SKYWARN, Amateur Radio and the Tuscaloosa Tornado
Dee Chandler, WX4DC, a spotter for Alabama SKYWARN, saw the F4 tornado that ravaged parts of Tuscaloosa on December 16, 2000. He has graciously agreed to share the story of his experiences that day. Metro SKYWARN believes this is a great example of how dedicated and well-trained volunteers can make a difference during a severe weather emergency. This is his story:
By Dee Chandler, WX4DC
That Saturday in mid-December started like any other, except on this particular day it was unusually warm. Actually, it was almost eerie outside. Something was definitely "in the air." As a result, all spotters had been contacted by email and were put on alert by local emergency management officials.
Before leaving home, I checked my vehicle to make sure I had everything needed for spotting. I had my 2-meter mobile, 2-meter HT (charged) and 10-meter mobile, all in working order along with my poncho. Actually, an 80-meter mobile would be excellent here in Alabama because the state-wide disaster net is on 3.965 MHz, but you use what you have. As my assistant and I arrived for work that morning, we looked at each other and confirmed what we both were feeling and said, "something is definitely up."
We are fortunate here in Tuscaloosa. We have hams in strategic positions of authority in the city. We have two licensed hams at Emergency Management (they got the city to upgrade our repeater), a police department captain and dispatch, and also about 75 percent of the meteorologists in the area. We have a small low-power television station locally, but we get coverage from the larger TV stations in Birmingham as well. Because watches and warnings are now issued from radar images, we had a two-county early warning and continuous television coverage of the storm on four channels. All were warning of a tornado signature on radar.
Prior to the warning being issued for our area, our net manager was already positioning ham spotters to the north and south of the projected path. Our local television stations have that great future which projects a path and arrival time using the names of the smallest communities. EOC monitors both the National Weather Service and key TV coverage. This information was fed to spotters in the field.
It's easy to get too much information on a weather net. The net operator has to be specific about the kind of information he/she wants. Everyone wants to help, but the report of rain does not constitute a need to call net control unless you are looking for rain. You have to key in on important issues: hail, wind, wall clouds and funnel clouds. At this point your SKYWARN training becomes the most valuable. A trained spotter knows in which section of the storm to look for a funnel and the proper terminology to use for hail. He/she is focused on the facts.
We had several teams on both sides of the storm so that if a twister did touch down, we could assist from both directions. We did not want to be in the projected path. We wanted to be off to the side to observe.
A spotter can be helpful from wherever they are when they are needed. Not everyone has to be in their vehicle to be useful. I was at work and had an excellent view to the southwest. That is the direction from which the F4 approached. My immediate supervisor, Hal McClamma, NN4US, is also a ham and a spotter. We both relayed information to the net.
I have seen three tornadoes in my life. Once I was 100 feet from an F1 that demolished my parents' home. I also saw a funnel for just a second that came out of a wall cloud, but caused no damage. Then on December 16, I saw the F4 and still find it difficult to find the words to describe it, but it was large, massive and extremely powerful. I was approximately 7 miles from the F4 at the closest point and I could identify debris. I later learned it was the mobile home park I was seeing in the funnel.
When I could first discern rotation--that is very important--I informed net control that I had a visual. You cannot guess! You must see rotation before calling net control with a visual. I was already hearing damage reports and knew a tornado was on the ground before I saw it. However, this is no time to say, "I guess that's it." Confirm rotation! This is covered in basic SKYWARN training and it's important.
I kept a visual on the funnel for 3 to 4 minutes until my location was enveloped in the rain curtain. At that time I went mobile. But let me clarify ... I went mobile, informing net control that I was headed out to locate damaged areas. I WAS NOT CHASING THE TORNADO. I find this to be a very dangerous practice.
I immediately used my knowledge of the town (I am a warehouse delivery manager and know most of the small roads in the area) to try and figure out where the tornado may have crossed populated areas. My first discovery was the Bear Creek Mobile Home Park. It was basically gone. Sheet metal, insulation and what looked like a dump was strewn before me. It was actually millions of small pieces of people's lives literally thrown to the wind.
I was the third car in line from the mess where it covered the road. I immediately identified the name of the street and the mobile home park and relayed it to emergency management. I was then told that they were trying to get information from that area but phone lines were down, cell towers were jammed and no communication was available. I was the only contact for those people to the outside world. How important is that ham ticket at that point?
A police car pulled up behind me. I did not enter the debris field under orders of the police officer. As emergency vehicles were guided in I set out to find the next populated area of damage. At that point, I verified a third area of damage and began to draw the imaginary line in my mind as to other possible locations of damage in populated areas. I did, however, have reports of other damage via 2 meter. I had a good idea as to where to go.
My next encounter was 3 to 4 miles away where the tornado crossed a county road. After about 20 minutes after the storm had hit, no help had yet arrived in this area. I exited my truck with the usual question, "Is anyone hurt?" I was directed to what was left of a mobile home. What I saw in front of me was amazing. A woman was lying on the ground and was having difficulty breathing. No less than 4 people were trying to call on cell phones and all were getting busy signals or jammed line recordings. I got the address, keyed my HT and within 5 minutes had an ambulance on the scene. Then it got spooky for me. As the stretcher was leaving the scene I began to draw that imaginary line in my head again. I lined up previous, present and points reported down the road and realized that my neighborhood was not directly in the path of the tornado, but close.
I called net control to clear my location and asked about my neighborhood. I was told, "No report." I lit out of there for home, but stopped one more time to investigate what I thought was a car under a tree. It turned out to be only an interstate sign.
As I entered my neighborhood, I was relieved to see it undamaged and ran eagerly inside my house to check on my wife and children. All were well, but shaken. I stepped out of my home, looked through the barren woods and could see emergency vehicles working at the TA truck stop about 1/4 mile away. The tornado took a 20 degree turn about 1/2 mile from my house and spared it.
I then returned to work and sat and reflected on what had happened with my boss and fellow employees. It was time to begin to rebuild. That story is still being written. As for me, every morning I have to drive through the area at Interstate 59 where the tornado turned that 20 degrees. I always give a sigh of thanks.
We had over 300 homes demolished and only 11 deaths. People were informed. It makes the difference.
Related Links:
Audio clips of the day's SKYWARN nets and interviews with spotters.
