End Of My Season

May 25, 2012. The day started at midnight with off key singing and stories and camaraderie. And that was beautiful.

After sunrise, the armada woke up in Lawrence, Kansas to thoughts of pushing a little farther west. Convection wasn’t necessarily a given, but if clouds were to break the cap, the ingredients were there for them to become supercellular. And well, they kind of did:

Now, those are the kind of storms that CSWR likes to see. After several days of largely uneventful weather, ROTATE was able to observe and collect data on a few tornadoes in western Kansas. Unfortunately, a couple of the vehicles found themselves a little too close to one of these tornadoes and sustained some damage to themselves and to their instruments. Thankfully, however, all occupants of those vehicles, as well as all other members of the CSWR team and a woman whose home was destroyed in the vicinity, made it through the storm with little to no harm. Kind of puts a whole new spin on intercepting a tornado…




In all that exists in the world, storm chasing is but of its own little microcosm. Unfortunately, life does not stop for the chase. I had to depart from the project on the morning of May 25, 2012 to make my way back home and back to real life. I’d like to give a big thanks to all of the CSWR crew (past and present) for being such great individuals. It is hard enough as it is to live out of a suitcase for weeks at a time while constantly worrying about whether you are eating enough greens. It would be nearly impossible were it not for the amazing people you get to share that time with. Miss you all, and hope to see you soon.

PS- You’re welcome, Josh.

We are ROTATE2012. Well, half of it anyway. In no order: Mareike, Maryam, 
Chris, Ronan, Taylor, Herb, Melissa, Lindsay, Rutger, Eric (Not Tim), Alycia,
Rachel,  Brian, Eddie, and erin. Photo by Melissa Guzinski.