What a day!! After blasting south
out of Kansas to get down near Plainview Texas, we finally caught
up with the tornado warned storms that went up there. We encountered
2 tornadoes at very close range. The first started as a slender
white
cone that grew in size and turned dark
and dusty as it crossed the road directly ahead of us.
It was a very dramatic
tornado indeed but this was just a preview
of things to come. Shortly after the first encounter, another
dusty tornado formed in the field right beside us. It grew into
a large, complex multi-vortex
tornado and we found ourselves trying
to cut ahead of it but there was no time. We were in the "Bear's
Cage", caught between the tornado and the giant hail that
was now wrapping around it. We had no choice but to retreat at
the last second as we were on the edge of the circulation. Fellow
Ontario chaser, Dave Patrick was there as well and his video camera
instantly fogged up from the rapid drop in air pressure. Our new
problem was the giant
hail that was now pounding us like a
gorilla on the roof of the van. We sustained a lot of damage including
a smashed windshield & passenger rear
window, destroyed windshield wipers,
a damaged antenna and various other dents. Some other chasers
(Chris Kridler, Dave Lewison, Scott McPartland & Pete Venture)
got pounded up even worse than us with tremendous damage to their
vehicles. It's now 1:30 A.M. and we've managed to limp back to
Amarillo. Probably my most intense chase day ever!
