Vortex

Part One Chapter Two

Iris pulled into the parking lot of Steak 'n Shake, where she parked next to the other members of the team. Markus was the first to greet her. He was an old friend from highschool. He and Iris together were the ones to start the team. He was your average tall blond white dude with a combover haircut. He operated the van from shotgun, watching the radar and other factors as the storm progressed. His driver, Jack, was someone Markus met at college. Jack wasn't too interested in storms, but came along as the driver of the van as a friend of Markus. Velvette was the opposite of what you'd expect of a girl with that name. She was wild and driven by adrenaline, always putting the storms first, and safety second. That is why she wasn't allowed to drive. Instead, she would navigate Drew, another science major who had found the team on social media, who was in charge of driving the truck. Then there was Abie, Iris' girlfriend. She was a big strong farm girl who's home had been destroyed by a tornado when she was younger. She joined the team to try to save people, like the tornado warning had saved her as a kid. With the team assembled, they took off southward on their day-long drive to their target area. There wasn't much to see. Iris and Abie took turns driving, a luxury that Drew did not have. Every once and a while, the team would chat over the radio. Markus took this drive as an opportunity to practice giving directions to the team. The day was hot, as was expected of a day in mid August. The air was thick and humid. The atmosphere was for sure readying itself for a violent storm day. The only thing stopping storms from forming was that the air conducive for storm formation wasn't able to rise enough to form supercell thunderstorms. But that would change in the next day as the atmosphere would change to be more conducive for severe weather and tornadoes. Marcus came over the radio. "Hey guys! They just updated the risk tomorrow from an enhanced to a moderate with a 30% hatched risk for tornadoes hear the foothills of the smokies." Iris knew what that meant. Hatched risks meant that the tornadoes would be potentially violent. The team descended into the valleys, eventually arriving late in the evening to their hotel in Pigeon Forge TN. The girls settled into their room and started chatting. "What's the plan for tomorrow?" Velvette asked. "We get breakfast here at the hotel and then wait for the storms to initiate. It's looking like the dryline is going to be situated over the Nashville area meaning storms are going to be primed and ready by the time they get to the unstable air out here." Iris explained. The team quickly got ready and fell asleep. The day of driving had run them dry. But by the next day, they would be ready for anything.