Tony Laubach's Storm Chase Blog

Details of the National Storm Chaser Convention have finally come out. It will be held President's Day weekend in February. Its being held in a different location that previous years; at the Radisson in Southeast Denver as opposed to the I-70 and Tower location. This place is off I-225 and Parker Road, which is a bit further than the previous place, but I'll live. I will obviously be there (I get off real cheap not having to fly or stay in the hotel), but probably won't reserve myself til after Christmas once I resettle after my new engine.

I'm excited for this year's convention and hope to get a chance to see a few more people this time around. Last year, there were very few of my distant chaser friends in town, so I'm hoping for a better turnout this year. Also hoping that maybe I can con a few of them in to Bandido's Mexican food while they're out here.

Going to do some more work on my DVD now while sipping away at my cranberry juice, but thought I'd post the link above for the convention. It'll be one of at least a pair of conventions/conferences I will attend this year. TESAA being the other sure one and possibly the Severe Weather Workshop in OKC in March. Pre-season is just around the corner and that's when the excitement really begins to build. Sheesh.. it will be here before we know it, won't it.. wow...
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Monday, November 28, 2005

 

Did some touchup cleaning to my website today, including removal of some navbar graphics and cleaned up the active list to those who have updated within the passed few weeks. No major changes or updates are in the works, but just in case the difference caught your eye, I was doing some touchup stuff. More may follow in the coming weeks, but again, nothing significant.
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Sunday, November 27, 2005

 

Helluva day in Kansas today! Kind of makes me wish I had paid more attention to the forecast going in, but I still believe my time leash would've prevented me from going out regardless. A few reports are being posted in Stormtrack in regards to today's outbreak which has produced 18 tornado reports thus far. Things are settling a bit now, so don't imagine that count will climb much higher, but definately a pleasent surprise for chasers today.

Another pleasent surprise, my Stormtrack Fantasy Football team won the Toilet Bowl (3-8 teams). So go me! *LOL* The Skins may've dumped their playoff hopes into the toilet, too with their loss today. Wish I had been chasing today; would've missed that letdown!
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Saturday, November 26, 2005

 

Looks like I owe a few people cookies! I was actually laughing at myself cause I was going through some of my old fiction writings and realized I can actually make sense out of something as opposed to when I am writing straight from my own thoughts. Ah well, at least I know a few people read it.

My awards thread turned into a disaster at the hands of several of our high class Stormtrack members. Honestly, I'm not sure who helped spiral the thread out of control as I was at work all day yesterday and didn't get a chance to sit down in front of my machine til well late in the evening. By then, the other ST mods had handled things to a point where I really couldn't get caught up. This morning, another thread was deleted cause it, too, was getting out of control. Again, others wonder why there are people who want to keep to themselves and stick in small, more mature groups. Seriously, is it really that hard to figure out?

I dumped Verizon. Sprint/Nextel were having a Day After Thanksgiving deal where they would literally buy you into their company. They offered to pay my $175 cancellation fee to Verizon to sign up with Sprint. Now let me post for the record that there's really nothing wrong with Verizon beyond the borders of E-470, as it was more of a local issue for me, but with the merger of Nextel and Sprint, there no longer is roaming across the country and they're network will be as covered as Verizon. On top of the paid cancellation fee, I get a $60 credit on my first bill and 25% off my entire bill every month for a year. I'm getting a 1000 minute plan w/ unlimited text messenging and nights starting at 7pm for what will be around $60 after that 25% off. I'm happy to get out of the crappy local service Verizon had and will be going back to Sprint which I had a year ago. Oh yeah, I broke down and got a camera phone, so we'll see if its worth the use or not. The bad news, I may have to get a new phone number; hoping I can keep what I have.

Stormy weather on the plate for tomorrow, but not something I've looked at beyond SPC's outlooks. I have no intention to chase as it's well east of my single day chase line, which has also lead to little more than a glimpse of the setup. I don't expect to hit the fields again til March at the earliest, to odds are unless something is screaming for attention, I'll probably be pretty mute on any potential setups through then.

Some news on the Denver Chasing Convention; President's Day Weekend, February 17-19. Check for details on the convention website in the coming weeks. As Tim Samaras pointed out in a ST post, now that Southwest Airlines flies to Denver, between them and Frontier Airlines, one should be able to make the conference pretty inexpensive now. Obviously, since I live here, I will be there, me and my happy jersey!
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Tuesday, November 22, 2005

 

Warning, this entry is a late-evening bunch of babble, so it does go on forever.. read at your own risk or falling asleep.

