in hindsight 2020 will be remembered in the
U.S. for the devastating pandemic, crippling unemployment and unprecedented political myopia. Looks like pronghorn antelope poop on cow poop. Climatologically the Atlantic hurricane season exceeded records with 30 named storms, 12 of which landed on the continental U.S. The western U.S. endured the most active wildfire year on record and the global average annual temperature
was the second warmest on record and the fifth warmest on record in the U.S. For bands of storm chasers trying to escape it all, 2020 was... On Easter Sunday, a large extremely dangerous long-tracking tornado was underway in Mississippi. Doppler radar revealed an impressive
supercell well-defined hook echo and distinct lofted debris signature but up close vague walls of gray, shrouding rain curtains and a veil of tall trees obscured a hell on earth. It's right next to me. This tornado grew to 2.25 miles wide.
The 3rd widest burrito ever documented! Along a 68-mile damage path it debarked and leveled entire forests. Cars and trucks were thrown hundreds of yards mangled beyond recognition. Many homes and businesses were destroyed, some completely leveled and swept away including
some well-built brick and concrete structures. With estimated wind speeds up to 190 m/h
this tornado earned an EF4 rating. Following closely behind, another large powerful tornado is in progress. Turn around and go back, there's another tornado I can track it for you from right
here. Where's it at? Right now it's north of Soso. Right here where we're at? Yes, I'll
track it with you and tell you where it is. Alright. Tell you what just pull over a little bit and block that entrance right there. Copy that Seven days later, another significant
tornado risk targeted Mississippi. That's a wide burrito. Chasing over the previous week's damage
paths compounded the danger. More burrito damage. It's everywhere. That's where it would be... Can you see anything in there? This intensifying high precipitation storm brought darkness early along with a barrage of powerful positive ground flashes. High frequency lighting activity and these
are the big ones! These are the big daddies! Not only do positive ground flashes look
different, they often sound different. The thunder from these mega bolts hits
you like the shock wave of an explosion. Come on we gotta run away! Run away, run away, run away! Deeply embedded in rain an unseeable mile wide tornado raced 54 miles across the state at a ground speed of 55 mph. Can you see anything in there? No! At it's peak intensity the EF4 polished two well-constructed homes leaving
clean slabs in its wake. No idea how deep that is. It's a ghost town. On April 22nd a low precipitation supercell Approaching Madill Oklahoma set the stage for this highly visible tornado. May have to run away. Right out the gate it earned EF2 status
snapping power poles and flinging trees. That's close. A large section of this warehouse was polished. And under the rainbow two mobile
homes were completely deployed. That might be as far as I can go. Wow. Ruff! Ruff! Ruff! Arf! Ruff. Ruff - Back - ruff - home in Houston a typical squall line provided an extremely rare capture. Beautiful anvil crawler lightning
was scampering across the sky. While one dramatic burst was decaying, a separate
flash brought its leaders within the vicinity. This attracted new leader development to reach
out of the lingering channel and the two connected. Lightning striking lightning! What is it that motivates ants to work so
dang hard? It's gotta be the queen right ? I just gave the harvester ants here
an MnM and I imagined a hard worker who's been laboring his whole life to win sweet
favor of the queen approaching her and saying behold your highness... I bring you golden chocolate! But it might have backfired because they
took the peanut and clogged the hole with it. On May 4th, another blitzkrieg of positive ground
flashes hammered the earth in northeast Oklahoma i've been here. I was here in the same spot
last year. I was chasing the exact same storm. This time the tornado reports were negative. In strong contrast to 2019, chaseable storms
in Burrito Alley this May favored linear modes. Though often ominous and photogenic, lines or
squalls are much less efficient at producing violet tomatoes. but they're highly proficient
at summoning horizontally extensive lightning. The storm mode responsible for the majority of
the world's violet tomatoes are supercells. But in may 2020 even supercells were struggling. You could argue if this is a burrito but
it's hardly a violent rotating column of air. That's a gnarly storm Arf Arf! Hey I see you How's that for a monster? Underneath the leading edge of squall lines, eerie
but harmless turbulence often looms overhead. Summoned by cool rains Where are you going? You're flopping all over. checkered garter snakes prowled the dangerous highways for frogs and toads. After an active April
