REGINA — Regina resident and storm chaser photographer Craig Boehm had a first-hand lookout at the tornado touching down near Oxbow Tuesday.
Boehm sat in one area as he watched the tornado gain strength.
“I saw the vessel cycle on spin away, getting stronger. And I knew it was pretty confident that it was going to produce a very large tornado, so I stuck with it.”
Boehm believes the tornado lasted on the ground for nearly 30 minutes.
"That would not be typical for ground time, I would say. Typically, tornadoes are down for less than 10 minutes.”
While he cannot confirm, Boehm said the tornado near Oxford may be the strongest tornado he’s ever witnessed.
“Yesterday's tornado might be my strongest tornado via rating. If it does get an EF3 (Enhanced Fujita Scale) rating, I've seen numerous EF2s, but lots of EF0s.”
The rating on the scale depends on related wind speeds and damage caused.
Many tornadoes witnessed by Boehm have been in open fields, meaning they are rated EF0s.
Chasing a storm
During a storm, Boehm plans his next destination in advance.
“The very first thing I do when I stop is I look at my road network and plan my next 20 miles or 20 kilometres.”
Even if the direction won’t produce the best photo for his shot, Boehm ensures he has an escape route.
“So there's a lot of planning roads to me, or I think they're the biggest thing. It's the only way to be truly safe is to have an escape route.”
To maintain a safe distance, Boehm also keeps well back from the storm, including Tuesday when he stayed about 500 yards away.
Reasoning
Boehm began photographing storms in 2012 after noticing a surge of tornado images circulating online that summer.
“So I decided I was going to be a storm chaser, went out storm chasing and ended up seeing a tornado on my very first storm chase.”
While he was disappointed by the turnout of his first photos, Boehm decided to pursue storm chasing in the future.
Boehm admitted doing this helps him destress.
“I go out, I get a good, nice drive in the country. I get to see parts of Saskatchewan I might not typically see, and it's fairly calming. I very rarely, you know, get anxious or feel like I'm in danger.”
Even though he sees it as a fairly calming time, others have called him “nuts” for doing it.
“Everyone is different,’ he said. “I think it's just to help different people who are wired. Some people are adrenaline junky, some people are more timid.”
In a given year, Boehm said he can take upwards of 100,000 photos.
“From those 100,000 photos, I will probably knock it down to 30 or 40 that I will keep.”
Looking ahead, Boehm isn’t anticipating any tornadoes to hit the province in the next week.