On November 18, I started a thread in Stormtrack titled Annual Storm Chasing Awards. In that list of awards are 14 categories in which only 3 are given to individuals. Among the 11 non-chaser related topics best state, chase day of the year, and core of the year. The three individual awards are for websites, not for a person and their chase skills. I did that on purpose because of issues earlier this year which really divided the chasing world. That issue stemmed from chasing eliteness, which severely pissed off many people when Stormtrack began a hidden group of core members that excluded a lot of other chasers.

While my awards thread hasn't drawn much negative attention, it has been criticized a couple times by a couple different chasers. While this something I would expect from such a thread, my obvious attention wasn't to draw a popularity contest. Yes, there are awards for best websites, but I kindly point out that I didn't make awards for chasers with most tornadoes, etc. This is a fun way to sum up a season, and I'm glad to see participation in the thread. In about a week, I'll take the nominations and set up polls for each category. I still haven't decided as to whether I'll create graphics for the website winners or not, but I'll probably make a page in my 2005 Chase Summary page in which the other awards will be mentioned.

I'm not sure I've gone on the record officially in regards to the issues which have plagued the chasing community this year. And while there isn't anything in particular that's triggered this entry, I just felt the need to pen it out anyway to get my 2-cents out in the world. I enjoy my role (or lack thereof) in the chasing world. I'm just here, that guy from Colorado who wears that silly Redskins jersey. I'm not expert in the field, nor am I anything more than a behind-the-scenes media guy. I'm just here, a simple nerd who enjoys being out, or just being for that matter. I've made some good friends in the passed couple of years, both locally and nationally. I'm finally able to enjoy my chasecations financially and have the time to spend in the field. I enjoy the fact that I can put my Tech. Comm. degree to use by creating graphically useless chase highlight videos in which I can save some cash by trading it out with other chasers to gawk over their finds for that year.

I once was young and craved the attention; I think at one point, we all were. Well, maybe not all of us, but I won't deny my early years. I was a young, silly punk who probably had no business being in the field. Obviously my years before then were spent reading up internet sources and books, talking with other, more experienced chasers, and learning the ropes. Once I got into the field, I began to really learn and added some muscle to all the reading I did. I owe a lot to my pre-chasing studying which really helped shorten the time for me before I felt comfortable enough to chase on my own in places beyond the borders of E-470.

After a couple small seasons taking random chases at random times, I finally hit it big in 2004 when I had spectacular day after spectacular day, reaping the rewards of the season along side many chasers. This was also the first season where I was in the company of other chasers as something other than a wide-eyed follower. I began to establish friendships among other chasers, and it most certainly wasn't cause of my chasing/forecasting skills (nor was it the Redskins jersey I so prominently display).
What all this has to do with anything can be up for debate. I consider myself one of those chasers who does show his face in the public eye, but also enjoys the quieter side that this hobby seems to rarely show anymore. I've made some good friends that I hope and intend to chase with for years to come. That's the extent of any popularity I want (and maybe bragging right for a Redskins Superbowl in the future). While I've been in the company of some very familiar names, I've never sought anything elite; I enjoy the quieter side of life.

Chasing is my passion, and anything which makes chasing a seriously stressful thing is something I want to steer clear of. Sure, chasing is full of various chase-related stresses, but to worry about the popularity contest and whether or not I am liked by the chasing community is something I don't care enough about. So why am I writing this, you ask? If you honestly don't care, why do you feel the need to write up this lengthy, go-nowhere blog entry? Simple, because its my thoughts and its my website. What else do you want? Yeah, I prefer to be liked… no wait, respected, among my chasing associates, but its nothing different than wanting respect in my bowling league, my DVD Authoring class, or my Tae Kwon Do classes. While I'm certainly not the best in any of those, its something I do and to be respected by those I do it with is nice to have. They reach themselves out to help me better myself with something I do, and I can learn from those around me, regardless of what their average, grade, or belt rank.

