decent for chasing as the GFS and the Euro are showing a deep trough in the west.

Looks like some Good ole’ fashioned corruption is going on in Crane County, Texas over the Brian Barnes incident. Apparently the arresting deputy is the son in law of the Sheriff, so he’s standing by his son in law’s arrest of Barnes, saying that

“Mr. Barnes took it upon himself to recklessly disregard a reasonable request or order to leave the immediate vicinity where our deputy believed him and fellow passengers to be in a dangerous proximity to funnel clouds that had already produced one reported tornado.”

From the video posted at the KWES news site, Brian did nothing that should have ended up with him being arrested. It sounds like the Sheriff Department in Crane County is just stupid.

KWES in Texas is reporting that Brian Barnes from Silver Lining Tours was arrested and charged for “obstruction of a highway or other passage way”. The article states that he was on a road side park and multiple witnesses said that he wasn’t blocking traffic at all.

The deputy in question sounds like a real winner too. Here are some quotes from the article:

“His first words to me were, ‘are you a blankety-blank idiot?’ He told me if I didn’t leave, I was going to jail, flat out.”

“He jumped out and put me in handcuffs. I turned around and I remember him slamming me up against his vehicle, and then it all got kind of scary.”

http://www.kwes.com/global/story.asp?s=8286980

With tonight’s Alberta Clipper, February 2008 ties the all time February snow record for Chicago. This month was crazy for snow; practically every week had a snow event.

Chasing looks to begin for the season this weekend. The SPC has the southern plains into the Gulf States highlighted for severe weather:

There is a tornadic supercell moving towards Nashville at this hour.
It is heading toward Bellevue, Belle Meade and Downtown. There is an NHL hockey game going on in downtown. It should arrive there about 9:35 p.m.

It looks like Union University in Jackson, MS got hit hard. There are reports of damage to student dorms and cars flipped over.

Damage is extensive in Jackson, Tennessee, including Union University. Media is reporting 86 injuries including 20-30 Union Students. An ABC3340 Weather Watcher relayed a report from a Jackson firefighter who likened the damage to Hiroshima. He reports fatalities. Damage heavy near downtown Jackson.

The “Tornado Hunters” show is currently being shown on Court TV right now. This documentary is about “Outlaw” chasers Randy Hicks and Lanny Dean. It looks pretty good so far but I’m anticipating that the usual suspects will start bitching on Storm Track later tonight.

Lanny’s blog

Chuck Doswell posted another Open Letter on Storm Track which promptly erupted into flames:

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