Weather You Like It Or Not 2007-2008 Storm Chase Adventures by Shane Adams DVD * 2007-2008 * 108min * R for language * $20.00 S&H Included This video chronicles some of the most difficult chasing conditions of my career. The tornadoes didn't come easy during this two-year stretch, but they sure did come. You'll see tornadoes of all shapes and sizes, ranging from small dust whirls to monster wedges. And you'll also experience first-hand the sometimes-trying nature of storm chasing. The very best moments from a time when Mother Nature made us work for every shot.

 

April 21, 2007 The video starts with this difficult chase day in the Texas panhandle. We nail the forecast, but are forced to choose between three storms when everything goes up at once. We choose the storm that's west of us, and follow as it races north, producing three tornadoes, the last of which includes a beautiful, lengthy rope phase. After getting turned back by a police road block, we drop south and pick up the next storm, which produces a surprise tornado just east of us, giving us an incredible view as the funnel twists almost overhead. This chase was a lot of work, but it paid off big time.

 

May 4, 2007 This segment features tornadoes that few others witnessed besides ourselves. We approach the infamous Greensburg, KS supercell from the northeast after dark, having been suckered too far north during the day. Our earlier mistake becomes a blessing in disguise, as we get perfect position on the storm as it moves northeast, flanking it from the southeast. It produces a trio of monster wedge tornadoes, all over a mile wide, including a 2.2 mile wide beast. Unfortunately, a police officer we meet up with would be fatally-injured later in the night by the last of these incredibly large and dangerous tornadoes. This is the most nerve-racking and tense chase of my career.

 

May 5, 2007 The encore segment to a wild chase weekend. After our incredibly intense chase the night before, we wake up in our target area for a repeat performance. We decide to head south and gamble that storms will go tornadic before they reach Greensburg, which is completely devastated and unpassable. Our gamble pays off, as we track a storm from near the KS/OK border, which goes on to produce a trio of tornadoes, just south of Greensburg. We're parked in the May 4 tornado damage path as we're videotaping the tornadoes.

 

May 22, 2007 This segment features the most photogenic storm and tornado of my 2007 season. On a marginal set-up, we end up on the storm of the day. After the storm itself gives us an amazing show with its incredible structure, it produces an equally-beautiful tornado, which spins across open country for seven minutes. A classic chase day.

 

October 14, 2007 A rare Fall chase opportunity is featured in this segment. Going solo, I chase a setup in southwest Oklahoma old-school style, with nothing but a paper map and NOAA radio. I drive to my target and sit...and sit...and sit. Eventually storms fire, and within half an hour I'm on a fledgling supercell. I set up northeast of the storm and watch as a wall cloud develops, and eventually produces a brief, weak tornado that many didn't count as such. Watch this clip and judge for yourself.

 

March 30, 2008 This segment highlights our first tornado day of the 2008 season. After getting suckered north, away from our original target area earlier in the day, we finally see storms develop in the area where we started out. We race southwest, eager to make up for our mistake. We intercept a supercell late in the day, and track it through the evening until dark. After night falls, the storm of the day (or night) fires west of us and we make a break for it. We're rewarded with a pair of brief nocturnal tornadoes, the second of which creates a brilliant series of power flashes as it hits power lines.

 

April 9, 2008 This brief segment is a great example of how longshots can pay off. After many chasers blew this event off, thinking it would be mostly a rain event with difficult-to-chase storms, we decide it's a great opportunity for another early season tornado. We make the long trek out to west Texas, where we intercept a storm near Abilene. It produces a brief, weak tornado that we're in perfect position to see. Though it only lasts a minute or less, it makes the long chase worth while.

 

April 23, 2008 A near carbon copy of our April 9 chase. Another west Texas setup, that most felt wouldn't be worth the trip because of heavy rain. And again, we just looked at it as another early season tornado opp. We make the near-same exact trek southwest to west Texas, ending up in the town of Rotan. A storm rapidly becomes severe just west of town, and we're in position as it produces a brief tornado south of town. We follow this storm as it continues to move east, but drop it after it becomes high-precipitation and difficult to view. We head back west to pick up a second storm, and watch as it produces a brief but large tornado southwest of us, that moves rapidly south and dissipates after just a minute or so.

 

May 1, 2008 A classic backyard chase is the feature of this segment. After missing out on the chase day for work, I start to feel that an opportunity lies within my grasp late in the day near home. After checking data, I head to the west side of Norman to watch developing towers. Before I can get there, one explodes into an amazing supercell, and I track it up I-35 and then I-40 into the Oklahoma City metro. Trees, hills, and city traffic play havoc on me as I struggle to keep up with the storm, but eventually I'm rewarded with a brief tornado just outside of the OKC limit.

 

May 22, 2008 The first day of our late season Hat Trick. We target southwest Kansas on a significant day, and track a storm all the way through the heart of the Sunflower state, ending up just south of I-70. There, after battling horrible haze and lots of precipitation, we witness a trio of twisters, all within a few minutes of each other. But this was just the beginning of an incredible weekend.

 

May 23, 2008 Day two of our Hat Trick, which is basically a repeat of the previous day. After ditching our original storm due to bad roads, we drop south and pick up our second storm of the day near Dighton. We stop and set up as the storm approaches from the south, watching an incredible merry-go-round mesocyclone/wall cloud evolution for over twenty minutes. The timing works out perfectly, as after nearly half an hour, the storm produces a multiple vortex tornado just a few miles west of us. After this tornado, we pack it up and move north, stopping a few miles down the road as a second multi-vortex tornado develops to our west. But the best is yet to come.

 

May 24, 2008 The grand finale of our Hat Trick weekend. After a dizzying two days in Kansas, we return home to Oklahoma. The overnight leftovers from our previous day's prize leave a rogue boundary floating in north-central Oklahoma, which becomes the focal point for arguably the best supercell of the year. Despite getting a late start and missing the first few tornadoes, we still manage to get on the storm. Though many of them are difficult to see due to haze and rain, we observe 11 tornadoes from this insane storm, setting my all-time record for most tornadoes in a single day. An incredible chase for us, and an action-packed ending to this DVD.