It’s been a while, and I know I’ve been a bit of a slacker, but sometimes you get in a rut and have to deal with what life throws your way in the moment and let history wait. Well, my research history has been waiting for over a year for an update, so I’ve been working on my research database. Frankly, I’m tired of looking at piles of documents covering every table in my office, and I know my better half is too.

Update: Most of my research papers are digitized, and I’m down to just one pile. This will allow me to spread the joy of tax season across all my other tables—but I digress!

Another bit of news that has kept me from my unpaid endeavors is a new addition to the family. Yes, Erzsébet is a big sister. In this blog, the “new” addition will be referred to as the Laddie until he is old enough to protest my choice of name to honor his Scottish heritage. I look forward to seeing these two grow up together over time.

During my absence, I’ve been watching a lot of YouTube. One particular person who has piqued my interest is an old favorite: storm chaser Reed Timmer. I’ve always been interested in weather, and while I’ve never officially run around chasing tornadoes, I do have some history with hurricanes. (I also have a history of filming lightning on a roof with a camcorder, but I was in my 20s, and amazingly, there was no alcohol involved. I know there is video footage, though.)

Earlier this year, I saw that Reed had a live stream during Hurricane Milton’s landfall in Florida. I’m particurely interested in a hurricane making landfall in Florida because my brother-in-law lives there. A three-hour live stream turned out to be a blessing in disguise for Florida because Milton weakened rapidly, resulting in minor damage from what could have been a disastrous situation. To put this into perspective, Hurricane Milton’s winds reached 180 mph off the north coast of Mexico.

After that, I began to revisit some videos of his chases in Oklahoma, including a few seasons of the Storm Chasers series on Discovery Plus. Most of the time, I shake my head and wonder why this guy isn’t dead. And that thought brought me back to 2013 when Tim Samaras died during the El Reno, Oklahoma, tornado. Tim was the exact opposite and basically felt that safety came before the glory of getting data on an incoming storm, but that particular storm expanded and injured a lot of chasers and killed some residents. There’s a book about Tim, and I’ll leave a link at the bottom of this blog because if you’re into this type of information, it gives a good perspective on how the evolution of data accumulation. 

Okay, I’m done geeking out about the history of weather, so I’ll move on to Reed Timmer’s livestream on Thursday evening in Liberty County. I’ll leave a link to it. It was fun to watch because, yes, he actually did get into an EF0 tornado on the ground, and he was yelling a lot, but on the live stream, you could follow him on Google Maps and locals could figure out where he was and follow his progress. The live stream ended at the intersection of College and I-10, with his phone inputting the coordinates for L’Auberge Casino Resort. Great choice!

On Saturday’s live stream, Reed said that areas near the coast would experience big supercells. As of Saturday morning, I thought Louisiana was going to be toast, but then we had a repeat of 2020 and 2021. A supercell born in Brazoria County continued through Chambers and Jefferson counties, producing a much bigger tornado than the usual water spouts in this coastal area.

Shout out to 12Newsnow KBMT for their live coverage: Patrick Vaughn, Jordan Williams, and Jeremiah Stewart! Love the radar.

I’m tired and have a headache as I write this, but luckily, there are no more warnings out, so we can relax.

Stay safe!

12 News Now Live feed of the EF3 Tornado:

Reed Timmer Live Stream Full: Dayton Tornado at 4:08:00

Dayton Tornado Stream:

Remembering Tim Samaris:

Tim Samaris Book: