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CNN Live Today

Talk with Amateur Photographer Who Captured Tornado

Aired May 05, 2003 - 10:41   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CHAD MYERS, CNN ANCHOR: One guy who knows about rotating thunderstorms, Reed Timmer right now joining us from Norman, Oklahoma.
Reed, I saw some of that video that you had. You seemed a little bit close. Tell me about it.

REED TIMMER, AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHER: Well, it seemed like we were close, we knew where the storm was moving the entire time. We are experienced at this. And we were actually pretty safe distance from the tornado we thought.

MYERS: Now, typically when you go out chasing, you go chasing in Oklahoma, you have a TV station behind that you sends you information about where the radar is, where the rotation is. You are pretty far from home. Where were you getting your stuff?

TIMMER: We actually have people who "nowcast" for us, it's called. We have people back home who look at the Internet, look at radars and look at the rotation of the storms, and they tell us exactly where to go, and often they have maps on hand as well to kind of tell us exactly where the most dangerous part of the storm is.

MYERS: Unfortunately, too many people think tornado chasing is a car, a tank of gas and map, but truly that is not the case. You have a lot of backup behind you, don't you?

TIMMER: That's true. And also people have to realize that the goal of most storm chasers is to save lives. We go out there with ham radio networks and we report the touchdown of tornadoes so that people can be forewarned, and they know a tornado is on the ground and they can take the necessary precautions, and hopefully we went out there today realizing that we'd be saving some lives, and not just for the thrill.

MYERS: The storm you shot here. Was this the Leavenworth County, Kansas storm?

TIMMER: No, this was further south. We actually went northeast out of Norman around noon. We got to the first storm, which was near Gerard. It was about half mile wide wedge tornado, and it's very sad because it came on significant damage near the town of Gerard. We dropped south about five miles in rain. Our "nowcast" was telling us this was a rotating storm; it had really rapid rotation.

We came out of the rain, and just about two miles to our west, a cone tornado, like the you see in the tape, moved east/southeast, a little bit southeast. We watched it, and it crossed the road in front of us, and we called in the report of a tornado on the ground, and hopefully, warned people.

MYERS: This one here pretty easy to shoot. Did you find a lot of storms, what we call, wrapped in rain?

TIMMER: This weren't wrapped in rain too much. There more of the classic variety today, rather than the high precipitation super cell, so most of the tornadoes weren't wrapped in rain. It seemed like every storm had a tornado on the ground. We'd come out of rain, and look west and there'd be a tornado on the ground underneath the base (ph).

MYERS: Wrapped in rain, folks, if you are just joining us, it's almost like being in a shower that a curtain goes all the way around. You certainly can't see the person inside, and unfortunately, you can't see the tornado inside either, if that rain goes completely around the tornado. You are outside looking for it, all you see is rain, thinking you are OK, but unfortunately, you're not.

So the good news is, at least, as Reed was telling you here, most of these storms on the dry side here.

Are we looking at the back? Are we looking at the southwest side? Or what was direction of all this stuff?

TIMMER: The tornado was located in southwest side of the storm. We were actually located just north, between the rain and the hail, in the tornado in the dry air there. We were looking southwest at it, and it was moving due east. It crossed the road just south. That was about 10 miles north of the town of Baxter Springs.

MYERS: Now, my producer are telling me you guys were out for two days, is that true?

TIMMER: Well, actually before, I was down in Texas, and I saw a tornado in the southeastern town of Haskell (ph). I was driving in my -- I have an old truck. It got damaged actually. The steering rod broke. So I had to get duct tape, and duct taped it up, and we drove 40 miles per hour almost back to Norman, slept two hours, and then went to our target area, southeast Kansas.

MYERS: Did you find any hail with it? I mean, typically we lose windshields and all that when we're trying to chase, just because you get in a hail core. Was your truck all right?

TIMMER: Yes, it was fine. We actually stayed out hail this time. We saw some baseball and softball-sized hail on the side of the road. But we usually try to stay out of the hail. If you are in the hail, you are in the most dangerous part of the storm.

MYERS: Hey, Reed, thank you very much. Stay safe out there.

TIMMER: Yes, we will definitely.

