Thursday, May 31, 2007
Back in service on the KS/CO border outside of Walsh, CO. Few storms, nothing big yet.
0 comments
Northbound on OK-171 through the Panhandle.
0 comments
Was plesantly surprised to see moderate risk issued by SPC this morning. Wasn't expecting to see that when I got up, but was happy to hear the chance for severe weather was up there. Fortunately the risk did not include strong tornadoes which this part of the country does not need right now. Hopefully any tornadoes which form do little more than has already been done.
In Amarillo's Quality Inn fighting with their idiotic internet connection right now trying to disect the day. About to give up cause I have to reauthorize my connection every few minutes. Not fun! None the less, what I looked at gave me a basic idea of the day. Basically, we overshot our target coming here! Back north we'll likely go. The morning weather briefing should give more details as to what's going to happen today in terms of our travel plans. I know we're returning to Denver late Friday to swap out tour groups and likely leave on Sunday for week 2. What will go into that remains uncertain as well, but playing that by year, especially in terms of chasing tomorrow.
I'm waiting for Verne to get down here so we can grab some breakfast and I can start charging my cell phone. I left the cell phone charger in the van overnight and he had the keys. I have very little battery life remaining on my phone and I'm sure I'd make the ol' Treo happy to give her some juice. Most of my gear is packed and ready to go, so I can be ready with just a few minutes notice. Anywoo, off to wrap up some stuff and grab our free hot breakfast. Expect cell phone updates through the day, particularly if we chase up into Kansas where my signal is nearly constant and picture mail will be available. I am finding I miss my amplifier and booster antennas! They may be brought along for week 2.
0 comments
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Stopping for grub at Dairy Queen in Boise City, Oklahoma. We are calling today a down day and will be checking into Amarillo, TX early in the day. Big Texan steak tonight!!! Going to cash in one of my overdue tornado celebration dinners.
0 comments
The fun continues. A flat tire on one van after replacing the other van. This is delaying our departure this morning to Texas. But the real question... the question on everyone's minds. How many storm chasers does it take to change a tire?
0 comments
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
I have made a quick log for today's storm near Limon, Colorado today... we called it quits early when the cold front blasted through and undercut everything. We went from temps in the 70s to temps in the 40s with hard driven outflow killing off any and all chances for storms to survive. We're overnighting in Limon tonight due to vehicle issues on one of Silver Lining Tour's vans. They have to return to Denver to exchange the rides, so we've bunked here setting us up for a very long drive into Texas tomorrow morning. In the meantime, check out the May 29 Storm Chase Log Here!
0 comments
Looking west from Genoa exit on I-70.
0 comments
In Matheson looking northwest.
0 comments
Nice storm east of Simla. We are north of Simla on a county road looking west.
1 comments
On US Hwy 24 in Simla on our way to intercept tornado warned cell.
0 comments
Pulling into Limon and will be jumpinng west on CO-86 to intercept severe warned cell moving east out of Castle Rock.
0 comments
We are 50 miles out of Limon on 70 and obviously nothing too exciting going on yet. Hehehe
0 comments
We are blastung west on I-70 for Limon as storms have exploded over the front range. Just passed thru Burlington.
0 comments
Stopped in Goodland for lunch and stuff. Will hang around town for an hour before going either west to the Limon area or south to Sharon Springs.
0 comments
Pulling into our favorite town in all of Tornado Alley... Colby, KS!
0 comments
Slept in til the last second as did most of the crew, hence this short blog. Leaving McCook, NE for southwest KS right now.
0 comments
Made it to McCook without much trouble; packed on 740 miles for today in a circle that started in Valentine, Nebraska and went north along Hwy 87 into Strausburg, North Dakota before coming back the exact same highway through Valentine and finally to our Days Inn here in McCook. Tomorrow looks like a SW Kansas day... with a clear sky bust endured today, nothing big to write a log about now. One will come later... in the meantime, a few shots to part with as I crash hard...
Good night from McCook...
0 comments
Monday, May 28, 2007
Not sure which time zone we are in, but its midnight in one of them. About two hours and change from McCook.
0 comments
Made it into North Dakota but looks like a cap bust. Heading back south to McCook, Nebraska on our way to tomorrow's target in SW Kansas.
0 comments
Have just crossed into North Dakota and heading towards the Jamestown area. This is the beginning of the ND to TX marathon back-to-back chases.
0 comments
Chasing into southern N. Dakota today then heading all the way into west Texas tomorrow. Going to be a long couple of days. :o) Road trip begins!
0 comments
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Nothing to report from today as most storms were pretty pulse-like in nature. A landspout was observed west of Ogallala today, so a few people did well. In the meantime, we're bunked down at the Super 8 Motel in Valentine, Nebraska and will be heading north from here to a target someplace in the Dakotas tomorrow. My hope is I am finally able to cross off North Dakota from my state list which will finally give me all states west of the Mississippi. We'll see how it all plays out in the morning model check. In the meantime, a full 8 hours of sleep is calling my name and I am not going to deny. I'm going to drone away to the tunes of Peter Cetera and pass away for the evening. I'll update again in the morning.
