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CHASING DANGER
AMATEURS AND PROFESSIONALS FOLLOW STORMS ACROSS TORNADO ALLEY
// LINDSEY DEITER
As I sit on the patio at Free State Brewing Co., watching the rain fall, a bolt of lightening crawls across the sky like a vein. All heads snap up, eyes wide. These storms, though familiar, never cease to enthrall people with their natural beauty and power.
Greg Loving, McPherson junior, knows this feeling of reverence well. He began chasing storms in high school with a "ragtag group of friends" who had a fascination with thunderstorms. Loving and his crew took advantage of the thunderstorm activity that western Kansas offers, setting out with just a camera, a scanner and a thirst to learn more about weather
Some chasers are brash thrill seekers, a demographic that "gives professionals, who chase for legitimate reasons, a bad name" by putting themselves and others in fruitless danger, says Leo Fabi, a spokesperson for the National Association of Storm Chasers And Spotters. But as amateurs chasing for knowledge and kicks, Loving and his friends respect severe weather's destructive power, always keeping themselves at a safe distance.
During one chase in May 2007, they were caught between following a developing storm north into Nebraska, or heading south to track another. They went north, only to be disappointed by a "bust" — little-to-no storm activity. Their disappointment was short-lived; they soon learned this thunderstorm birthed an EF5 tornado, the Enhanced Fujita Scale's "total destruction" category for tornadic activity. It was this storm that leveled the small town of Greensburg, killing 12 people. Loving says they weren't equipped to be near such a dangerous storm. "We were amateur, spectator stormchasers," Loving says. "Those are for professionals."
The central plains region is a prime environment for severe weather activity thanks to the cool, dry air that comes west from the Rocky Mountains and the warm, moist air that
rises from the Gulf of Mexico, says Scott Blair, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Topeka. Storms breed easily when the two different airs collide.
Adam Smith, Kansas City, Kan., junior, began storm chasing as a hobbyist but is bridging the gap between amateur and professional. Smith, an atmospheric science major, now chases storms with a group of KU meteorology students who call themselves the Fog Chasers.
The group has already seen serious weather this year. They were pursuing a storm near Winterset, Iowa, tracking a cell that looked too small to suggest any action. But they kept at it, driving 70 mph directly into quarter-sized hail, knowing at any moment one of the stones could break the car's windshield. As they got directly under the storm, they climbed out of the car. "We could feel the storm's energy as it approached us," Smith says. "All of a sudden, we felt the storm's updraft lift off the ground. Our jackets pulled up over our heads, and we got hit with this wall of water. It was wild."
Seeing a tornado is the goal for most storm-chasers, but some storms can be just as fulfilling. For Blair, the Topeka meteorologist, who has been chasing storms for 14 years and has seen more than 200 tornadoes in 16 states, each storm is a "snowflake; no two are exactly the same." Blair chases to gather scientific information. "There's almost a spiritual-type connection that you get when you see the open prairie and bright green grass, then all of a sudden you see this 50,000-foot-tall thing developing, evolving, moving, and all these vivid colors," he says. "That draws me back time after time."
Adam Smith would love to become a professional storm chaser, but says few organizations have the resources to have them on staff. "I absolutely would storm chase professionally if I had the opportunity, but it's just not on my radar."
"Oh man," he says. "What a bad pun."
Following the clouds Both photographs were taken near Pond Creek, Okla., by Adam Smith, who was chasing storm cells with his group the Fog Chasers. The top photograph, as Smith explains, was taken on the side of the road 30 minutes northeast of Pond Creek as they watched a storm cell begin to form. The bottom photograph was taken before a chase. The clouds eventually formed a high-precipitation super cell that Adams says "was a great way to start off the chasing season."
Photos by Adam Smith
Leo Fabi is a spokesman for the National Association of Storm Chasers and Spotters (NASCAS), a public information office for professional chasing. Fabi says it's important to differentiate between the types of chasers — namely, the legitimate professionals and those who chase for kicks.