Chasing is like that for me, I enjoy surrounding myself with all the experiences that chasing has. Aside from the weather, I have preached endlessly about how much I enjoy being on the road. The small towns, the poe-dunk restaurants, sleepless nights in random hotels after an incredible day. All of that makes for a wonderful experience. But most of all, I've treasured the people I've shared those experiences with. I've surrounded myself with some terrific people whom I consider friends both on and off the chasing Plains. While I don't see many of those friends beyond the shadow of a supercell, I enjoy internet chats, emails, phone calls, and the football season exchanges which a few of us share.

Chasing has been tarnished this year, and there's no denying what has happened with the people involved. It's a sad state of affairs to see how this hobby has de-evolved. And my part has been played with several of the incidents that has lead to this demise and there's no reason for me to state otherwise. Obviously my intentions weren't to separate myself from anyone and I feel this is obviously by the lack of hate-mail I get (insert chuckle here). I think my name, car, and jersey are known in the community, and I'm happy to be known as the WX Nerd from Colorado with the Redskins jersey. A little bonus may be for those who've seen my jersey know whose number it is I am wearing (insert even harder laughter there). Of course, I could care less about the latter, but if you've plunged yourself this far, you deserve a little laugh (it's Art Monk, BTW).

I'm not going to offer any apologies for my involvement with the Stormtrack Core group, nor will I take off the chasing awards. My intentions with both of those were not to fuel the fire, even as I may very well have played my part to let it grow. The awards were meant as something casual for the chasing community, kind of like the music awards, except no one gets rewarded for being a great forecaster, taking the best picture, or being the biggest idiot in the field. Nature gets all the awards except for the earlier mentioned 3. Those were reserved for those who enjoy sharing their experience, even if every log is a bust report. The blogger who's leading the nomination category has been sparse in entries as of late, but during the thick of the season, was some of the better reading on the net. For reasons he's stated, he's going to discontinue the posting of pre-chase plans, which is understandable under the circumstances. A prime example of where things have gone, and I don't blame him at all, but I do believe some of the people he's referring to have more of an impact on his professional career outside of chasing rather than loyal followers of the field. Whatever the reason, its his choice as to what he wishes to do with his chasing, and I don't understand the beef he's getting for making the withdraw.

Which leads to other point, why do people care? I own my own website and keep my own blogs, which means I can post (or not post) whatever I care to. I've limited my blog and website specifically for chasing and weather-related goodies and have saved my personal life for another online journal hidden in the open someplace else on the web. My life is no secret, but I do have the choice what I wish to share. He's doing the same. And for people who claim to not care about eliteness and popularity, I'm having a hard time grasping why people care at all what he does and does not post. Some think he's hiding his forecasts from other chasers to avoid being followed or something, and reasons like that lead to the Stormtrack Core issue. So what if that's the case? Who cares, right? Specifically, why should you? As he says, follow him at your own risk. And I can attest, his forecasting is good, but together, we've experienced dizzying days to incredibly disappointing busts. And apart, we've done the same. Guess what, we all do! Its nothing new to the chasing world, but I guess with the amount of people chasing, its become an issue.

People feel that every chaser needs to share everything with everyone. The problem is with the growing popularity that has become of this hobby, we're expected to put our best foot forward and share with the world all the good that comes from chasing. Granted, we do our part to help the community by aiding with spotting and reporting, but every one of us are out for one common reason, to be in the weather. What we do with it is our own business and unfortunately our own business has all of a sudden become a requirement to be shared with the rest of the world. And those that want to hide from the public eye all of a sudden get dubbed elite and become a target for the rest of the chasers cause all of a sudden they're excluded. As was said in the ST Core argument, where is it stated that people have to share everything. I haven't seen it? Sure, I share my entire weather world here on my website, but I enjoy doing websites; I enjoy writing journals. I enjoy sharing my experiences with the world. This is something not many people do nor understand. I hope they are entertained and enjoy this site I've opened to the world. And regardless of what happens in the future, I fully intend to keep a well up-to-date and maintained website for as long as I enjoy doing so. My blog has become the most popular and most hit section of my website, and I'm assuming its cause people get some entertainment and enlightenment out of my endless blabs. I don't claim to be a good writer or even a good chaser, but I enjoy both and do it simply cause I like to. If you don't like it or me, you have the right to go elsewhere. There is plenty else to do online, don't believe, go google something!

