Twister Sisters show, episode 5... the rest of the story...

Well, we did it up, my bf, Meso Mike, Rick, and I, celebrating the Dew-ified episode of the "Twister Sisters" show, which aired last night on WEtv (pictured here are Rick, me and Meso Mike... catching our first bit of rotation... I know, we're not "right". Yes, yes, a little bit of adult beverage played a roll in this.) Meso Mike stayed in town to catch the episode at my place, and since he was in town, I arranged for some early chaser convergence in the form of Hibatchi style cuisine. Before Rick arrived, Meso Mike and I hit the Best Buy to take a gander and play with the Canon DSLRs... drool. My dear son (who turned 21 today... good grief!) and his fabulous gf happened to walk in while we were there, so introductions all around, then we headed to the restaurant. It was an excellent celebratory meal, proving to all that heat is, in fact, the number one weather related killer... How are those eyebrows, Meso Mike?

So, that leads us up close to show time... Meso Mike brought some delicious Moscato from Italia, which is just about the best sparkling wine I have ever had. We drank a toast to the Dew-ified show, and sat down to watch... oh, after making some White Russians, that is... now, onto the show... I was impressed with the accuracy of what I actually saw compared with what they showed me seeing. Unfortunately and quite sadly, that is just about all I saw... I am impressed with the way it all edited. Upon reflecting on some things, prior to the airing, I got slightly paranoid about how things could have been taken out of context, and the only thing that I noticed was the way I compared the weather there with what we see in Georgia. There was more context, but that's a moot point. The big observation and the thing I have gotten the most feedback about is the inclusion of the infamous Happy Dew Dance (HDD). Now, I knew there was a risk of them incorporating a staged dance... what I didn't realized, was that I seem to do that dance on a regular basis, almost instinctually... People have heard of the Dance of Chaser Merriment, right? I think they mentioned it at the beginning of the show. Well, my Happy Dew Dance is similar to that, except... my dance (according to close friends, I am now hearing) comes out whenever something excites me... My dear son was prompt to call me and tell me that I am NEVER TO DEW THAT DANCE AGAIN! LOL. Happy, Texas Steve? You finally got to see the HDD. Oh brother...

Enough about the HDD, the significant break with reality occurs in the order and location of events. They showed chase day one, the high risk PDS (that the Dewvoid took care of) in Iowa (which they presented as Nebraska...), but was actually my last chase day. It was the day we chased a long-lived wall cloud across THE ENTIRE STATE OF IOWA! Let me just say in no uncertain terms, that IOWA SUCKS! Iowa really sucks when you are chasing a fast moving supercell across the entire state, and GET NOTHING!
Anyways, I did get to hear my first tornado siren (the first pic above), since there was a rotating wall cloud, and that was cool, but that expression I offered at the end of that day was the expression of extreme disappointment. You see, that wasn't the end of chase day one... that was the end of the chasecation. I knew the forecast for my third day out. We weren't going to have an opportunity for a third chase day. I was crushed. The Dewvoid had killed my last shot for that trip (no worries, I will return to the plains.) The day at the winery (cough, cough) was totally cut, like it didn't even exist. I was sneaking wine samples to the sound guy the whole time... Hey Boo! (I sure did enjoy the production side of the show, so fascinating how it all comes together. I just wish that everyone hadn't been so stressed.)
Since my day 2 was a bust, and day 3 never even happened, that leaves my day 1, which was the cool day. Chaser convergence in Murdo, SD was awesome. There were so many different types of chasers out there, all after that same storm. It was overwhelming.












I was in new chaser sensory overload. I loved it though. The funnel clouds were awesome in that impressive striated mesocyclone within my very first ever supercell (yes, folks, I am that new to chasing). I was completely awestruck, and with the location of the sun, the green pastures, rolling hills... it was breathtaking. That cell made my chase experience. Of course, we missed the badlands tornado by like 30 minutes, or something... but I'll have another shot at that one day. It would have been awesome to see that one over the badlands... the best shot I have seen of it was taken by Scott Blair... (click on his name to see it, it rocks) Yeah... I missed it. It was funny, when we were watching the show, I said "Oh guys, this is when we saw the huge shelf cloud that covered the entire sky. It was awesome!" That was cut, but let me paste a pic of that for you. We left that and caught up with it again when I got to experience my very first outflow boundary/straight line wind event. It was amazing! I was standing there watching that incredible shelf cloud approach, when all of the sudden, this blast of wind and sand overtook us, just about knocking me off my feet. It was powerful, and it was definitely another key moment for me during my chasecation.
Of course, I lost the guys at that point, as they became suddenly distracted as they watched Melanie race toward the Suburban. I won't say why... you'll just have to watch the show... Boys will be boys. All in all, I think they presented Mr. X well. Oh, was Mr. X there? I had forgotten saying that jokingly during the interview... He is still not a fan of storm chasing... just fyi.

Of course, the Beau and Eric saga continued. I can understand their frustration... everyone, at that point, was tense and tired. They had traveled all over the plains and back, in a very short period of time. Most were running on fumes. I know the crew was ready for it to be over.

I will be watching the show again to see what I missed since somebody talked just about the whole time and I was getting calls and texts throughout.

All in all, I would definitely do that again, in a heartbeat! It was a wonderful experience. I learned so much and had a truly terrific time.

Aside from all that, the "January Jolt"... (is that seriously what TWC called this thing?) continued into yesterday, offering some more tornadoes, including a couple of EF3s. January... weird. Locally, we are expecting some weather tomorrow, as the SPC has placed us near a slight risk... but I would actually expect our weather to arrive Friday... you know, when I leave town. The guys were practically offering to pack my bags for me. Thanks, guys. I appreciate all the love. Hey Dew, have a safe trip. Please don't come back till we bag the big one. sigh. We'll see what happens, but with the Dewvoid out of the way, it's certain to be something.

Have a great day!
~Dewdrop