All language subtitles for S R S01E01 1080p DSNP WEB-DL DDP5 1 H 264-NTb (1)_track3_[eng]

(siren wailing)

(beeping)

WEATHER REPORTER:
National Weather Service Doppler radar

is tracking a tornado on the ground.

If possible, please seek shelter
in a basement immediately.

And make sure to avoid windows.

(thundering)

Holy cow!

We are about to get slammed.

The tornado is approaching us
from the southeast right now.

We've got rain going
all the way around us,

concealing any view of the tornado.

We're starting to get closer to sunset,

so not only are these tornadoes
wrapped in rain,

but they're hitting at night.

And that's a dangerous situation.

It could come at us out of the rain.

-(thundering)
-Woah!

There it is.

A funnel whipping around,

and it's coming back towards the road.

(wind rumbling)

Holy cow.

We're right in its path.

We got the circulation right on top of us!

(rain clattering on car)

We're inside a tornado, I believe!

Getting hit by debris.

We're getting rocked!

Holy shit!

We're about to roll the van, guys!

MIKE: What do you think, Reed?

That's taking off and growing.

Everything seems to be
feeding into that direction.

-It's really coming in fast now.
-REED: Yeah.

Our storm is starting to intensify.

Big-time winds coming in.

And it's these winds that

bring that moisture northward
from the Gulf of Mexico

that make these intense storms possible.

MIKE: On a scale of one to ten,

what does your gut tell you

that we're gonna see a tornado
out of this setup?

-REED: Seven. 7.5.
-A seven?

MIKE: Whew, all right.

-REED: Increasing, though.
-MIKE: Increasing by the minute.

REED: There's a chance there could be
the biggest tornado of the year.

-MIKE: We gotta hook this probe up, Reed.
-REED: All right.

REED: I think we'll be able to get this
into a tornado today.

MIKE: The data logger's set up,

now we just gotta get in the path
and deploy it.

REED: All right, ready?

By dropping this probe
directly in the path of this storm,

we can get highly accurate data
that few others can.

Each bit of data we get
can help the scientific community

further understand these ever-changing
weather patterns.

-REED: All right.
-All right, we gotta get serious.

REED: Oh, look at the base now!

-You ready? Let's go!
-MIKE: Yeah, I'm ready.

Yes!

I just love storm-chasing.

I've been storm-chasing nonstop

since I got my driver's license at age 16.

Whoo!

And my life is completely dedicated to it.

Squeeze!

I don't have a wife, I have no kids.

We are about to intercept a tornado.

I only own a couple pairs of underwear.

All I do is storm-chase.

In the peak of the eye wall here.

Winds gusting over a hundred
and forty miles an hour now.

I absolutely have a love affair
with extreme weather and storms,

and there's nothing I'd rather do
with my life

than try to better understand
this weather.

Mother Nature at her most extreme.

All right. Mike, you wanna head
just a little bit north?

Yup, let's go.

Here we go. Time to buckle down.

Hold on.

(Mike laughing)

Is that your pregame warm-up?

REED: A little energy release, that's all.

This hurricane coming
into the Gulf, that looks big.

Taking up the whole Gulf of Mexico there.

MIKE: Wow, that's unbelievable.

REED: This early in the season,

early June.

One in fifty year storm right there.

Hurricane season is starting to invade
tornado season and vice versa.

And it's gonna be dangerous.

With all that warm air and moisture

pushing into the country
from the hurricane.

I think this thing is gonna produce
dozens of tornadoes.

Let's see
if we can get east of this stuff.

-Ah!
-Whoa!

MIKE: Damn! Did it hit it?

-REED: Yeah.
-(both laughing)

Mike Theiss and I have been friends
for over 20 years now.

MIKE: Yeah!

REED: He's one of the most well-known
hurricane chasers on the planet.

They're getting bigger by the minute.

REED: Mike's chased in some of the most
dangerous areas around the globe.

MIKE: We're gonna have to retreat.

REED: We make a great team.

MIKE: Whoa!

REED: We watch each other's back,

but my favorite thing about Mike,

the guy has got a perfect head of hair.

Here we go, coming through it!
Look out to the right!