0 comments
Its a poop fest in Nebraska. With nothing exciting ongoing, the crew has elected to jump on Hwy 83 for our overnight stay in Valentine, Nebraska.
0 comments
See, I wasn't kidding. LOL
0 comments
So today begins the two week venture with the giant vans! I'll send a picture mail blog to show you what I mean. Today's target looks to take us along I-76 into far northeast Colorado/southwest Nebraska. This more northerly target creates a shorter drive as opposed to western Kansas which looked to be the target yesterday. This shorter drive will set us up for tomorrow's chase which shoots well north into the Dakotas, including a shot at knocking away North Dakota from my states list which at this point, is the only state west of the Mississippi River I have yet to step foot in. Right now, tomorrow looks to be the best chance to finally do so.
As for today, a marginal threat for hail seems to be all we can muster up, so nothing terribly huge on store for today. Our Memorial Day target in the Dakotas seems to offer the best chance to see real severe weather, but if anything, continues my Memorial Day weekend stretch which has lasted since 2000.
So with that, off to gather my stuff and get ready to roll. I have a few last minute items to take care of before grouping with the crew. Best wishes for our trip, and more so to me who will behind the wheel of a 15-passenger van, fortunately not holding 15 passengers! LOL
0 comments
Saturday, May 26, 2007
I went ahead and posted the log from yesterday's surprise supercell in western Kansas. You can view all the pics and stories by clicking here or on the image below!
I have a few things to do this afternoon before meeting with the crew this evening. First of all, I have to get a replacement battery for my camcorder which died on Wednesday. I was shooting all my hail video in Kansas last night attached with my AC cord to my inverter. I worked fine, but not the way I want to shoot. I attempted to order one on eBay early Thursday morning and paid the $25 to get it overnighted. The knucklehead dropped it off yesterday evening and cause of the Memorial Day holiday, it won't arrive til Tuesday. Negative feedback for that seller; I ordered a dawn's first light Thursday morning, so no reason he couldn't have dropped it off that day. Ah well, I'll have an extra one now cause I'm forced into shelling out $100 for one at Circuit City; need it before I leave tomorrow, so I've got to do what I've got to do.
Going to charge all my batteries and stuff tonight while taking care of the vans and all other goodies. From there, its all unknown. I would imagine tomorrow's chasing chance will warrent us heading out immediately tomorrow, so I'm figuring on being on the road to chase starting as soon as tomorrow. In the meantime, SPC has popped a slight risk for eastern Colorado today which will likely not result in me chasing cause of the obligations I have ongoing, however I may get lucky if an early storm rolls through before my 5pm appointment. We'll see!
0 comments
Too tired to post anything other than a quick I'm home and yes, it's 10 til 4 in the morning. Jon's on his way back to Boulder and hopefully I'll be asleep long before he pulls into his driveway. I leave again tomorrow for the two week stint. Fortunately the noon meeting was bumped to later in the day, so I'll probably sleep late before heading out. I have most of my stuff packed and just need to round up the items scattered after tonight 715 mile gentlemen's chase. What a treat we got south of Goodland with that monster cell which popped up. Not to mention the lack of chasers on the cell made it even more joyous! A very big surprise for such a marginal day, especially considering I didn't think we'd leave the state, let alone end up in Oakley. We nailed, or got nailed with, quarter-sized hail after dark which rounded out the day. Tried our luck shooting lightning on some cells moving southeast out of Ft. Morgan but struck out with them. Ended up diverting far enough north where we came home through Akron and down I-76. But as I said, I'm home and eager to kick off my two weeks on the road. Should be on my way out tomorrow... that is of course the chance for severe weather close to home doesn't tempt us out.. we'll see. In the meantime.. Goodnight!
0 comments
Yes, we are still out and its closing in on 2am. We are just outside of Brush and are heading home. Beautifu storm with decent hail in KS.
0 comments
Friday, May 25, 2007
So much for updaing the website and stuff. I'm off to go play in the rain with Jon Van de Grift and Dann Cianca with the chance we'll meet up with Verne and Michael Carlson in the field. We're playing a very marginal dryline threat in Eastern Colorado for this afternoon. Surface obs showing a dryline between Limon and Burlington with dews in the 30s in Limon and 50s along the KS/CO border. Not much in the way of wind dynamics to work with today, so not expecting much more than a hailer or two. Pending out motivation and location after dark, we'll set up for some lightning action before returning home.
I'm set to meet with the production crew tomorrow afternoon and get briefed on what's going on with them for the next two weeks. We'll be getting the vans and hopefully I'll have a chance to get setup in them before Sunday. We may head out to chase on Sunday, but that remains uncertain. Very excited to enjoy some more time on the road!
0 comments
Thursday, May 24, 2007
What a wonderful surprise we had in store for us! We originally went into the HP to get some hail; we came out paired up with tornadoes! A definite surprise considering the show we were treated to, most of it on video which I will post in the coming days! In the meantime, a few stills from our tornadoes near Lake Fryer off County Road U several miles west of TX-70...
Full log to come... in Garden City overnight and will return to Denver tomorrow... very tired and am going to crash now!