Anywoo, as usual, this entry has no real centering point, nor do I expect to get any real feedback, but its my thoughts and I felt the need to get them out. If I were to try and pull a single point from this, it would basically be to let people just be. Chasing for me is about being, simply being. Let everyone do what they wish to do and if that means not sharing with the rest of the world or retiring to a more quiet side of chasing, so be it. No one signed a contract stating that they had to share everything with the world. And to be perfectly honest, the only reason I do it is because I enjoy it. When that goes away, so will everything else. In which case, it does happen. Accept it and continue being your own. People will like and respect you for who and what you are. And if few people like and respect you, then so be it. Remember why you enjoy doing it in the first place. If you maintain that mode of thinking, you'll be fine. If you want popularity, go back to high school. We all were there at one point, but only a few of us graduated.

And a final note, if you actually read through this and made it to this sentence, I'll have a homemade chocolate chip cookie waiting for you next time we meet!
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Monday, November 21, 2005

 

The 'Storm Tracer' is back in action! My buddy Chris swapped out the engine over the passed week and finished up yesterday. I went to pick it up and she started right to life and sounded as good as she ever had. Wanna hear a car purr, this was the chance! She was happy, as was I. Here are some pictures taken by Steph and Chris as they tore out the engine...













She will be back on the road for Storm Chase Season 2006!
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Wednesday, November 16, 2005

 

Yesterday's outbreak yielded 175 severe reports which included 35 tornado reports and over 100 wind reports. Several chasers posted reports into Stormtrack with only one seeing a tornado before he fell victim to flooded roads and stalled out his vehicle (I'm not going to come down on him for making the move as I have done it myself with more luck, but I will remind anyone who reads this to NOT drive into flood waters as only stalling his car made him lucky). I think Dan Robinson probably had the best plan of attack for such a barnburner system. He picked a major north/south interstate and basically let the storms come to him, get what he could then reposition along the interstate and await the next round to come through. He intercepted a total of six different storms using this technique. Other chasers who tried to keep up with the storms fell victim to their speed very quickly as storm speeds ranged from 40mph to 70mph before becoming a solid line as it raced east. For a setup such as this, you're literally picking an 'X' spot and sitting with hope that your tornado happens within a few miles of that spot because unless you get lucky to follow a storm along a major highway, you're going to lose it quickly. My kudos to chasers who ventured out to play with this system as it was hyped to be a biggie. While I wouldn't have made the trip from Denver (at least via car) to chase, had I been closer to the area, I probably would've ventured out for this. I do believe this will be the last horrah for 2005 as this front has cooled temps down all over; winter is around the corner.


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Tuesday, November 15, 2005

 

He's a snippett from a tornado warning in Missouri..


BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
1234 PM CST TUE NOV 15 2005

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PADUCAH KENTUCKY HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
MISSISSIPPI COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST MISSOURI.
NEW MADRID COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST MISSOURI.

* UNTIL 100 PM CST.

* AT 1230 PM CST...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO 5 MILES SOUTH OF MATTHEWS...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 55 MPH.

TAKE COVER NOW! YOU HAVE LITTLE TIME TO REACT...AS THIS TORNADO IS MOVING AT AN INCREDIBLE RATE OF SPEED.



Imagine that coming at you... wow... crazy stuff ongoing right now..

SPC's newer Day 1 has shifted more of the MOD risk and tornado chances eastward into western Ohio. Will keep tabs on the Buckeye State later today, but the main threats are definately further south. Major event about to kick off!
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Snow and High Risk... first the local, then we'll zip across the country.

While its not the first official snowfall of the season, it's really the first real snow for my neck of the woods. About 2 to 3 inches of snow fell starting last night as a cold front plowed through the area about midafternoon yesterday. Snow began falling as the temps dipped cold enough around 4:30. When I got to my place in Lakewood from campus yesterday about 6pm; high winds were helping to drill grouple in the ground. Accumulations started slowly and managed to pile up a couple inches before the snow ceased and the winds subsided. Wind gusts to near 50mph occured a couple times before all was said and done. This morning on my way out, here was the scene from my 3rd floor apartment..




