Crane County Incident Update

Alot has happened with the ongoing Crane County drama. The story has made national headlines...even internationally!

The Sheriff issued the first public statment about the incident, and of course is "circling the wagons". What's funny is that he probably should have just been quiet and hired a PR person. I'll comment on his statement below.

Now, the story gets EVEN better! It was reported that the hot-headed deputy is the son-and-law of the Sheriff himself!! LOL!! I can't make this stuff up!! (thanks to Tim Shriver on ST posting the image below)

So, here we go...starting off with raw video of the arrest. You can view it here: http://www.kwes.com/global/story.asp?s=8286980

Quoting and responding to the article I mentioned:

Crane County Sheriff Robert DeLeon said the incident happened after weather spotter Brian Taylor Barnes, of Violent Skies Tours, hadn't reported to the Crane Emergency Operations Center - "like all the other weather spotters."

Wow, this is such a stupid statement...where do I begin? I'll try though.

1) Did the deputy actually check with the EOC to verify this before becoming enraged?

2) Is this the distinction between levying a false charge and arrest against somebody? "If you don't report into EOC, we are gonna arrest you, son."

3) Since when does this "allow" somebody the privilege of parking at a rest stop well away from the highway to observe a severe thunderstorm without being verbally abused, handcuffed and thrown against a vehicle then a false charge filed against you?

"Mr. Barnes took it upon himself to recklessly disregard a reasonable request or order to leave the immediate vicinity where our deputy believed him and fellow passengers to be in a dangerous proximity to funnel clouds that had already produced one reported tornado."

1) Recklessly disregard? As in the pic to the right? A lawyer should have loads of fun with that one should ol' Boss Hogg bring that up in court. Strike one, sheriff.

2) What cracks me up is that this entire statement assumes that this idiot deputy is an experienced authority on the danger that the storm actually imposed on Brian and his clients. As a lawyer, I would rip his ass by pointing out the deputy drove Mr. Barnes AND the chase tour clients INTO the core of the TORNADIC storm!!! They drove through blinding rain and hail the size of golfballs and larger. So, the deputy's actions gravely endangered everybody's safety. It also proves that the deputy knows absolutely ZILCH about severe storm dynamics, structure....little alone knowing ANYTHING about "dangerous proximity" to a storm. Idiot!

I would further request all documentation and certification for any training that this deputy has received proving that he was knowlegable enough to make a determination that the victims were truly in immediate danger or in "dangerous proximity". I would then contrast any such documentation (and I'm betting he doesn't have ANY) with that of Mr. Barnes' vast experience, training and knowlege...not to mention the equipment Mr. Barnes uses such as live radar complete with analysis tools. Mr. Barnes does this stuff for a living. The deputy of course doesn't have any such access to information....another excellent contrast. He would have though had he not been a power tripping ass.

3) And, as icing on the cake, just WHO reported that tornado the sheriff is talking about? If it can be documented that Brian did....ZING! LOL!!

Oh my God! I would SOOOO love to be a lawyer or at least a paralegal working on this case to defend Brian. LOL!! But I'm not, unfortunately. It makes me wish I had gone to law school though. ;-)

In reality though, I believe the sheriff is posturing and bracing for one helluva lawsuit. I believe we've already seen what their defense is going to be. At this point, admitting any sort of wrong doing or guilt isn't a smart legal move. I can't help but think his "statement" was cooked up by a legal team.

As long as I'm playing Perry Mason, here is what I would do to sue the County, Sheriff's Department, and the deputy himself.

1) Charge them with violating the constitutionally guaranteed right of freedom of assembly.

2) Failing to follow legally mandated and required arrest procedures (possibly further constitutional violations). I won't go into details as I'm not fully versed enough, but from what I know, the deputy and department screwed up on at least a couple of counts. Did the deputy read the Miranda rights? I haven't seen any evidence of that yet. Based on him being such a hot-headed and out-of-control maniac, I'd venture to guess he didn't. That's a real biggie.

3) Filing a blatent, willful and malicious false charge of obstructing a roadway.

4) Gross and intentional wreckless endangerment. Remember, this moron drove Brian INTO the bowels of a tornadic supercell storm...complete with large, destructive hail and blinding rain. This may also apply to the tour participants as well.

