Photo courtesy of Chris Curtis
Chris Curtis is back in town now after a harrowing vacation in the Midwest chasing tornadoes and other extreme weather events.
“It was one of the more dramatic times I’ve had,” said Curtis, manager of the West Concord Five and Ten. “It ranks high on the list of active, adventurous trips.”
He said the so-called Tornado Alley -- basically extending from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains and from Mexico to Canada -- gets its name because in the spring, the warm winds from the Gulf of Mexico stream into the region, where the upper atmosphere is still cold and dry from the winter.
If there are gaps, or “holes” in the upper atmosphere, the warm air rises through the hole, gathering surrounding resources, and a whirlpool is the result, leading to a tornado with its characteristic funnel cloud.
“You get discrete super cells,” or winds that act alone, which pose the biggest threat to people and property, Curtis said. If enough of the singular cells pop up, they can join and “form a blob” that results in just heavy rain. Not very interesting to Curtis and his tour group of 25 in four trucks that chase storms.
“Rain isn’t very thrilling,” he said. “Single cells are potentially the most severe.” Like the one he saw in Oklahoma City on day two of his two-week jaunt. The first day the group drove into Joplin, Mo., just when the tornado hit.
“Strong tornadoes are rare,” he said. “We saw four or five this year alone.”
He said although he is not an EMT, he was with others who were, so they jumped out of their trucks and tried to help Joslin’s tornado victims. He said the trucks they ride in are decked out with WiFi, GPS systems, several radios tuned to local stations and the weather station, and fire equipment. One of the four was an armored vehicle and all can withstand tornado-like wind and hail.
“In Oklahoma, we saw hail that was about the size of softballs that splashed up four or five feet,” he said. One day, he saw five tornadoes. He said weathermen are regarded as celebrities in those areas, where storms “are some of the most acute in the world.”
Curtis said storm-chasing is a growing phenomenon. When he started eight years ago, there was easy access to the roads, highways and motels for them to navigate.
“Now, there are so many trucks out there that we can’t find a place to pull over at times,” said Curtis. “There are thousands of people chasing storms.”
It is an intense physical and emotional experience, and Curtis said the feeling is one of total focus during a tornado.
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