STORM TRACK: July 31, 1985 (Volume 8 Issue 5)

Here's an "oldy but a goody" from the Norman, Oklahoma Transcript of March 18, 1984, as sent by Randy Zipser. The following excerpts are quoted from the article by Tom Sharrock of The Lawton Constitutions "If a tornado tale seems unbelievable, you can believe it." ..."If you hear something unbelievable about a tornado, go ahead and believe it. The odds are it's true. . . A Texas salesman, driving between Vernon and Wichita Falls in 1979 on the night both towns were devastated, was having an animated conversation with his father. He noticed he was going a bit too fast and touched the brake. Nothing happened. Then he noticed the car was 8 feet above the highway. It settled gently, and he continued his somewhat nervous way. ...When the 1947 tornado hit Wwoodward, a man parked in front of the courthouse found himself and his automobile floating in the air. He watched the courthouse pass beneath, and returned to earth with the car parked one street over from the point of takeoff. ... Most tornadoes go from southwest to northeast. At Devol, in 1958, it came from the north. They knew it was coming. Melba Wyatt paused to snatch down her brand new kitchen curtains and thought, 'Save my curtains, lose my life!' The Wyatts never did get to shelter. She and her husband stood in the kitchen and watched the linoleum, except for a patch beneath their feet, rip apart, and rise to the ceiling. ...Mostly remembered is the Sunday sermon, preached that morning: 'What if the end of the world comes tonight' ... even at Wichita Falls, the massive storm was capricious A reporter stepped through what was left of a wall to interview a lady, salvaging belongings ings in what was left of her house. She told of how she raced the tornado to her home and lost. Or rather, won. It got there first. But she was cheerful. Quite a bit could be salvaged, including her precious phonograph records scattered over the floor. She was brushing them with a flannel cloth. Then she peered closer. 'Country and western? Country and Western? These aren't my records!'"

A final note, for those of you who have cable television and receive the Nickelodeon channel (77 on the east coast). Sunday, August 18, National Geographic will show a 15 minute film on storm chasing at 5 PM EDT, 4 PM CDT, 3 PM MDT and 5 PM PDT. It was taken this May in Oklahoma and Texas and includes shots of several chasers (Jim Leonard, Chuck Robertson, Don Burgess, my daughter Sarah, and myself, as well as others). It is a general, non-technical show that you might enjoy. It shows brief scenes inside the Norman Doppler radar dome, an artificial vortex chamber and, of course, the real thing. However, all of the tornadoes were taken from NSSL file footage from other years, since the Geographic film crew didn't see any during their week there. In fact, no chasers got any tornado pics during this time, a generally flat period, storm-wise. Oh yes, when you see the hail (three inchers minimum) bouncing off of Jim Leonard's car one evening, it was doing $2,700 damage -- also cracking the front window. Chuck Robertsons is the other voice whooping and hollering at this time (the National Geographic magazine article isn't expected until the fall of 1986).

Just phoned in from Mike Watts in Florida -- Get the latest issue (August 3) of TV Guide. It has a good article on how to negotiate deals with television stations on selling your video. It also gives a few horror stories on what to avoid.