About Me
The "why I am, the way I am" (aka - About Me)
^^^ If the reference doesnt make sense, you need to watch Twister again.
Weather has always been a fascination of mine. When I was really young I use to watch the weather channel as much as would watch cartoons. When I would go to the county library I would go directly to the weather books just to see some pictures of tornadoes. I knew back then that I had to see one for myself.
I grew up in the Texas Panhandle (Stinnett for 6 years and then in Borger until I graduated High School), so to see severe storms was never hard as they tend to find you. I remember many different experiences with severe weather when I was young, like the first time I saw baseball size hail. All the funnels/tornadoes I saw before I entered college were done from my backyard. One afternoon I was standing in the backyard watching a storm roll in and I noticed a funnel, so I ran inside and got my parents. We all went back outside and watched the funnel hang down as it crossed into town. We had been watching it probably 5 minutes before the sirens sounded. By this point the funnel was less than half a mile to my north. I still remember the incredible structure as that storm moved off. Years later when we were living at a place east of Borger a storm moved over us on a warm afternoon. We were all outside and I began to notice that we were under a large rain-free base. We were in the "bear's cage". I was looking west when something through some trees to my south caught my eye. There was a funnel halfway to the ground to our SSW. Everyone ran to the basement as I stood under a loading dock on the back of a nearby building. I watched the funnel move directly at me for a good couple minutes as I got pelted with rain and hail, it felt like an eternity. When the funnel was about a mile away, I noticed a large power flash (my first) as the funnel came in contact with the ground becoming my first tornado. The funnel soon dissipated, but as it past above me I could still see the tight spin in the clouds.
Though I didn't get to see the F-4's that went through Fritch, TX (June 27th, 1992) or Pampa, TX (June 8, 1995), I did get to see these monstrous storms from a distance and I still have the images of those towers in my head like they were yesterday. We went through and looked at the damage from both and it only made me want to chase more. Before I got my license I was able to convince my dad on a few occasions to go out and chase into neighboring counties. Only saw a few gustnadoes. After I got my license I went on a few chases coming back with some good pictures, but never a confirmed tornado.
After entering college my knowledge of storms and most importantly I actually learned to forecast. Chasing used to be just a hobby that took up time during the spring, but has since become a something that I think about nearly everyday year-round at this point. I try to chase any given opportunity and living in Amarillo, TX makes it easy to find the storms as they come to me. As long as we are not in a historic drought...
When I am not chasing, I try to get out Palo Duro Canyon and the other sights of the Panhandle with the family. Always looking for new landscapes to photograph. Also I get deeper into aviation photography every year by going to more air shows, luckily they tend to fall outside of storm season half the time.
Yearly Tornado Count (Tornado Days that year):
2024: TBD (0)
2023: 6 (3)
2022: 0 (0)
2021: 6 (2)
2020: 2 (2)
2019: 1 (1)
2018: 0 (0)
2017: 5 (1)
2016: 16 (4)
2015: 15 (5)
2014: 1 (1)
2013: 2 (2)
2012: 15 (4)
2011: 1 (1)
2010: 22+ (8)
2009: 8+ (5)
2008: 8+ (4)
2007: 27+ (6)
2006: 0 (0)
2005: 1 (1)
2004: 3+ (3)
XX-03: 1+ (1)
Total: 140+ (54 tornado days)
Distance from a tornado: 0ft (Wakita, OK May 10, 2010)
Wakita Video - Debris flying in front of my Jeep (@ 2 min 11 sec)
States in which tornadoes were caught:
Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, & Texas
States I chased in without seeing a tornado:
Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, & Wyoming
Months in which tornadoes where seen:
February, March, April, May, June, July, October, & November
Months I chased in which I did not see a tornado:
January, August, September, & December
Feat I am proud of:
Saw tornadoes in 2 different non-adjoining states in one day from different storms (6 hours apart - June 13, 2016 at Trinidad,CO and then Amarillo, TX)
