Tornado Chaser Chris Coach: You Never Forget Your First One
The U.S tornado season is wrapping up. For me, it was a fruitful one, having seen multiple twisters this past spring, my very first photogenic one near Silverton, Texas, on April 24. I had been storm chasing with veterans Tim Bovasso and Jeff Anderson at the time (story link below).
Three weeks later, I found myself back in Texas, giving thrill rides to NASCAR Racing Experience customers at the Texas Motor Speedway near Dallas. A friend of Bovasso's, Chris Coach, 26, asked if I wanted to chase with him on my day off, Sunday, May 18. There wasn't a high probability for tornadoes that day in the immediate area around DFW - maybe 2% - so we weren't too excited. But hey, you never know.
Tornado forming near Santo, Texas, May 18, 2025.
Around 2:30 p.m., Coach picked me up at my hotel, with - surprise - his entire family in the back of a Honda Pilot: wife, Seiyana, and five kids. What's important to know here is that Coach had never seen a tornado, despite having chased a few dozen times going all the way back to 2021. So, if we found one, it would be a big deal, both for me and for a frustrated Coach.
Traffic wasn't bad for a Sunday, and we made good time north toward Santo, where a supercell, the giant cloud structure that produces tornadoes, was building. Using his cellphone radar app - you could tell he had done this before - Coach navigated us via smallish back roads to a farm. Across the flat fields in front of us, we watched the sky slowly darken and the lightning pick up.
Powerful stovepipe tornado off of I-20 near Santo, Texas, May 18, 2025.
An ominous black Wall Cloud (WC) with rotating air appeared directly below the supercell, perfect conditions for a tornado to drop. We waited and Sure enough one of the rotating nipples hanging from the WC began snaking its way toward the ground. The funnel danced and flickered, as if it wasn't sure weather or not to drop.. It finally did, but didn't last long before it evaporated back into the supercell. But it was definitely a twister, perhaps the first of many that night.
To avoid approaching hail, which Coach could see on radar and which sometimes is as big as softballs, we high-tailed it back to the main roads, then followed the temperamental supercell as it traveled south. It was already 8:15 p.m. and getting dark, but tornado warnings kept popping up on our phones, so we stayed vigilant.
Cellphone radar app indicates a tornado on the ground near Santo, Texas, May 18, 2025.
After about 15 minutes on I-20, Coach's wife and kids started yelling, 'Tornado,, tornado!' I couldn't see anything, being on the right side in the front passenger's seat, nor could Coach, who was driving. He immediately found a safe spot on the side of the 70-mph highway, and pulled over. Sure enough, about four miles above a ridge behind us, a stovepipe tornado was raging. It was a big one, too, at least an EF-2, and all hell broke loose in the car. The kids were screaming, and so were Coach and I. We got out and started snapping away. He had finally seen a photogenic tornado - and so had his kids - and it was a damn impressive one.
Tornado visible from highway I-20, May 18, 2025.
Coach was in disbelief. 'I couldn't process what was actually happening at the time,' he told me this week in an interview. 'But I have the photos and keep looking at them. My kids told everyone at school, too. They were as excited as I was.'
Now that Coach has finally seen his tornado, will he keep chasing? 'You bet,' he says. 'It's addicting. But you never forget your first one.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CBS News
2 hours ago
- CBS News
Heat advisory in effect for North Texas due to dangerous temperatures
A Heat Advisory is in effect until 9 p.m. Saturday due to dangerous heat. High temperatures will reach into the mid-90s, which is typical for this time of the year. However, a dense plume of tropical moisture is lingering across the area. The heat, combined with the high moisture content, is causing the heat index values to reach up to 107 degrees on Saturday afternoon. The heat and the moisture will not only spike the heat index values, but they will also promote the opportunity for storms Saturday afternoon. Heat-driven storms will be likely across North Texas, and the highest chance of rain will be along and to the east of I-35. Not everyone will see rain, but those who do may get brief heavy downpours and frequent lightning, but no severe weather is expected. Storms will fizzle out by sunset. A ridge of high pressure will move into the Plains over the next several days, resulting in an increase of the actual temperature outside and a decrease in the humidity levels. Some of the hottest high temperatures of the year will be in the forecast next week. It has been 337 days since DFW has seen a triple-digit day; that streak will likely be broken soon. Some ways to beat the heat are to take frequent breaks in the A/C, wear loose-fitting and light-colored clothing, as well as drink plenty of water. Stay safe.