TYPES OF CHASERS
SPOTTERS // A spotter's primary function is to report critical weather information, on a live basis, to the National Weather Service. They do not follow storms, but report severe weather when it occurs locally.
HOBBYISTS // Those who chase storms for personal enjoyment and adventure, as well as to learn more about severe weather. This includes the inexperienced thrill-seekers, and those who are after shocking video footage. "Stormchasing isn't about Youtube videos," Fabi says.
PROFESSIONALS // These are the researchers, scientists, meteorologists and people with media or news stations who follow all aspects of severe weather, including flooding, blizzards, tornadoes, hurricanes, hail and strong winds.
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1. 画直线段长7厘米
spaced across her lower back, the fuzzy borders of residue and lint that days-old Band-Aids leave after removal. But these aren't from Band-Aids. Each square represents a patch adhered to her skin, applying the stimulant methylphenidate to boost alertness, energy and focus. A junior in architecture, Kerwin hoped to bend the limits of time, or at least of her own body, to meet a project deadline. The patches kept her awake for 78 hours straight.
Lizzy Alonzi, a junior in computer science, spent about 30 hours each week on homework for just one programming class. Grueling late nights spent staring at screens in Eaton Hall's computer lab wore down her mental and emotional health every week.
"Erin says I love the car more than her," Heger said.
Steven Heger had been dating Erin Brown for six years when he began building Formula-style cars for Jayhawk Motorsports, the University's automotive racing team and capstone project for
Here and at other universities across the country, time-intensive programs require students to work
mechanical engineering seniors. He works 12 hours a day on the car, Monday through Friday, leaving little time for Erin, now his fiancee.
Illustration by Kirk Whit
Studio, the class and classroom where design models are built, plays a demanding role in the world of architecture students.
The patches Kerwin used were prescribed to her as an ADHD medication. Its makers recommend one per day for nine hours. She applied a fresh patch every eight hours, for three days.
They learn, work, eat and often sleep there in an attempt to bring design ideas to life as scaled-down buildings.
"I started hallucinating," Kerwin said of her 78 hours without sleep. "It was before a review, where you take everything you completed before a project — site plans, floor plans and so on. Those are the times you get little sleep in studio."
When you work 74 hours every week something has to give.
50- to 100-hour weeks preparing for careers where such commitments are either compensated or illegal. Along the way, students must choose daily between their professional futures and their own health. Often, they endanger both.
That semester, Kerwin worked at studio most nights from 6 p.m. until 2 a.m., or "around eight hours a night, five days a week." That's 40 hours — for most, a full workweek. The actual class for Kerwin's studio met three times each week for four
and a half hours each class. That's 13 and a half hours. On rough weeks, Kerwin would pull two "all nighters," working straight through until morning. That's 12 more. Adding it up, she often worked 65 hours per week, all for one class. If Kerwin opted to attend her non-studio classes instead of squeezing in a nap, that number rose to 74 hours.
But when you work 74 hours every week, something has to give.
With little time to cook healthy meals, she ate mostly junk food, preferably Cheez-Its. She rarely exercised or maintained friendships with students outside of studio. She drank so many Rockstar energy drinks to stay up one semester that, as a joke, she began pinning them on her studio's wall. There were more than 100 cans in all. The high caffeine in energy drinks causes dehydration, and dehydration causes kidney stones, which Kerwin developed in following months.
SEE TIME ON PAGE 3A
INDEX
Classifieds...9A
Crossword...7A
Cryptoquips...7A
Opinion...6A
Sports...10A
Sudoku...7A
All contents, unless stated otherwise, © 2011 The University Daily Kansan
Forecasts by University students. For a complete detailed forecast for the week, see page 2A.
ONLINE AT KANSAN.COM
Highway speed limits may rise because of new bill
Gov. Sam Brownback signed a bill that will allow multi-lane highways to raise speed from 70 mph to 75 mph.
FOOTBALL|10A
Annual football spring game set for Saturday
The coaches will decide if this game will be in a traditional game format or a less-formal defense versus offense game.
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