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From Studying the Weather to Experiencing the Weather

UNC Asheville Atmospheric Sciences Students Chase Storms Across the Country

By UNC Asheville

August 30^th, 2024

By Andrew Price, atmospheric sciences major

Cover video courtesy of Jack Lochansky, cover photo courtesy of Christopher and Elaine Godfrey

Staring in wonder at the sky as dark clouds swirl overhead and strong winds pull warm and moist air around your body — a thrill for any weather enthusiast standing in a supercell’s inflow.

The sudden flash of lightning and crack of thunder in the otherwise dark and quiet landscape engulfed by a snowstorm makes thundersnow a similarly thrilling experience.

Historic flooding events and hurricanes also come up frequently in stories from atmospheric sciences students about why they began to love the weather. For many of us, a foundational event began a fascination with understanding why and how the atmosphere unleashes hurricanes, snowstorms, or thunderstorms.

This dark scud bomb observed by students resembles a tornado, but has no rotation. Photo courtesy of Christopher and Elaine Godfrey.

We weather enthusiasts have found ourselves at UNC Asheville studying the weather, but thanks to Christopher and Elaine Godfrey, professor and adjunct professor of atmospheric sciences, respectively, we were able to experience the power that thunderstorms hold, dive into the possibilities of our careers, and overall become closer to our foundational fascination with meteorology during the Severe Weather Field Experience.

Beginning May 13, a group of 10 atmospheric sciences students, plus our two incredible guides, embarked on a 12-day driving journey around the Great Plains of the United States to chase the strongest thunderstorms in existence — supercells.

The professors and students traveled across 10 states by van to observe supercells, tornadoes, and other weather phenomena. Photo courtesy of Christopher and Elaine Godfrey.

Loaded up with luggage, food, cameras, and ourselves, the 15-passenger van felt more like a can of sardines. But, rather unlike sardines, we buzzed with excitement and anticipation.

As Piper Shuster said after the course, “I kinda miss the big white van. Chasing storms with the class made up for any lack of legroom. I bonded with a new classmate every day.”

Students piled into a 15-passenger van for their cross-country storm chasing road trip. Photo courtesy of Christopher and Elaine Godfrey.

Exploring Careers with Experts

Days one and two of the trip consisted of a steady push westward to Central Oklahoma, where the class toured national weather facilities and met meteorologists and researchers such as Bill Bunting, the deputy director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Storm Prediction Center (SPC). Bunting led the class around the National Weather Center and gave a behind-the-scenes tour of the SPC. We also met with alumnus Damon Lane ’05, chief meteorologist at Oklahoma City’s KOCO television station and a trusted weather source across Oklahoma.

These and other meetings demonstrated that a bachelor's degree in atmospheric sciences can lead to a variety of careers.

Options ranged from National Weather Service forecasting, radar research, sporting event decision support, or aviation support, along with continued education in graduate school. Evan Johnson ’24 found himself amazed by the variety of research options while on the trip.

Damon Lane '05 shows students the various vehicles used by the news station for weather tracking. Photo courtesy of Christopher and Elaine Godfrey.

“I became a lot more interested in modeling, research, and operations support,” Johnson said. “I also enjoyed learning about how much citizen science (like public severe weather reports submitted to the National Weather Service) is important for the development of the field.”

Johnson just started graduate school in the master of science program in the department of atmospheric and earth science at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

Students had an opportunity to tour the library and archives at the National Weather Center. Photo courtesy of Evan Johnson.

The inside of a news station's storm chasing vehicle. Photo courtesy of Christopher and Elaine Godfrey.

Damon Lane '05 takes students on a tour of the television studio. Photo courtesy of Christopher and Elaine Godfrey.

Students visited the National Weather Center as part of their road trip. Photo courtesy of Christopher and Elaine Godfrey.

Students had a chance to explore the libraries and archives unique moving shelves. Many publications are housed here, including the Godfreys' own masters theses and Ph.D. dissertations. Photo courtesy of Evan Johnson.

Students view weather data displays in the lobby of the National Weather Center. Photo courtesy of Christopher and Elaine Godfrey.

Students peer inside a WSR-88D radar pedestal. Photo courtesy of Christopher and Elaine Godfrey.

Students get a behind the scenes look with Mike Miller, who explained the activities of the NOAA Radar Operations Center.. Photo courtesy of Christopher and Elaine Godfrey.

Spinning Supercells and Midwest Wilderness

Of course, the Severe Weather Field Experience would not be complete without severe weather. The group’s first storm chase came on day three, when a lone supercell thunderstorm developed over southern Kansas during the evening hours.

With Elaine Godfrey’s radar and navigational knowledge, the class was well positioned near an atmospheric boundary, known to focus lift needed for thunderstorm formation. Sure enough, our class was alongside well-known extreme storm chaser and YouTube phenom Reed Timmer and dozens of other chasers gazing in amazement at a developing supercell.

The group ran into noted storm chaser Reed Timmer (middle, black shirt) in his SRV Dominator 3 vehicle, designed for chasing tornadoes. Photo courtesy of Christopher and Elaine Godfrey.

Winds mesmerizingly rushed over fields of wheat, and clouds exploded upward in the warm, moist environment. With careful positioning and driving, the class was able to safely enjoy watching and photographing the storm for more than two hours. The storm even produced hail up to 4 inches in diameter!

Students found large hailstones. Photo courtesy of Christopher and Elaine Godfrey.

The next chance to experience thunderstorms would not be for four days, so the class spent time well by climbing radar towers and mountain peaks. At the NOAA Radar Operations Center in Norman, Oklahoma, we were able to walk around inside a NEXRAD WSR-88D radome (picture a giant golf ball positioned 80 feet in the air) and learn how a weather radar functions.

