In the beginning...
I grew up in an eastern Arkansas town named Marion. Marion is a suburb of Memphis, and it's climate consists
of hot, humid summers and mild winters. The earliest memory I can recall is of a snow storm when I was 3 or 4
years old. We were treated to snow ice cream at day care, and I have been praying for snow ever since. A shock
from a lightning strike after T-ball practice one day ensured that I would be terrified of lightning for
the rest of my life (unless I'm relatively safe inside, then it is gorgeous!). In the third grade my name was
written on the board and double-check marked, after I failed
to realize recess was over because I was watching a storm through the window. After I heard the laughter
from the rest of the class, I realized what was going on and slid into my seat embarrassed. Only a WeatherKnurd!
Deep Roots...
My roots in weather stem from storm watching with my father while growing up. We lived outside of town
far enough that we had an unobstructed view of the horizon to the north and the west(toward Marion). Anytime
a storm would roll in, dad would go outside and watch it approach, until the lightning got too close. As I got
older I would watch the storms with him, and hope for the power to go out. To this day I love it when a thunderstorm,
or any other type of storm for that matter, knocks the power off. Still a WeatherKnurd!
The Trifecta...
The tornado (December 14, 1987)
A F3 tornado struck West Memphis, AR on 12/14/1987, killing 6 people. The tornado caused significant damage,
and missed a greyhound racetrack by less than a quarter mile. The track was occupied by thousands of people at
the time the tornado passed. My paternal grandmother lived on a nearby street. I remember riding with dad
(a few days later) to her house and being appalled by the damage. Houses were completely leveled, and somehow
a home next door would be virtually untouched. The damage was unreal. It looked like something that would
only occur in a movie. I had never seen anything like it(and did not see destruction on that scale again until May 3, 1999 in Central OK).
The flood (December 24-25, 1987)
It began raining on Christmas Eve. When it subsided early on Christmas Day, a foot of rain had fallen in West Memphis(most of
it overnight). Widespread flooding occurred, and many folks Christmas was ruined. We lived on higher ground, and water
still surrounded our home. It was wicked! Our entire neighborhood looked like a lake with "house islands". Parts of
West Memphis that were still cleaning up from the tornado were under water. I have never seen that much rain fall in
that small amount of time.
The Blizzard (January 5, 1988)
This still ranks as one of my favorite all-time events! We received about an inch of snow overnight, and I went to school disappointed
because more snow was forecast...and I thought the storm was over. Wow, was I wrong!!!
I can remember the heavy snow started about mid-morning and accumulated quickly. By lunch, we were out of school! The
wind was creating monster drifts. At one area, between the classroom building and the gym, there was a drift taller than
me. It was huge! My mother drove into a ditch on the way home, and I still was having the time of my life.
By the time the storm was done, over a foot of snow had fallen . The official Memphis report was only
about half of that, however, that reading was taken from the airport almost 30 miles away. The West Memphis report was
12", which is unheard of where I am from. We measured a foot in our yard as well. In fact, it is the only time since I have been alive that the area has
recieved that much snow. It was absolutely awesome. It took over a week for the snow to melt, and I had the time of my life playing
in it.
Impact
The local newspaper released a photo book of all three events, which I still have to this day. Those three major events
occurred in a span of 22 days. The short timespan between these storms gave me a taste of severe and unusual weather
all at once, and ensured that this WeatherKnurd was hooked!
Education...
My formal weather education process began because of a major ice storm. It was February 1993, and parts of the mid-south received 3 inches
of ice accumulation. I even recorded observations as the cold front passed (the temp dropped almost 40 degrees F in an hour).
In the pre-internet days, I used to watch The Weather Channel during events to catch a quick
glimpse of radar every 10 minutes. At the height of the storm, a show came on at 3am that detailed careers in weather. At first
I was infuriated, because it was 30 minutes I would be without radar information. However, it quickly became apparant that
careers existed in the very field I was most obsessed with. This had never ocurred to me before. I had an epiphany. I
quickly jotted down the address to the American Meteorology Society in Boston, which was shown at the end of the show,
to write for a list of schools with
meteorology degrees. The list arrived a few weeks later, and I chose the University of Oklahoma because it was the best school and the cheapest (at
the time because of the now defunct Common Market).
Unfortunately, I arrived at OU too immature and confused about personal issues to concentrate on becoming a meteorologist. I bounced
back and forth between Norman and Memphis a few times, and was suspended once for poor grades from OU. It was at this time that
I started working at UPS and gave up the dream of becoming a meteorologist...so I thought. A couple of events, as well as the realization
that I did not want to drive trucks and deliver packages as a career, would eventually stir the WeatherKnurd back
to life...
Central OK tornadic outbreak (June 13, 1998)
As dumb luck would have it, I was running errands in OKC on June 13, 1998. Local TV meteorologists were simulcasting on
the radio to dicuss a tornadic supercell near El Reno moving NE. Without any equipment, or a camera, I intercepted
the storm somewhere north or NE of Piedmont...just in time to park and witness a tornado touchdown! The tornado moved east across a ridgeline a
couple of miles to my north. It was the first live tornado I had ever seen. Visibly the tornado was white, with an
elephant trunk funnel. Although the tornado was only on the ground for about five minutes, I was mesmorized. It was the most
beautiful and amazing thing I had ever seen! I pondered how anything so beautiful could be so deadly.
My triumphant moment was short-lived though. I made my way back to OKC, and stopped in a fast food parking lot near the Hefner
Pkwy and NW Expressway junction to wait for another storm to pass. As I waited, surface winds began to increase dramatically and
rocked my parked truck back and forth. I looked up and began to notice that I was under a wall cloud. I
drove east quickly to escape when I heard, "We've got debris!!!" on the radio. I was parked at a red light at May Ave. and NW 63rd.
I looked around and immediately noticed a debris cloud crossing May Ave only a block north of my location. I turned south immediately and
raced toward I-44 to intercept the storm on the east side of the city. I saw the tornado again briefly as it crossed I-35 after striking
Frontier City, a popular amusement park in OKC. I was elated that I escaped nature's fury, and learned a very valuable lesson that
I did not need to chase again...until I either went with someone more experienced...or learned much more about chasing myself...or both!
Almost a tough lesson, however I was not deterred. Quite the opposite. The tornado intercept invigorated the WeatherKnurd!
Moore tornado (May 3, 1999)
The afternoon of May 3, 1999 found me sitting in my apartment wasting away in front of the boob tube. I was not in school, and was
just killing time before I had to be at work. Several TV stations began to interrupt programming to report a tornado around Lawton.
I was glued to the coverage for the next couple of hours as the storm moved toward the OKC metro. As the storm approached Chickasha, the excitement
got to me...and I had to chase it! It was to only be my third actual plains chase(I did have a few T'storm "chases" with Derek Shinn in
Eastern Arkansas growing up). I immediately called two friends that I figured would be crazy enough to go with me...Daniel Simpson and
Robbie Reeves. *I would have also taken my roommate at the time Matt Featherngill, but he was working* Daniel came over immediately. We had
to wait though, for what seemed like an eternity, because Robbie was at work.
Once Robbie arrived, we headed west on Hwy. 9 in his truck. The wait caused
us to get behind the tornado, which probably turned out to be a good thing given our limited chasing experience.
We turned north on Hwy. 277/62 toward Newcastle. As we merged onto I-44, we could see evidence that the tornado had passed through as a pair of jeans
flapped on top of a telephone pole like a flag. To the NE toward Moore, we saw an huge, black mass that went all the way to the ground.
Distant power flashes let us know it was the tornado...although it was so large (even though we were at least 7 miles away) it did not look
like one. We exited off I-44 somewhere north of Newcastle and tried to head east. The service road abruptly came to an end, and
we almost made a Vacation style "jump". Luckily, we came to a stop at the top of the mound at the end of the road. All
three of us momentarily forgot about the chase as we calmed our nerves.
We collected ourselves and decided to head east on I-240. As we drove we heard that I-35 and I-240 were both closed near Crossroads Mall.
Since we knew we could not get through we decided to double back to the west and intercept another storm. We chased the storm north of Yukon
as it began to pick up speed. We saw another tornado near Piedmont from power flashes and lightning somewhere north and west of OKC. The storm began to
pick up speed (it was moving over 60 mph at this point), so we decided it was futile to try and keep up...especially flying blind at night. We
had to drive back around west of OKC and meet up with Hwy. 9 to get home because our normal route was blocked due to the destruction in Moore.
As I drove to work over the course of the next month I was absolutely amazed and saddened by the extent of the damage in Moore. Unreal!
Education (cont'd)...
After the tornadoes, I was motivated to give meteorology another shot. I re-enrolled at OU for the fall semester in 2000. I was
determined to make the best of the second chance I'd given myself. It was hard, especially since I had to join management at UPS just
to pay for school. I did make it through, somehow, and finally graduated with a B.S. in 2004. While at OU I met another older
guy, Kris White, that was going back to school as well after a few years in the workforce (although he did already possess a degree from another
school). We hit it off, and over the next few years basically taught ourselves to chase. I had the good fortune of being with him
when he saw his first tornado...a night tornado just south of Crossroads Mall in October 2000 that we were lucky enough to drive up on.
Domesticated
Huge changes were in store for me beginning late in 2002, even though I did not even realize it at the time. After some half-hearted
relationships the previous eight years I met the girl I would eventually marry, Kellie. We got engaged at the end of the chase season of
2003...after dating for 7 months...and married at the beginning of 2004. I honestly do not know how I made it before her.
In 2005, we welcomed our first child, a boy we named Dylan.
Kellie and Dylan have become the latest obsessions of my life. I also re-dedicated my life to Christ late in the decade...after years of hard
partying, immaturity, laziness, selfishness, etc. I certainly still have my faults and struggles, but have definitely calmed down
and matured over the past few years.
That being said, I still LOVE severe and unusual weather with the same passion and enthusiasm as I did
when I saw my first tornado, blizzard, ice storm, sunset, cloud formations from 30,000 ft., etc....despite
new priorities. Unusual weather excites, baffles, and even terrifies me. Weather is an amazingly
beautiful creation we have no control over...all we can do is sit back, enjoy the show, and pray that mother nature
does not have us in her sight. Bottom line--I'll ALWAYS be a WeatherKnurd!
Pregnant Kel and I...Marion, AR white(sleet) Christmas 2004