5) Lastly, and if this can be refuted with any video and/or eyewitness testimony, filing a false arrest/incident report if they indeed lied about the details. Based on the reaction so far from the Sheriff, I'd be looking at this hard.

6) Extreme emotional duress. This would apply to ALL parties victimized by this event...particularly the tour participants.

7) Excessive use of force (police brutality)....battery. This of course would be based on the available evidence and I agree marginal at bnest, but it is something else for them to have to fight in court. Based on everything else and how well you can paint the character and other actions of the deputy to the jury, I'd go for it.

8) Hefty punitive damages of course. This is where I'd get into the 8-figure range.

9) Demand the immediate removal of the deputy from his position within the department, including all such information relevant to his actions in this incident made a permanent part of his record. I don't know if you can really sue for that or not, but it's a nice gesture. ;-)

10) Demand a formal written AND verbal apology to ALL victims involved both from the Sheriff and the Deputy himself.

I would ask for $50 million for Mr. Barnes and another $500,000 for each tour participant.

If between now and then, the Sheriff receives some solid legal advice and pressure from the citizens and other government officials of Crane County resulting in dropping all charges against Mr. Barnes, AND at the very least disciplinary action agains the deputy....AND a formal apology, then I would settle for considerably less, but still 7 figures...oh, say about $5 million for Mr. Barnes and $50,000 for each tour participant. It's too late now to make amends and just forget about it. They had their chance. Besides, the county has insurance (or is supposed to) to protect against such malcontent employees, so the citizens will be okay.

For me, it's not really so much about protecting my stormchasing hobby, but everything to do with protecting our individual freedoms and rights as U.S. citizens from abuse and tyranny that clearly exists in Crane County, Texas. I would be just as pissed if it had been totally unrelated to stormchasing. However, the elements of stormchasing surrounding this incident make it even more outrageous and even laughable. Don't get me started about the Eldorado, Texas situation with the state coming in and taking all of those kids like they did. Maybe the state will prove their case that there were serious crimes being committed, but they had better do it and with solid conviction...quickly. That's another rant for another day though.

That's why I'm distressed to read so many comments out there that Brian should have just cowed down to the deputy and moved on. Sure, it keeps you from going to jail. But it is a pacifist point of view which I am strongly at odds with. It serves only to invite such tyranny to breed uncontested. That attitude is why we enjoy much less freedom nowadays considering what the Constitution guarantees us. Would I have stood up for what I'm preaching and gone to jail too? I guess we'll see if it ever happens to me. I'm pretty sure I would. :-)

The government should work for US and held accountable to WE, THE PEOPLE. I truly hope and encourage Mr. Barnes to legally attack this with as much brute force as he is able to muster in order to see justice prevail.

One last thing to those spouting off the letter of the law that Mr. Barnes is charged with, there is such a thing as the spirit and intent of the law. From what I've read, this incident is in a very gray area and would be a very very weak defense for the Sheriff and deputy...in my opinion of course.

Perhaps next time, a stormchaser in Crane County should REALLY give them something to get excited about. I'm thinking of repainting my Honda Element to look like the General Lee and drving through their "domain". :-)

So, from now on, I'll be playing theme music from "Smokey & The Bandit" and "Dukes Of Hazzard" when traveling through Crane County. LOL!!

That's it for me! I feel better now. :-) I had to get that off my chest so I can chill out this evening. Since I'm on the theme of bungling Sheriffs, I'd leave a video clip for ya of another famous father/son Sheriff duo (be warned...a little bad language):

Barney Fife Strikes Again!!

After the incident with Barney Fife last year with stormchasers, he strikes again this season in his best form yet. In an unbelievable account, stormchaser Brian Barnes seems to have been falsely charged and arrested in Crane County, Texas this past Tuesday.

By many accounts, the deputy was abusive and out-of-control....just the quality you need for a law enforcement officer carrying a deadly weapon and the ability to make life or death decisions.

I certainly hope that the citizens and officials in Crane County take it seriously if no other reason than their own safety. I have to wonder if this deputy has had previous encounters like this in the past. I hope other law enforcement professionals are concerned with a rotten apple within their ranks.

