As real as it gets

By Denise McDonald Cosper

Climatology professor David L. Arnold discusses the radar information with student Mark Avery. (Photo by Fred Faulk)

The job of a stormchaser is a study in contrasts-alternating between adrenaline rushes and boredom, hoping to see something memorable. Often, a chase ends with the group having seen nothing spectacular.

But stormchasers from Mississippi State's Broadcast Meteorology Program-the North Mississippi Storm Intercept Team, or NOMISSIT-don't let the disappointments stop them. They continue chasing storms to provide on-the-ground information to the National Weather Service and to local television stations and civil defense authorities. Their work aids in the warning process, enhances their education, and often provides some thrills as well.

The 52 members of NOMISSIT are mostly Mississippi State students and faculty. The five chase teams of five members each that make up NOMISSIT are sent to an area indicated by radar to have the potential for producing severe weather, including hail, strong winds, lightning, and funnel clouds. They are supported by as many as 27 others: weather personnel, students, and faculty who monitor the storm from the climatology laboratory in Hilbun Hall on the Mississippi State campus.

The chasers are in constant contact, by ham radio, with team members who are monitoring the real-time Doppler radar from six computers, observing images from the National Weather Service in Jackson, Memphis, and Columbus. The chasers use the information from the radar to determine where they need to be to view the storm from the best angle while remaining safe. They relay their observations back to the lab personnel responsible for contacting the National Weather Service, local television stations, and the appropriate civil defense organizations, if the need arises.

When a chase team spots something worth reporting, they can call WCBI-TV in Columbus on a cellular phone provided by the station. Teams have been broadcast live, relating information about a storm.

In Mississippi, the state that leads the nation in tornado deaths, chasers help save lives, says meteorology professor and chase coordinator Dr. David Arnold.

Tornadoes, one of the major threats in severe weather, cannot be confirmed on radar; they must be spotted on the ground. Although the National Weather Service issues tornado warnings based on radar data, the actual existence of a funnel must be visually confirmed.

Various factors contribute to the approximately 32 deaths caused by tornadoes in Mississippi each year. Because so many severe storms occur at night, because many areas are forested, and because storms bring rain in the wall clouds that precede funnels, tornadoes are hard to spot. In the Great Plains, the site of Tornado Alley where more than 300 tornadoes occur every year, most form in daylight, are free of rain, and can be seen more easily on the flat, barren land.

In Mississippi and the rest of the Southeast, funnels tend to cut a somewhat wider and longer path of destruction than in the Plains.

The stormchasers from Mississippi State have been instrumental in expediting the warning process with at least one tornado touchdown since the teams organized in 1994.

In April of 1995, Mississippi State instructor and experienced chaser Mike Brown helped spot a funnel southwest of Columbus. The sighting was called into the National Weather Service and to WCBI-TV. With the on-the-ground report, a warning was issued, and the residents in the Caledonia area were given a 10-minute lead time to protect themselves from the coming storm.

"Even though there was a lot of damage, no one was killed," Brown said. "That lead time is incredible for a tornado. We like to think we saved some people's lives. The National Weather Service in Memphis also has told us that we have helped save lives."

In addition to providing a service to the community, the chasers are furthering their education.

"This is as real as it gets," Arnold says. "They are taking what they learn in the classroom and applying it to the real world. There is no better educational experience in meteorology than comparing radar data with what is really happening on the ground, and then taking that information and using it to determine what is happening with the storm. And where you need to be to see it."

Graduate student Kristy Blasey from Clifton, Ill., said she may be chasing storms in the Plains when she finishes her degree in broadcast meteorology. "I haven't been doing this long, but I may be doing it for a living one day. Before-the-job experience can do nothing but help me."

Brown, a former student of Arnold's who now teaches at Mississippi State, agrees. "Applying classroom knowledge to the real situations can give students a better appreciation for the complexities of the atmosphere," he says. "Before I started chasing with the first group in 1994, we had training from weather service agencies. They came in and taught us how to judge the weather by examining the clouds and comparing that information with what the lab was telling us.

"Now, the more experienced chasers teach the new team members. Each team has at least one experienced chaser so that the new ones are not out alone."

Not only do chasers get an education in the field, they also learn how to interpret the radar imagery in the climatology lab. The five chase teams rotate, with students taking turns in the lab and in the field. The radar computers are the same type the students will use to forecast weather when they become broadcast meteorologists.

Arnold says that by comparing what they see in the real world with the information provided by the radar, the students will become better forecasters and can begin to have confidence in their interpretation of what the radar is telling them.

Weather forecasting is part art and part science, explains Brown, and the experience with real-world storms helps develop the skills that go beyond the scientific forecasting. "The art side of meteorology is instinctive. There comes a time when you have to draw more on your experience than on science, especially when you are on a chase. The information from the radar doesn't always connect with what you think you're seeing," Brown says. "You've got to learn when to trust the radar and when to go with your instincts."

After spending most of the March-to-May severe storm season chasing storms close to Starkville, the teams take their knowledge to the Great Plains for two weeks between the spring and summer semesters. The NOMISSIT team members pack up their laptop computers and go where the storms are, anywhere from New Mexico to South Dakota, sometimes covering more than 5,000 miles.