MYERS: Some great pictures.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired May 5, 2003 - 10:41   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CHAD MYERS, CNN ANCHOR: One guy who knows about rotating thunderstorms, Reed Timmer right now joining us from Norman, Oklahoma.
Reed, I saw some of that video that you had. You seemed a little bit close. Tell me about it.

REED TIMMER, AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHER: Well, it seemed like we were close, we knew where the storm was moving the entire time. We are experienced at this. And we were actually pretty safe distance from the tornado we thought.

MYERS: Now, typically when you go out chasing, you go chasing in Oklahoma, you have a TV station behind that you sends you information about where the radar is, where the rotation is. You are pretty far from home. Where were you getting your stuff?

TIMMER: We actually have people who "nowcast" for us, it's called. We have people back home who look at the Internet, look at radars and look at the rotation of the storms, and they tell us exactly where to go, and often they have maps on hand as well to kind of tell us exactly where the most dangerous part of the storm is.

MYERS: Unfortunately, too many people think tornado chasing is a car, a tank of gas and map, but truly that is not the case. You have a lot of backup behind you, don't you?

TIMMER: That's true. And also people have to realize that the goal of most storm chasers is to save lives. We go out there with ham radio networks and we report the touchdown of tornadoes so that people can be forewarned, and they know a tornado is on the ground and they can take the necessary precautions, and hopefully we went out there today realizing that we'd be saving some lives, and not just for the thrill.

MYERS: The storm you shot here. Was this the Leavenworth County, Kansas storm?

TIMMER: No, this was further south. We actually went northeast out of Norman around noon. We got to the first storm, which was near Gerard. It was about half mile wide wedge tornado, and it's very sad because it came on significant damage near the town of Gerard. We dropped south about five miles in rain. Our "nowcast" was telling us this was a rotating storm; it had really rapid rotation.

We came out of the rain, and just about two miles to our west, a cone tornado, like the you see in the tape, moved east/southeast, a little bit southeast. We watched it, and it crossed the road in front of us, and we called in the report of a tornado on the ground, and hopefully, warned people.

MYERS: This one here pretty easy to shoot. Did you find a lot of storms, what we call, wrapped in rain?

TIMMER: This weren't wrapped in rain too much. There more of the classic variety today, rather than the high precipitation super cell, so most of the tornadoes weren't wrapped in rain. It seemed like every storm had a tornado on the ground. We'd come out of rain, and look west and there'd be a tornado on the ground underneath the base (ph).

MYERS: Wrapped in rain, folks, if you are just joining us, it's almost like being in a shower that a curtain goes all the way around. You certainly can't see the person inside, and unfortunately, you can't see the tornado inside either, if that rain goes completely around the tornado. You are outside looking for it, all you see is rain, thinking you are OK, but unfortunately, you're not.

So the good news is, at least, as Reed was telling you here, most of these storms on the dry side here.

Are we looking at the back? Are we looking at the southwest side? Or what was direction of all this stuff?

TIMMER: The tornado was located in southwest side of the storm. We were actually located just north, between the rain and the hail, in the tornado in the dry air there. We were looking southwest at it, and it was moving due east. It crossed the road just south. That was about 10 miles north of the town of Baxter Springs.

MYERS: Now, my producer are telling me you guys were out for two days, is that true?

TIMMER: Well, actually before, I was down in Texas, and I saw a tornado in the southeastern town of Haskell (ph). I was driving in my -- I have an old truck. It got damaged actually. The steering rod broke. So I had to get duct tape, and duct taped it up, and we drove 40 miles per hour almost back to Norman, slept two hours, and then went to our target area, southeast Kansas.

MYERS: Did you find any hail with it? I mean, typically we lose windshields and all that when we're trying to chase, just because you get in a hail core. Was your truck all right?

TIMMER: Yes, it was fine. We actually stayed out hail this time. We saw some baseball and softball-sized hail on the side of the road. But we usually try to stay out of the hail. If you are in the hail, you are in the most dangerous part of the storm.

MYERS: Hey, Reed, thank you very much. Stay safe out there.

TIMMER: Yes, we will definitely.

MYERS: Some great pictures.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com