Saturday, March 31, 2007
NWS Pueblo Holly, Colorado Tornado Damage Assessment - Rated EF3
NWS Pueblo did an excellent write-up of the Holly Tornado from the 28th. It was rated EF3 with "high end" damage done north of the town of Holly.
This tornado killed 1 and injured nearly a dozen shortly after 8pm that evening. The death was the first death assoicated with a tornado since 1960 ( thedenverchannel.com).
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Thursday, March 29, 2007
Sad news to report in regards to yesterday's tornado outbreak...
In the town of Holly, Colorado (in the southeast part of the state), a tornado hit and did severe damage around 8:00 last night. Latest reports from thedenverchannel.com indicate that at least one person was killed and nearly a dozen injured. This adds to the couple in Oklahoma that was killed last night as well as a couple other fatalities.
SPC's reports on yesterday indicate a total of 65 tornado reports, 14 wind reports, and 162 hail reports (a total of 241 severe weather reports). Chasers everywhere bagged anywhere between 2 and 15 tornadoes on yesterday's storms. It was a prolific day for tornadoes.
My good chasing pal, Verne Carlson, nabbed this video. Shows some amazing footage out of the Oklahoma Panhandle.
Things are still coming to light as the day moves on today. I know of several towns that were hit by yesterday's storms, including Holly, Colorado and Beaver, Oklahoma. Hopefully the news won't get any worse out of yesterday's outbreak. My thoughts and prayers are with those people...
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Wednesday, March 28, 2007
No, I didn't chase today because of class obligations...
Congrats to Verne Carlson who bagged 7 tornadoes, plus the dozens of other chasers who scored today. A very epic day unfolded today and it sounds as if everyone who was able to get out did well. I'm thrilled for everyone who got out. It sounds like the overall impact of today's outbreak was minimal in terms of life and property. I'm happy to see that with any event. Hopefully that trend will hold true through the night.
Thus far, 61 tornado reports scattered from northern Nebraska into the Texas Panhandles... the reports keeping coming as tornado warnings are still ongoing. Over 200 severe weather reports today.
I posted in Stormtrack this morning about my "if-I-left-now" target being Goodland... sounds as if I would've done pretty well out there. Enough what-ifs and should'ves to send me into next year, but in the end, I sat here in Denver watching it all unfold, most of it during class. I keep telling myself, its only March... but I told myself that last year.. and the year before... and we all know too well what happened...
One of the side-effects about being so passionate about something is the emotions that go along with it. I never deny my obsession with severe weather, nor would I ever play it down. I live for it. I knew today was going to be huge, but I did the right thing in terms of being where I was obligated to be today... I paid for it. I'm heartbroken about this. As silly as it sounds, I am. Watching today unfold was one of the most difficult things I've ever done in my almost 10 years of chasing. My targets verified, I would've been there, I would've seen it. But I didn't... I stayed behind.
Yeah, this one is going to sting for a while...
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Tuesday, March 27, 2007
A quiet 127 miles in hopes that something would fire in the setup which presented itself... good shear, low enough LCLs, decent dews... just no storms... one fired over Colorado Springs, and Jon V, Michael, and I hopped across Hwy. 52 over into Hudson where we stopped, watched a train, and retreated to Fort Lupton to enjoy the sunset and let Max, Jon's dog, get some running around in...
A few pics...
 Sunset with dying towers; an oil pump in the foreground.
 Another sunset shot.
 White Lightning adding another hundred miles and change to her chasing resume.
 Another cool sunset shot.
 The dying Colorado Springs storm with our vehicles in the foreground.
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Threat of severe weather still looking on track this morning as the Denver AFD and HWO are noting the shear and instability in the area. They've mentioned areas close to the foothills, including the I-25 corridor, for severe potential today. Out east is conditional at the moment, but also bears watching. While I'm excited about the prospects of chasing, its hard to think about chasing in rush hour traffic this evening.
Some excerpts from the Denver AFD and HWO this morning..
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
330 AM MDT TUE MAR 27 2007
SHORT TERM...VERY COMPLEX WEATHER SITUATION SETTING UP IN THE SHORT TERM WITH POTENTIAL FOR SEVERE WEATHER THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT... AS WELL AS ACCUMULATING SNOWFALL IN THE MOUNTAINS.
CURRENT SURFACE ANALYSIS SHOWS SURFACE FLOW INCREASING AND TURNING A BIT MORE SOUTHEASTERLY EARLY THIS MORNING AS PRESSURE FALLS ARE OCCURRING OVER THE GREAT BASIN AND NORTHERN ROCKIES IN ADVANCE OF NEXT STRONG TROUGH. SOUTHEAST WINDS SHOULD REALLY GET HOWLING THIS AFTERNOON ESPECAILLY FROM DENVER SOUTH AND EAST AS PRESSURE GRADIENT STRENGTHENS CONSIDERABLY THANKS TO CONTINUED STRONG PRESSURE FALLS TO OUR WEST. PLENTY OF LOW LEVEL MOISTURE IS AVAILABLE TO OUR SOUTH AND EAST WITH CURRENT DEWPOINTS IN SOUTHWEST KANSAS AND SOUTHEAST COLORADO IN THE UPPER 40S TO MID 50S. AS A RESULT...EXPECT AFTERNOON DEWPOINTS TO RANGE FROM AROUND 40F IN DENVER TO THE UPPER 40S OVER OUR EASTERN PLAINS. TEMPS SHOULD BE ABLE TO WARM SUFFICIENTLY IN/NEAR THE FRONT RANGE TO BREAK THE CAP...WHILE ON THE PLAINS EAST OF DENVER THIS WILL BE MUCH MORE DIFFICULT TO DO GIVEN DEVELOPING STRATUS THIS MORNING. THE COMBINED WARMING AND MOISTENING IN/NEAR THE FRONT RANGE IS EXPECTED TO GIVE CAPES CLOSE TO 1000 J/KG WITH T/TD OF 67/41.
IN ADDITION...LOW/MID LEVEL WIND SHEAR IS VERY STRONG BY THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT WITH 0-3 KM HELICITY UPWARDS OF 200-300 M2/S2 AND 0-6 KM SHEAR OF 20 M/S ACROSS THE I-25 CORRIDOR BY 00Z. THIS WILL SUPPORT ROTATING UPDRAFTS AND POTENTIAL FOR STORMS WITH LARGE HAIL AND EVEN A TORNADO. LIMITING FACTOR FOR TORNADO DEVELOPMENT WOULD BE LCLS GENERALLY AROUND 5000 FEET AGL. DENVER CONVERGENCE ZONE COULD ALSO VERY WELL BE BLOWN BACK INTO THE FOOTHILLS GIVEN THE STRENGTH OF SOUTHEAST FLOW. NONETHELESS...THE TREMENDOUS SHEAR AND MARGINAL INSTABILITY SHOULD BE ENOUGH TO PRODUCE A FEW SEVERE STORMS AFTER 2-3 PM. MID LEVEL WINDS ARE VERY STRONG SO IT WONT TAKE MUCH TO PRODUCE HIGH WINDS WITH STORMS AS WELL. THE THREAT OF STORMS WILL LAST THROUGH THE NIGHT AS NEXT JET CORE PUNCHES ACROSS THE FRONT RANGE LATE TONIGHT INTO WEDNESDAY MORNING.
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
600 AM MDT TUE MAR 27 2007
.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT
THERE IS A RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS TODAY AND TONIGHT ACROSS THE FRONT RANGE INTERSTATE 25 CORRIDOR. DAYTIME HEATING WILL COMBINE WITH INCREASING MOISTURE AND INSTABILITY AHEAD OF A STRONG STORM SYSTEM DEVELOPING ACROSS THE WESTERN UNITED STATES. THIS WILL SET THE STAGE FOR SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON...SOME OF WHICH MAY BECOME SEVERE.
STORMS ARE FIRST EXPECTED TO DEVELOP ACROSS THE FRONT RANGE MOUNTAINS AND FOOTHILLS BY 1 PM AND THEN SPREAD NORTHEAST ACROSS THE INTERSTATE 25 CORRIDOR AFTER 3 PM. WIND SHEAR WILL INCREASE SUBSTANTIALLY ACROSS THE AREA BY LATE THIS AFTERNOON. AS A
RESULT...THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS. SIGNIFICANT LOW LEVEL WIND SHEAR ALSO EXISTS TODAY WHICH WILL ALLOW FOR A THREAT OF TORNADOES.
THE HIGHEST RISK OF SEVERE WEATHER TODAY AND TONIGHT WILL EXIST FROM THE FOOTHILLS EASTWARD ACROSS THE FRONT RANGE METRO AREAS AND INTERSTATE 25 CORRIDOR. THE STORMS ARE EXPECTED TO SLOWLY WEAKEN AS THEY MOVE INTO MORE STABLE AIR OVER THE EASTERN PLAINS OF COLORADO OVERNIGHT.
Quite the turn around from yesterday afternoon's AFD which said no storms... obviously my initial target for today was a bit further east, but would think storms will have a chance to get out if conditions out east improve a bit more than expected. Current SFC obs showing high 30s TDs over the front range and low to mid 40s across all of Eastern Colorado. Still too early to pull us a visible and am awaiting the RUC to update, but my preliminary target will be northeast of town at the E-470/I-76 junction which will allow fast access to storms moving northeast off the Palmer Divide area via southbound E-470 and westbound along E-470 to catch up with storms moving northeast out of Denver. Pending the time of initiation and how storms look, I may take my chances in town early with hopes of escaping before the 4pm rush hour.
Because of the proximity to the city, I should have very fast Sprint access available to me, thus would give me access to my complete suit of data at broadband speeds. I'm anxiously awaiting to try it out!
I'll update again later this morning...
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Monday, March 26, 2007
While this afternoon's AFD out of Denver did a complete 180 from where it was this morning, I still think there's a chance we could see chasable severe weather in the Eastern Plains of Colorado tomorrow. The big concern is lack of moisture which the models are showing as well as the potential for fog and/or low clouds clearing in a timely fasion tomorrow morning. Below is my synopsis of tomorrow...
All this looking at 36hr forecast for 0z Wednesday (Tuesday evening)...
The NAM's helicity values at both levels show good shear at low levels... the 0-3km along the Palmer Divide close in on 500 with 0-1km peaking 200! None of the models really break out a ton of precip, but here are my thoughts which I think maintain the chance to chase...
We should be under a good 500mb flow with excellent difluence and good speed out of the SW. In fact, the NGM and GFS both have the 500mb jet nosing in after 0z tomorrow, so storms should really get going after 6pm. However, dynamics and daytime heating along the Palmer Divide and Cheyenne Ridge oughta get storms going by mid-afternoon.
Excellent surface flow out of the SE with winds approaching or exceeding 20kts. All models do show a small theta-e axis nosing through Eastern Colorado, however they are a bit sparce on moisture with readings mostly in the low 40s with the occasional mid 40. I think we'll need upper 40s at least with temps in the 70s to keep LCLs are reasonable heights, even for landspouts. I wouldn't sneeze at mid 40s, though.. not here.
The NAM has a sliver of 1000+ CAPE nosing into SE Colorado to around Pueblo with up to 500 elsewhere on the Plains. The other models aren't so robust on CAPE with less than 500J/kg across the Plains.
Glancing at the current SFC obs, our dews are sitting in the mid 30s with a 41 at Akron and 40s surrounding the state. Winds however are out of the northeast and should begin to swing around in response to the incoming system between 6am and noon tomorrow. Winds will also increase in strength as the afternoon wears on, so conditions should get better as the day moves on for both moisture and surface flow.
So close to home and a helluva lot easier to get out of campus obligations, I likely will be out tomorrow. I get done with class at 12:45p and can likely leave by then. Jon V and I have discussed at length heading out from campus tomorrow and will likely proceed with than plan.
I'll update again in the morning... right now, I'm a go for tomorrow!
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Sunday, March 25, 2007
Today's the last day of Spring Break 2007. I'm happy to say that I did exactly what I wanted to do over break... get out and chase. Even as it wasn't the results I was hoping for, I'm just thaknful to have gotten out, spent some time with friends, and enjoyed chases so early in the season so close to home. I mean, when was the last time I chased back-to-back days with an overnight stay away from home and did them both with less than 1000 miles combined. Granted, Saturday sucked overall in terms of weather. None-the-less, I was in my own bed before the local drunken folks could hail a taxi home. I rolled into my apartment at 711 miles for the day and 943 miles over the two days.
Showered away yesterday's bust and got my van cleaned out of Gatorade bottles and Quizno's napkins. Went through to make sure I had all my gear and double-check everything's working conditions. Also ordered an external cell-phone antenna as my amp will be used with my data card on all future chases. Was very impressed with the amp's performance with the phone and look forward to seeing the same results on my data card.
Focus now turns to midweek, which has slowed a bit since my last look. This would hint at a chase Wednesday into Thursday. I have no qualms about chasing the main event Thursday as Tuesday and Wednesday are committment filled, and while I would likely have no issues freeing myself to chase should it be an epic setup, I'd rather wait til after my last class Wednesday evening before I take off. It's still several days out and I haven't started making any plans related to it just yet. I'll hold off as long as I can before I start my hoop-jumping.
So beyond that, just quietly returning to normal. I'm in the homestretch of the semester with a month and a half remaining before I head out full time for my Mayathon trip. Slowly but surely, all the kinks are being worked out and I'm hopeful to have everything I want working by the time May 11 rolls around!
To conclude this entry, I wanted to post a quote by my good chasing buddy, Amos Magliocco. He made a trip northward for yesterday's setup, but rightfully called his chase short in OKC when he likely realized there was nothing to shoot for up north. But like a lot of us, he ventured out in hopes of catching something. Many people drove hundreds of miles on Saturday for reasons we'll never explain to normal people... with that, his quote...
I listened to Waylon on the way home. I was struck by this line: "It's a measure of people/who don't understand/the pleasures of life/ in a hillbilly band." I think that could apply to chasing, since a lot of us drove around today for no good reason we could easily explain to non-chasers.
For those like me... we had more than enough good reasons to be out... I for one can safely say its something that never gets old.. not matter how hard we get humped by Nature. It'll happen time and time again... and I'll bitch and moan each time for any number of reasons, but I'll be back for more!
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Saturday, March 24, 2007
Hola from the van! I've put Jon behind the wheel to allow myself a chance to crank out my chasing updates from the last couple of days so I can enjoy a quiet day before returning to work and school on Monday. We concluded today's chase at an Arby's in McCook, Nebraska after attempting to track down a developing MCS which finally overtook us just south of McCook. I've already posted my chase log and you can view it here. It was certainly not the day we had hoped for, but as usual, had some laughs and a great time. It helps that we're only a couple hours from home, too! Be home and in bed at a reasonable time!
All-in-all, fairly impressed with the overall performance of most of my gear on this run. The webcam and autoupdates on my radar grabs were issues throughout the chase. Sprint's data card had me covered in most places enough to where I didn't have any major lag times. The cell-phone amp tested out to work very well on my cell phone. Will need to get a cable for my connection card, but was very impressed to see the difference in cell reception in remote areas. Will likely just get a rooftop antenna for the phone and use the amp for my data card.
Sitting at over 500 miles for today and will likely surpass 700 when all's said and done. I have to drop Jenn and Jon off in Brighton before I head home, but its on the way. In the meantime, just enjoying the quiet trip back home. Jenn's in the backseat jamming on her I-pod; I'm pecking away at the laptop; and Jon's catching some Zzzs at the wheel! Ciao all!
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Friday, March 23, 2007
COMPLETE MARCH 23, 2007 STORM CHASE LOG HERE!
Took the local day-before-the-day chase with Jon Van de Grift and Jennifer Brindley here in Northeastern Colorado and were rewarded for our patience as we got on a storm shortly after 3pm which moved off the Palmer Divide and slowly trekked north and east towards Fort Morgan. After nearly bailing on it a couple times, we finally watched it move into the higher dew air and quickly go severe over Fort Morgan. By this time, dark had fallen, but we were greeted with a great light show and incredible structure which quickly made the trip worth-while. All this was basically to position ourselves for Saturday's setup. We met with Mike Umscheid in Deer Trail and chased around with him today!
Chillin' at our Best Western here in Sterling, Colorado after a surprisingly enjoyable chase in Northeast Colorado. We're looking forward to tomorrow's bigger and better setup somewhere in the area. Waiting on the next series of runs and SPC's new Day 1 to start to figure out where we'll be tomorrow.
More in the morning!
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Sitting getting my tires checked out here in Brighton before I grab some lunch and meet with Jon and Jenn at the Park N Ride. Glancing over SPC's mesoanalysis and seeing a slow increase in TDs. We're getting into the mid 40s now which is a jump from earlier today. CAPE is starting to increase on the eastern Plains as well, so looking good thus far. Mike U was in Burlington according to his latest positioning on his website, and will probably try and track him down once we hit the road. All's looking good for storms this evening. Goodland HWO still mentioning tornadoes this evening, so we will see. Van's ready, so I'm off. Be on the road in an hour.
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The two-chase is on! I'll be on the road for my afternoon target today by 2pm. I've arranged for Jon V and Jenn B to meet me in Brighton where we'll jump into my van and head out! Today's target lies along US Hwy 34 between Akron and Wray where models are showing the best setup for the evening time frame. Storms should fire in the mountains and move east onto the Plains and intensify quickly as they interact with the higher dews and the front which is expected to drape itself across the region. Any storm which roots itself on that oughta do very well. Tonight's a sleeper situation before tomorrow, which by the end of our chase tonight, will leave us sitting in our target overnight. Not sure we'll have to move much tomorrow, but things are looking even better for tomorrow. Right now, the focus is on the next 12 hours, so I'll update again later on tomorrow after we get through today. Feels like May right now... this is wonderful!!!
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Thursday, March 22, 2007
Eyeing two potential targets for the weekend. The main area of my focus lies in the area stretching from SW Kansas into west Texas along the dryline. The second, backup area, would be in western Nebraska.
Also checking into the idea of next week's potential. GFS showing a very strong 500mb flow over Oklahoma on Wednesday. The look of that model has been compared to that of May 3, 1999 by a former OU, now CSU chaser. Interesting situation developing with that. It would require some hoop jumping on my part to get out in the middle of the week, so we'll see how it all starts to play out.
I'm going to call it a night and get some sleep. The next 24 hours are a bit uncertain at the moment, but I wouldn't mind a full 8 hours before my uncertainty becomes reality. I've declared the possibility of a midafternoon departure tomorrow if conditions warrent for a chase of the southern target on Saturday. We'll see!
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I have posted the log from yesterday's chase... a few additions will likely be made once I get my hands on some of Jenn's shots, with permission of course! :o) In the meantime, you can check it out in all it's glory here..
http://www.tornadoeskick.com/logs070321.html
I'll make the updates to the main page at the end of the weekend once I get back from the trip we're planning which will cover Saturday. Jenn's alreayd a go, and I've talked to Jon V and had him talk to Allison. My tentative plans are to leave early tomorrow afternoon, however, first glance at the models may have me out the door a bit earlier tomorrow. I'm going to dive into those details later as I need a couple of hours to recover from the first trip and get ready for the second trip! Ah, I love it!!!!
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Wednesday, March 21, 2007
For a trip replanned with 15 minutes notice, this sure turned out quite well! After the roller coaster ride in forecasting this day, this trip changed positions more times than John Kerry! After calling Tom, Jon, and Jenn after midnight last night to cancel our trip, Verne called me at 7am to inform me of the forecast changes and sent me up. Realizing I had no chance to beat rush hour to meet Verne, I figured I was staying home. Shot an email to the three and said today was shaping up and to watch it. Called Jenn and informed her, but she declined the chance. Tom called me back immediately after reading the email and said he'd go if I wanted to go. That was enough for me. I called Jenn back and informed her and she again declined. I told Tom to meet me at the Park 'N' Ride at 9:00am (45 minutes). As I was packing, Jenn called me back and said she was game. Told her to head out the door. We met and were on the road by 9:06am.
Made it to Salina where we grabbed a quick bite to go and headed up to Concordia. We made excellent time across I-70 and were in and out of Salina a few minutes before 4pm. We got in touch with Verne and Michael who were heading up towards I-80 where the cap was eroding. We continued north on Hwy 81 into Nebraska as storms began to fire where SPC's mesoanalysis showed the cap was gone, Storms began to fire southwestward along the boundry and the last storm forming south of York was our target storm. No other storms formed south of that and we found ourselves in perfect position as we pulled up to it near Geneva, Nebraska. We ran along side her for nearly two hours along various Nebraska roads, stopping for pictures and enjoying a slow moving March supercell. We witnessed a couple of funnels, some scud, and great structure as this storm tried to separate itself from the line. We encountered some nickel hail at times between Dorchester and Crete on NE-33. Stopped several more times along NE-33 before dropping into Hickman, then out to Panama where we elected to let the core pass over us near Bennett. We stopped at NE-2 to shoot lightning for an hour before heading to our current overnight stop in York, Nebraska.
All-in-all, an excellent chase for March. Nice to be on slow moving storms this time of year. No disappointment at all as this certainly beat sitting around Denver doing nothing today. We think we had the best storm of the day structure-wise and probably the best storms for isolation as our radar was showing the linear mode of the storms between Lincoln and Omaha. GRLevel3 was the primary radar tool with the Sprint Connection Card and did very well! The webcam was working, but the software kept locking up. Something I can certainly figure out!
Below are a few pictures from the chase...
 A brief funnel cloud looking north from NE-41 near Milligan.
 The beautiful tail-end charlie from NE-41 looking southwest.
 A very pronounced barrel showing the very apparent rotation at midlevels.
 Some low-level interest to our due north which never amounted to much.
 We never saw a CG the entire storm, but lots of inter-cloud lightning.
Our plans are to head home on I-80 tomorrow, and I'll probably have some time tomorrow to update the log for this trip. Looks like it'll surpass the 1000 mile mark as we're shy of 700 now, so another one to add to my 1000 mile ventures. A fun trip with Tom Dulong and Jenn Brindley and certainly a nice break from the Denver grind.
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Haha, just kidding! LOL I think the entire chaser community let out a big "WTF" when they saw this... I know when Jon V called me with it, I did the same thing. Verne, Michael, and Tom next to. I quickly scurried to get ahold of the caravan to inform them that the chase is again off. Not even a bone thrown with that. I hate to be an SPC chaser, but its hard to ignore a big graphic which says "LESS THAN 2% ALL AREAS".
So with that, at least for the moment, there will be no marathon into Kansas tomorrow. As much as I feel I can forecast, its hard to ignore that and pretend things still look good. Not to mention the downward trend of the forecast in the last 12 to 24 hours which this seems to cement. This has been a roller coaster ride for sure, one which is moving down again. I may sneak a peak at sunrise tomorrow just to make sure nothing crazy happened (like the wrong models were looked at), but that deflates the excitment of it, that's for sure! LOL
Off to go unload the van now! LOL
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Tuesday, March 20, 2007
No conference or no chase... at least for the moment on the chasing part. We've elected to hold off on making plans til tomorrow morning with a sleeper target in central Kansas, an area we could make within 5 hours. This will likely be a midnight decision if not made in the morning, so holding off on making alternative plans til I know for sure I won't be venturing out. I'll leave my alert where it is with that in mind as I'm packed and ready to go at a moment's notice. The big trip is obviously cancelled, so this will be a "day" trip more than likely with the chance of arriving back home marathon style late tomorrow night. Without much else to go on through later tonight, I'll update again after midnight of first thing tomorrow morning.
A note from the AFD out of Hastings...
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
249 PM CDT TUE MAR 20 2007
THE SETUP ON WEDNESDAY FOR POTENTIAL SEVERE WEATHER STILL LOOKS ON TRACK. A MID AND UPPER LEVEL SHORTWAVE TROUGH MOVES ONTO THE PLAINS WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. AHEAD OF THIS SYSTEM...SURFACE CYCLOGENESIS OCCURS IN WESTERN KANSAS. AN ASSOCIATED COLD FRONTAL BOUNDARY PUSHES SOUTHEAST FROM NORTHWEST NEBRASKA WHILE THE SURFACE LOW AND
DRY LINE PROGRESS EAST ACROSS KANSAS. THE STRATUS WILL ERODE ACROSS OUR WEST AND NORTHWEST WITH THE ARRIVAL OF THE DRIER AIR BEHIND THE BOUNDARIES. IT LOOKS LIKE THE CAP HOLDS INTO MUCH OF THE AFTERNOON...THEN BETWEEN 21Z AND 00Z THE CAP ERODES IN THE VICINITY OF THE SURFACE LOW IN OUR WESTERN KANSAS COUNTIES WHICH IS ALONG THE
CONVERGENCE AREA ALONG THE DRY LINE AND THE COLD FRONTAL BOUNDARY. SURFACE BASED CAPES ARE NOW PROGGED HIGHER THAN INDICATED THE LAST COUPLE OF DAYS AND APPROACH 3500 J/KG. MOISTURE IS READILY AVAILABLE WITH SURFACE DEWPOINTS WELL INTO THE 50S TO AROUND 60...AND H85 DPS POOL AHEAD OF THE DRY LINE TOO WITH DPS AROUND 13C WHICH IS GOOD FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR. CONVERGENCE ALONG THE BOUNDARIES...WITH THE CAP ERODING BY EVENING WILL PROMOTE CONVECTION AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS LOOK PROMISING. THE PRIMARY HAZARDS WILL BE HAIL WITH RELATIVELY LOW WET BULB TEMPERATURES HEIGHTS AROUND 8K OR 9K FEET AGL...AND FREEZING LEVELS OF 10K TO 11K FT AGL...AND DAMAGING WINDS. CANNOT RULE OUT TORNADOES EITHER PARTICULARLY IN THE VICINITY OF THE SURFACE LOW IN ENHANCED SHEAR AND LOWER LCL HEIGHTS ON THE EDGE OF ERODING STRATUS. SIG TOR PARAMETERS HAVE SHIFTED AROUND OUR CWA THE LAST COUPLE OF DAY...WITH CURRENT PROJECTION AROUND A 6 PRIMARILY IN OUR KANSAS COUNTIES AT 00Z. WILL CONTINUE TO HIGHLIGHT SEVERE POTENTIAL IN OUR HWO. TEMPERATURES ON WEDNESDAY WILL BE DEPENDENT UP TIMING OF STRATUS EROSION AND TIMING OF THE BOUNDARIES. VERY WARM READINGS INTO THE 80S WILL BE POSSIBLE POST DRY LINE AS H85 TEMPS AVERAGE NEAR 18C. CONVECTION WILL END WEDNESDAY NIGHT AS THE COLD FRONTAL BOUNDARY PUSHES SOUTHEAST THRU OUR ENTIRE CWA BY THURSDAY MORNING.
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At this point in time, the Spring Break trip is not a go. The conditional setup for tomorrow is hard to warrent making a trip to Iowa this early in the season. I am working on alternative plans for the week which may include attending the conference, but at this time, remain unsure as to what I'll be doing 24 hours from now. We're certainly keeping the door open in case something does start to become more positively difinitive, but as of now, its safe to say we'll wait on further setups. The weekend will continue to be monitored, but until then, I'll wait and see. More later this afternoon...
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The questions continue in regards to tomorrow and there is a strong chance the trip may get bagged as the early season conditions may not warrent the spending of time and money. Had this been the three day setup which was showing up in previous days, one may justify heading out, but it looks as if the next favorable day may be Saturday, then the middle of the week which at this time looks like a tough venture due to a Tuesday presentation (I could hit the road by 1pm) and a Wednesday class (4pm).
Still waiting to make the final call on the trip, but unless something amazing happens with the forecast, it'll be hard to convince others to pony up the time and money to head out. There is still glimmers of hope as mentioned in the early entry, so its not entirely out of the question, but this is March, not May. Still a lot of season left to go.
Backup plans are coming into view, including the possibility of attending the Severe Storms and Doppler Radar Conference in Des Moines, Iowa. With my time off already approved and my hours made up, not much reason to stick around here. As a last resort, I may hop a flight and visit friends or family. I'll post a final decision within the next couple of hours...
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So its 8:00am, I'm starting the last day of work I'll have til Monday, and I'm stoked about getting out. The problem, where I'll be getting out to. The flip-flop of targets continues as yesterday we were all talking KS/NE. Now one has to give some reconsideration to the southern target. Finally feeling a bit more confident in myself, I've driven into things a bit more... here's my analysis (be prepared for a to be continued...)
NORTHERN TARGET: Concordia, KS north to York, NE east to Nebraska City south to Junction City, KS; maybe further east into extreme southwest IA.
SOUTHERN TARGET: Uylsses, KS south to Pampa, TX east to Clinton, OK north to Greensburg, KS; maybe as far south as a Plainview to Childress line.
TUESDAY OVERNIGHT STAY: Colby, KS
Colby, KS to Amarillo, TX: 335 miles (> 5 horus)
Colby, KS to Lincoln, NE: 360 miles (approx 5 hours)
Using SPC's Day 2, various WFO's AFDs, and model analysis, there are pros and cons to both areas, mostly cons, but the pros in each make it a difficult choice. The northern target seems to show the best chances for convection, however the concern up there is cloud cover reducing heat and thus instability. The triple point also makes it a tempting play. Down south, the cap is the huge question mark, however, better upper air support and likely better moisture and heating will be the case down south. The dryline would be the play down here, and sharp focus would be needed to aid in cap breaking. The GFS and NAM show different areas of higher CAPE. The NAM has the higher CAPE amounts in the extreme eastern Texas panhandle north into extreme southern Kansas and western Oklahoma. The GFS on the other hand has less CAPE over the entire country, but higher amounts in north-central Kansas and extreme southern Nebraska. Both models do overlap the tounge of CAPE from panhandles north into extreme southern Nebraska.
