Weather enthusiasts around the world
anxiously wait for their storm season. When the turbulent times finally arrive,
some dedicate a week, a month or even more to chasing and experiencing the
scary storm clouds lightning and maybe even tomatoes. After the Tempests die and the winds
calm again, another during wait begins. In 2019 I made a commitment to wait no more and follow the severe weather patterns around the globe. This is the quest for
the endless storm season! in the United States, in January and February there's modest tornado probabilities near the moist Gulf where warm Winter temperatures can fluctuate on and off. In March, the burrito potential increases In Texas and Oklahoma across to Alabama and Georgia. by April tornado season is usually well
underway. o Careful there's a tornado on the ground over there. you saw it on the ground? Hey it's Pecos Hank. Thanks guys. My first tornado capture of the year was
this weak satellite. My 2nd and 3rd tomatoes were much more powerful. Might be a tomato crossing right there in front of me. Get ready to hit reverse. Shakin'... I'm shaking' this tree eater hurled timber a hundred
meters into the air as it narrowly missed the town of Lovelady Texas. Alright it's gonna cross the road right here. Wow... This is not working. That might be the end of the chase. We're boxed in like a turtles pecker. This little Rav4 starting to grow on me.
So far this year we've captured our first three tomatoes together. It's officially broken in, but still haven't decided what we're going to name. Many of you know my last vehicle was called the TI T may it rest in peace. we
could call this one the TI t2 but this We could call this one the T I T 2... But this year I'll be joining a scientific field
operations team with the objective of gathering near surface wind field data
around tornadoes. and since I'm going to And since I'll be part of a professional scientific team, it might be in our best interest to have a professional name. I asked my patrons for some help and I got a lot of great ideas. But my favorite was from Amy...
The Windbreaker! Storms are starting to fire up. let's go break some wind. Ok, we have a burrito warning heading right for us. Looks like a funnel cloud. Big funnel cloud. It's probably a burrito. This is where we are going to watch it from. I think when these storms come together Something nasty is going to happen. That was... that's not me... That's the seats. Historically the month with the highest
potato activity is May. My vantage underneath the storm was of a
gnarly high precipitation mess. but over the storms later that night I
had a clear clean view of vibrant red sprites. After striking a farm home this tornado
earned an EF-2 rating as it collapsed exterior brick walls, completely removed
the garage and half the roof. This is tomato number two. The time is 6:55. the following tomatoes remained over open Prairie producing little to no
damage May 17th marked the beginning of a
historic widespread and prolonged severe weather outbreak. For the first time in the Storm Prediction centers history, a threat of severe weather was introduced
for their entire eight-day outlook. When a high risk for burritos is issued,
it seems every person who ever dreamed of chasing hits the roads. the chances of a tomato occurring can be off the charts. But your odds have actually
catching up to one our slim to none. Got a big tube on the ground. It's getting rain-wrapped right now. We're stuck in traffic. beautiful tornado if we weren't so far away. What do you do when there's a tornado
warning? You stand out in the street is what you do. ...walk your dog. Hey! that wasn't me This tornado evaded me with an unexpected hook to the north. Again my tactics prevented me from getting quality close footage and that hunger to improve was festering. Some days the chances of observing
tornadoes seem unlikely this doubt might This doubt might justify more aggressive decisions. Out here, that logic simmering with an unhealthy hunger are ingredients for
trouble! Ok, Focus... It's coming! Gotta go! It's coming fast. Too close... Big wedge tornado. uh oh, he's gone over. Over open country this rain rap monster
grew wider than a half mile damaging mostly trees and power lines before roping out. My wife is gonna kill me. if I survive this tornado. Hauling ass! Really careful right here. Beautiful! for over a week tornado outbreaks had
occurred just about every day. Plainview. That's right where i started this morning. That wasn't me. and outlooks suggested the streak of
