16 C16
created: 2023-06-04T10:39 updated: 2023-06-04T10:
"Yeah, it was probe four. I left it with Emily, I'll have her bring it in." John was saying. Eric was driving toward the dry line and Dr. Peterson was talking to someone at the office where he worked. "Also, since Hannah now has the title of forecaster, she wanted to know if she gets paid..." John listened for a second. "Alright I'll tell her. Thanks Rebecca. I'll make a quick stop in Monday and we have go over the data that we got last week."
"What'd she say?" Hannah asked, glancing up from the display on her laptop. She was comparing model runs and occasionally glancing at one of the two displays in the front of the truck. "Hey Eric, pull over real quick..." Something had caught her attention. John shrugged and grabbed the microphone that was attached to the radio.
"Probe to M2 and M3, we're pulling over." John said, turning in the seat slightly to look at his daughter. "What are you seeing, baby?"
Hannah unbuckled her seatbelt and leaned forward. "That..." She pointed at a single isolated cell in the panhandle of Texas. Based on the radar signature, it had some hail in it. She glanced at the screen on her laptop again.
"What about it?" John asked.
"The HRRR has that cell intensifying and heading right here. It's moving at 60 right now, but it's gonna slow down. It'll be here by 1800z." Hannah shrugged. "I think we should wait, but you're the man in charge."
"You want to sit here for the next four hours?" John chuckled and looked at Eric and then put the window down as Tom and Joe walked up. They were the drivers of M2 and M3 respectively.
"What's up?" Tom asked, peering in the window at the displays.
"Hannah thinks we should wait on this cell..." John pointed at a cell on the radar. It had moved around ten miles since Hannah had pointed it out. "I propose that we head for it and we try to deploy on it as many times as we can."
"Hey, it beats just sitting around twiddling our thumbs..." Hannah said. "I'm game." She sat back in the seat and buckled her seat belt.
"By the way," John said, as Eric put the truck in gear and merged back into traffic. "Rebecca said we can pay you, but even she said some of it should go toward your college education..."
"Ok..." Hannah sounded exasperated. She would still get some spending money out of the deal.
"Don't sound so enthusiastic..." John said. "I have an idea how much your education is going to cost... Anything we can do to offset that will help you in the long run. Your mom and I have been out of college for years now and we're still paying for our educations." Outside, in the distance, was the supercell thunderstorm that they were heading for. Hannah looked at it, and then smiled.
"Can I have the camera? Hannah asked, without taking her eyes off the storm.
"Yeah." Eric said, reaching up and grabbing the camera from it's home in the corner of the windshield. He handed it back to her without taking his eyes off the road. John was examining the radar.
"Eric," John said. "Pull over here"
"Probe to M2 and M3, we're pulling over again." Eric said as John's eyes darted from the radar display to the display on the laptop that sat in between the front two seats. The middle monitor was displaying Threat Net and currently showed that they were still three miles from the storm.
"Let's pull the probe out." John said, unbuckling his seat belt, causing Eric and Hannah to do the same. As they got out of the truck there was a large clap of thunder. While Eric and her dad were sliding the probe out on to the lift at the back of the truck, Hannah was busy examining the structure of the storm. She knew enough about the software that her dad used to open his door and look at the radar, switching the view to velocity. Seeing what she thought she would see, she glanced at the display for Threat Net to confirm what the velocity said, and then looked off to the west. Sure enough, right where she had seen on radar, a funnel was dropping from the sky. Within seconds the wind tunnel had touched the ground and was kicking up dust and crops from a farmer's field. She turned her head toward the back of the truck and shouted.
"Tornado! To the West!" Her voice was not panicked, it was rather calm and level.
"Tornado!" She heard Eric shout.
"Tornado!" John shouted. "Hannah, call it in, you know how to see where we are."
Hannah jumped up in the passenger seat and switched to the mapping display on the laptop in the middle of the truck. Made a note of where they were and then picked up the phone and dialed 911. She knew from listening to her mom and dad talk that the call would be routed to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol dispatch center in Oklahoma City. The dispatcher answered the phone and gave the customary "911 What is your emergency?"
"My name is Hannah Peterson and I'd like to report a tornado on the ground. It's about three miles south west of Oklahoma Route 9 and North 2150 Rd. That would put it south west of Hobart, and north east of Lone Wolf. Alright, thank you." Hannah put the phone back where it started and hopped out of the truck, leaving the door open. She had just hopped in the back seat when her Dad jumped into the passenger seat and Eric jumped in the drivers seat. They were rolling before anyone put on their seat belts. John grabbed the mic as he looked at the map.
"Probe to M2, head up to East 1390 Road and parallel the tornado, M3 head down to East 1410 Road and do the same, Probe is taking East 1400 and going to attempt to deploy."
"M2 We copy." Joe Shaw, the driver of M2 said.
"M3 we copy as well, Go get 'em Probe" Eric dropped the truck in gear and hit the gas. The engine roared slightly as the truck picked up speed. As they raced toward the tornado, Hannah watched and took pictures of the tornado growing in size and darkening.
"Stop here, Eric." Eric pulled the truck over to the side of the road and put it in park. Everyone piled out and looked at the tornado.
"What do you think, John?" Eric asked. The roar of the approaching tornado was noticeable, but not loud enough that you had to shout over it.
"I think it's heading right for us..." Hannah said.
"I agree." John said. "Let's deploy."