0 comments
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
A pretty good day all things considered. Went HP punching in hopes of finding hail and were shocked with a pair of tornadoes instead! More later.
0 comments
 After getting swallowed by the mud, we sit and enjoy as the tornado lifts south of Hill City, KS.
Waking up this morning in Great Bend after a good day yesterday in central Kansas. We scored a beautiful tornado south of Hill City along with a kazillion other chasers, most of whom I'm sure are heading southwest towards the panhandles for today. Not an easy deployment day as our road turned to cake batter about a mile and a half in. We returned to pavement and gave up on non-paved roads as heavy rains and hail eliminated any safe venture. I'll have a full update coming in the coming days covering this chase, including some rather funn moments in Great Bend when none of our 4 vehicles would fit in the Burger King drive through.
In the meantime, another day awaits us southwest of here. Trip time from here to Guymon is roughly 210 miles/3 hours and change. No real hurry as we should easily make any viable target from here in Great Bend before 2pm CDT. We're going to regroup this morning and head out within the next 90 minutes.
0 comments
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Up and checking goodies for today; a narrow area of opportunity seems to be existing according to the models and will make for an interesting day. Today's target will be a tail of two cities; between Dodge City and Hill City (both in Kansas, just FYI). Today's wrench, a cap... a very stout cap. The further south you go, the worse it will be. A low will strengthen in eastern Colorado and slide into western Kansas as the day goes on. This will set the stage for a triple point to form and will make for the best area for storm initiation. However, storms along the dryline to the south of this low will also have potential assuming they break the cap. Today's goal to get on the southern most storm when it forms. Exactly which storm that will be, only time will tell. Will make for an interesting chase today.
I'm finalizing my stuff here at the apartment and will head out to meet with Tim within the hour. We'll head out I-70 from there.
Later updates will be via cell phone til we get to port tonight. Stay tuned!
1 comments
Monday, May 21, 2007
Nothing too exciting today as I gave my van a bit more running than I did yesterday! In fact, the 362 miles I loaded today put me over 70,000 for my chasing career. Its a spotter trip which resulted in some pea to marble sized hail, good lightning, and heavy rains. I followed the squall line from roughly Wiggins to Sterling and scored my best action on US Highway 6 southwest of Sterling. I stopped in Sterling after taking on some small hail in hopes to get some street flooding in town. The line fizzled and left me under a few drops of rain. I returned to Denver via I-76. Below are a couple lightning stills from the video I shot earlier; nothing to make a log page out of, but the log book was updated with the stats.
Tomorrow continues to look good for Kansas. I'll be heading out with Tim Samaras tomorrow morning and meeting with the crew someplace in Kansas for tomorrow's action. Wednesday remains unknown as its shaping up to be a leftover type day. We'll play it by year.
I'll attempt to update in the morning when I get up pending time, but plan on being at Tim's place early and probably on the road shortly thereafter. Most of my updates tomorrow will be via cell phone til we dock up overnight tomorrow. I'm very excited to get a chance to get out with Tim and company and hope to score well! I'm just hopeful that tomorrow's action stays clear of places already hard hit earlier in the month. It oughta be a busy day.
1 comments
A couple dust swirls east of Dacono; the one one the right had weak rotation to it; the one on the left was rather benign...
Sitting between Ft. Lupton and Dacono on Hwy. 52 and may retreat west to get on storm coming out of Boulder.
0 comments
Will definitely be heading out for tomorrow in SW Kansas, but one more day here in Colorado before that happens. With that said, I'm going to play local action today in hopes to get under a good hailer or two. I think a possibility sits in the eastern Texas Panhandle for a couple of tornadoes this afternoon/evening. And normally, I would chase such a setup, but will be holding here for tomorrow morning's departure and thus will play the local action. I'm hoping to see one of those funny curses where we blast out to some out-of-state target only to see tornado-warned storms here in our backyard. We'll see how this curse plays in reverse! :o) Towers already starting to fire over the mountains and would imagine the same for the plains by 2pm. I will head east from here in a couple of hours...
0 comments
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Took a joyride to Hudson when earlier plans fell to poop. Was hoping one of the boundary riding storms would spit some ice at me. Most storms weakened very quickly as conditions were only good enough for pulsing modes. Nothing reached severe limits anywhere in the area during the day. I hung around in Hudson for about 15 minutes to keep a visual on the storms and returned home. Tacked on just over 80 easy miles on this spotter venture.
Looks like I'm finally heading out for real tomorrow. Not sure exact times as it will be pretty last minute, but I'm hopeful to be on the road at the least tomorrow with a chance at some type of chasing before Tuesday which aims to be the big day of the week.
I'll update again tomorrow morning...
0 comments
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Hoping for some lightning, I settled to get mooned. The moon and Venus are within a frame of each other, so I went out and took a few shots... nothing really exciting!
2 comments
Looks like the trip will begin tomorrow to position for the early week setup. Thank God! Sitting around here is starting to get me a little batty. There are slight chances of storms here in Colorado over the next couple of days, but nothing too exciting. Will probably spend the next couple of days getting ready for the trip this week. Upon my return, I go to unrestricted chasing again til mid-June. With gas prices starting to increase to $4.00/gallon, it'll be an expensive venture. Hopefully things level out in that department shortly.