A major severe weather outbreak is likely today across the Tenn. and Ohio Valleys. In fact, as of this blog entry, two tornado watches are already in effect (WW864 and WW865). Tornado Watch #865 is a PDS Tornado Watch which went up at 6:40am MST, the other is a regular watch which went up shortly after 6am before I even got up! Crazy stuff! I imagine today's outbreak will be a record setter as SPC is going all out with their forecasts. A 25% hatched area for tornadoes and a hatched 45% for wind. The squall line from hell will develop along this cold front and push eastward very very quickly. Isolate cells are possible ahead of this line which may be the long-track tornado producers which have the potential to be very destructive. The highest area appears to be from roughly Central Indiana southward into North-Central Mississippi. As I said yesterday, Ohio is in the risk, but only a Slight as most of the worst weather should impact them after dark, thus be significantly weakened from its earier forms.

Obviously the event is already ongoing as tornado watches have already been posted in the threatened areas and I would imagine reports will be coming in within the next hour for what will likely be an all-day event which has already started. Stay tuned and be safe for those in the threatened regions today!
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Monday, November 14, 2005

 

Shane Adams wrote an entry in regards to other bloggers (particularly storm chasers) who haven't updated in a while. I've also noted the same trend in my lack of new entries posted to my blogging client programs. Oddly enough, I own two online journals; a private one which follows my entire life much like a real diary, then this one which follows my weather and chasing life. Both I update on an almost daily basis with the exception of extreme lulls. While I do think chaser blogs get left behind during the dying points of the season, I wanted to keep a year-round blog which follows my weather and chasing career. That and its cool to just have a place to jot down weather-related thoughts and keep tabs of cool events. And yes, I do follow other people's blogs (hence the plug for Shane), and thought I would comment on that seeing as many of the linked blogs I have were last updated over a month ago (few exceptions, though). Shane's blog is a mix of his life and chasing (which IS his life), and very entertaining reading; give it a look.

In weather news, looks like I could be arm-chair chasing a major event tomorrow in my old stomping grounds. While perhaps its just forgetfulness, but I can never remember violent Novembers in Ohio when I lived there. Since I moved out, seems almost bi-yearly my home state takes a pounding. SPC's greatest threat for tomorrow is closer to the Tenn. Velley, I wonder if more violent tornadoes will be possible further north near the warm front (not the most chasable storms, mind you). November is a traditionally crazy month in terms of severe weather further east, so its no surprise to see what we have thus far and will likely see tomorrow. With the cancelation of my Thanksgiving trip due to my car, I have an extra flight pass and have thought diligently about hopping on a plane to Dayton, Ohio tonight, renting a car, and chase my home state tomorrow as an early Birthday present. The logistics of that won't allow for it and honestly, I just do NOT have the cash to finance such a journey, but believe me, the temptation is there and sometimes overwhelming. Being that it is my home state, I would be able to easily find lodging and see old friends, so it would be worth the trip none-the-less. Sadly enough, if I went through with this trip, I would probably end up spending less than I did when I chased Oklahoma back in October. Don't expect to be seeing me out there tomorrow, no matter how high I talk it up, but I definately will be arm-chairing the event as I keep tabs on my old hometown in Circleville, Ohio (Pickaway County for those weather nerds).
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Sunday, November 13, 2005

 

Well, more than likely, even with the time and finances, I would not have chased yesterday as the target area shifted well to the east and out of range of the drive out. 26 tornadoes were reported yesterday, most of them in Iowa where one was a killer. A couple tornadoes touched down near Ames, Iowa where an old friend of mine lived. Video of a tornado near Woodward, IA was pretty incredible to watch as a resident watched the tornado pass within a football field's length of him. Crazy stuff.

In more local news, I finally got my car towed to Thornton where Chris began work on it. I'll keep you updated as I know more. Also, a high wind watch has bene issued for the Front Range Urban Cooridor where we could have our first high wind event of the season starting this evening and going through the morning. If something exciting happens with that, I'll update it here.
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Friday, November 11, 2005

 

The new (used) engine was picked up yesterday in Colorado Springs. Tomorrow, I'll have a friend's Dad tow it up to Thornton where my friend, Chris, will swap them out. He thinks it possible to have it done before the end of the weekend; I would love to have it by next Thursday! I'm going to pick up a few parts tomorrow (oil, filters, wires, plugs, etc) before getting the tow and will run them up with the car.

My replacement vehicle was from my girlfriend's Dad. It has 7 wheels (one steering, four to ride on, and two snow tires in the trunk) and runs; all I could ask for. But it smokes more than some of my friends and dash lights randomly come on at various points. Oh yeah, it's a manual without a working parking break! *LOL* But its a car that runs, and I am very greatful for that!