In the plains, Arnold says, chases can last from daylight to the wee hours of the morning, assuming the weather cooperates, and can cover up to 500 miles.

By using the radar information, the teams pick a place to begin, and if a storm develops, they follow it as far as they can. Since they carry their radar information with them on their laptops, they can travel far without worrying about radio range.

For the Mississippi chases, the teams usually don't travel more than 60 or 75 miles from Starkville because they must rely on the climatology lab for radar information.

Education isn't the only benefit of being a stormchaser. They also enjoy the sheer excitement of the storms, even though some chases can be boring.

"I think the biggest reason I enjoy chasing is the adrenaline," Brown says. "It's Mother Nature at her worst, and you're trying to outwit her. We have to be safe but still get the information we need about the storm. If you are experienced enough, you know when you've got to get out. We watch the speed and the direction of the storm carefully and stay out of its path."

Michael Palmer from Carrollton, Tx., painstakingly records the chase in a journal while Karen Ellinger from Spinghill, La. checks the location of the storm with the radar watchers back at the lab. (Photo by Fred Faulk)

Safety is a key factor in having a successful chase, say both Brown and Arnold. Because the NOMISSIT stormchasers are specially trained by Arnold as part of the broadcast meteorology program, they know what to look for and what to avoid in dangerous storms.

Funnel clouds aren't the only threat, Arnold says. "We tell them where the part of the storm is that we want them to observe, and they do their best to get there. Sometimes, there are no real roads. They have to be careful about driving on gravel roads and in low spots because of flash flooding. They also have to be careful to park off the road so they won't be in the way of other drivers. They have to pay attention to many different factors while focusing on getting the information they need. They are responsible chasers, so we don't usually have problems."

Staying motivated during a chase can be difficult, especially if nothing seems to be happening and if an inexperienced chaser has never seen what a severe storm can look like.

"It may take a total of 10 hours of chasing to see 15 seconds worth of something spectacular," Arnold says. "When we chased a storm from Winona to Columbus (in 1994), we spent four hours and saw a funnel develop and dissipate in about a half a minute. But that memory is going to stay with those chasers forever. It's my job to keep them motivated when things are not going as well as we would like."

The Mississippi State Broadcast Meteorology Program, begun in 1987, serves students in Starkville and all over the United States. It is the only meteorology program with an emphasis in television weather.

Students can earn a certificate, a bachelor's degree, or a master's degree in broadcast meteorology, either on-campus in Starkville or off-campus, through a satellite program. The program has served more than 900 students since its inception.

Program director Mark Binkley says the program serves the needs of students and of television stations that previously were not being met.

"In the past, most television weather forecasters had training in broadcasting or communication, not in meteorology," he explains. "We offer the only program that combines the two. Other programs offer an emphasis in climatology or meteorology, but we add the broadcasting element."

The program serves the students so well that Mississippi State has garnered awards for the last two years in the National Collegiate Weather Forecasting Competition Contest, sponsored by Pennsylvania State University. And with a job placement rate of 100 percent, the training is paying off for the students.

"The name of the game is getting jobs for these students," Binkley said. "And we are doing that. We are pleased with how well the program has been received."

Mississippi State stormchasers Mark Avery from Florissant, Mo., foreground, and Alan Shoemaker from Mercersburg, Pa., search clouds in the darkening sky, relaying information back to weather personnel in the MSU Climatology Laboratory. (Photo by Fred Faulk)

Journal of a Stormchaser

Wednesday, March 6, 1996

7:10 p.m.-We're on our way down Alternate 45 South toward Brooksville to catch a storm heading this way from central Mississippi. This is only my second time chasing these storms, but I hope we can see something this time.

7:25 p.m.-Saw the first cloud-to-ground lightning, way off toward the east. Must have been from a cell that developed after one of the storms passed here since we didn't see the lightning earlier.

7:35 p.m.-A light rain has started. Still heading south, on down to Shuqualak. The storm may not come as far north as Brooksville, so we have to go to it.

7:42 p.m.-Rain is getting harder. We have to slow down because we can't see very well.

7:53 p.m.-Frequent cloud-to-ground lightning as we drive through Macon. Wonder what we'll see tonight.

8:10 p.m.-Stopped just south of Shuqualak. Lightning is almost constant, cloud-to-cloud and cloud-to-ground, still off to the west and to the southwest. Absolutely stunning, almost as bright as day sometimes. Never seen anything like it. Looks like a strobe light. So bright can see the shape of the clouds. No funnels here. Low thunder rumbles in the distance.

8:21 p.m.-Lightning is overhead so we get back in the Bronco. Don't want to be electrified.

8:38 p.m.-Waiting at Shuqualak for a storm from Madison County. Might have the potential for a funnel. Lab reports a mesocyclone-the type of rotation that can indicate a tornado-in the cell.

9:20 p.m.-Storm has moved into Neshoba County. We wait to see if it will hold out and come to us. Don't think we have time to catch it. Temperature is dropping, so storm is losing intensity.

9:25 p.m.-Lightning to southwest is beginning to drop off. Storm is beginning to weaken. Beginning to rain lightly but we head home, hoping to catch a bigger storm another day. Seeing that beautiful lightning made the trip worth it.