Stay tuned for updates on the upcoming trip...
0 comments
Thursday, May 17, 2007
This is so worth a post... I received the news today that I passed my Differential Equations class this semester with a 'C'... why is that news? It marks the FINAL math class I'll ever have to take... College Algebra, Trigonometry, Pre-Calculus, Calculus 1, Calculus 2, Calculus 3, Probability and Stats, and finally Differential Equations... eight semesters of math, many of those classes taken at least twice... and finally, I can say its over. My math minor is done. The subject that chases many weather nerds out of the program I have conquered!!! Only a pair of meteorology classes stand before me and my Bachelor's of Meteorology... by this time next year, I will be Meteorologist Tony Laubach! I'm going to toss my TI-83 into the first tornado I can find! It's time to chase and enjoy it!
2 comments
With all the craziness of Monday, I didn't get a chance to make this post..
On May 14, 1997, my Dad and I intercepted my very first tornado in Clarksburg, Ohio. That was 10 years ago Monday. Hard to believe that since then, I've chased nearly 70,000 miles and seen nearly 67 tornadoes. I've been chasing now for 10 years, even as I didn't officially begin keeping stats until 2002. My early years of chasing were spent close to home; the occasional chase. I moved to Denver in 1998 where I began shooting lightning and chasing local stuff with pocket cameras. It wasn't until 2002 when I began leaving the state for chases. Every year, my mileage grew and I chased more and more. Finally in 2004, I broke 10,000 miles in a single season as I spent a good chunk of time out of the state. Last year, I enjoyed several weeks off to chase where I accomplished one of my long-standing chasing goals which was to chase a system from my current home in Denver to my homestate of Ohio.
And now, in my 10th year of chasing, I'm at the start of a long stretch of chasing thanks in part to many breaks I had this year. I'm now a regular video contributer locally here in Denver thanks to KMGH - Denver's 7News. My videos are seen frequently by a national audience. This season, I also get the incredible chance to chase with noted chaser and National Geographic explorer, Tim Samaras as he attempts to study the heart of tornadoes.
Its been a wild ride over these last 10 years. Filled with a broad mixture of pleasure and pain. Its been well worth every experience and every dime I've spent doing this. A lot of people took notice and gave me some incredible opportunities to make a lot for myself in this hobby, namely the chance to chase as much as I do. Too many people ot mention for that, but they know who they are. I owe a great deal of gratitude to them for giving me these chances and hope I will continue to share the success for another ten years and beyond!
0 comments
My Ft. Lupton hail video was featured on a story on Inside Edition this evening. Below are a couple of screen caps..
This was pretty cool; my van made a cameo for her first national appearance...
In other news, a chance for some local chasing later today as there is potential for a convergence zone east of Denver as a result of post-frontal southeast return flow. KMGH Futurecast models showing development southwest of Denver with a decent storm ongoing around 4pm. Amazingly, the 7News weather model has been very accurate this last week, including nailing the storms Monday night. It'll be interesting to see if Wednesday evening's run compared with others today will result in similar predictions. In any case, it'll be worth watching in the afternoon.
0 comments
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
There is a chance for storms over the next couple of days here in Colorado, however, mostly quiet weather remains on tap through the weekend. A glance at the GFS shows a decent looking trough pushing into the northern Plains early next week which may present targets in Nebraska, South Dakota, and Iowa starting as early as Monday. The system will be fairly slow in its movement, so we may get a couple of days out of this one. A similar system last year around that time lead me straight into Ohio. This time, I'll be with Tim Samaras and crew, so hopefully we get a few days in the Plains.
I enjoyed spending most of my day yesterday watching the back of my eyelids. Probably won't do that today as the weather is actually a bit decent. Need to again clear out my van, so that'll be on my list. Its funny, but all the dirt I've collected on the van shows beautifully the hail from Monday's storm. You can see hundreds of clear spots in the dirt where the van took the machine gun of hail. I'll snap a shot and post it later. It's quite funny to see.
I did throw a bowling ball for the first time in ages yesterday night. The naps throughout the day had me wide awake at 11:00pm, so we opted to throw a couple of games. I paired up in the 170s; 178, 171. I'll probably join a league in the fall with most of my evenings free for the semester. Sorry, odd tangent to go on.
So with that, I'm off. Will probably knock out the May 13 Montana chase log today as there's not as much to go through with that. Beyond that, may get some local spotter stuff in over the next couple of days, particularly tomorrow with post-frontal southeast flow in the area. We'll see...
0 comments
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Just an update to mention that my chase log from yesterday's insane hailstorm is up. You can view it by clicking here. I've updated the log book with both chases from the last couple of days, but have not posted the May 13 log yet. I should have it done tomorrow. As for the May 14 log, I've included over 12 minutes of raw video from the event.