Damn, look at that thing.

Man, this is wild looking.

REED: Big time shelf cloud approaching us.

And we think that that line of storms

is gonna go nuclear

You can see the tornado risk area
that we're right in the middle of.

Here it comes.

MIKE: It's coming in fast.

REED: Wow.

I've never seen anything like this.

This is a very rare derecho storm.

Derechos are fast-moving bands
of thunderstorms

that can produce hurricane-force winds,

heavy rains, and even tornadoes.

(cellphone beeping)

Tornado warning just came in.

And it says winds can easily gust up
to 90 miles an hour with this.

And this thing is racing toward us
at about 70 or 80 miles an hour.

So, it's a fast-moving line.

As severe as severe storms get.

All right.
Gotta get the bird in the air now.

MIKE: Let's get it done.

-MIKE: It's coming in quick.
-REED: Yeah.

MIKE: You can see both sides of it now.

Perfect edge.

REED: Wow.

MIKE: We got this approaching shelf cloud
coming right at us,

multiple thunderstorms embedded.

Put the drone up!

REED: Oh, yeah!

The drone is an incredibly valuable tool
for assessing storm structure.

So when a storm's approaching,
we get the drone into the air,

trying to find exactly
where the tornado is going to touch down.

That is beautiful!

MIKE: It's getting better by the minute.

(shutter clicks)

Oh, my God! This is incredible!

You can see it bowing out
right in front of us!

REED: Oh, yeah.

(shutter clicks)

(hawks screeching)

Look!

(hawks screeching)

We've got hawks right above us!

Those birds are riding a thermal,
that warm inflow.

This thing is surging out.

The birds about to get overtaken by
90 mile an hour winds, and look at that,

that's the kink in the line,
that's where the tornado would happen.

And we've got the perfect road
to intercept it.

We've got to get to that.

Mike, let's get ready to deploy!

MIKE: All right, let's go.

We gotta bring the drone down.

Bring it down! Bring it down! Where is it?

I can't get it back.

About to get blasted.

He's trying to get the drone back
but the wind just took it away.

Do you see it?

There it is!

It's fighting it!

It's coming back!

REED: We got the drone back!

Look! Ground circulation!

Look at the dirt! Dirt on the ground!

Underneath it, that's dirt!

Possible tornado up there!

Let's go guys! Here it comes!

MIKE: All right, let's go!

-REED: All right, let's blast!
-MIKE: Hold on tight!

MIKE: This is as fast as we can go.

REED: Could you go a little faster?

(bleep)

It's moving at, like, 70 miles an hour.

There's just no road options,
and it's moving too fast.

We've lost it.

Tornadoes are
the hardest type of storm we chase.

For every 20 tornadoes,
we might get one intercept.

And those are not good odds.

We just have to
keep grinding to get the data.

I'm, well, it was
a beautiful experience, you know.

I'm glad that
we got to share that together...

(Mike laughing)

...but we're out here to get this probe
into a tornado.

I hear you.

REED: Mike and I have storm-chased
thousands of miles.

We are chasing year-round now,

and that's because,
given a warming climate

these forecasts are like
things we've never seen.

Sea surface temperatures are warming
across the globe.

We're seeing powerful, destructive storms

which are difficult to predict.

Things are changing so quickly,

that's why we need to chase
every storm possible

and learn all we can.

NEWS REPORTER:
The remains of Tropical Storm Cristobal

are dumping heavy rains this morning
on the Gulf Coast.

The storm made landfall
south of New Orleans,

hitting hard in coastal community
like Waveland, Mississippi.

And it is now moving up
the Mississippi River Valley,

bringing a chance of tornadoes.

(groans softly)

REED: It was a long night.

Every night is a long night in the van.

And there's nothing I'd rather do
during storm season than

sleep in a van with another man.

Looks like Mike's already up and at 'em.

Probably gonna grab that

foundation breakfast
that he needs every day.

Looks like a hipster brew here
that Mike got going.

The grind of being on the road
is definitely legitimate.

Not a lot of sleep.

We eat a lot of gas station food.

You know, drink a lot of caffeine
to stay sharp.

Ah, that's good.