I also think thesurface wind fields are more favorable down south. Models are hinting at SW winds at the surface the further north you go. While not southeasterly in the panhandles, the winds are more southerly. The GFS at 48 hours is also showing a tighter moisture gradient in the extreme eastern panhandles with TDs approaching 60. Surface temps in the 70s to near 80 for the southern target (both models) with temps in the upper 50s to near 70 in the northern target (both models). The lower temps probably associated with cloud cover in the northern target. SFC theta-e tounges through the southern target and noses into the northern target (NAM), but again, notice sfc wind fields. NAM is showing helicity values at both the 0-3km and 0-1km layers in both areas, higher 3k amounts south and 1k amount north near the triple point, but better combo of both seems to be south.
Precip-wise, NAM showing a small dot of precip in the southern target while there's more widespread precip north. While there isn't much, the model is hinting at some precip along the TX/OK line. I'm not too keen on calling the lone supercell by a 48 hour NAM model, but at least its showing something down there.
That's all babble with no real defined reasoning right now. If I had to choose right now, I would lean towards the southern target. Low clouds and grunge are hard to make good storms out of. At least a CAP can be breakable... also, there seems to be some cooling at 700mb as shown on this series of runs, which makes me wonder if there will be less of a cap. Discrete supercells seem more likely if storms are able to form down south. However, if there is an area of clearing up north, interesting things may happen there as well.
One thing I learned from Feb. 23, having constant access to live data was invaluable, cause models certainly were't giving much hope for daytime convection the night before or the morning of. We were relying heavily on what was going on now and were rewarded with a predark tornado! The rule for tomorrow will be checking what's going on now!
Local NWS offices are downplaying the severe threat in both targets, but I'm anxious to see how things evolve through the day today. As of now, I'm looking at heading out as planned this evening for Colby, KS to allow for adjustment to either target as seen fit in the morning. Colby makes for a short 3 hour drive tonight. If something changes today which highlights one area of another, I'll make adjustments to tonight's destination to work with that. Because of that, I'm keeping Garden City, KS and Wakeeney to Hays, KS open for overnight as well if either target sells itself more later today.
One of the beautiful things about chasing, even within 12 hours of leaving, you still have no clue where you're going! LOL I'll shift my alert around lunchtime as I'm hoping to have a better handle on where we are going!
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Monday, March 19, 2007
Shifted into high alert as we'll be on the road within the next 36 hours. To where... hehehe, yeah, the ever changing world of chasing has tossed a curve ball into things. What was originally looking like a Texas Caprock chase is now shaping up to be north-central Kansas/south-central Nebraska. The area along and near the triple point which the models are hinting at setting up on Wednesday along the KS/NE border. Its certainly looking more and more like the better play for Wednesday, so it will be monitored closely in this evening's 0z model run.
Glancing at mileage charts from Lakewood to Grand Island, its still 400 miles to cover to hit the approximate target area. With that in mind, I'm still leaning at leaving Tuesday evening. I've offered up Wakeeney/Hays, Kansas as an overnight stop Tuesday just in case the Panhandles prove to be the better play and we can still make a target that far south if need be (AMA is approx 6 hours from Hays). If the triple point continues to hold its promise, we won't be far from our target that morning.
So a lot still unknown at this time. Going to be watching very closely over the next 24 hours in hopes we'll have a clear enough picture to act on. Things are starting to come together a bit, so we'll see!
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Sunday, March 18, 2007
Did a dry setup of the van and made sure things were working as they are suppose to. The interior setup which is shown below is primarily for when I'm chasing solo or with no one in the passenger seat. Otherwise, the desk sits a bit higher. Beyond that, this is pretty much the interior layout.
Looking from the back seat.
From the driver's side.
From the passenger's side.
All GPS tested out fine. I haven't decided completely what programs to run. More than likely, I'll use GRLevel3 or StormLab, Delorme Street Atlas, and Spotter Network together with the GPS.
So that's all for today. Nothing else left to do but wait out the next couple of days. Everything is pretty well set and taken care of. I work an 8 to 5 tomorrow and Tuesday and hope to be on the road before 8pm Tuesday evening! The excitement continues to mount!!!
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The dash mount has been installed!
Thanks to parts from Ace Hardware, I was able to rig the head of one of the Amvona tripod heads I purchased (ATH-H94). I took the quick release plate and attached it to a door hinge from Ace, then used some welding glue to hold it together.
The bracket which is suctioned to the windshield, sits at a perfect height so the camera mount rests on the dash, thus maintaining an even weight distribution.
The only drawback is the line of sight of the camera is right through the big crack in my windshield. Something I'll deal with through the early part of the season and may replace prior to Mayathon.
The plate I used on the dash mount is the exact same as the plates on my Amvona tripods, so everything is swappable and quick-release!
Also coated the windows in Rain-X rain and fog protector. Filled the windshield fluid with Rain-X bug remover as well. The van is set for this coming week! All that's left to do is charge the gear and pack! I'm so excited; multi-day chasing on Spring Break in March AFTER Daylight Savings Time! Who could ask for more!
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Saturday, March 17, 2007
I continue to go against my will and look at the train-wreck which is the GFS. Hard to ignore next week's potential, especially with the days lining up like they are. Check out these 500mb speed forecasts for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday evenings...
 0z Thursday (Wednesday evening).
 0z Friday (Thursday evening).
 0z Saturday (Friday evening).
In a perfect world, those would verify and our chase targets would vary little from one day to the next. Obviously this world is far from perfect and those are many days away from verifying anything. But it still looks enticing. Only a couple more days left before departure on what could be a very nice series of chase days!
More from me tomorrow as I wrap up my preparations for this coming week. Walmart saw a visit from me as I stocked up on travel supplies, Gatorade, and snack bars. Get them for a buck instead of 2 at gas stations. Trying this new Gatorade AM; we'll see how that tastes (Strawberry/Orange).
Anywoo, its late and I'm tired. Got a lot to do before Tuesday evening. Talked to Jon to confirm a post-7pm depature Tuesday night assuming all things remain the same. Assuming Jen has no big issues, we should be on our way aaround 8p to wherever the overnight destination is. Yeah, can you tell I'm excited! :o)
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Barring a complete 180 by the models, I have every reason to think I'll be chasing at least once between Tuesday and Saturday next week. With that, I've upgraded my chasing status to moderate much earlier than I normally do seeing as my time is already cleared. The biggest question is departure and what days will be the prime. Right now, Wednesday and Thursday look solid with questions for Tuesday and Friday. Its also probably safe to say that we'll be home in time for dinner Saturday evening. Of course, all this can change in any number of ways, hence why no hotel reservations are being made yet. It'll clear in the coming days.
