MARTYN'S MIX - STORMCHASE 2002
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From May 6th until the 18th, 2002, I went on holiday (vacation) to the United States of America to chase storms and tornadoes in the Mid West. I flew from London, England to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma via Houston, Texas and chased with the Silver Lining Tours storm-chasing company, led by David Gold and Roger Hill, two meteorologists with Masters degrees and decades of tornado chasing experience. It was a holiday I will never forget! And this section documents all the activity and my feelings during the tour.
 

DR RICK TORACINTA - PASSED AWAY 22 NOVEMBER 2005

I was saddened to hear of the passing of Dr Rick Toracinta. I thank the visitor to my website who passed on the sad news to me via email. Rick was one of the van drivers on my stormchase tour and he was one of the most friendliest guys I have ever met. He always had time to answer any questions and made me feel very welcome on the tour and my first visit to America.
My deepest sympathies go to all that knew Rick, especially family and friends. An enthusiastic meteorologist with a PhD in Atmospheric Sciences who will be sorely missed by all that happened to know him over the years.

 
PHOTOS & VIDEOS

There are several pages in this section:

The daily JOURNAL with my thoughts before and after the tour (LARGE document!)

Lots of PHOTOS taken on the tour:
1) PHOTOS TAKEN WHILE FLYING
2a) STORM PHOTOS & VIDCAPS page 1
2b) STORM PHOTOS & VIDCAPS page 2
3a) GENERAL CHASING PHOTOS page 1
3b) GENERAL CHASING PHOTOS page 2
4) MISCELLANEOUS PHOTOS

Some VIDEO clips from my video footage.
...PHOTOS & VIDEOS

We travelled approximately 4000 miles in 10 days, which is quite average!
Here is a daily breakdown.
Day 1 – 475 miles
Day 2 – 320 miles
Day 3 – 278 miles
Day 4 – 427 miles
Day 5 – 660 miles
Day 6 – 550 miles
Day 7 – 230 miles
Day 8 – 300 miles
Day 9 – 305 miles
Day 10- 398 miles
----------------------
TOTAL = 3943 miles

FUJITA TORNADO SCALE (in use until 31st Jan 2007)

F0 – no damage reported – however strong the tornado.
F1 – WIND SPEEDS: 73 to 112 mph DAMAGE: Moderate – trees broken and toppled; house trailers overturned; roofing shingles peeled off; large signs blown down.
F2 – WIND SPEEDS: 113 to 157 mph DAMAGE: Considerable – roofs torn from wooden frame buildings; most outbuildings and barns destroyed; cars blown off highways.
F3 – WIND SPEEDS: 158 to 206 mph DAMAGE: Severe – Extreme danger from flying debris; walls of frame houses are blown down; cars lifted off of ground; interior closets may still provide safe shelter.
F4 – WIND SPEEDS: 207 to 260 mph DAMAGE: Devastating – frame houses levelled and left as piles of debris; effects of flying debris become very spectacular (wood driven into metal; trees completely debarked).
F5 – WIND SPEEDS: 261 to 318 mph DAMAGE: Incredibly devastating – total devastation; homes disintegrate; foundations left bare; cars and trucks carried for ½ mile or more; considerable damage to steel reinforced structures.

 

Links to Storm Chasing on the WWW
http://www.silverliningtours.com
http://www.silverliningtours.com/cgi-bin/bbs/YaBB.pl (message board)
http://www.stormchase.net (Roger Hill’s site)
http://www.cloud9tours.com
http://www.stormchasing.com
http://www.rap.ucar.edu/weather (meteorology)
http://www.tornadoproject.com
http://www.mesonet.ou.edu/public (Oklahoma meteorology)
http://www.weathertap.com (subscription required)
http://www.rap.ucar.edu/weather (meteorology)
http://www.noaa.gov/tornadoes.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/weatherwise/factfiles/extremes/tornadoes.shtml
http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/NWSTornado
http://whyfiles.org/013tornado (Oklahoma twisters May 1999)
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/oun/severewx/branick2b.html (storm chasing terminology)

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