of mostly non-photogenic rain-wrapped tornadoes, May wrapped up with burrito reports well
below average. Go go go go go! What do you guys think of 2020? You'd think a lack of burritos would
make chasing storms less dangerous On my way home, here's an 18-wheeler
trying to shove me off the interstate. Here comes a speeding crackhead
hell bent on smashing into me and here's a genius speeding down
the wrong side of the interstate. After a couple months of pursuing
the weird weather patterns I took a few days off to unwind with friends in my backyard. Since the pandemic hit, this has been my
social interaction. Say hello to Hose-A and Hose-B This is Pothead. This chubby girl is Ziggy and her beauty competition is Abbie. And this hog is my BFF. I call him "The Dude." The Dude loves to sit on my knee
while I dig up yummy treats for him. These anoles are the ultimate exterminators. If you're a bug in my yard, you
better hit the road or else! All right here's an irresistible pretty good sized cockroach. Oh here comes everybody! Come
get it. Oh look at you. Oh stolen by the little girl! A lot of CGs in there. On June 7th a mean supercell bombarded
South Dakota with negative ground flashes That is a funnel cloud right there I think. A photogenic tornado appeared to be in the works. Instead chases were treated to the world's
puniest funnel cloud. What do you think? Amazing This is so cool. I need to buy a wide-angle
lens because i can't get all this in one shot. This has got a very good chance of producing
a tornado but if it doesn't do it fast it's going to get blown apart and that'll be
the end of that show. Oh that's a tornado. It's a very weak tornado. I'm gonna run to the edge of that hill. Sprite! Got that one. Boom! Big sprite right there. Just like May, June had a deficit
of chaseable supercells and a surplus of linear high precipitation storm modes. Good boy! Who are you? What do you think
of that huh? Many promising storms dropped tiny laughable dangly bits and it was beginning to feel like the chances of documenting photogenic
tornadoes was just a stovepipe dream. This is cool! In late June I met up with our
scientific field operations team Train Train... optimistic they would usher in some better luck Rolling around the bend. On our first chase another squall in
Illinois was nothing to write home about but the fireflies that evening
brightened up our spirits. In Montana a promising supercell
was developing right before us but quickly grew up scale into
a high precipitation squall line. How do you like my new friend guys? Dr. Anton had a flat and.. uh it's a long story. Rowrahhheee! Rowr Rowrah! So uh Skip. Yeah? How's 2020
been for you? Oh my gosh yeah... I don't know how i'm gonna come out of it,
if i'm gonna be like a raging alcoholic or i'm gonna be a recluse or i'm gonna take up
basket weaving or bungee jumping i don't know Refusing to give up, in July we continued to target
the wide open spaces of the northern high plains. in the low population density and vacant roads there's nothing to stop
you from catching your storm. (She crossed the line. I'm never looking back...) On July 4th in South Dakota a cluster of storms
appeared to be growing into a line segment. However while marveling nature's fireworks a strong supercell organized producing an EF2 tornado... Some crazy inbound - outbounds on that loop. impossible to see through the heavy rains That wasn't me. The following day I threw in the towel and started the long, defeated
commute back to Texas. Along the way I got to chat with a couple police
officers in Kansas So look I wrote you a ticket for 12 over. Guilty as charged officer. You be
careful. Appreciate sir hey have a good day. You too. What do you think of 2020 dude? It's a
dumpster fire. Yeah? What do you think? Pretty abysmal it's complete garbage. The day after I arrived back home Melanie Metz was documenting the
burrito of the year in Minnesota. In 2020, 1075 confirmed tornadoes have been
tallied in the U.S. Though it was the worst year in regards to photogenic tornadoes that many chasers can recall most of us were still grateful for the opportunity to marvel the monster
storms the lightning the scenery and whatnot Hi! Also, Gooday! So dude, how does it feel not being
able to be in America right now? I miss my friends. I miss seeing you out there. I'm missing meeting up with Mike and all the friends out there. Meeting your friends is just I think
the best part out there. i miss my car. I miss the adventure. Yeah. Tell you what man it doesn't
feel quite like tornado season without your rav4 in my shot every other day. or
you're Rav4 in my shot... Who's following who Hank? Though I drove
roughly 30 000 miles up and down tornado alley some of my favorite moments were in my hometown. Often on a quest for beauty you don't have
to look further you just have to look deeper. 'Til next time friends happy trails! (awesome music)