May 14, 2007 Storm Chase Log
0 comments
A ton of stuff going on right now as I am back in Denver. In fact, I'm at the 7News studios right now getting an insider look at all that's going on around Denver as a result of one of the craziest severe weather days in recent memory. I spent most of my time in Ft. Lupton where I got machine-gunned with golfball sized hail which accumulated half a foot deep in places with drifts even deeper than that.
I tried to follow the storm east into Hudson, but CO-52 was covered in hail and travel was a virtual nightmare. I called the chase and returned to Ft. Lupton to shoot some more around town before returning to Denver. After a brief stop at home, I headed south to sample more storms coming into the western suburbs, but the storms never made much of themselves.
I headed to the station, but stopped to shoot snow plows clearing water off I-25 under Alameda. It was quite the sight!
So with that, I'm done for the night... home after starting the day in Mt. Rushmore. Unreal... I'll have full updates upcoming in the next couple of days. I desperately need to get out of these soaked pants!
2 comments
Currently in Wiggins, Colorado at the Stubs Gas and Oil of I-76 where I am finally using Sprint for my data. Nice to have again...
Severe Storm Watch over all of eastern Colorado through 10pm. Watch was hoisted shortly after my lunch and gas stop in Sidney. I elected to blow through Sterling and get south and west where I am now awaiting to meet up with Michael Carlson.
SPC mesoanalysis showing a cap still in place over the area and thus storms have died as they moved off the higher terrain. Cap should erode within in the next hour and storms will finally start to get going out this way. Dews are holding nicely in the mid to upper 40s and should remain so through the evening. Hail and high winds primary goals for this chase with lightning after dark as I feel I need to make up for missing the show last night in Montana.
Nothing else much to add right now as I've added 385 miles to this point. More than likely, will return home tonight to hunker down for a couple of days. Unless of course I wind up chasing in Kansas/Nebraska by night's end.
More later... now that the hurry up part is done... time to wait.
0 comments
Making a quick post from Chardon, Nebraska's Best Western, but am continuing south for Colorado. The Black Hills took a bit longer thanks to my stop at Mt. Rushmore and the mountain-like driving. None-the-less, I'm in okay shape. Should make I-80 before 2pm!
1 comments
Awakened this morning to see higher risks of severe over northeast Colorado; with that in mind, I'll be chasing my way home today. Yesterday's chase in Montana will go in the books as a 1000 mile chase as today has become a chase day in northeast Colorado.
I'm going to head out from here about 10am and make a quick pit stop at Mt. Rushmore before heading south to Sidney, Nebraska and hopefully into the Sterling area before storms start to fire. Will probably base myself from there as the overlap between the 30% hail and 2% tornado lies just to the south along a Brush, CO to Last Chance, CO to Flagler, CO to St. Francis, KS to Holyoke, Co bubble. Akron may be the best stopping point, but I'll see where I end up. Its about 260 miles from here in Sturgis to Sidney, NE and 340 miles from here to Akron. Leaving at 10:00am puts me into Akron around 3:00pm with at least one stop for fuel.
With that, I'm off to enjoy my free cooked breakfast, get a shower, and get ready to go. It's a long trip down Hwy 385, but at least its heading in the direction of home. Pending where I end up after this evening will determine whether I spend the night in a hotel and come home Tuesday.
More later...
0 comments
Made it safely to my Best Western in Sturgis, South Dakota after a chase which ended with me backing into my parking space in front of my room at 1000.0 miles on the nose. Pending whether or not I dub tomorrow a chase day in Nebraska/Colorado will determine the mileage this venture ultimately ends up.
So no tornadoes reported today; just a big hail and wind event. My best video coming out of Ballantine, Montana (20 miles northeast of Billings on I-94) where I got hammered with quarter to golfball sized hail and 60+mph winds. Best photos came of the wall cloud west of Billings earlier in which I had a prestine view form the airport looking back to the west. The wall cloud fizzled as the outflow from the storms overtook the inflow. Probably the closest thing to tornatic anyone could claim.
My plan worked, and for having zip for data outside of wifi stops, I did all right listening to NOAA Weather Radio. Punched my core in Ballantine and spent the rest of the daylight hours gawking over lightning as I returned to Hardin and shot east/southeast on Highway 212 as I had originally planned. The problem with Hwy 212; mountains. The best lightning was hitting in areas without views. When I finally cleared the mountains, I was too far south to recover. That truely was the most disappointing part of this chase was not being able to capture that lightning at night.
So with that, I'm off to call it a night. Tomorrow remains unclear as SPC's slight dips back into Colorado, but highly conditional overall. My initial plan is to drop south on Hwy 385 into Sidney with a quick stop for the photo-op at Mount Rushmore.
Goodnight from Sturgis!
0 comments
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Latest SPC mesoanalysis showing a sweet area developing between Billings and Hardin between I-94 and I-90. Supercell composite of 12 with sig-tor of 1 in that area. CAPE values are very high down there and if they can hold, oughta maintain a good enviornment down there. Nothing ongoing or imminent yet in that area, so will elect to hold between here and Billings as the line of storms begins to approach. Development on the tail end of the line is showing that conditions to the south of the interstate are beginning to give way to favorable storm enviornments. Scattered cu is dotting this region and expect development within the next 45 to 90 minutes along US Highway 212 southwest of Billings and moving into these areas.