Check out this excellent story by KWES out of Midland. Be sure to view the video link of the news story they ran.

http://www.kwes.com/global/story.asp?s=8286980

In addition, Brian has divulged some more detailed information on WX_CHASE that is truly damning to this idiot deputy and the unfortunate, innocent citizens of the county to a hefty lawsuit. More details will come out of this of course when the lawsuit is settled.

A very active thread is running about it on Stormtrack which will be the best source of info as this situation progresses and finds it's eventual conculsion...lots better than my blog for keeping up with it:

http://www.stormtrack.org/forum/showthread.php?t=16365


Things got real interesting too when Fark picked up on it. I hope Crane County's webservers are being monitored. :-)

http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl?IDLink=3590148

Oh my...as of this morning, drudgereport.com picked up the story too. LOL!!

Lastly, feel free to contact county officials and express your opinion on the matter. I certainly did:

http://www.co.crane.tx.us/ips/cms/

As a note to the vast majority of law enforcement officers out there that may stumble upon this blog, I'm in no way taking a swipe at those that work hard to be professional and uphold and enforce the law. I have had many positive encounters with law enforcement officers whom I have the utmost respect for. I have always willingly shared information about the severe storms in the area in order to help them warn those who they are sworn to protect. It's unfortunate that a few bad apples like this work to ruin such hard work and dedication by tarnishing the image of the LEO community as a whole....

Convective Dyslexia, Today's Schizophrenia, & Tech Review

Yesterday was pretty much a wasted effort and a day off from work. Jay McCoy and I saw plenty of "dyslexic" storms. That is where the updrafts form on the opposite side of the precip core relative to storm motions. Cells moving N and NE would have some nice updraft bases and non-rotating wall clouds on the NW side with precip extending to the SE. The only thing I can figure out is that there was considerably weaker winds above 500mb from the west. With stronger 700-500mb flow, this would account for the bizarre storm structures. I'm not basing this on any data at this time, just a hunch and my observations. So, don't go pulling an "rdale" on me, ok? ;-)

We did finally manage to drive towards an incredible, explosive updraft moving up towards Cotton Center and Nazareth. This was a gorgeous, billowy cumulonimbus of the "nuclear explosion" variety. We were pumped as we drove towards it...seeing some very intersting scud features underneath it. Plus, it was the first storm we saw which actually looked normal with the updraft in the right spot. The radar presentation looked pretty good too with a little hook on the western flank.

Along the way, we stopped a couple of times to gawk at the sizable hail covering the ground up to golfballs considering some melting had occurred. We were hoping that as this big momma merged with some smaller supercells north of it, some caprock magic would happen. Nope. Just another spanking by mother nature as the storms congealed and killed each other. Soon afterward, we headed back to Amarillo feeling abit dejected after two straight days of being slapped around by mother nature. The only pics I took in the past two days were the explosive updraft yesterday. Ugh.

I also hope some of ya'll got to enjoy my live chase page. I forgot to update my chase status for awhile, so some of the streaming video didn't show up. But, you didn't miss much. :-)

On a side note, W TX and the PH region got a real good soaking from this system...the first time in almost a year. Many areas in the PH and W TX, particularly between Amarillo and Lubbock, have recieved upwards to 5 inches of rain this week. Farmers are rejoicing as are most folks out here. This should go a long ways to keeping the dryline from blasting east as much as we've seen this year. I'm hoping that this will bode well for chasing prospects closer to home.

We had a pretty good laugh riot sitting in Brownfield too. While David Drummond was streaming his video, I thought it would be funny to engage in some tomfoolery in front of his camera to help break up the bordom for anybody watching it. So, I strutted in front of the camera doing my best impersonation of a "super chaser" while adorning my Hooters t-shirt. Well, wouldn't you know it, at that exact time, David's TV station had his feed on the air! ROFL!!

I was abit embarrassed after the station called and informed him of the "incident" and mentioning some viewers calling in. In the end though, everybody got a good laugh out of it, including the station, thank goodness. I know David nearly asphyxiated he was laughing so hard. So, mission accomplished. :-) The question is...did the station's ratings go up or down because of it? LOL!! My next performance will be an interpretive dance routine performing the "Forbidden Sacred Dance Of Chaser Merriment".