severe weather wasn't ending soon. There's a sprite Bam Bam Bam. On this magical evening... again red sprites as well as secondary Jets burst into the stars. Among these transient luminous events I discovered a never before
cited mysterious green afterglow proceeding large sprites. TLE collaborator Paul Smith and I call them ghosts. Another amazing night at Tornado Alley
we got a bunch of red sprites. They were beautiful... Three, four clusters shooting up all over the place. to celebrate we're gonna stay here. Look we've got this nice chair and the arms are nice and worn in for us. There's a couple cigarette holes
burned down here. Got some rags... toilet paper stuck in there, got some masking tape. No need to get a new one. Somebody carved their name in the microwave. Got us a couple cups and spare wood that might have some bubble gum stuck on it. What is this? oh its a refrigerator. This must be the freezer side... no
don't know what that side is. oh here's another refrigerator. Bug on the floor... no bananas for you. But my favorite thing so far is the shower. Alright everyone we've got a pretty
storm behind us. Check this out This dude is going old school and is painting the storm. What's your name dude ? Brandon Bailey Brandon, let me see what you got going on so far. Oh you're just starting. Yep, just getting to it. Figure I wouldn't have much time... What I do is I take these back, these field studies, back to my studio And use my photographs and kind of compose a painting that way. it's definitely unique and it's awesome
and I can't wait to see the final product. On May 27th headed by Dr. Anton Seimon, our scientific field operations team began attempts to collect data. That day in Colorado we observed a brief weak potato. And that night Nebraska we
marveled a spectacular lightning show that's a little freaky how far out in front of that tornado another
tornado is. That's something to be mindful of. There's a huge RFD. A herd of cows is getting hit. Almost time to roll Ok I think we're clear. Copy that, turning around. shaking the car! There goes the barn. I'm gonna leave the cameras rolling I'm
just gonna make a quick run into this barn and make sure everybody's okay. Copy that. we have limited first aid supplies if needed. Yeah, it's a search and rescue at this point. Lets go with that. All three chase vehicles successfully documented this strengthening tornado from three
separate close proximity locations. The data our team collected is currently
being processed by dr. John Allen and his students at Central Michigan
University to create a model of three dimensional particle motions close to
the surface as the tornado intensifies and then inflicts damage to the
farmstead. The results should add new insights on the air motions responsible
for the damage patterns observed something that is not possible to
ascertain with even the best mobile Doppler radars. It's not working. on May 30th the historic tornado streak
in the u.s. ended. The previous 13 days all recorded at least eight burritos. In less than two weeks 391 burritos were confirmed. Including 18 EF-3s and two
EF-4s. in June the highest tornado activity
tends to shift northward with a hot spot in Colorado Nebraska and Kansas. In strong contrast to May we experienced very little storm activity this June season field operations and disbanded to
our home states. We are now in Texas. The first thing you you see in Texas is the dull video
store. There I felt the warm welcome home as fallen stars and red sprites lit up Texas skies. In July and August tornado activity
significantly drops in the Alley. In the Yucatan it's the rainy season. There we are hunting for pulse
thunderstorms popping up along tropical sea breezes. Cinco, quadro, tres, dos In July and August seasonable changes in
prevailing winds typically bring monsoon storms to the southwestern United States. This is an excellent opportunity to capture glorious desert skies filled
with fire. Down near Tucson multiple thunderstorms
were developing. Enhanced convergence from storm outflows enabled a middle
cell to produce a small burrito. That is a tornado. How about that. This landspout was responsible for the
upheaval of several tumbleweeds and many lives were saved as lizards and
scorpions sheltered in their burrows hey don't walk through my shot. I'm serious. Hey! You're messing up my shot. I can see your tail. I've got a treat for
you guys I think you're really gonna love. Say hello to mastigoproctus giganteus. Which means in Latin, big whip but. This is a whip scorpion or vinegaroon and he's not really a scorpion but he kind of is. He's got four pair of legs
