In the Eye of the Storm

Jennifer Moore, staff writer

Local storm spotters and storm chasers face Mother Nature’s fury throughout the year in order to help area residents when severe weather occurs.

Armando Lopez, a patrol sergeant with the Levelland Police Department and Jeff Pharis have been working together as storm spotters for Levelland and Hockley County. In their spare time, the daring duo chase storms across the South Plains in hopes of getting pictures and footage of Mother Nature's power.

To some, the terms 'storm spotter' and 'storm chaser' are interchangeable. Pharis clarified the differences between the two.

"Storm spotting is where we go out as public servants or emergency personnel and we look and see what the storm is doing," he said. "We find out the criteria that makes a storm severe and we report it back to the National Weather Service or our dispatcher...Storm chasing is when we go outside of our jurisdiction...and then we don't call in to the National Weather Service; we're just out trying to get good pictures. These professional storm chasers, they go out looking for pictures of tornadoes, hurricanes, lightning strikes, whereas spotting is going out there trying to protect the community."

Lopez has been working with storms since he joined the police force in 1981. He explained that his older brothers helped spark his interest in the job.

"I used to have two brothers who worked for the sheriff's office here, and they were on patrol," he said. "I was riding with them, and we did storm spotting for the county...When I was hired in 1981, it became part of my job as far as trying to warn the public of storms coming in."

Pharis has approximately 15 years experience in the field. Like Lopez, he was also influenced at a young age by family involved in tracking severe weather.

"I've always had an interest in the weather, especially severe weather," said Pharis. "I'm one that, I want to help people.  That's my passion, and so we made a hobby of something we want to do together, and I just enjoy doing it. Also, growing up watching my dad, he's on the fire department also, and so he's done a lot of that. He'd take me out every once in a while before I got my driver’s license and he would teach me things."

Pharis and Lopez are busiest during the spring and summer months, though they explained that severe weather can happen at any time of the year. When they are called upon to spot storms, they rely on radio and TV, in addition to their knowledge of the weather patterns, to stay safe.

"Normally, what we do is we rely on the National Weather Service to put out bulletins, and watch TV, radio, what have you," said Lopez. "We get notified of the weather coming in. Most of the weather comes in from the west, so any time anything gets near the New Mexico-Texas state line, we inform each other. We stay in pretty close communication, either by phone or by radio. We just keep up with the weather that's coming in and watch the clouds. Sometimes we go out in the county. This is mainly for the city, but with our communications we can go out in the county and kind of watch the stuff as it develops and we just stay in touch.  We forward all information to our dispatcher, and also inform the National Weather Service. They have our phone numbers, and we communicate with them also."

Pharis explained that storm spotting is a waiting game mixed with some harrowing moments.

"We try to get out of the way and the other half is spent waiting for something to come in," he said. "Other than that, there's only certain times during a storm that we're actually looking for certain tornadic events and criteria to report to the weather service. A lot of it's just a waiting game. And then something will come up and you're cussing, trying to get the heck out of dodge."

One of the most frightening experiences the men have had happened while they were chasing storms in Dickens County.

"We followed a storm from Lubbock all the way into Dickens County, and we don't know the roads over there for nothing," said Pharis. "We're out on the road, and we're watching one storm, and the storm is set up schematically. There are certain areas of that storm that you're going to have certain events taking place in. We're watching a certain area for tornadic activity, and it's getting bad. It looks really bad, and all the sudden our radios go off, saying the weather service has issued a tornado warning for that precise area we were at, and we could not see.

“We didn't know what was going on. Come to find out, it was probably about three or four miles from our location and there was a tornado touchdown, but we couldn't see because that storm started to circulate, and so it took all that rain and started wrapping around where that tornado was, and we couldn't see it."

Kendall Stanaland, president and coordinator of the South Plains Storm Spotting Team also commented on this phenomenon.

"I guess the most frightening experience is being in what we call the 'bear’s cage'," he said. "That means being in the area of the storm where the severest of the weather occurs. And a lot of the time the precipitation is so heavy that you can’t make out any storm features, such as tornadoes. When you know there is a tornado in your immediate area and you can’t see, it is kinda spooky."

Stanaland has been spotting storms for 12 years. He works with a team of amateur radio operators based out of Lubbock who spot and chase weather systems that can cause severe damage. The team serves as volunteers for the National Weather Service, and Stanaland said that he is more of a spotter than a chaser.

"I would say that the biggest part of my job is the coordination of training and weather activations," he said. "Weather activations sometime require me to make numerous phone calls to spotters to advise them of the current or upcoming weather situations."

Like Lopez and Pharis, Stanaland became a storm spotter because of his interest in the weather, and a desire to help people.

"My favorite part is the actual storm spotting,” he said.  “Just being out there with Mother Nature is awesome.”

Stanaland has been trained in severe weather identification and reporting, emergency communications and electronics associated with amateur radio. Pharis and Lopez have taken courses in order to understand and monitor severe weather conditions. Pharis explained the training process, but said that experience is also important.

"The weather service puts on training seminars each year for all the fire departments and police departments on the South Plains, but then the level you want to go in at just depends on the years of experience," he said. "You can take a three-hour course and you can go up to a full day’s worth, up to years and years. Experience teaches more than books. The ones that have the most experience, we're talking years and years, are probably the best ones."

Pharis also said that without proper training, amateur stormchasers could get hurt.

"We wouldn't recommend someone just getting in their car and chasing storms without formal training from the National Weather Service," he said. "The public is invited to attend these training courses.  They just have to contact the weather service."

Communication is a key factor when chasing or monitoring storms. Using CB radios and cell phones, Lopez and Pharis are able to keep in touch if they are in separate vehicles.

"That is just about the number one safety aspect of being out there: Not losing contact with each other," said Pharis. "Sometimes we go out in separate vehicles so that we can get on both sides of the storm...If we're going out chasing, then we use the same vehicle so that one of us can operate the camera while the other one drives. If we're spotting, then we're in different vehicles."

The National Weather Service offers tips on what to do when severe weather occurs on its website at www.weather.gov.