Aggielife
Page 3
Monday • April 21, 1997
Rain, hail and tornadoes
entice Texas A&M
* ■"
71
he lightning flashes like a strobe light in the background of a
large funnel cloud. Ninety mph winds rock cars, as softball-
ize hail plummets from the sky. Citizens run for cover, but storm
chasers run to the storm.
Story by Shea Wiggins
Artwork by James Palmer
Storm chasers are common in the “Tornado
Alley” region of the United States, which in
cludes Oldahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and North
Texas. A new organization this fall will bring
Texas A&M student storm chasers together in
the hunt for severe weather conditions.
Texas A&M Mobile Severe Storms Data Ac
quisitions (TAMSSDA), plans to offer meteorol
ogy club members and graduate students a
chance to see what nature’s most powerful
forces are all about.
The students will aid the National Weather
Service in verifying severe weather warnings.
Jason Jordan, an organizer of TAMSSDA and
a sophomore meteorology major, has chased
storms for three years.
“You only get so much from textbooks,” he
said. “Books show you one picture of a tornado,
but when you go storm chasing, you see that no
(two) tornadoes are the same.”
Storm chasers in TAMSSDA will be notified
when there is a chance for storms, Jordan said.
He said he wants the organization to have three
vehicles chasing storms, and other students in
the Eller Oceanography and Meteorology Build
ing can report severe weather to the chasers on
walkie talkies and possibly cellular phones.
Senior meteorology major Adam Houston,
who is also helping start TAMSSDA, said storm
chasers enjoy the chase.
“It is kind of a cult,” he said. “Like a hunt—it is
very testosterone-laden. We get together and tell
old war stories and [boast] whether we forecasted
storms correctly or not. It is like a boy’s club.”
He said student storm chasers typically set
aside a week at a time to chase, because long dri
ves to severe weather are hard for students to fit
in their schedules.
Houston has seen many tornadoes in the
seven years he has been chasing. A large torna
do in Thorton, Texas, surprised him and four
other chasers taking pictures of a storm.
“We heard die tornado warning, and we were
looking and looking,” he said. “We felt that qui
et eerie calm, and suddenly one of the drivers
said ‘What the hell is that?’ A tornado crossed the
road five miles ahead of us, and we could see it
through the lightning.”
Houston said he and Dr. Louis Wicker, an as
sistant professor of meteorology, saw multiple
tornadoes in the Panhandle in 1995.
“The storm was a F5 rating—the highest for
a storm, based on damage,” Houston said. “A
smaller tornado was going around a larger tor
nado, and an 82-knot gust nearly rolled a car in
front of us over.
"We felt that quiet eerie calm, and
suddenly one of the drivers said
'What the hell is that?' A tornado
crossed the road five miles ahead
of us, and we could see it through
the lightning."
Adam Houston, senior meteorology m^jor
“We didn’t know whether to go forward or
not. We couldn’t see the tornado, even though it
was one-and-a-half miles wide, because the vis
ibility was so bad.”
Wicker, who has chased for about 18 years,
said he has seen about 35 to 40 major tornadoes.
“When I started, it was an oral tradition,”, he
said. “You just talked to people who did it in the
’70s. Now there are storm-chasing web pages.”
Wicker said a typical storm chase covers 300
miles a day, and longer chases can average 700
to 800 miles.
“It amazes me more people haven’t been
hurt, going 12 hours or more on the road in poor
weather conditions,” he said. “But there has only
been one person I have been aware of that died.”
People who do not understand meteorolo
gy should not make storm chasing a hobby,
Wicker said.
“It is a big commitment of time, energy
and knowledge,” Houston said. “I guess that
is why it is not as attractive as something like
playing baseball.”
Jordan said TAMSSDA members will be
limited.
“It is dangerous, and we have to keep the risks
down,” he said. “Eventually, once we get started,
maybe we can take other students.”
Wicker said storm chasers chase on high
ways, not fields, and chase in all vehicles, ex
cept motorcycles.
John Fulton, a sophomore meteorology
and computer science major who has chased
for three years, said his father influenced his
love of chasing.
“He was a relay guy for those who spotted
storms,” he said. “I am more of a hurricane guy
myself, but growing up in North Dakota, there
are not a lot of hurricanes.”
Fulton said he has seen funnel clouds, but
nothing he could prove was a tornado. He has
had more luck when he was just driving than
when he actually chased.
He said storm chasers must be trained to go
out into the danger.
“The people in Twister acted like idiots,” he
said. “If you don’t know what you are doing, you
shouldn’t go.”
Weather services offer “sky-warn” seminars
to train people properly to be storm chasers and
spotters, Fulton said.
Wicker said College Station has not seen a
tornado since 1989, but warns students that the
next two months is the most likely time of the
year for tornadoes.
“Keep your eye on the sky,” Wicker said.
Houston said the organization will use
members forecasting skills and knowledge of
storm forms to call in severe weather to the
National Weather Service.
"We are not just a bunch of yahoos out
there running off of adrenaline and endanger
ing lives,” he said.
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846-TUTOR (88l_
Look for our ads on
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TAMU
Class of 1997 Announces
Step Off. . . into the Spotlight
^ Senior Week
Karaoke KickOff
Tuesday, April 22
Bullwinkle's Bar and Grill
waol lv DNiiavis ihdijsi tty txovmvn;
WHAT’S IT LIKE AT THE PLASMA CENTER?
To the staff of the Plasma Center,
I would like to start by saying thank
you to each and every employee for making the
past three years enjoyable in a professional,
efficient and courteous environment. As a
donor since 1993, I have been more than satis
fied with every aspect of your operation, which
allows myself and others to contribute what we
can to community service, all the while being
serviced by diligent, but relaxed, workers.
Everyone at the Plasma Center, from those
behind the front counter to the phlebotomists
to the supervisors, have made great efforts to
insure that each donor feels hygienically safe,
as well as keeping the atmosphere light.
Like most, I started coming to the
Plasma Center for monetary reasons, but I
soon developed acquaintances that appealed to
me almost as much as the original need for
money, enabling me to look forward to each
donation, not only for my wallet’s sake but also
to see my friends. Like I commented to some
one recently, talking to people at the Plasma
Center was like getting mail from a far-off
friend that you don’t get to do much with, but
who you can talk to as often as you write. For
those acquaintances and for your continual
services. I would like to thank all of those I’ve
come to know and appreciate over the past
three years - Emily, and Tracy, Heath, and
Marty, Ada and Josie, etc... more I can’t
remember or those who have gone on to better
things.
So, as I graduate from this great
University, I bid you all a fond farewell and
strong commendations on such a successful
blend of quality medical practice and friendly
service. Thank you all and have a great sum
mer. Thanks, C.E
BiologicalS
THE PLASMA CENTER
700 E. University Dr.
268-6050
4223 Wellborn Rd.
846-8855