A couple reviews have come in for Lubacca 2005; thus far, no one has said that it DID suck (well, Doug sort of did.. hahahaha). Still capturing (and recapturing) footage for the Rookie Years Collection. My DVD is due in class on Dec. 6, so I'm hoping to have it completed by then with enough time to get the evaluation done by the instructor to make any last second changes before my Dec. 15 release date.

Chasing this weekend will not happen. The obvious reasoning is that its not MY car I'd be chasing in. Ridding of that, I don't really trust its mechanical shape to take me to and from a target over 500 miles away. Would I chase Saturday if I had a working car that was my own? Yes. We're in the 4 deadest months for chasing (Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb), and any chance to get out is worth while. I don't dive into forecasting, stay awake waiting for new runs, or concentrate too much on what could happen. If severe is possible during these months and I have the time and means to be out, I will. To chase in November is worth while regardless of the odds. Remember, I like the road trips, too!

There is a chance for thunder here in Denver today. I'm not going to hold my breath for anything exciting, but I will quietly wish for some post-sunset lightning to add to my photo collection. I have my photo and video gear ready just in case. Today's high temp; 72. We're suppose to cool down into the 50s for a few days before we actually get cold early next week with temps in the low 40s and a chance of snow. Glad someone finally told Mother Nature what time of year it is!
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Wednesday, November 09, 2005

 

Couple of quick updates...

Lubacca The Rookies Years: A decent-sized setback, which comes as no surprise after this weekend. The school's computer friend my portable hard drive, so all that video I captured last week was lost. After talking with the instructor, I am going to do all my video rendering at home; then copy the videos over to here and burn the final DVD using the assigned program. I began to re-capture some footage last night. This works out well cause a lot of my "bonus footage" is already captured and ready to go, so I'll break even in terms of time with that.

The Storm Tracer: Tomorrow we're going to Colorado Springs to get the replacement engine and pick up my temporary vehicle. Saturday, I am towing my vehicle from Littleton to Thornton where we should be able to begin work on getting her back on her feet.

Chasing This Weekend: Models have hinted at some chasable weather on Saturday. I'm pretty well out of commission for this weekend's round due to my car. While I don't wish bad things upon those heading out, I do hope that I won't miss much. With the way the year's been for me, this would hurt to be sidelined on the weekend my car's dead. But, for those thinking of heading out, its bound to be a monster day because of that, so enjoy your November trip! *LOL*
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Monday, November 07, 2005

 

Vehicle Update: We found a used engine with 64,000 miles in Colorado Springs for $595. We're going to go pick that up on Thursday and bring back here to Denver where we're gonna swap out the engine in the Tracer in the days following. I imagine the whole deal will set me back as much as $1500, but would cost me less in the long run as I will not have to get myself into a new vehicle. More later...
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Saturday, November 05, 2005

 

The Storm Tracer died tonight... while attemping to start my car at work, I heard a hideous clunking noise coming from the engine block.. the car never turned over... I'll know more on Monday...
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I didn't get as much captured today as I would've liked due to the lab I was working in not having great Macs to capture. I did get the complete May 15, 2003 and the May 29, 2004 chases captured.

As I was capturing the May 15, 2003 video, guess what I found! *LOL* The wedge tornado that everybody but me saw made a brief appearance in my video shortly after the brief elephant trunk tornado. I was zoomed all the way out after filming the passing of the DOWs and in the right portion of my screen, I captured the below images...








And no, I am not going to count that into my tornado stats since it's taken 3 years to find it, but low and behold, it's there! I was north of the storm, by the way, and never noticed it through the rain, even as I was hearing reports about it over the scanners. Funny as hell, though!
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Friday, November 04, 2005

 

The first shipment of DVDs went out today, so everyone who ordered, be on the lookout for the generic yellow envelops. I've plugged them on Stormtrack and MySpace, so I think I'll let them do their thing. More than anything else, I want to trade out with other chasers as I've done with a few already. I'm very interesting in seeing Chris Collura's video. He has a few cool vid clips on his site and I know he shot some good stuff. I sent his copy out with the bunch today, so I'm hoping to get his sometime next week.

