First webisode from 2009-10 Argentina storm chasing!
Check out this video from our first day of storm chasing in Argentina on December 27, 2009. Do you think this is a tornado?? In hindsight I'm not so sure, but let us know your thoughts! We'll be releasing our chasing experiences down there as a series of webisodes, starting with this one, as we intercepted several supercells down there through the first few weeks of 2010. This first video shows a nighttime supercell we intercepted the night of December 27, after flying all night from the States down to Buenos Aires, renting a few vehicles, and surging 6 hours west of BA across the perfect storm chasing terrain of the Argentine Pampas -- definitely one of the longest single storm chases I've ever been on. This supercell was likely producing tornadoes further west of the Santa Rosa area, but the small engines of our rental cars would not let us catch this storm until just after sunset. The low-level wind shear must have been incredibly intense that night, because I remember the low clouds streaming SOUTHWARD across the Pampas (opposite from the southerly low-level jet streams that fuel Great Plains tornado outbreaks) with deep moisture from the Amazon. Note in this video and especially the later webisodes that show some textbook storm structure during daylight, that the supercells and tornadoes actually rotate clockwise (opposite to the counter-clockwise-rotating storms of the Northern Hemisphere). The plan is to return to Argentina for the 2010-11 tornado season (now through January on the Pampas), and not come back until we get a tornado down there! But first, stay tuned for more webisodes from last year!
South American tornado video! http://www.tornadovideos.net/component/content/article/1-latest-news/1283-first-webisode-from-2009-10-argentina-storm-chasing