Gizmodo
6 hours ago
- Gizmodo
Floods and Other Disasters Kill More People at Night, but Not for the Reasons You Think
It was 4 a.m. on July 4 at Camp La Junta in Kerr County when Kolton Taylor woke up to the sound of screaming. The 12-year-old boy stepped out of bed and straight into knee-deep floodwaters from the nearby Guadalupe River. Before long, the water had already risen to his waist. In the darkness, he managed to feel for his tennis shoes floating nearby, put them on, and escape to the safety of the hillside. All 400 people at the all-boys camp survived, even as they watched one of their cabins float away in the rushing river. But 5 miles downriver at Camp Mystic, 28 campers and counselors were killed. The flash flooding in Texas would have been catastrophic at any time of day, but it was especially dangerous because it happened at night. Research shows that more than half of deaths from floods happen after dark, and in the case of flash floods, one study put the number closer to three-quarters. Other hazards are more perilous in the dark, too: Tornadoes that strike between sunset and sunrise are twice as deadly, on average, as those during the day. No one can stop the sun from rising and setting, but experts say there are simple precautions that can save lives when extreme weather strikes at night. As climate change supercharges floods, hurricanes, and fires, it's becoming even more important to account for the added risks of nocturnal disasters. Stephen Strader, a hazards geographer at Villanova University, said that at night, it's not enough to rely on a phone call from a family member or outdoor warning sirens (which Kerr County officials discussed installing, but never did). The safest bet is a NOAA radio, a device that broadcasts official warnings from the nearest National Weather Service office 24/7. One major advantage is that it doesn't rely on cell service. 'That's old school technology, but it's the thing that will wake you up and get you up at 3 a.m.,' said Walker Ashley, an atmospheric scientist and disaster geographer at Northern Illinois University. Even with warning, reacting in the middle of the night isn't easy. When people are shaken awake, they're often disoriented, requiring additional time to figure out what's happening before they can jump into action. 'Those precious minutes and seconds are critical a lot of times in these situations for getting to safety,' Strader said. The darkness itself presents another issue. People tend to look outside for proof that weather warnings match up with their reality, but at night, they often can't find the confirmation they're looking for until it's too late. Some drive their cars into floodwaters, unable to see how deep it is, and get swept away. It's also harder to evacuate—and try to rescue people—when you can barely see anything. 'I invite anybody to just go walk around the woods with a flashlight off, and you find out how difficult it can be,' Ashley said. 'Imagine trying to navigate floodwaters or trying to find shelter while you're in rushing water at night with no flashlight. It's a nightmare.' The logic applies to most hazards, but the night problem appears the worst with sudden-onset disasters like tornadoes and earthquakes—and the early-morning flash floods in Texas, where the Guadalupe rose 26 feet in 45 minutes. A warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture, meaning that storms can dump more water more suddenly than they used to. 'We have essentially, because of climate change, put the atmosphere on steroids,' Strader said. It's on his to-do list to study whether other disasters, like hurricanes and wildfires, are deadlier at night. When Hurricane Harvey pummeled Texas with rain for days in 2017, people described waking up to water creeping into their homes; the Texas National Guard navigated rescue boats through neighborhoods in the dark, searching for survivors. In recent years, hurricanes have rapidly intensified before making landfall, fueled by warmer ocean waters. That shrinks the window in which forecasters can warn people a strong storm is coming. To compound the problem, at the end of July, the Pentagon plans to stop sharing the government satellite microwave data that helps forecasters track hurricanes overnight, leaving the country vulnerable to what's called a 'sunrise surprise.' While daytime tornado deaths have declined over time, nighttime fatalities are on the rise, Strader and Ashley have found in their research. (It's still unclear as to how climate change affects tornadoes.) They found that tornadoes that touch down at night are statistically more likely to hit someone, simply because there are more potential targets scattered across the landscape. During the day, people are often concentrated in cities and sturdy office buildings versus homes, which may be manufactured and not as structurally resilient to floods or high winds. Night adds dimensions of danger to many types of disasters, but the darkness isn't the only factor at play—and it doesn't have to be as deadly, Ashley said, stressing the importance of getting a weather radio and making a plan in case the worst happens. 'Have multiple ways to get information, and your odds of survival are extremely high, even in the most horrific tornado situation.' This article originally appeared in Grist at Grist is a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future. Learn more at
WIRED
7 hours ago
- WIRED
The Texas Floods Were a Preview of What's to Come
