I am in Birmingham, Alabama.
After setting out from Norman, Oklahoma at 5am we headed east, passing through the damage path of the previous night’s Mayflower tornado. Shortly after that the other van had an accident.
Everyone was fine but we had to organise a rental for them and lost a lot of time. It also meant in-flight wifi ability was reduced, so expect less updates from the road. As a result. By the time we were South of Memphis chasing the line of storms forming in Mississippi, we were behind.
We managed to catch them up but with daylight fading we thought our chances of seeing a tornado were slim. However, thanks to great guides we got within a couple of miles of one (saw the edge in a lightning flash) and narrowly missed being taken out by a tree. I have that on video somewhere.
Then we stopped for dinner, only to find people in about the only area that wasn’t tornado warned hiding in a cooler and refusing to open the door. Good job there wasn’t a tornado (although if there had been we would have broken the door down). Ate there at the least enthusiastic Subway in the world (Only because the McDonalds was even less enthusiastic and basically shut everything up and went home).
We then tried to make it to Birmingham, Alabama to our hotel. However, we found we were dodging storms. We got in the outer circulation of one – I mean we REALLY did – and then tried to race one to Birmingham. We dropped south which was good because it was a monster and we think it took out our hotel (Phones dead, massive circulation overhead). I’m just glad we got time to phone them and tell them not to stand around watching it but take cover. No idea if hotel still there or not.
We then went out and chased a smaller satellite or handoff tornado. I think I’m pretty good spotting them in the dark. Others got frustrated as they weren’t as good. I briefly played around with screen grabs and contrast
We rolled into our (new) hotel at gone midnight, after nearly 20 hours on the road.
Our guides, who are seasoned pros, said that last night was one of the most insane nights they’ve ever experienced. They kept us safe and guided us between tornado after tornado. Seriously, the weather was insane.
Today should be just as insane, but we should be chasing in daylight, which is a lot safer, and the plan is to get West of the storms before nighttime. Still, a line of cells producing tornado after tornado is pretty rare. If you are trying to follow us on the streams, we should be chasing with Dominator 2 today. Not sure how many updates I can do, but if I can, I will.
Tornado count: 3
Tornado intercepts: 1
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