I have successfully loaded code onto my website which will air my live webcam so long as I am getting internet. With the issue resolved with Sprint, I will have full data access via the USB Merlin 720 anywhere I can get data service. Because its a separate card, I can leave it running continuously without phone-related interruptions. I'm running this as a test and will be doing little to maintain it on this trip, but I would appretiate comments from those hovering online while I'm out just to let me know its up. The still to be displayed on my main page will only update on a manual reload as I can't seem to get the same code from the live page working correctly. None-the-less, a reload will be needed to update the live radar anyway, so I'm not going to worry about it. The image will be set to update every 30 to 60 seconds. I will not run the webcam during nighttime hours for obvious reasons, nor will it be run outside the vehicle, so only active in-vehicle times will be viewed. How and where this will be set up in the van remains unknown, but after my camera mount installation tomorrow, I'll figure that out. Also worth noting is there will be no sound broadcasted, just video.
Tentatively, I'll be chasing along with Jon V and Jenn B in my van and likely meeting Verne and Michael in the field at some point Tuesday night. Again, departure times are horribly unknown right now, so no one really has any clue to when we're leaving and for what day. One of the issues with early season chasing where the time off already exists; you're 90% of the way there already and its a painful waiting game! LOL
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Killing time before I head into the labs early on this Saturday morning and quickly did a broadbrush check to see how things were shaping up for next week. As I said on Thursday, I was wondering if the GFS was being a bit too fast. Today's run is showing a confirmation to that as the low is noticably further west than it was yesturday. Below is a copy of the email I sent to the gang with my quick overlook...
The GFS is starting to slow the system down a bit much to my delight. It's also showing that we could be chasing Wednesday, Thursday, AND Friday. Tuesday looks to be falling out of play a bit as the low will be much further west and likely would have little in the way of weather in chasing areas. Other models have been showing this slower progression and I've been silently rooting for that as well. SPC's 4-8 Day has highlighted the Central Plains for Tuesday and Wednesday, but hint at greater threat being Wednesday. I still think Tuesday will slowly drop from the radar assuming models continue the slowing trend.
My Sprint issue was resolved, so I will be back on data access for the trip, so all's good in that neck of the woods. They gave me a Merlin USB Data card which boasts the EVDO-A network and better, more reliable data than my cell phone. Not to mention I'll be able to maintain a permanent connection while keeping my phone clear. It has it perks, they gave it to me for the same price as the original plan I had, so it's all good. Yeah, I still had to do a contract, but I'll manage.
Beyond that, just excited as hell. Can't believe how good the timing on this is going to be. Again, I'm free to shoot out Tuesday evening, but if I have to make arrangements to move earlier, I'll certainly do what I can in that respects. Otherwise, I'm thinking overnight Tuesday in the Texas Panhandle.
Yeehaw! It's coming soon!!!
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Friday, March 16, 2007
Things are back to a sense of normal again in terms of my cell phone with Sprint. Yes, I am still a Sprint customer, so happily I've avoided making any changes.
Here's what happened... I talked to Sara today; she informed me that I CAN have both the phone-as-modem AND a voice plan together. She couldn't explain why my voice plan was cancelled when I first activated it, nor did she find anything that said you couldn't have both on the same line.
However, she was quick to make an offer. They gave me a USB Broadband modem (the U720) free and a data plan which runs the same price as the phone-as-modem. The added benefits of this are I have access to the EVDO-A network and my phone is now freed up while using data, so I can pretty well leave this running constantly while out and about.
The drawback, I did have to sign a service contract for the data plan. However, my phone/voice plan remains the same, thus no extension on that. Because I am able to use my router with this setup here at home, I can get away with cancelling my Comcast at-home internet and phone which will offset the money to Sprint. Beyond the contract, I am fairly happy with the end result.
So yeah, still can't get a straight answer from any two people on the phone-as-modem deal, but its old news now. The USB modem which is current going on their site for $49.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate (pay $99.99 up front) with the contract I got for free, so I'll take it. They did honor my request to avoid purchasing additional equipment. And like I said, the perks to this are nice, so I'm sure I'll enjoy the network most places I roam!
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Thursday, March 15, 2007
Sprint didn't get in touch with me today, so if I haven't heard from them by noon tomorrow, I'll make the call myself.
With classes now over and done with for Spring Break, I've taken some time to check out the trainwreck which is the GFS to get caught up with what's going on. I'm hunching the GFS is a bit too fast with its ejection of the system Wednesday and am hopeful to maintain the Thurs/Fri chase days with a return home on Saturday. While I would have no real issues with being on the road as early as Tuesday night, I'd just assume enjoy a leisurely drive during the day on Wednesday and allow myself a decent chunk of time to get to the hotel and relax. As we all know, back-to-back chasing days will leave little room to rest. Again, its still waay to far out to make any concrete plans, but things are trying to slowly come into the picture. I'm hopeful by Sunday to have a firmer grasp of what's going on, thus can start making my travel plans accordingly.
UPS delivered 55lbs in packages to my leasing office today in my absence. I will load those into my van and haul them up the hill tomorrow morning. Included is the chasing webcam, 30 MCS 8x10 picture frames, and all my Amvona tripod gear. I'll be making a mess of my office unpacking everything, but am hopeful to have everything situated and installed by Sunday. Sunny skies and 70 plus degrees will make it a nice day to finalize the work on the van prior to the Spring Break getaway. Ya know, I remember the days when Spring Break was a time to get all the work done on my van... not sure when it became an active chasing time! :o)
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Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Some gear news; my tripods should arrive by tomorrow and hopefully I'll get to crack into them sometime Friday. Arriving today was a USB hub for my laptop. I picked it up on Amazon for about $30; its a 7 port aluminum USB hub with the ability to hard mount it. The size of it made a perfect fit on the underside of my Jottodesk!
Leftover super-duty velco did the trick just fine! Normally all I have plugged in to the laptop are the USB puck, trackball, and cell phone. However, I find it to be a pain if I want to quickly hook a camera to it to pull stills, a USB flash drive, or some other device. This will be nice cause I have the ability to do it very easily. If I manage to get the phone-as-modem plan back, I'll be again using the third port for the phone. Otherwise this may be overkill! LOL
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The situation continues to unfold for chasing prospects next week. The GFS, chaser talk, SPC, and various AFDs are continuing to show the chance for chasable weather next week south of I-70 and into Texas. Being we're still a week or more out, I've done little forecasting except to make sure the GFS still has a system in there. With several days of showing this system moving into the US, its pretty safe to say that there will be a chance we'll be chasing something next week.
My biggest concern remains with what Sprint will do. They returned an email I sent to them informing me of a callback to "resolve the situation". My hope is I will have data access of some sort during next week's chase. I'm thinking I'll have my answers and hopefully a resolved situation before my 7pm Differential Equations exam tomorrow. I'll post the end result of that conversation as soon as its finished.
The tentative plans as of now remain as follows... Wednesday of next week will be a travel day to get in or near a target. Chasing will ensue Thursday and Friday with a return trip on Saturday, hopefully giving me Sunday to vedge and get set for the home stretch of the semester. However, because the timing of the system remains unknown, not to mention if there will even be anything to chase, all of this is subject to change. Regardless, I have shifted my alert up a notch to reflect the tentative plans. Of course, with it being the time of year it is, us here in Colorado will have to watch the backside of this system for snow/blizzard potential. Again, these details will start to emerge in the coming days. In the meantime, I'll continue to watch as this situation develops!
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Monday, March 12, 2007
I am officially retracting any and all recommendations I've ever given for Sprint.
Last month, I added my phone-as-modem plan (Feb 19) which allows me to attach my phone to my laptop and use it as a modem. Later in the month, I saw my minutes being calculated separately, and called to ask why to find out they cancelled my voice plan without consent. After 45 minutes of fighting my way up the chain, I was finally put back to normal. This was phone call #2.