I also can't help mention that with Jay at the wheel, we got pulled over by a DPS trooper. We were only doing 75 in a 70 according to the officer. He was very courteous as were we in return. We got a warning and were soon on our way. The trooper also got a detailed mesoscale analysis briefing complete with maps and satellite images. :-) We think it was an active drug interdiction task force effort as we saw alot of law enforcement on the road yesterday. Who knows.

For today? Good luck with that. It's a total mess. However, I am starting to like SW OK into NW TX and eastward to the I-35 corridor. A nice dry slot is working in from W/SW TX which should help get some insolation going. However, the system becomes vertically stacked with the upper low orienting right over the surface low.

Using the general Jon Davies formula for cold core tornadoes, I really think we'll see a couple of those not only near the surface low, but perhaps even NW of the surface low as the upper low catches up to it's surface counterpart. It's a very complex scenario to be certain. Further south of the surface low along the dryline, I'm sure we'll see at least a couple of traditional supercell tornadoes. It will be fun to watch and take notes today.

Technology wise, my new AT&T tilt phone had a little more learning curve, but it's working pretty well too. I'm happy with my decision to go with it. It too performed flawlessly yesterday. With the bluetooth working so well, I never had to touch the phone except to dial. Even then, with voice-activated dialing, that will become even less too. I'll be playing with that this week.

The Jawbone bluetooth headset performed very well yesterday. I'm happy with the results. It was quite comfortable wearing it most of the day. After setting it up correctly and syncing it with the phone, it quickly became second nature to use. Everybody I talked to said the voice quality was excellent...even with a window rolled down! That is ALOT of background noise and according to David, he couldn't hear it...until I stuck my head out the window. :-)

Speaking of sticking things out the window, check out Steve "OK" Miller's blog. Man, a rogue hailstone or even a bird could have ruined his day. So, kids, the lesson here is that if you are going to be a professional stuntman, at least wear safety gear! :-) I think he should do it right the next time and fully deploy himself ont he roof of the van. Fortunately for the guy in the pictures, he didn't have any amber lightbars. Then he'd REALLY catch grief from the stormchasing community! LOL!!

How NOT to Chase, Chasing Today!, & IE7 Sucks

LIVE CHASE PAGE RUNNING TODAY!!!!

Yesterday was a typical day of getting on the road too late becaue of work obligations. Jay McCoy and I got down SW of Portales, NM to watch the big beast down near Roswell from a distance. Lack of any roads screwed us over in getting into position. We saw new storms erupting up near Muleshoe and Dimmit, so we opted to go after them since it was on the way back to Amarillo. As soon as we did...the storm we left went tornadic.

The storms we went after conspired to cut us off or mutate into something confusing keeping just out of reach. To make matter worse, we then saw a tornado warning for a nice hooking cell just NW of Amarillo. We just couldn't win. It was one of "those" days. But it all is rooted in not being able to get out of Amarillo until just after 4pm. Ugh.

So, will try again today after taking the day off. Jay and I will be heading towards Brownfield shortly. I'm sure the chaser circus will be down there too. And, by the way, what the hell is the deal with stormchasers now flipping the bird to other chasers that they don't even know? It happened to a fellow chaser from a "super star" chaser. Some of the real pissy attitudes out there are showing up on the road. Just remember, I'm streaming live video. :-)

Lastly, IE7 and Microsoft are now considered by me to be the spawning point of the anti-Christ. I have discovered that IE7 now refuses to refresh new images with the same URL. It's all in the new and improved security features of IE7. You can't turn the cache off...period. No way...no how. I've scoured the internet looking for solutions. There are some "hacks", but I now have to rewrite a significant chunk of code in my live chase page in order to get the radar images to refresh. It worked beautifully in IE6 which is what I unknowingly used in development. Of course, the idiots at MS decided to further alienate and frustrate web devlopers with this latest round of arrogant, asinine stupidity. I will be working hard to get the live chase page compliant with FireFox this week which I should have done at the get-go.

Okay...enough. I have to hit the road. I did not use spell check. So to you English nazis out there: kiss my posterior. ;-)

Caprock Two-Step - Step One

LIVE CHASE PAGE WILL BE RUNNING!

