Twistersisters Blog

2009 Chasing

2009-03-23T19:37:00.000-07:00

Well, today is March 23rd and there is a big system moving through the Cental plains. While conditions aren't optimal quite yet, this system has produced a few nice cells on radar. I'm still at work in MN waiting for an opportunity to chase, watching the models, staring at radar, dreaming of the day when we will be on the road again, watching the storms roll in from the West.

Last year, 2008, was a slow year for us. We were busy and didn't get on the road much. This year will be different. This year we are on the chase again!

Tonight, while having a glass of wine with Dave, I sat peacefully with the door open, watching lightning stike and thunder rumble in 45 degrees outside. How wonderful!!! The first lightning of the year!!! I feel alive.

Fianlly--tour schedule for 2008!!!

2008-02-17T10:46:00.000-08:00

Hello,

We will post information on February 17 on our website http://www.twistersisters.com regarding tours for 2008. If you are interested, please contact us immediately because I anticipate the tours will fill quickly.

ThanksPeggy

Weather Warnings for the hearing impaired

2008-01-27T12:41:00.000-08:00

An excellent point was brought up recently--what if you are hearing-impaired and can't hear sirens or weather radio warnings? Well, there is some good news on that. Please go to the link below:
http://weather.gov/nwr/special_need.htm

If you have any friends or relatives who might benefit from this, please pass it on!

Storms in California

2008-01-27T12:33:00.000-08:00

I noticed some comments on another entry about the tornadoes in California. Well guess what, there is a mesoscale discussion (precursor to a watch) right now (Sunday 12:30 PST) for coastal areas just north of Los Angeles. I wouldn't be surprised to see another small tornado in that area today.

When I lived in LA in 1982 we had several tornadoes in LA and Long Beach. We lost a bunch of our trees in Palos Verdes. My daughter was born during a tornado watch in LA county in March, 1986 ( how appropriate, she surely was an F5).

So California folks, be alert. It's not just mudslides, fires, and earthquakes, you've got the tornado thing going too!

More severe weather for the South?

2008-01-25T10:41:00.000-08:00

The storm prediction center is interested in a large area of the southern United States on day 7. Go to http://www.spc.noaa.gov and look under "Convcetive Outlooks", days 4 through 8. We should keep an eye on this system considering we have already had 88 tornadoes this year! I will keep you posted.

Another season for "Twister Sisters"?

2008-01-24T13:35:00.000-08:00

Hi all,

We should soon know if there will be another season of our show. We certainly hope so and hope to see some of you as guests. If you would like to an express an opinion on this, please contact WE at CONTACTWE@we.tv and let them kknow. This is the time of year the networks make their programming decisions, so it is important to them to know what viewers like.

Thank you so much!

Peggy

Thank you...

2008-01-06T11:27:00.000-08:00

Thank you all for your comments. I do understand Jamie's feelings but she is really incorrect when she feels we are interested in seeing tragedy. We are scientists, we are interested in learning all we can about tornadoes and help to improve warning times by reporting to the National Weather Service. Many people do not know that radar cannot "see" a tornado, it can only locate the area where a tornado may be forming. Only human spotters/chasers can see the tornado and report it in. That is why there was a 20 minute warning time for Greensburg, which undoubtedly saved many lives.
Most tornaodes are very brief, only a few seconds on the ground, and affect no one. This is what we want to show our guests--the extreme beauty and power of Mother Nature. Unfortunately there are cases where tornadoes affect lives and property--although this is rare it certainly happens. We never want to see that but if it does happen we want to be on the scene to warn and help if possible.
We will never eliminate tornadoes but if we can mitigate their impact on human lives by contributing in some small way to the warning process, then we will feel we have been successful.

Greensburg tragedy

2007-12-28T13:20:00.000-08:00

I want to share with all how profound this event was. This is the first F 5 tornado since May 3, 1999. It had winds over 200 mph and destroyed an entire town of almost 1600. Because of excellent advance warning (20 minutes) by the Dodge City office of the National Weather Service, most citizens were able to find shelter. 10 people, however, were not, and died in the tragedy.

Greensburg, KS, is now rising from the ruins. Please visit their website at http://www.greensburgks.org/

This night will stay with me the rest of my life, and I will do everything in my power as a storm chaser to get information to the National Weather Service as my first priority at all times.

Greensburg Tragedy

2007-12-28T12:31:00.000-08:00

The recent "Twister Sisters" episode that aired on WE TV was about the tragic day that Greensburg, KS was hit by an EF-5 tornado on May 4th, 2007. This was a night full of heartache and fear. It is a night we will never forget. Our hearts and prayers continue to reach out to those in Greensburg and surrounding areas that suffered. Our thoughts about that night can be found on our WE website blogs at: http://twistersisters.wetv.com/blog.php

If you would like to see another excellent news story about this tragic night, here is a link:
http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/myfox/pages/Weather/Detail?contentId=3173595&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=9.1.1

That night we actually ended up directly behind the tornado as it got larger and stronger before it moved into the town of Greensburg. We could not believe what we saw developing before our eyes. I have posted some of the images from our video, in the lightning flashes, of what we sat and watched, helpless and in shock. Luckily, thanks to many reports called in by chasers and spotters, the residents of Greensburg had 20 minutes of warning time, which saved many lives.

Snowy December

2007-12-28T11:54:00.000-08:00

Well, I got the blog site setup and then forgot to start blogging! Well, it's December now, almost the new year. And what a year it has been!

Peggy and I had an amazing chase season with our guests and film crew from Original Productions during the spring of 2007. The TV series is now airing on the WE channel every Tuesday at 9pm CST (10pm EST). We have been quite pleased with the shows. Yes, they did merge or switch a few of the chase days. But hey, it must be hard to edit down an entire week of filiming into one hour! Overall the shows seem to be entertaining, informative, and well received.

We have received so many wonderful emails from fans of the show and people who would like to sign up for a chase tour with us. We are very anxious to set our 2008 chase schedule and provide a price list for tours. However, we have to wait to see if WE TV will want to film another series of shows for 2008. Either way, we will try to get all of you interested a chance to chase with us! We will be updating our website soon with more information.

We have had quite a bit of snow this year in Minnesota. It sure does make for a beautiful winter and some great skate-skiing! However, all my pants now have a nice salt ring on the bottom and I don't even bother running my car through the car wash. But it's worth it to have such a gorgeous, snowy December!

Over Christmas I got the chance to take some photos of the incredible snow covered trees when the sun came out. I will post a few here. I haven't put them up on the website yet.

2007-08-23T14:12:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the twistersisters blog! Peggy and I will post here on a regular basis to keep you updated on our recent adventures, photography and other personal endeavors. Thank you for visiting and keep checking back for updates.