It's rough, but these storms
aren't gonna chase themselves.

We've gotta advance our science mission,
no matter what.

And this is it. This is our home here.

There he is!

MIKE: Breakfast!

Here, that's yours.

-REED: Ooh, that's nice.
-MIKE: Whoa.

I try to eat four eggs every day.

You can't run
a Ferrari engine without oil.

So this is kind of the oil that
I'm adding to my engine.

(both chuckles)

You got Lucky Charms. Are you kidding me?

MIKE: I need a little luck,
I need a little power. You want some?

-REED: No, thanks.
-MIKE: Okay.

(thundering)

Today is the highest tornado potential
I've seen this season.

We got all the ingredients in place

for tornado-producing storms

as Cristobal's finally lifting north.

If we don't get our probe
into a tornado today,

then there's definitely
something wrong with us.

Let's watch it for a bit right here.

MIKE: Okay.

-MIKE (laughs): Wow.
-REED: Yeah, that looks good.

This is the storm we want.

There's a chance that
this could produce a tornado,

it's got a lot of rotation already.

With all these thunderstorms we're seeing
throughout the region right now,

atmospheric changes and wind speed
cause some of them to start rotating.

That rotating thunderstorm,
called a supercell,

can suck in warm air
and moisture from the environment,

called inflow.

As the warm air fuels the storm,
it collides with cold air higher up,

causing the storm to rotate even faster.

And since all those ingredients
are in place,

that's when a tornado is likely to drop.

-MIKE: There's a lot of motion already.
-REED: Yeah.

This whole area's
looking pretty interesting.

-MIKE: Look how dark the base is getting.
-REED: Yeah.

-(Reed chuckling)
-MIKE: Wow.

REED: It's coming together fast, isn't it?

Holy shit.

Mike!

MIKE: Whoa!

REED: Yeah, that is a funnel cloud.

We got a developing funnel cloud
right over head now.

It's wrapping up big,
going through the motions!

There it is, tornado!

Here it comes!

Let's go, guys!

MIKE: All right, let's go!

-REED: Yeah, it's spinning well.
-MIKE: Yeah.

REED: We're gonna head back
to the main road.

If we can get in front of the circulation,
then we can drop our probe to the ground.

(cellphone beeping)

-MIKE: Tornado warning!
-REED: There's the tornado warning.

-It's really intensifying, isn't it?
-Yeah, it is.

-You gotta be kidding me.
-Yeah. Yeah.

-Look at that.
-Yeah.

REED: Tornado extending down.

-Oh, it's beautiful.
-Yeah.

Oh, whoa. (bleep)

REED: Holy shit.

MIKE: They're gonna cross
right in front of us.

(honking)

Get out of the way!

REED: (bleep) This is killing me,
not being able to get to it.

Damn it!

(cow mooing)

(honking)

Damn it!

It's drifting out into that field!

We're gonna miss it!

(sighs)

The adrenaline is just
pumping through me right now.

REED: It was a small noodle funnel,
beautiful tornado.

The whole process happened right above us,

but we just couldn't make the intercept.

Boy, when it happens, does it happen fast.

It's great to at least see a tornado,

and even though
we weren't able to deploy on that,

at least we're on the board.

MIKE: We got more.

REED: That one might stand its ground.

(honking)

MIKE: Aw, he's feeding right now.

-REED: Are you serious?
-MIKE: Yes.

Oh, no.

Let's just wait. Let's wait it out.

What a special moment.

(both laughing)

It's a little bit frustrating but I mean,
at the same time,

I'm not gonna be the guy that's gonna
get out the car and stop this.

(bleep) it.

OK. (claps and whistles)

All right.

There we go.

REED: They're done.

All right, while we got a chance.

I don't think this thing's producing
any more tornadoes today.

FEMALE NEWS REPORTER:
Cristobal is the earliest

third-named storm
on record in the Atlantic,

forming just two days
into the hurricane season.

MALE NEWS REPORTER: Cristobal weakened
to a tropical depression this morning.

REED: Cristobal is just another weird part

about what is turning into
a very unusual tornado season.

Chasing day after day is hard,

but we can never give up.