Jul 26, 2025 7:00 AM Mounting evidence shows no US state is safe from the flooding that ravaged Texas' Kerr Country. Community members grieve during a candlelight vigil to honor the lives lost in the flash floods that claimed more than 120 lives on July 11, 2025 in Kerrville, Texas. Photograph:This story originally appeared on Grist and is part of the Climate Desk collaboration. The country watched in horror as torrential rain drenched Texas earlier this month, sweeping at least 135 people to their death. Kerr County alone lost 107, including more than two dozen children at Camp Mystic. From afar, it would be easy, even tempting, to think that floods like these could never happen to you. That the disaster is remote. It's not. As details of the tragedy have come into focus, the list of contributing factors has grown. Sudden downpours, driven by climate change. The lack of a comprehensive warning system to notify people that the Guadalupe River was rising rapidly. Rampant building in areas known to flood, coupled with incomplete information about what places might be at risk. These are the same elements that could trigger a Kerr County type of catastrophe in every state in the country. It's a reality that has played out numerous times already in recent years, with flooding in Vermont, Kentucky, North Carolina and elsewhere, leaving grief and billions of dollars in destruction in its wake. 'Kerr County is an extreme example of what's happening everywhere,' said Robert Freudenberg, vice president of energy and environmental programs at the Regional Plan Association. 'People are at risk because of it, and there's more that we need to be doing.' The most obvious problem is we keep building in areas prone to flooding. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, produces readily available maps showing high-risk locales. Yet, according to the latest data from the nonprofit climate research firm First Street Foundation, 7.9 million homes and other structures stand in a FEMA Special Flood Hazard Area, which designates a location with 1 percent or greater chance of being inundated in any given year. FEMA Flood Zone Top 10 Source: First Street Foundation In Louisiana, a nation-leading 23 percent of properties are located in a FEMA flood zone. In Florida, it's about 17 percent. Arkansas, New Mexico, and Nebraska are perhaps less expected members of the top 10, as is New Jersey, which, with New York City, saw torrential rain and flooding that killed two people earlier this month. Texas ranks seventh in the country, with about 800,000 properties, or roughly 6.5 percent of the state's total, sitting in a flood zone. Kerr County officials have limited authority to keep people from building in these areas, but even when governments have the ability to prevent risky building projects, they historically haven't. Although one study found that some areas are finally beginning to curb floodplain development, people keep building in perilous places. 'There's an innate draw to the water that we have, but we need to know where the limits are,' said Freudenberg. 'In places that are really dangerous, we need to work toward getting people out of harm's way.' Kerr County sits in a region known as Flash Flood Alley, and at least four cabins at Camp Mystic sat in an extremely hazardous 'floodway.' Numerous others stood in the path of a 100-year flood. When the Christian summer camp for girls underwent an expansion in 2019, the owners built even more cabins in the water's path. 'It's an unwillingness to think about what the future—and the present—have in store for us,' said Rob Moore, director of the Water and Climate Team at the Natural Resources Defense Council, or NRDC, about Americans' tradition of floodplain development. 'It's a reluctance to own up to the reality we live in.' Many people don't even know they are in harm's way. According to the NRDC, 14 states have no flood disclosure laws, and in eight they deem the laws 'inadequate.' FEMA maps are also flawed. For one, they can be politically influenced, with homeowners and communities often lobbying to be excluded in order to avoid insurance mandates and potential building costs. And experts say the science underpinning the maps is lagging too. FEMA 'only maps main river channels and coastal storm surge areas,' explained Jeremy Porter, the head of climate implications research at First Street Foundation. The agency, he added, specifically doesn't model heavy rainfall, isn't great about indicating the risk of urban flooding, and is behind on accounting for climate change. First Street Flood Zone Top 10 Source: First Street Foundation First Street built a flood model that tries to fill in those gaps. It found that 17.7 million people are at risk of a 100-year flood, a number that's more than double what FEMA's hazard area state rankings also change, with mountainous areas susceptible to inland flash flooding jumping up the list. West Virginia moves into first, with a staggering 30 percent of properties built in flood-prone areas. Kentucky climbs from 19th to sixth. Texas remains at seventh, but the portion of properties at risk goes to 15 percent. In Kerr County, FEMA's maps showed 2,560 properties (6.5 percent) in a flood zone. First Street's model nearly doubled that. 'There's a ton of unknown risk across the country,' said Porter, who says better maps are among the most important goals that policymakers can and should work toward. First Street has partnered with the real estate website Redfin to include climate risk metrics in its listings. Rob Moore says political will is essential to making that type of systemic change when it comes to not only flooding, but other climate risks, such as wildfires or coastal erosion. Strengthening building codes and restricting development in high-risk areas will require similar fortitude. 'Governments and states don't want to tell developers to not put things in a wetland, not put things in a floodplain,' he said. 'We should be telling people don't put them in a flatland, don't build in a way that your home is going to be more susceptible to wildfire.' Until then, hundreds of communities across the country could—and likely will—be the next Kerr County.
