ASK THE TIMES: Meteorologist, his wife chasing twisters

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| Wednesday, July 09, 2008 |

Q: Where did Quad-City meteorologist Terry Swails and his wife, Carolyn Wettstone, go tornado chasing? What did they see?

— Linda, DeWitt, Iowa

A: We asked Swails’ wife, Carolyn Wettstone, about the trip, and she wrote this response:

“In May, we rendezvoused in Hays, Kansas, a hotbed for storm chasers. Our $39.99 a night hotel was stuffed. At the International House of Pancakes, laptops competed with pancakes for table space. Outside, Land Cruisers were covered with a layer of steel mesh called hail cages.

“With Mike Gribble, a fellow storm chaser, and a film crew from England, we flew down a Kansas interstate at 90 mph. We competed for on-camera interviews with Terry. As the only in-vehicle meteorologist, he was a hot commodity.

“The first wall cloud was a beauty, but it only produced carloads of weather sightseers. The second storm system paid off with a funnel approximately five miles away. As I’m filming the twister, Terry shouts, ‘Behind you!’ Sure enough, we were sandwiched in between two funnels … the second even more graceful with a slim shape and ethereal form.

“I looked at Terry. He had left Kansas and found his Oz. The British photographer ran over and thrust a microphone into his face, shouting, ‘This is your first tornado, what do you think?’ The wind was blowing so strongly I only heard ‘amazing,’ but his face spoke volumes.

“The next day, we tailed a chaser in our own vehicle. The guy ditched us for slow driving. We were cut off from all communication. Experienced chasers will tell you never core punch a storm. That means driving through the core of the twister and smack into hail, extreme wind and torrential downfalls. We core punched a storm. Oops.

“Coming out, we passed flattened semitrailers and downed power lines. We stopped at a McDonald’s, and although they didn’t have any burgers, they said we could hide in the bomb shelter because ‘There are tornadoes all around us.’ Instead, we strolled into a hotel for information. ‘If we leave right now, we can beat the tornado before it crosses the interstate,’ Terry said. We gunned it. I tracked the tornado’s progress until we passed the projected encounter point. Terry said, ‘Let’s pull over.’ I took over driving and didn’t stop until we were out of Kansas.

“We still are storm chasing. In partnership with KWWL-TV, an NBC affiliate in Waterloo, Iowa, we are writing a book titled, ‘Un-Natural Disasters: Iowa’s EF-5 Parkersburg Tornado and Historic Floods of 2008.’ The book will be released this fall.”

Q: Is the Carson and Barnes Circus playing in Davenport sometime soon?

— Joe, Moline

A: The circus will be at 4:30 and 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the parking lot of NorthPark Mall. Children ages 2-11 pay $8, and the event is free for children younger than 2. Tickets are $16 for adults. Tickets can be purchased at the door or at carsonbarnescircus.com.

Circus organizers say attendees can come about an hour early to check out the petting zoo.