A quick note on my live chase page. I've got the severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings overlayed on the GoogleMap now. They have been working great with the severe stroms this morning in KS and S TX. Along with radar and my GPS position, you will have excellent situational awareness all in one spot while you track my position and watch the streaming video. Hopefully, I'll be able to put something in the viewfinder other than rain. :-)

I'll be heading out later today. Target decision is a tough one, but going with the 1630Z SPC discussion seems prudent at this point, albeit a large area. I'll be watching things progress and refine my target as the day wears on. However, I am eying Clovis, NM for now. The outflow boundary up in SW KS has my attention too. With forecast WNW flow aloft parallel to it with SSE flow at the surface, that needs to be considered as well. However, the RUC tries to crater the dewpoints just E and SE of there below 50Td, and that has me spooked. Thus, I'll stick to my target area.

The one thing that sticks out in my mind is that the RUC is forecasting 60Td to make it into the extreme eastern reaches of NM south of Clovis by 00Z. This isn't your typical 60Td you'd see in OK or N TX because of the higher elevations. It would be more like 70Td there as an equivalent. With good backed flow up to 850mb (almost the elevation of E NM) with strong veering up at 700-500mb, the storms should spin quite nicely. Marginal winds at 700-500mb should produce some HPers though, so any tornadoes will be difficult if not impossible to view as they will get wrapped in rain quickly. Still, this should be a good show today!

Tomorrow looks even better than today. Stay tuned for the second step of the Caprock Two-Step!!

OK Redemption, Tilt, Jawbone, Crystal Ball

What a crazy event yesterday in OK and SE KS. The 12z models actually were pretty much right on with the event. I took a more pessimistic outlook intitially because of the model performances so far this season along with all of the diagnostic processes I know to go through prior to an event.

The biggest question was the quality and depth of moisture return. The sounding the prior evening and morning of along the TX coastal areas showed alot of dry air in the boundary layer. Time and time again, I've seen this result in a thin layer of moisture advecting north only to get scoured out with daytime mixing..especially with any veering of the 850mb winds which there were plenty of. When, as a chaser, you get slapped around a few times by similar setups, you tend to wise up. :-)

However, I believe that deep moisture convergence and backing of the boundary layer flow to the S and SE by about 21z helped moisten up the lower levels of the atmosphere combined with some broad ascent. I also believe that evapotranspiration played an important role as well as the low level flow trajectory originated over some very green and moist terrain east of I-35. The 00Z OUN sounding from yesterday indicated a nice, deep moisture layer up to about 800mb. This resulted in explosive CAPE profiles on that sounding of 4500-5000 j/kg and LI indices of -10 to -13.

In fact, the upper air configuration and surface features reminded me alot of May 3, 1999. It started off looking alot like that as several tornadic supercells quickly erupted along the I-35 corridor along and north of I-40. The ones that were sustained looked familiar too. Had we more juice to work with (70Td) and a tighter jet streak, we could have seen a similar repeat. Some of the post-sunset video I watched on the OKC stations' chasers was stunning with some serious tornadoes.

In any event, quite a few chasers were able to grab some spectacular images...the best so far this year as a whole. Check them out:

http://www.stormtrack.org/forum/showthread.php?t=16298


On to other news, I broke down and seriously upgraded my cheapo cell phone. I was eligable for an upgrade, so I did. I'm now the proud owner (or slave) of AT&T's "Tilt". I'm in need for better communication on the road including emails and text messaging. Since my fat thumbs don't fare well on the Blackberry type keyboards, the Tilt's slide-out QWERTY keyboard was perfect. Plus, it's got alot of nice PDA features too that I really could use to get better organized. I'm not going to use the stuff like GPS, this is mainly for my fat thumbs to do emails and the personal organization stuff. ;-) For my friends and associates out there that grew weary of trying to hold a conversation because of my junk phone, this is a big step up in signal and voice quality.

As long as I'm taking a leap in technology, I've also got a Jawbone bluetooth headset on the way too. The reviews on it were favorable...in particular background, wind and road noise. I'm looking forward to using it out in the field soon...hopefully next week!!

Speaking of which, the latest models are promising a chase-o-rama next week depending on the evolution of the upper air pattern. But so far, the models all have been pretty consistant the past few runs. The question in my mind is the evolution of the upper air system. The models keep trying to close it off and quickly open it back up. My experience is that these types of systems at that particular latitude are often alot more sluggish than models forecast them to be. So, it will be fun to watch. In any event, chasing prospects appears to finally make a grand return to the Caprock and the Panhandles....my stomping grounds.