2 comments
Moved west of Billings to Laurel and am watching a storm about 70 miles to my east near Big Timber. Its over no-man's land which is why I am not committing to it yet, but it has appeared to have turned right and may be moving more easterly, thus may be able to intercept along I-90 between here and Big Timber. I'm hoping this storm continues to move into the better enviornment out this way, move east, and allow me to get better position clsoer to Billings where a few more road options exist north of the interstate. Will sit tight here and keep a tab on areas to my south and southwest. WRF forecast radar shows storms going up to my south between 5:00pm and 6:00pm, so will continue to hang tight...
0 comments
Hailstorms going up to the west of me and as called for, numerous severe warnings have been issued on those cells. One of the hardest parts of chasing is sitting tight when storms are ongoing elsewhere. Livingston, where these storms are surrounding, is 100 miles away, so its a bit easier when you consider that. Storms still expected to fire close by this area and will wait patiently for that show. SPC mesoanalysis continues to hint at a sweet spot around this area, so I am in no hurry to leave. Boundary now almost on top of me and still visible on the radar loop, so will keep an eye on that as well...
0 comments
Road west to Billings and have stopped to wait here... an outflow boundary north of I-94 grabbed my attention and sent me here. As I headed this way, SPC issued a severe watch, however I think there's a localized risk of tornadoes along this boundary, thus will make my first plays on any cell which can get rooted on this boundary. The first severe warning just went up for southeastern Judith Basin County and would expect many more to go up over the next hour or so. Storms are firing west of here and are expected to move to the northeast and increase in coverage. This boundary which sits roughly along Hwy 12 north of Billings, so that'll likely be my next move. I have perfect cell phone coverage, but absolutely no data card coverage, so I will be going totally visual. Dann Cinca is available to me for an extra set of eyes, so he may hear from me. I'm going to sit here and watch the cell over eastern Sweet Grass County (its funny hearing NOAA say that) as its heading for that boundary. If it roots, I'm going to head north on Hwy 87 to intercept. More later...
0 comments
Have elected to stop in Hardin which is about 40 miles east of Billings on I-90. Better roads in all directions out of here, not to mention wifi data, food, gas, and potty (yes, I said potty). Moochin' away wifi from the American Inn while parked next door at the Sinclair station. Walker Ashley and company are here as well; stopped and said hey to them before parking myself here. I wouldn't be surprised if we're the only ones up here today.
So the time has come to sit and wait... lunch, potty, all that stuff will be coming over the next hour or so before making a last fill-up and waiting for the show to begin. It was worth noting that SPC upped the 2% tornado to a 5% tornado on their 1630z outlook, so that was nice to see.
Not sure where my chasing will take me tonight, but I would imagine heading south and playing the smaller chances along the front on my way back home either in western Nebraska or eastern Colorado. Nothing beyond Day 2 to speak of, so its likely I'll end up back home until around the 20th when models are showing much better things.
Will enjoy the peace and quiet of this beautiful landscape here in Montana for the time being and hope one of these incredible views gives way to a nice storm later on.
Stay tuned...
1 comments
Currently passing thru Crow Agency, MT and will continue on to Billings as I will arrive before 1:30 and have plenty of time to position.
0 comments
I have hit the road and am north bound on I-25 heading for the Crow Agency to Billings area. Should make the border by noon.
0 comments
No big hurry to leave Casper as models continue to reinforce my post-3pm initiation in my target area which lies along and west of I-25/I-90 and between US Highway 14 in Wyoming and US Highway 212 in Montana. A conditional threat for tornadoes exists today and I would imaging that threat will be settled with amount of moisture which sits tight in the area combined with whether the front will blast south too quickly or not. Supercells, mostly discrete, are on the high probability today, so hail seems like a very good bet today. Time-wise, Highway 212 in Montana splits off I-90 in Crow Agency, which is about 220 miles from here, thus my 3-hour drive to my target. Highway 212 does drop southeast into extreme northwestern South Dakota, so my primary play will be on this highway. If I am able to make the eastern border of Montana in the daylight, I may detour towards North Dakota and nail a quick picture of me at the sign as I have never stepped foot into North Dakota. This is assuming nothing imminent is occuring at that time.
A big challenge for today is going to be lack of data coverage in southeast Montana as Sprint has very little coverage off I-90/I-94, and virtually all of Highway 212 is void of service. Once I get going, I'm going to be going old school with a map and weather radio. At the very least, I should have voice service available for the most part as well as GPS, so I won't be totally in the dark. Will be a lot of using my eyes and ears today. We'll see how that all evolves.
So that's my morning update... again, no hurry to hit the road, so I'm going to lounge around the room for a couple of hours before hitting tarmac for Montana. An interesting and challenging chase in store for me today, but I'm looking forward to relatively low-key chase considering how the last few have been.
Updates may be few and far between due to lack of any data access. If my cell phone works, I can get a text-blog through... otherwise, expect a big update at day's end.
Ciao from Casper!