Because that one day you decide
the odds just aren't high enough,

or you just wake up exhausted
and roll over and go back to sleep,

that's the day.

That's the day you miss the most amazing,
picturesque tornado.

One that would have been perfect for us

to deploy the probe inside
and collect data.

You have to get out of bed
morning after morning

and chase everything
with any potential

because you never know
that might be your day.

We got a tough forecast. Radar is showing
two major supercell storms right now.

They're far enough apart
where we definitely can't chase both,

but I think that the threat of tornadoes
is probably about equal between the two.

MIKE: Yeah.

We could always split up.
I can go out for the southern target

and you can go out
for the northern target.

Yeah.

MIKE: This is the best option
with this pattern we have.

Increase our odds.

REED: I've got the probe on board

and if you get a tornado, you can deploy
the Theiss Device.

MIKE: Sounds like a plan to me.

-REED: Let's do it.
-MIKE: All right.

-REED: Good luck down there.
-Good luck to you too. Be safe.

Here's the Theiss Device.

That was actually in Hurricane Katrina,

that was before GoPro,
so it was a big camera inside there.

We can also get
barometric pressure readings, as well.

Now we just need to get
in front of the tornado.

Chasing tornadoes, it's a long commitment.

You have to be on the road for weeks
and weeks and weeks.

It's a little different
than chasing hurricanes,

where the hurricane's coming
and you get in position to cover it.

In my 20s and 30s, I never missed a storm.

I was just having so much fun
being on the road,

but I can definitely feel the age.

I woke up this morning
and I could barely stand up out of bed.

So, at some point,
you've got to slow down.

Except Reed, Reed can still chase
every single event.

REED: Mike and I have
very different styles.

My mom says I was born
with a sword that's too sharp.

I get over excited,
I like to push the envelope.

I really have no personal life.
Just pure dedication to storm chasing.

But Mike has definitely mellowed out
a little bit.

He has a family and a kid on the way.

He has a more laid-back,
methodical approach to the chase.

MIKE: When we team up together,
we meet in the middle,

and we make a really good team.

I'm excited about what Reed
and I can do with the science.

Any kind of data that we can collect,
every little bit helps.

REED: Our storm is starting to intensify.

This whole storm is behaving
like a vacuum cleaner.

The inflow into this thing is so intense.

It's starting to suck in more warm air
and moisture.

So that's why we're watching
closely underneath

for the development of little dust whirls

that will get stretched up
to the cloud base.

As these storms start to encounter
the deeper moisture,

they can morph into
a much stronger tornado.

Let's hook up the probe.

Our plan is to try to intercept these

and see if we can measure
wind speed and direction,

and the pressure falls inside the funnel.

If this touches down, we'll be ready.

Let's blast and get on this thing.

It's already rotating.

Already a full-blown supercell storm.

(cellphone beeping)

Tornado warning on our storm right now.

See that dirt?

Dirt circulation on the ground.

That means there's a tornado vortex
above it trying to develop.

Another big circulation over there.

It keeps pumping them out.

Big time funnel, right there.

See it up there, that white thing
spinning violently?

That's a tornado
trying to connect with the ground!

That dust is starting to lift up.

Tornado out in the field, right here!

We're gonna drive up and intercept.

The circulation's definitely increasing
in size right now.

So my plan now is to get in front of it

and then try to move in for intercept,
we've got the probe ready to go.

We'll drop the probe on the ground,
right in its path.

Hold on, hold on.

(laughing)

We'll catch it.

Let's get it!

(bleep)

It's getting lifted back up
into the cloud.

That was it.

(bleep)

This was our road
to intercept this damn thing, man.

Ugh.

Man, look at that.

Oh-ho-ho-ho!

Look how low that is!

All right, I gotta pull over.

Beautiful storm.

Wow.

I gotta get my camera.

As a photographer,

I like to take a step back and really see
the whole storm structure.

You can take in the whole
rotation of the storm,

you can see the inflow ingesting
into that supercell.

That's storm fuel.

You can see the striations
in the supercell,

which shows you the curvature,

it shows you that
that supercell is rotating like crazy.

Man, look at that thing!

Reed likes to get right up in there

and he likes to have the tornado
develop right on top of his head.

