you know, this can be dangerous, what you do. how do you know when to leave and take cover? well, we position ourselves in an area where we know the tornado is not directly heading for. we got ourselves in a position where we could be less than a mile away. we were flagging people that were driving out near the funnel. we were trying to get them out of harm s way. but we have the equipment to do so and do so safely. after the storm, you helped with the search and recovery. tell us what you saw. well, we were chasing in a 15-passenger van. we had a large vehicle. we put out on social media that we had the space and the means to get people out of there if we needed to. we showed up to the triage unit right over here at the movie theater, and we discussed with people what we could do. we were able to transport several people out of harm s way who had lost their vehicles in the tornado. so we were able to make a difference that day. storm chaser chris mcbee,
may 8th of 2003 on the exact same path. from the images we have been seeing, especially the aerial images showing whole blocks wiped clean to the foundation, it looks like possibly some of the most significant damage ever seen from tornadoes in the past to the present. you know, the amazing thing we have been witnessing here is the community support, and chris, one thing i understand from learning about your story is that you actually started to help with the rescue and recovery effort. we did. and started to transport injured people. we did. we were chasing in a 15-passenger van, so we had the extra space in the van and got out on social media and said tell us where we re needed. we came down here to the movie theater where they had a triage center set up, a lot of law enforcement and transferred people from norman who lost their cars in the tornado. you grew up in oklahoma? northern oklahoma. what does this mean to you
which everything else is pointless. i got out here after it passed, and i just fell to my knees. that s all all i could do. me and my fiancee, everything we own was in the trailer. and this is all we got left. welcome back to hardball. when a tornado hits, of course, you think people would run away from the danger. these guys, they run towards it. we re talking about storm chasers. they document, analyze, help forecast superstorms up close and personal. some play hosts to tornado tourists, might sound crazy, but people pay to ride along with the guys and get up close to nature at its worst. chris mcbee is co-owner of rapid rotation storm tours. he joins us from moore, oklahoma. you might know simon brewer from the weather channel series storm riders, he s actively chasing these tornadoes right now and joins us on the phone. let s start with chris. this one turns out to be one of the big ones.
again, to you, i asked this earlier. what is is there any difference between what we re watching now and what we would have watched 30 years ago in terms of the climate? the climate aspect? is there a climatic without getting, again, into the politics, is there a warming situation we re facing that makes it more likely to have tornadoes or any way it s influencing these weather conditions? the climate? the heat? well, as far as tornadoes are concerned, climate really doesn t pay any attention to tornadoes. i mean, tornadoes are such a small-scale event. now, as far as tornado distribution, you can make some arguments that maybe tornado distribution would be shifting a little farther north. but really the same things that come together to make tornadoes aren t really the same things that come together to make large scale effects like droughts and flooding events. tornadoes are on such a smaller scale than that. let me go back to chris mcbee and storm chasing. tell me about wha
me and my fiancee, everything we own was in the trailer. and this is saall we got left. welcome back to hardball. when a tornado hit, of course, you think people would run away from the danger. these guys run toward it. storm chasers. analyze, document and help forecast superstorms up close and personal. some play hosts to tornado tourists, might sound crazy, but people pay to ride along with the guys and get up close to nature. chris mcbee with rapid rotation storm tours. he joins us from moore, oklahoma. you might know simon brewer from the weather channel series storm riders, he s actively chasing these tornadoes right now and joins us on the phone. let s start withchris. this turns out to be a big one. ef-5. tell me how that differs when you get up to 200 miles an hour, what that s capable of doing to property, human, animal life, whatever? buildings? just as you can see, it s