0 comments
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Back at the Best Western in Casper after a nacho dinner at Applebee's. Nothing new to add as my target for tomorrow remains in southern Montana. I've given myself about a three hour drive to the border tomorrow, but allowing for a full night's sleep tonight will off-set an earlier morning.
An interesting story on my way out of here. In my afternoon entry, I noted storms developing in the foothills which lead me to holding off on my departure from Denver. As the storms weakened, it became apparent nothing of consequence was going to result, so I headed off. With GRLevel3 running, I was monitoring things just in case. As the storms over the higher terrain weakened, an outflow boundary was pushed east from roughly DIA northward to Briggsdale. Several storms fired on this boundary, including one I intercepted east/southeast of Greeley. As I went over a hill, I observed a swirling ball of dust on the ground. It coincided with a meso-indicator on my GRLevel3. It was brief, less than a minute, but certainly put a smile on my face. By the time I stopped to film, it was over. I hung around for about 10 minutes in hopes to get another, but no such luck. I continued northward and arrived on a single tank of gas here in Casper where I filled up for $2.89; nearly a quarter cheaper than Denver.
Will update again in the morning once I get a look at things. Going to enjoy a full night's sleep here before heading off in the morning. I figure if I am on the road by 9:00am, I should be in position before 1pm. My glance at the models hints to me I have til after 3pm before storms begin to fire. Pending my analysis in the morning, I may milk my departure time another hour. In any case, I'll update then...
Goodnight from Casper... its ironic to me my first chase of Mayathon will be in Montana.. such is chasing! :o)
0 comments
Stopped in Casper, WY for the night. Figure a good night sleep is a good reason to stop early. Getting dinner at Applebee's. Full update later.
0 comments
Will likely be heading north out of Denver around 2pm. Pending if I hear back from my chase partner or not, I may elect to old school this trip and use the minivan for one of its main intentions... a hotel. With gas well over $3.00, every penny saved is a penny earned, particularly if chasing solo. Very little mention has been made on tomorrow's Montana target, so I would imagine very little traffic on the very few road options. Would be nice to enjoy a storm all to myself! I'm aiming to be near the WY/MT border befor I bunk down overnight and will wander around tomorrow. I'll then point back south and drive as far as I want before crashing out overnight and finishing the trip home Monday.
I'm also stalling as radar is showing an interesting cell developing just to the southwest of Golden. I may hold off my departure until I see what that little guy may do. Motion isn't very fast on this storm, but it looks to be heading in this direction. With local short term forecasts mentioning a slight chance of small hail, I may hang out here, then chase straight out of here up I-25 and into Wyoming.
Will update again before I head out the door. I'm 5 minutes from ready to go to a dime, so just waiting for a signal...
0 comments
Friday, May 11, 2007
I may get my Montana trip afterall; Saturday and Sunday both hold potential up north; Sunday more-so than Saturday. Even the t-word is being mentioned. I am attending a graduation on Saturday morning, however would make the trip later that afternoon for probably Casper which sets me up to play eastern Montana or Nebraska pending dryline activity. A return home on Monday to jump in with Tim for anything developing midweek as the front passes through. Something to keep an eye on locally on Wedesday/Thursday would be the post-frontal, day-two severe setup in eastern Colorado which sometimes proves interesting. None-the-less, a couple of wait-and-see days in the near future which could get me on the road as early as tomorrow afternoon. Should have plenty of time to diagnose the situations and prepare as needed for such trips.
0 comments
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Spent day 2 of my Mayathon at home running errands around town. The main project today was to attach a mic-clip onto the Proclip for the HAM radio. Ace Hardware again saves the day as I was about to spend all of $1.85 to attach a clip. This will eliminate the mic sliding all over the dashboard and keep it within easy reach.
My target for the day in Montana is going okay; mostly in western Montana right now with hail reports upwards of an inch. Figuring most of that taking place in the mountains would've made it unlikely I would've chased those particular events. North of Billings is a mess of stuff. Again, nothing too big. Will keep checking in on it for yucks and grins.
Locally, dry surface air is keeping any real convection at bay over the higher terrain. A large cluster of clouds going up jut to my west is showing very little on radar and would imagine a lot of the same for the remainder of the evening. Will probably enjoy a ballgame over some dinner and relax.
As for the coming days, will continue to wrap up small things in regards to chasing. I'm going to hang around town through Saturday before I begin any travel plans. Some local, mesoscale action is occuring from Texas north into Kansas, so I may just park out there for a couple days and hang out. We'll see how it all evolves. Needless to say, I would like to escape Denver here soon!
0 comments
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Later forecasts made a marginal setup even more marginal as hail forecasts looked even less promising. With that, I elected to not make the venture northward. Tomorrow's storm chances look best for wind as opposed to hail and certainly tornadoes. I'll take the next few days to ensure all my storm chasing ducks are in a row, including some errands today which took care of a leaky transmission and oil change. The van, while likely not to see any action til after my stint with Tim Samaras, should be ready for the weeks following that trip.
There holds promise for mid-week next week which will be watched closely as the week progresses. In the meantime, will just finalize all issues here prior to my first departure...
More later...