Phone call number 3 came when I received my bill a few days later. They billed me for the used minutes and failed to credit me for them. This was a quicker phone call and the credit was promptly issued. I was happy again...
Until today; I called them to confirm that all my plans were taken care of. On this, my 4th phone call regarding this incident, I went through to confirm my plan useage. When I asked about the phone-as-modem plan, I was informed that it was not currently activated on my plan. I asked them to add it on and was FINALLY informed that the phone-as-modem plan which I used in conjunction with my voice plan last year was no longer offered in conjunction with a voice plan. It has to be one or the other.
I'm livid right now. Absolutely livid. This change in policy took effect in February of 2007. A bullsh*t change in itself, but considering the crap I endured over the last month and today was the first time in FOUR phone calls I've heard of this is absolutely absurd!
If it weren't for the fact I just invested a bunch of money in the new phone and internet capabilites, I would pull my service from them today, no questions asked. Whatever cancellation fees they charged me would be well worth getting away from them.
So yeah, I'm far beyond annoyed right now with this company and am publically suggesting anyone looking into cell phones stay clear of Sprint. I feel completed cheated and horribly uninformed by them and would not recommend them for anything other than a giant pain in your @ss!
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The system I was referring to last night made landfall at 240 hours in the latest run. This is the system I'll be watching come Spring Break..
Again, this is light years off in terms of forecasting, thus I am primarily watching it for its timing. Won't be til early next week before one can start making plans for this system.
Back on the phone with Sprint and am being bombed with retardedly shocking news. Apparently, Sprint no longer honors the phone-as-modem plan at the same time as a regular phone plan. This burns me to no end. I'm half tempted to cancel my service right now because of this. This is apparently relatively new as I was obviously fine with doing this last year. Jon V, my apologies for recommending Sprint to you... apparently they are cheats! I'm on hold as they're discussing this issue with supervisors. I've officially finished with recommending Sprint to anyone. They are now officially trash!
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Sunday, March 11, 2007
It's 7:30pm Mountain DAYLIGHT Time; the sun went down not too long ago and the very last bit of light is fading to night; Daylight Savings Time started this morning making for an extra hour of chasing into the evenings from here on out. This will certainly be nice in the next few weeks, particularly over Spring Break, when chasers will have that extra hour in the evening to track own storms before they are swallowed by the night.
Funny to think this time last year I was cruising home from several days of chasing in the south and southeast part of the country. If you went back a year ago, I was likely heading north on I-35 from Oklahoma making my way back after a lengthy week of very early seaosn chasing. When I arrived home, I was sitting just shy of 2700 miles already on the season; I'm less than half of that now, but with 1 tornado under my belt.
Nothing going on weather-wise in the coming week. The first rain showers of the year fell on Denver yesterday for several hours. During this time, Verne up in Coal Creek Canyon had 4 inches of new snow. Certainly no snow down here as temps were in the upper 40s and low 50s during the showers. After the rain passed, the smell was wonderful. It smelled like Spring. Quiet weather looks to be on tap through the week as temps climb into the low to mid 70s across the Front Range. A weak system may drop a few rain showers and our temps later in the week, but we'll recover quickly going into Spring Break. The GFS is showing a decent system setting up off the west coast at the very end of its 10 day run, which means I'll be watching the time frame between the 20-25 for a potential chase if this holds true. I have no real faith in anything that far out, but seeing as I am planning several days away from work during my Spring Break, it would be nice to have a chase fall in there.
With most of the work I wanted to do finished on Friday, I enjoyed a quiet weekend all-in-all. Minus a moronic yuppie woman backing into my van Saturday night at the mall in her red BMW. She was extremely rude and told me after she said "I came out of nowhere" (driving in a mall parking lot in a 10mph zone) that I needed to watch where I was going (I was stopped behind her and therefore not GOING anywhere). We took her plates down and I've reported her on the idiot drivers website. Fortunately no real damage other than the bending of my plates and a degrade in my attitude. I'm cool now, but a warning to Denver-area drivers to watch for this foreign yuppie in her red BMW; she's an idiot and a b****!
So with that, I'm off to pass away the last few hours of the evening. Spring Break chasing time starts Wednesday, March 21 and goes through that Sunday the 25th. My dream scenario is to be chasing on Thursday and Friday, the 22nd and 23rd, then have all day Saturday to return home and Sunday to recover. Obviously that Wednesday I would use to position for those two days. That's my pipe-dream! We'll see how close if anything I'll get to that!
Ciao for now!
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Friday, March 09, 2007
I'm a few steps closer to completely ready! I did the finishing touches on the van this morning; replacing the belt, balancing the tires, and aligning the van. The van itself is now pretty well ready to rock and roll! The spare tire mount was going to be almost $300 to replace and install, so I figure I'll send some friends on junkyard hunts and go from there. In the meantime, I'll suffer the missing space and haul the tire in the trunk.
I also was FINALLY able to master the GPS issue. Using the USB Earthmate combined with the free Delorme Serial Emulator available for download on Delorme's site, I was FINALLY able to master the virtual ports and get the GPS to work in three programs at the same time ( see screenshot). The key to remember and one I obviously overlooked was to make sure to start the GPS tracking in the emulator, then start running the GPS in the various software using the assigned COM ports from the program. The stationary test worked fine and would imagine the running version will work just as well!
As the screenshot shows, I was running Street Atlas 2007, StormLab, and Spotter Network all at the same time with the single GPS puck. The StormLab software overlayed my position southeast of Golden on the radar map (white arrow head). Having GPS overlayed on radar was something I never got to do with Baron when I had it, so I am certainly looking forward to that! I've also configured the StormLab software to upload current screenshots of my radar image (shown on the left side of the blog). Obviously this will update only if I am running the program, and also only if I am chasing, so that static image from Pueblo may be up for a week or so before it starts to update again. None-the-less, it seems to work!
So with that, I am happy to say all that's left on my list is the tripod equipment. My 28.7 pound package is due to arrive on Thursday (the UPS driver must LOVE me - LOL), so that will likely be a project for next weekend barring any chasing which may cmoe up. Once that's all said and done, I'm set to go minus the usual pre-chase rituals!
The time is drawing close... I'm getting very stoked now!
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Getting the last bit of work done on the van.
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Wednesday, March 07, 2007
All of my tripod gear has been ordered and paid for. I've been bidding on Amvona.com auctions on Ebay for just under a week now looking to get a complete system in place. The result; three identical heads with two sets of tripod legs. One of the heads I will customize to my dash mount while the other two will go onto the tripod legs. This way I can take cameras back and forth between the units without having to change a plate.
I picked up three of the ATH-H94 heads; one which I'll try and figure a way to mount onto my dash cam mount. My ultimate goal with this is I can attach it so that I am able to swivel the camera back and forth. If not, I'm happy with a stationary mount. The quick-release plates on these heads are all the same, so I can attach each of the three to my video camera and two still cameras and change them out on the fly very quickly. The leg systems are AT-858B snap-release legs. One of them I won cheaper with a complete tripod system, so I have an extra head for this particular model. I also won a pair of other heads (ATH-01H pan head & ATH-H91 ball head) which can be used on these legs as well. The ball head offers a smoother motion of panning-type shots, so I'll have it with my gear to use for those moments.
In all, I blew $225 with shipping on this setup and feel I did pretty good in the end. Obviously I saved a ton by going auction style instead of buying direct. I cannot imagine these items are worth the price they're asking for retail, so I'll be anxious to see exactly how well I did. I'm hopeful they'll arrive before next weekend so I can begin to figure out how to mount this to my dash cam rig. The issue is space between the mount and windshield, so that's where I will be getting creative.