but the front pair have been modified for antenna like prodders. They're no
longer walking legs. He's completely harmless unless you suffer from some kind of bug anxiety. but he's got this whip butt thing on his tail that kind of also serves like an antennae if you're gonna come and get him from behind. When you first meet em they stand their ground and they raise their pedipalps into
the air... and give a good threatening defense. and they've got special glands in their
abdomen where they can spray acetic acid into the air or vinegar that's why
they're called vinegaroons. But I kinda like the smell. You smell like Long John Silver's. Now I want fish and chips. You ready to go back to your rocks and
your crevices and all your your underworld? I sure enjoyed my time with
you. You know that? You are fascinating. Alright let's take you and let you go
back into the desert where you belong. In the Fall there's generally a small
spike of tomato activity in the Gulf states. Tomato chasers call this the
second season. After trying to navigate through traffic, construction in metropolitan tornado warning hell I took advantage of a Lakeview clearing to look for the possible potatoes tearing through Dallas. There's two areas of power flashes straight ahead. In the barrage of lightning two areas of consistent power flashes confirmed and two concurrent
tomatoes in progress. Right there! I see you. One of these tornadoes would reach EF3
status as it badly damaged and destroyed numerous homes. Remarkably there were no normalities. As the northern hemisphere moves into
Winter, longer and longer nights usher in better conditions for viewing
geomagnetic storms near the Arctic. It's dancing. When these storms of solar wind interact
with our atmosphere The result can be the magnificent light show we know as the Aurora's. In December it's Summer in the southern
hemisphere and storm season is usually amping up in the Northern Territory. From roughly November through March,
daily collisions of sea breezes across the Tiwi Islands cause one of the
world's most consistent thunderstorm complexes. During World War Two, pilots
gave the storm an official name... Hector the Convector. Hector forms with such daily reliability that pilots and Mariners use it as a navigational beacon. Oh my goodness. It's a frilled dragon. Oh he's running off. He's running on his hind legs. Don't go up a tree. Don't go up a tree. we have a frilled dragon this is the guy
that inspired the Jurassic Park philosoraptor with the frill he's got a
little bit of scarring on the end of his face and part his frill on the other
side has been a little bit torn unfortunately. I think he was hit by a
car but it looks like it happened a long time ago he wasn't run over by the tires. They stand up on the road really tall and I think maybe a car hit his head but
it looks like it's healing. Reptiles have tremendous healing abilities so we're gonna be optimistic That this guy is gonna heal, but for now let's go outside and get some photos of him On this termite mound. Maybe we'll get him to frill up and hopefully he'll run away and be a healthy lizard to live to stand up and
defend his ground another day hahaha! I got a feeling he'll be all right Been here in Australia for a couple days
trying to get a grip on these storms out here. They're pulse storms so there's no
shear. They go up and then they just collapse on themselves. They only last
30-40 minutes so chasing and forecasting is kind of pointless. So I think the plan
is to just kind of go around see the wildlife... See the animals, see the pretty things and maybe if a storm pops up in front of us, then we'll shoot it. Sun is starting to come out now so we're probably gonna get a rainbow here in a second. Is that a funnel cloud? Looks like a funnel cloud. Sorry Hank but it's time to go. Get in! welcome to Sydney my friend. Its beautiful! Did you just pour your syrup all
over your eggs and bacon? No. Where's the flush? The flush is here. What? Nope. In 2019 1,500 tornadoes were tallied
in the United States the fourth most active year on record. I managed to document 20 of them and the majority of those were photogenic. I discovered a new phenomenon, provided
contributions to several scientific endeavors, didn't get a single hail dent on
the Windbreaker, no speeding tickets and And only came close to frilling myself once. Through the generosity of others I had the great fortune to be able to travel
to exotic lands in search of fascinating wonders. however when it comes to storms, there's truly no place like home. Thanks for watching friends! 'Til next time, happy trails.