If you're right up close,

there's just a lot of things
that you miss.

(laughing)

-(thundering)
-Whoa! Look at that lightning!

(sizzling)

(thundering)

Oh! Oh, my God!

Holy shit!

(laughing)

The lightning hit right here.

I heard the line sizzling
so I knew lightning was coming close,

and then, bam, it hit.

(sighs) I gotta catch my breath.

REED: Right now, we're dropping south
through the Southern Texas panhandle.

The ingredients are here for tornadoes,
including instability.

There's a lot of heat
and moisture available to these storms.

That's probably our storm right here.

You can see
an inflow band streaming into it,

and I think that this storm has

the greatest likelihood of becoming
a dominant supercell.

Get in a little bit better position here.

Beautiful supercell,

you see everything is flowing into it.

And here you can see
the well-defined rotation on it.

Plenty of moisture out here.

That warm wind at the back means
that this storm is sucking in inflow.

Wow!

(thundering)

Right there, look at the middle.

That's trying to form a tornado,
look at that.

That is right where it should happen.

We got a big-time tornado
about to touch down here.

Watch this thing rope out

and turn into an elephant trunk.

There is comes!

We got a big tornado on the ground!

Let's get it!

(grunts softly)

All right, let's get it.

We're gonna cut north here,

and try to get right
in the path of this tornado.

But it is
a very challenging chase out here.

Everything is so HP or high precipitation

that you can't see anything,
just driving rain.

It's like chasing a tropical storm.

Oh, it's there!
It's straight in front of us! Look.

There it is!

Big tornado in the rain!

We're gonna try to deploy!

Damn.

We can't get around this, can we?

Oil field traffic only?

Damn it!

We can't proceed
but we've got a big tornado

close range wrapped
right in the rain here.

Let's go. Ah.

Barely visible
because the rain is wrapping

all the way around that circulation.

We're gonna intercept this tornado.

Get in the car now!

(hails clattering on car)

(laughing)

(thundering)

Figure out where to go,

I think we gotta punch
into the core of this thing.

Big time baseball's coming in guys.
Big hail, huge hail.

(thud)

Whoa!

(hails clattering on car continues)

We gotta blast back north
so we can keep pace with this thing.

But we are getting hit by ice grenades.

Big time ice grenades right now.

Whoa! That's big, big time,
we are getting hammered!

(laughing)

Whoo!

(thud)

Where is it?

(laughing)

I think the tornado just dissipated here
to our southeast.

(bleep)

Damn it!

(wind blowing)

Just a moment ago
it was rotating like crazy,

it's sort of gusting out now I think.

REED: The success rate
is really low out here.

It's not enough just to see
a tornado in the distance...

we're trying to record data
that no one else is getting.

Boy, does this storm look good.

We need to drop our probe in front of
a shifting, twisting, moving target,

and then try to get out of the way
before it gets us.

Let's pull over and assess.

Everybody has a unique, natural talent,

and I feel like my only skill set
is chasing storms.

Oh, look at that motion.

Whole circulation is wrapping,
all the way around.

I see these supercells storms
as a living, breathing organism.

They have a certain personality.

I almost can hear
what the supercell is thinking,

whether it's about to produce a tornado.

I feel like I have a bit of a sixth sense.

The whole circulation is tilting
and about to come over top of us now.

-(thunder)
-Whoa!

(thunder rumbling)

Here it comes,
we gotta get in the car now!

(laughing hysterically)

(cellphone beeping)

NEWS REPORTER:
The National Weather Service

has issued a tornado warning.

National Weather Service Doppler radar
is tracking a tornado on the ground.

REED: Very close.

NEWS REPORTER: There is imminent danger
to life and property.

Move to an interior room
on the lowest floor of a sturdy building.

MIKE: Hello?

Hey, can you hear me?

MIKE: I can't hear you very well.

REED: I've got a storm that definitely
produced a tornado.

I think you should take

a road out here, man.

MIKE: Okay, I'm heading your way now.

Reed's a little bit further north,

but we're gonna do our best
to get up there.

Man, look at all the people hiding
from the hail underneath the overpass.