Lastly, I took the van to Aamco this morning to get her transmission looked at. Everything checked out just fine, so I'm set there. My last deal is getting the tires balanaced and rotated as well as an oil change. She'll be set to go from there.
Highs in the 60s today with 70s possible early to mid week next week! Very happy to be seeing signs of Spring!
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Tuesday, March 06, 2007
A stretch of quiet weather is in store for just about everyone over the next week. A welcome change, especially to those in the Southeast who endured a tragic outbreak of severe weather. Here in Denver, temps in the upper 50s into the mid 60s will be the rule through the middle of next week. A quiet time I'm happy for with the busy week and weekend upcoming.
This weekend is the big TESSA Convention in Dallas, but for the first time in many years, will not be able to attend. With an online class wrapping up this week, a loaded weekend in terms of work, and an out-of-town friend, I'm completely socked in. That unfortunately means missing this conference.
After this weekend, things free up dramatically as I'll be relieved of one class and all midterms out of the way. I've also dropped my work load at the pizza job to a couple of small evening shifts to account for any early season chasing which comes up between now and May. Fortunately the quiet weather keeps a lid on things for the moment to allow for these next few days to be focused where they need to be. After this weekend, I can take relief in having a small chunk of this behind me.
Spring Break is less than two weeks away, and it looks as if I'll have a string of about 5 days free starting on Wednesday the 21st going through that Sunday (Monday would be available if needed). I'm hopeful for at least one good chase opportunity in there someplace, but we'll see how all that unfolds in the next week. Waaay to early to tell anything for those 5 days now. Hardly even worth mentioning at this point.
Also, just about two months left til Mayathon '07. The excitement is slowly building for this season. Still a lot of time between now and then and a lot of stuff to fill that time. Right now, just going to enjoy the Spring-like weather and the final few days before the early Daylight Savings Time kicks in.
So that's all I have for now. I'll keep you posted about Spring Break as that draws near. Also have a few last items to take care of with the van to get her ready for the season. I'm hopeful to have most everything completed by the end of the weekend.
Oh yeah, I forgot... I did have to call Sprint this morning to have them credit me a lot of money for the plan-snaffu from last week. Fortunately the man I talked to from the OHIO call center (a plug for my homestate) thought it was as stupid as I did (or at least acted in such a way) and was quick to take care of the issue. So with that, hopefully all is worked out. All this to add an extra to my plan. If it weren't for the data/phone service and the price I am getting, I would never use this company! LOL
Ciao!
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Sunday, March 04, 2007
Warm temps with little wind offered me a good chance to get my van ready for the upcoming season. I spent several hours running wires and remounting gear as well as installing the Cyfre Cell phone Amplifier. I also had to run a new antenna to the CB radio which required one of many visits to my local Ace Hardware to pick up longer bolts and some wing nuts. Below are a few images..
 The van and her antenna farm.
 The bracket which mounts the CB antenna to my luggage rack. This was a pain!
  The three front antennas; cell phone, HAM, CB.
I also spent a good deal of time customizing my Lowepro camera bag. I managed to customized the sections to fit all my cameras, chargers, cards, and batteries. This combined a pair of cases into one backpack!
So I'm a few steps closer to being completely ready to go. This week, I have to do my annual transmission check-up in order to maintain the lifetime warrenty. I also am going to be going for a tire balance. Beyond that, just awaiting on a few auctions to close from Amvona.com which I am bidding on tripods and tripods heads. One of the heads I am going to dismantle and attach to my dash cam mount. That'll likely be a spring break project.
Enjoy the warmer weather! Looking at mid to upper 60s by midweek! Yeehaw!
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Friday, March 02, 2007
Baron Mobile Threatnet - WXWorx
I am selling off my Baron Mobile Threatnet System on Ebay as I've made a good investment in mobile internet data between the amplifier and software. Yesterday, I purchased GRLevel3 to go along with Stormlab and with the amp, should do pretty good data-wise over the coming season. With one run under my belt and the data I had in Northwestern Oklahoma (known for bad cell service), I'm convinced the subscription to WXWorx will not be worth the investment. We'll see if that turns around and kicks me in the butt later, but I'm pretty confident I'll be able to do well on the service I have.
So with that, I am selling off my Baron system after 1 season! It served me very well during that season and I imagine it'll do the same for someone else.
Baron Mobile Threatnet - WXWorx
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Went out and did some night shots around town this evening to continue to get a feel for my new camera. With the moon nearly full, I was hoping to get some good lunar shots. However fast moving clouds made it difficult. With the moonlight I could muster, I tried some snow-ground shots of the foothills as well as some shots over the lake at Clement Park down in Littleton. Here are a few of the shots I took (all at 30 seconds ISO 200)
Again, nothing fancy... just getting a feel for manual settings at night again! :o)
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Thursday, March 01, 2007
Preseason starts today... kind of a mute point after last weekend's chase, but none-the-less, I consider myself at the beginning of the season. Over the next couple of weekends, I'll be finalizing the van, gear, and everything else to get ready for April 1's regular season start.
Right now, I'm on the phone with Sprint as they cancelled my original voice plan when I called to add my phone-as-modem plan. Now they're trying to get me into a plan with 100 less minutes for $5 more a month. Not happening. I've been on the phone for about 30 minutes now getting this sorted out. When I called to activate the phone-as-modem plan, that's all I called to do. Never once did I say cancel my original plan. Well, they did and now I'm having at it with them. I noticed this when I logged in and saw all these minutes being counted on my account. I was like, WTF, so checked and saw my plan was gone. I was put on a data only plan with voice call at $0.20/minute. Um, I don't think so. The issue now is the plan I had (1000 minutes) is no longer offered, but seeing as I never wanted to cancel it NOR renew my contract, I'm now in this pickle cause they want to put me on this other plan at $5 more a month plus renew my service contract. I am fighting to insure neither happens unless I am properly compensated. A final note, normally when you renew a contract over the phone, they give you their little shpeel about it.. no shpeel, so I was completely unaware this happened.
So with that debacle ongoing, some other notes. Last night, I went out and shot some 30 second exposures on my D70s to see how it looked. I shot one with my polarizer, one with a graduated ND4 filter, and the last with no filter at all. The graduated filter looks as if it could be interesting as I could diminish ground level lighting and use my bulb setting for a longer shot. We'll see how that works when I'm able to get out and test it. Noise levels, which have always been a biggie for me, were nearly non-existant at 30 seconds (ISO 200). I'll probably take a few shots in the coming evenings on the bulb setting testing out exposures up to a couple minutes and see how they look. So yeah, I'm getting excited to be shooting lightning again!
Still on the phone with Sprint as I was transfered to another department and had to re-explain the ENTIRE situation all over again. I will say this, Sprint's phone service has always been great; phones, plans, whatever. But when they screw up, they REALLY screw up! I'd be 100% happy with them if I never had to deal with the idiots that work there. As annoying as it is, they will certainly kiss your butt to make it better, so we'll see!
And as soon as I finished that paragraph, everything was resolved. I'm back to where I was prior to them cancelling my plan. I got my 1000 minutes back, no contract renewal, and my phone-as-modem plan. Only 45 minutes of my life gone! LOL Now the real question is will I be calling back when I get my bill to get credited for minutes used during that time... they said it would be taken care of, so I guess we'll see there, too!
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