This Saturday, I am going to finish capturing the chasing footage from May 29, 2004 and April 10, 2005. Beyond that, I'm not sure what I am going to pull. I'm going through my older Analog 8mm to find various clips for the lightning and bloopers sections. I think James will provide as much laughter as Blake did. I'm really enjoying getting this DVD together as I feel pretty good about my digital media skills. Verne watched my DVD today and really enjoyed the graphic animation tags I had flying across the screen. I'm very proud of the revised editions of those which will be featured on the compilation DVD. I'm excited about this one, can you tell!

Yesterday, Verne Carlson and myself showed off some of our videos to a few members of the Denver/Boulder AMS; and I do mean very few. None-the-less, it was nice to get out. We chatted about the 2006 seaosn and even wishcasted the warm weather would give us maybe one more shot at a chase before all is said and done. We flirted with a record high Wednesday as temps played around in the mid to upper 70s. If moisture creeps in about the time as one of these storm systems, we could very well have a shot. While I am definately not holding my breath, its something to wish for. The models are keeping warm temps around for a while with a brief cooldown this weekend (upper 50s). My guess is this storm system will kick through the week I am in Vegas!

Shane, in case you read mine, I thought your synopsis on the recent October chase was great. I say that cause we were in the same boat (I think I passed you once near May). We headed south before the storm hit and allowed it to make too much ground where our north (and northwest) venture into Buffalo became a fatal mistake as the storm grew legs and took off. We feel you on that one. Definately a lesson learned when you look back; should've positioned ourselves closer to Buffalo sooner and let it come at us. Ah well, still no complaints. As Verne and I also talked about yesterday, it was the core from hell, one I'll remember for a while.

Yes, it passed midnight, but I had a writing bug, something that hasn't happened in a while. I'm actually jamming out to some tunes I picked up today by an artist named Chris Camozzi; good contemporary jazz; his 1996 album Windows Of My Soul is playing right now; oldie in terms of date, but new to me. Good stuff. Oh, and yes, he's a TWC Local Forecast guy! Need help, ask!

Well, enough from the weather world. It's boring here in Colorado right now, that's for sure. Windy today (Chinook); but the evenings have been soo nice! While I enjoy winter when its actually winter, I do enjoy the evenings here along the Front Range with a good fall/winter Chinook embracing you from the chill in its calm. Good night all!
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Tuesday, November 01, 2005

 

Last night, I burned the first copy of Lubacca 2005! Checked it out this morning to make sure all the menus and chapters are correct and everything looks good! I'm going to burn out a couple dozen tonight and have those ready to ship by Thursday.

Today, I began the grueling process of capturing video for the Rookie Years Compilation DVD which is set to release before Christmas. I think I'll officially dub this project the 'Rookie Years Compilation' as it covers as far back as 2002. Since I am doing this project on a Mac, I am having to reconvert most of my old video to Quicktime; avoiding this issue, I elected to just recapture seeing as I am on campus a lot anyway. In fact today, I knocked out quite a bit..

Captured in full today..
August 27, 2002; The Denver LP Supercell, this will be a quick chase segment at the start of the DVD which will basically show how I was as a chaser early in my career. Most of it will be sound dubbed over the timelapse of the wall cloud as it passed over Southwest Denver.

March 27, 2004; The Oklahoma Spring Break (AKA, 'March Madness') chase from 2004.

May 10, 2004; The Northern Colorado Hailstorm which kicked off Mayathon 2004.

May 12, 2004; The seven tornado day in Southern Kansas, including the Attica tornado.

Also captured were various nighttime lightning shots from the above listed days as well as the hilarious Wichita Falls Booger incident. I also pulled a few bloopers from those above listed chases as well for the bloopers section I am creating.

All that's left in terms of chase segments is May 29, 2004 (an afternoon of capturing in itself); April 10, 2005; and May 10, 2005. I've also got to go through and find some more lightning shots for the lightning music video (video segments).

So as of now, I plan to have 7 featured chases which are all listed above. There will also be a blooper section as well as a lightning featurette which will include a music video with lightning stills and video clips.

I would like to have the main chase segments captured by this weekend, and I think I'll get a chance to finish this task on Saturday. After that, I can begin work on the graphics and title bars for each section which hopefully I can also do before the end of next week. After that, I get to focus on the extra goodies I'm planning on filling in.

Again, Lubacca 2005 is produced and ready to go! If you're interested in a copy, drop by my Lubacca 2005 page and place your order. If you want a trade, email me your info!
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