You see that all the time
while tornado chasing,

but that's actually
one of the worst things you can do

because it blocks the roadways,
and cars are coming down

and they could slide
and crash right into these cars.

It's like driving on ball bearings,
all this hail.

You gotta slow it down, as hard as it is,

'cause you wanna hurry up
and get up there.

You don't wanna slide up there.

I'm getting nervous, getting nervous.

The tornado is approaching us
from the southeast right now.

We've got rain going up
all the way around us

concealing any view of the tornado.

It's starting to get closer to sunset,

so not only are these tornadoes
wrapped in rain

but they're hitting at night,

and that's a dangerous situation.

It could come at us out of the rain.

Gotta keep that in mind.

-(thundering)
-Whoa!

Look at that flame off to the right.

Absolute chaos.

This is a life-threatening situation.

Hopefully everybody's in their safe place.

It will be interesting to see how the van,

which is pretty high profile,
is gonna hold up.

(cellphone beeping)

Where is it?

I see it.

Tornado!

Just a mile or two to our southeast.

The hail is wrapping all the way
around the circulation.

Come to daddy.

We just have to keep moving north
as it drifts slowly back towards the road.

Trying to get into position to deploy

because you basically gotta be inside
the tornado to see it.

There it is.

Funnel whipping around.

Oh, we've got strong rotation

that's approaching us
right now to the southeast.

And it's coming back towards the road.

We can get this. Holy cow.

We're right in its path.

All right, gotta deploy!

Here we go!

Hear the roar of the water?

Getting close!

(thundering)

All right, we're recording data.

Here it comes!

We gotta get in the car now!

(speaking indistinctly)

Got the circulation right on top of us!

We're inside a tornado, I believe.

Getting hit by debris.

We're getting rocked!

Holy shit!

We're about to roll the van, guys!

(thunder rumbling)

-REED: Are you okay?
-CREW: Yeah, I'm fine!

(thundering)

REED: Oh, you gotta be
kidding me with this wind!

Holy shit!

Complete white out
and this thing is going crazy.

Look out the right side of the vehicle!

(laughing)

It appears that the circulation
has just passed us, off to the east.

We just intercepted a tornado.

(laughing)

Whoo!

That was just an incredible wind
back there.

Nearly rolled the van.

And we've got the probe
recording pressure data,

all kinds of data back there.

This is one of the best days of my life.

(cellphone ringing)

MIKE: Hello?

REED: Hey, can you hear me?

Hey, yeah, I can hear you,
I've been trying to call you.

REED: I just intercepted a tornado

that had winds of
about 80-100 miles an hour.

It was wild, man.

Come meet me and I'll fill you in.

All right.

Ah, that's amazing.

I'm really jealous.

I cannot believe he pulled this one off.

I was really concerned about his safety.

But this is the kind of thing Reed does.
I mean, Reed's crazy as shit.

That's what gets him up
close to these tornadoes.

(laughing)

REED: The probe is still here. Man.

We'll have to check the data logger to see
just how fast those wind speeds got,

how low the pressures dropped.

That was intense,

but we got a data point.
That's what it's all about.

Textbook probe deployment.

Whoo!

(honking)

(laughs)

MIKE: Hey, look who it is.

That's the H.E.R.V.

The sampling with our tornado probe
is a huge success.

Getting data about pressure shifts inside
of a tornado is such a rare occurrence.

Whoo!

Beautiful probe, beacon of science here.
We did it!

Sharing this evidence
of the meteorological community

may provide clues that could help unlock

the secrets of our
evolving climate system.

MIKE: Whoo!

Yes!

REED: So far, this has been
one of the most

unusual tornado seasons

I've experienced
in my 20 years of storm chasing.

We've got an early hurricane season

impacting the weather
here in the high plains,

tornadoes that are becoming harder
to track and predict.

And an overall shift of what is considered
traditional Tornado Alley.

It's also becoming clear
that shifting weather patterns

like this are just a symptom
of something bigger.

Showing that Category 6 storms,

monster weather events
that are devastating beyond imagination,

are possible in this new climate regime.

And with so many storms on the horizon,

we'll be there when it happens.

(thundering)