05/24/08 Chase Summary

This day was a mixed bag of great chase success and massive fail.  Managed to catch at least 3 tornadoes and yet a couple more MASSIVE rapidly rotating wall clouds.  That was the good part.

While shooting that last tornado above along I35, I was struck by lightning and thrown to the ground.  I don’t recall exactly what happened during a few minutes there (luckily I had the camera on the tripod and wasn’t touching it), but on the video I said a few choice words apparently.

I felt very odd afterwards and later passed an ambulance out spotting and got them to check my vital signs.  Blood pressure was a bit low as was blood oxygen, but I was still operating so that was good.  I felt very anxious for a long time, in fact I still do to some degree, and the headache is setting in.  Last time I was struck in 2004 I had a horrible headache for a week.

Continued on the chase to east of Perry and finally decided to give up as storm looked outflowish, and went back to the east of town to a parking lot to look over some data and decide if there was something else to chase or if I was done.

While sitting there, lightning stuck a metal sign not 20 feet in front of my vehicle, and my engine immediately died and would not start.  Everything electrical appeared to be working, but it wouldn’t crank over.

Luckily Dennis Sherrod and Steve Miller TX were nearby and came to my rescue.  A local guy ended up dragging me down the local GM dealership where I abandon my chase vehicle since they won’t be open until Tuesday with the holiday weekend.  This is quite depressing, as now I have to find a way back to northern OK to pick it up.

So I will be chasing with Steve Miller TX the next couple of days.  I am hoping it’s nothing too serious or expensive with the chase vehicle.

Written by David Drummond on May 25th, 2008 with 5 comments.
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