The remainder of day four and most of day five of the trip were spent touring other incredible facilities, including the National Weather Service, Radar Innovations Laboratory, and the University of Oklahoma campus where both Godfreys earned their doctorate degrees in meteorology.

The NEXRAD WSR-88D radome at the NOAA Radar Operations Center in Norman, Oklahoma. Photo courtesy of Christopher and Elaine Godfrey.

Students explore the inside of a NEXRAD WSR-88D radome, which houses radar technology. Photo courtesy of Christopher and Elaine Godfrey.

Students explore the inside of a NEXRAD WSR-88D radome, which houses radar technology. Photo courtesy of Jordan Cabral.

Students tour the National Weather Service. Photo courtesy of Christopher and Elaine Godfrey.

Jacob Sonney '24 next to a tornado simulator. Photo courtesy of Christopher and Elaine Godfrey.

Students visit an anechoic chamber during a behind the scenes tour. Photo courtesy of Christopher and Elaine Godfrey.

Day six of the trip introduced the class to the raw beauty of Oklahoma’s wilderness. Who knew Oklahoma had mountains! The class saw bison, longhorn cattle, elk, lizards, and rattlesnakes around the Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge, and of course, this was a photographer’s dream. Shuster, Johnson, and fellow students Jordan Cabral, and Jack Lochansky trekked with their professional cameras around their necks.

The remainder of the course consisted of thousands of miles of driving and dozens of hours in the van as we chased supercells from Oklahoma, to Colorado, to Iowa, and down to northern Texas, the land of extremely cheap soft serve (go Braum’s!).

Students come face to face with the wildlife of America's Midwest. Photo courtesy of Evan Johnson.

The group spent the sunny days of the trip exploring the region's wilderness. Photo courtesy of Christopher and Elaine Godfrey.

The bison, an icon of the Great Plains. Photo courtesy of Christopher and Elaine Godfrey.

The group encountered longhorn cattle while exploring the region. Photo courtesy of Jack Lochansky.

The group hiked to a panoramic view in Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma. Photo courtesy of Jordan Cabral.

Students soak in some sunshine between storms at the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve in Kansas. Photo courtesy of Evan Johnson.

Elaine Godfrey (middle right) and the students on a hike. Photo courtesy of Christopher and Elaine Godfrey.

Seeing, and Feeling, Storms First-hand

During our week of nearly constant storm chasing, three experiences stand out. The first happened when we were positioned to chase a supercell from around Woodward, Oklahoma, toward Oklahoma City. This chase was extremely exciting, with several occasions where the storm was producing a tornado merely a few miles away from us!

From great storm structure — billowing bright white clouds atop a smooth rotating dark gray storm base — to downdraft winds lofting debris, the first few hours of the chase were already notable.

However, as we were nearing sunset and the storm was tracking toward the Oklahoma City metro, a brief tornado hit the van!

The group observes a wall cloud. Photo courtesy of Christopher and Elaine Godfrey.

Although the storm was more than 5 miles to our north, a secondary circulation briefly spun up a weak tornado.

This tornado crossed over the van, threw gravel and rain around us, then as we watched, crossed Interstate 40 and lifted a garage and barn into the air.

Wreckage left behind by a tornado. Photo courtesy of Jordan Cabral.

Seeing as we were safe and unharmed, we rushed toward the property to make sure everyone was okay. It is a good thing we did, because Christopher Godfrey discovered a family trapped in their storm cellar.

He called emergency services and soon enough, the family was rescued from under debris consisting of downed power lines, the garage roof, and fencing.

Christopher Godfrey (left) assists with moving some debris left by a tornado. Photo courtesy of Christopher and Elaine Godfrey.

The next day brought us to eastern Colorado to chase in an extremely open and barren landscape. (If you think Kansas or Oklahoma are barren, visit eastern Colorado.) This terrain was amazing for storm viewability, and we were able to watch rotating storms in good detail from more than 20 miles away. While we did not see a tornado, there was an incredible lightning display after sunset. Thousands of bolts lit up the warm and humid air around us. A shock came the next morning when we left at 6 a.m. for Iowa. Where the evening before it was warm and storming, the temperature was in the 30s with rain driven into everyone’s core by 40 mph winds.

A large storm forms over the flat plains of the Southwest. Lightning is visible in the bottom left. Photo courtesy of Christopher and Elaine Godfrey.

The Godfreys drove us more than 650 miles from Colorado to near the Mississippi River on this day to intercept supercells in Iowa that had the capability to produce violent and photogenic tornadoes. The SPC had a moderate risk (the second highest) for tornadoes. Although we left Colorado very early and drove with minimal stops, we were just 30 minutes too late to see tornadoes. Bryce Glenn views it in a positive light.

“It was definitely a gamble,” Glenn said. “I think it was a great experience and a good lesson in the reality of storm chasing, even if it did not pay off the way we wanted it to.”

As we drove through Iowa behind the storms, we began to realize that it actually might have been a blessing to miss the storms. Several tornadoes had crossed major roads and towns at speeds higher than 60 mph, leaving a path of destruction. We drove through some of the damage paths and viewed shredded trees and homes. We all contemplated helping local victims in cleanup, but we wisely decided that a group of 10 students would only add pressure at a hard time in the lives of these people. It was a somber experience seeing what tornadoes stronger than the EF0 that hit our van a few days before could do.

Following our days of chasing that took us back south to Oklahoma and Texas, the class had to hurry back to Asheville. I had an incredible time during this course, and I know that students will find thrills, learning opportunities, and friendships on the next Severe Weather Field Experience that Christopher and Elaine Godfrey host.

Especially after taking Christopher Godfrey’s weather forecasting class, it was great to see how everything we do in the classroom can be applied to the field and in a meteorology career.