So, I'm pretty pumped about that. The action could start up Monday, but I'm thinking Tuesday and Wednesday. The crystal ball shows alot of optimism for stormchasers through the middle of May. Let's hope so. The Mays of the past few years have sucked for the most part. But, with the events yesterday, I have hope! Let the chase season erupt in all it's glory! :-)

Welcome, May!

1430z UPDATE: Just when I dis the Oklahoma setup, 12z model data comes in painting a different picture.

What a completely confusing forecast. Current moisture return is sluggish, yet the RUC and NAM are aggressive with spreading upper 60 Tds into OK. I'm still skeptical of this and think 60-63 at peak heating today. We'll see.

Now the NAM is breaking out significant convection in central OK by 00Z. The RUC shows a nice isolated supercell alonjg the Red River and in SE KS by 00Z. The NAM is now totally different with the mid level jet configuration, including a disturbance, which would support the convective signature by 00Z.

The NAM/RUC also aggressively back the 850mb winds prior to 00Z, also aiding in busting the cap. The RUC is stronger with the SRH values in OK. The NAM tries to induce cyclogenesis in NW TX and SW OK by 00Z. The RUC over Kansas. The consensus is falling pressures somewhere in that vicinity resulting in backed boundary layer flow.

So, just what in the hell is going to happen today? I'm a total loss to be honest. This is a significant shift from the pervious model runs...entirely with the upper air specifics. However, the RUC/NAM conensus is tough to argue with...except I still doubt the higher quality moisture return. Regardless, it looks like a show is coming together for OK after all. Rejoice!

I've left my original early morning post intact so I don't accused of altering stuff. ;-)


Today marks the "official" peak month of chase season. In a fitting tribute to the way the season has gone so far, retarded moisture return (SPC actually used "retarded" in their discussion this morning...nice!) will help neuter what otherwise would be a classic setup for 7-course spread of tornadic supercells for hungry chasers everywhere. Not that there won't be one or two doppler warned or even a brief spinup of course.

Oklahoma can forget about any daylight activity as the mid and upper level jet orientations will ensure strong subsidence and capping over the Sooner state. Overnight though, everywhere from OK to Missouri should light up...mainly a big honkin squall line.

So, not the type of segue into May chasers would hope for. Perhaps things will shape up as we move ahead. We've got to get systems to quit squeegie-ing the GOM moisture down to the Caribbean. Right now, the 850mb moisture profiles are terrible for this time of year all across the GOM basin (and in general our region of the northern hemisphere) where we get the needed fuel for healthy, robust supercells. It's going to take some time to juice it up. It reminds me abit of 2006 where the 850mb moisture profiles were horrendous into May. We struggled all season long with shallow moisture that would severely mix out during the day. I certainly hope we can get some major recovery soon.

In any event, after today, things calm down for awhile (another annoying pattern so far this spring). The next upper system has promise for the southern plains next week...whenever it decides to open up from a closed low and move eastward. Right now, models promise Tuesday/Wednesday. We'll see how that shapes up.

Forecast Ramblings & New Blogs

Thursday continues to look complex with the latest 12z model runs. Notably, there is a trend with the models in slowing and strengthening this upper system. That trend will be interesting to watch over the next few runs.

It looks like a pretty good severe weather event to be sure for the eastern part of the plains with many modes of severe weather...mostly squall line stuff. The better vertical wind profiles are up in Iowa, but instabilities are almost nil. Closer to the southern plains, everything looks more like a linear type of event with line segments evolving into a squall after dark.

However, I am liking the southern portion of the action around the Red River Valley where westerly mid level flow and a nealy-stationary dryline along with moderate instability would present the best opportunity for an isolated supercell in an environment favoring some deviant movement. If the model trends continue, then the area I would be interested in would shift into North Central Texas. Stay tuned.

Further ahead, I'm actually much more excited about Sunday's potential in SW TX. More on that down the road since that is still a long ways off.

I'm adding some blogs to the list on the right. Be sure to take a look at them as they have received Tailchaser Seal Of Approval....for whatever that's worth....about as much as the AMS Seal Of Approval. ;-). If you aren't on there, let me know.