1 comments
IT HAS BEGUN!!!
I'm on vacation; finals done, work done... let the chase begin! I'm still eyeballing Montana for a just-to-get-out play tomorrow. Will wait til noon before pulling the trigger and leaving if I decide to make the trip. Nothing else going on anywhere in the country closer than that, so it either go chase a very marginal setup in Montana or stay home and do nothing. I like the first of those two choices, so I'm certainly leaning toward that. This likely would be the longest spotter log I'll ever pull as I'm not evening thinking the t-word. Hail and lightning are my primary goals for anything I go after tomorrow. My other big goals are just to chase in Montana and perhaps even sneak across the border into North Dakota which is the only state on this side of the Mississippi I have yet to be in. Needless to say, I have plenty of other things to do when I get up there. In the meantime, I may go for an oil change before hitting the road this afternoon.
Trip plans; I would leave at noon with an estimated arrival time in Billings between 8:00 and 9:00 this evening. I'm booked at one of two Best Westerns in town for two nights. I would chase as needed tomorrow, then stay overnight and return home Friday. That's the plan as of now. Again, waiting on later forecasts and other last second information before pulling the trigger on this "I just wanna road trip" chase. Another quick update before I hit the road...
0 comments
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Only 2 hours and 44 minutes remaining...
Not the reason I am blogging... I've uploaded mostly complete logs covering the May 3 and May 4 chases in Colorado and Kansas respectively. I say mostly complete because they may undergo some additions later. In the meantime, they are close enough to done to be considered... well done.
Complete May 3, 2007 Storm Chase Log
Complete May 4, 2007 Storm Chase Log
Exam starts in less than an hour... last thing to do before Mayathon begins!
0 comments
One exam down, one to go; my ordinary life ends at the conclusion of my Differential Equations exam (or 9pm, whichever comes first). Tomorrow kicks off the unrestricted period of chasing which will go through the first weekend in July.
My stint with Tim Samaras isn't slated to begin until Sunday, so I have a few days prior to that to get out and about. A quiet weather pattern is shaping up across the Plains, so I'm contemplating a target in the northern Plains; namely Montana. I have only been to Montana once and have never chased up there, so the chance to chase Thursday up there has me pondering the venture. Its just under 600 miles one-way to Billings and would likely spell out a 1500+ mile chase trip by the time I arrive home on Friday. A lot of driving for a very marginal setup, but considering how little there is going on elsewhere, it certainly presents enough warrent for pondering.
I'll check things over in the morning and make a call on it. I would base out of Billings and make the 8 hour trip leaving Denver midmorning. I will keep you posted! In the meantime, the hours tick away... 7 hours and 48 minutes left..
Tick... tick... tick...
0 comments
Monday, May 07, 2007
Sorry for the second blog entry so soon, but I wanted to address a question I've received a lot in the last few days... I copied this from a private journal entry I wrote..
My chase partners and I were chasing Friday, but did not elect to go after that storm (the Greensburg tornatic storm). Several reasons for this. First of all, I'm not a fan of chasing large tornadoes after dark. As proven in our run-in the following night, large (wedge) tornadoes are hard to see at night and make for a very dangerous pursuit. Secondly, our position north of the storm would have required us to either blindly punch through the massive rain and hail to get into position which could've lead to us driving right into the tornado. Or it would've had us go around a northeasterly-moving storm which would've taken a long time to do. Lastly, I'm not that desperate to see a tornado. We heard early on in this storm's life that major damage had been done as a result of this tornado, and while we could have likely made it into position to view this tornado, I found no reason to add to an already dangerous situation and feel our presence would have done little to help anybody. Nighttime chasing is extremely dangerous for reasons more than obvious, but add to that the intensity of this tornado and its path making it so chasers had to drive through and over debris made this a situation I wanted no part of. Had we been on this storm earlier and safely, we would have continued the chase for as long as safety allowed and helped in any way we could. But to intercept a storm of this intensity midway into its life seemed like a very risky and unwise decision; one I'm going to make the same everytime except in very extreme circumstances. My chase partners and I all agreed after quick discussion that we'd make no attempt to get on that storm and elected to shoot lightning from other nearby storms. Bottom line, I'm not that desperate to see tornadoes.
I will give kudos on those who were on that storm as their reports and live updates saved many lives that night. I obviously will not walk away from a tornatic storm after dark if I am already on it as I feel there is a responsibility to the public to keep them informed of these situations, so I do tip my hat to those who stayed with it. Sometimes, chasing as a whole takes on bad light in public due to incidents and the soap operas that surround this hobby, however there were people out that night risking their lives and safety to track this tornado and keep those in its path informed. They deserve a huge amount of kudos for what they were able to accomplish Friday night.
Also big kudos to one of my chasing friends and Meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Dodge City; Mike Umscheid. Mike was at the radar desk in DDC the night of the Greensburg tornado and his warning also aided in saving many lives as he gave residents nearly 20 minutes of lead time prior to the tornado slamming into town. Mike was interviewed this morning on Good Morning America and you can check it out here. Oh and Mike, no worries on the email ( read your blog)... I think we all | 
