STORM TRACK: March 31, 1983 (Volume 6 Issue 3)

The 1982 tornado season is on! Newspapers write about it. Television weathercasts report it. And, in case any doubt was left, Tim Marshall has phoned about it! Tim (a graduate student/chaser at Texas Tech University) tossed together a sack lunch on Thursday, March 3 and drove out into the wilderness. So casual was he about this day, a long shot at the time (or so he thought), that he didn't even bother to change his camera batteries from the previous summer. What he subsequently saw was remarkable so early in the season for both size and duration (it also gave the Editor a bad case of "imagination hyperventilation"). Since Tim may send a more detailed write-up (with pictures) to ST, I'll only briefly allude to (1) average looking CBs with soft anvils, (2) weak dry line with mid 50s dew points, (3) moderate temperatures in the low 70s and (4) light surface winds beneath and around wall clouds. That is wall clouds that dropped two (2!) "fantastic" 20 minute tornadoes in excellent mid-afternoon light! Tim shot 75 slides and 200 ft of 8 mm movie film at these slow moving storms. He was quite surprised by such large, early season twisters with such weak surface parameters, strikingly different from his Pampa, Texas tornado experiences of May 19, 1982 (ST, Vol. 5. No. 6). Of course, the March 3rd upper air dynamic was enormous from the big California storm of a few days before, and was the engine that drove these storms. So, is it all over? Early season blow followed by a May-June ridge? The long range forecast guessing game is well underway now among chasers.

Randy Zipser sent two newspaper clippings from the Daily Oklahoman, March 18 and from the Dallas Morning News, March 21 that sounds good for a long and active season. "Some forecasters at the National Weather Service are predicting the destructive funnels could develop at a near record pace during the next two months ... based on a steady flow of Gulf moisture ... into the area throughout the winter months and a persistent high speed easterly flow of cooler air in the upper atmosphere. The combination could become volatile and bring an abundance of severe weather. ... The official outlook for Oklahoma's weather this spring calls for below average temperatures and above-average rainfall, both of which would suggest stormier-than-usual weather." -Daily Oklahoman, 3-18-82. "Weather officials cautiously are predicting a record number of tornadoes this spring if current conditions are sustained. ... The jet stream ... is misbehaving, wandering further southward than usual and heightening chances of severe spring storms. The jet stream deviation ... in the result of an abnormally warm mass of surface water in the Pacific Ocean, off the west coast of Central America, that, set in motion global changes. The warm air rising from the water resulted in an atmospheric barrier of water vapor that diverted the jet stream from its normal path over the United States. 'Winter was balmy - but spring storms came early this year, occurring over North and East Texas a few weeks ago, and tornado frequency on both the state and national levels is up. As of the middle of this month, the National Weather Service recorded 20 tornadoes in Texas, more than three times the number in 1982. For comparison, by the end of March 1982, six tornadoes had been recorded across the state. National statistics show that by this time of year, there normally should have been about 80 tornadoes across the country. But this year, 111 twisters have been recorded. ... David Martin, NWS emergency preparedness meteorologist, said: 'We are above average already. The weather pattern set, up this year has resulted in a jet stream flow that is fairly strong. We're getting strong storm systems a little further south than usual." -Dallas Morning News, 3-21-83). Of course, we've all seen long range forecasts bust before, but at least this is a positive sign.

It is again worth repeating here, especially for our many new readers, that storm chasers like to photograph tornadoes and severe storms but not the destruction of property or human suffering which can result. The lot of us, crazy as we are, would be much happier photographing a big vortex out over an open field (also, far from city traffic, which can cripple the mobility essential to successful chasing). We are fascinated by the structure of the storm, its power and majesty as a profound natural event. Most chasers are also meteorologists, who learn from firsthand experiences with these storms, even as they take vacations just to look at them. Also, these and other chasers voluntarily contribute (cost-free) the use of thousands of dollars worth of slides to the National Weather Service for training storm spotters all across the country. So, when I say that we take as a "positive sign" the prospects of a long and stormy season, please keep these things in mind. We know all too well, and better than most, what these storms can do. They deserve caution and respect, but always -- wonder!