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Saturday, September 29, 2007
I'm at home in Denver after weighing out the odds this afternoon. Not much to bank on to swap out what I had going on today, which looking back, was definitely a better choice in terms of what I enjoyed today here in town as opposed to what I'm seeing now. I've turned on the ol' Spotter Network to see Mike Umscheid heading south out of St. Francis, which for what its worth, 15 miles west of my 0z Bird City target on US Highway 36. Verne Carlson also showed up along I-76 between Brush and Sterling, but his connection obviously went dead a couple hours ago, so without talking to him directly, I'm not sure where he's at ATTM. My guess is he's in the Ogallala, Imperial, McCook, North Platte circle. A couple other chasers showing up in the region as well, so Spotter Network again showing how useful and fun it is to cyberchase. Not sure I'll be e-chasing this one as detailed, but will certainly check back in about an hour (0z) to see exactly what's unfolding. SPC dropped their hail and tornado threats in the 2000z outlook, which is unfortunate given the conditions, however surface obs are showing less than favorable moisture return and a more southerly surface flow even as overall shear looks pretty good. A few storms have developed within the recently issued and very narrow blue box which covers the all of the CO/KS border up through Nebraska. The few storms ongoing right now are in the early stages, but are already showing motion upwards of 40kts to the northeast. Certainly not a favorable chasing speed. But that was very apparent early in the day, so no big surprise there.
Best of luck to Verne, Mike, and others out today. Given a quieter weekend, I would not have turned this down. Too close to home to not be out for a weekend. I'm holding hope for something in the coming week, so I'll save my energy for that one. More than anything, I just need a weekend at home, and then I'll be ready to rumble!
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The long advertised severe weather day has arrived, and a 5% tornado-slight risk runs from extreme northeast Colorado northward toward the ND/Canada border. Early indications look good early in initiation for discrete supercells, but as is the case with these frontal setups, strong forcing will quickly lead to a linear setup.
A couple qualms on the day, first the lack of daytime hours as we're later in the year. The RUC breaks out precip in extreme northwest Kansas around 0z leaving about an hour or so of good daylight before darkness falls. The WRF breaks out more precip at the 0z time frame while the GFS remains rather quiet. While I'm not sure how the RUC has been doing since I returned from the lightning project, but if its safe to assume it is as accurate now as it was then, I'd be sitting in Bird City, KS at 0z.
Storm mode is my second concern along with the cap in place. While not as stout as I've ever seen, the cap may keep convection at bay til after 0z which would again play into lack of daylight. With the cap being stout, it also means initiation will be front-induced which may keep storm mode in a linear mode quickly out of the gate.
Storm motions also look to be an interesting factor as they may be blasting northeast near 40kts. Surface winds look to be pumping as wind advisories are in effect across most of the area.
Be interesting to see how all this unfolds.. I'll be busy here in Denver through most of the day, but pending when I wrap up the day's activities, I may fire out I-76 and work from there.
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Thursday, September 27, 2007
Boo!
Yeah, still a month away from Halloween. Can you guess what I am going to be? Haha
Obviously I didn't come here to boo you or boo who, but to inform you of the off-season's big website-related project. With suggestion from Michael Carlson, I am going to revamp my photo galleries. Seeing as I have spent a ton of money on new photographic equipment, its probably a good idea to better organize my photos. The program is a bit new to me, so it'll be a while before I get comfortable enough with it to customize it enough to work with my website. In fact, the uploading is in progress as we speak, so hopefully here soon, I can get a test page up and start fiddling with settings.
Saturday holds chasing potential as been shown in the models for several days. SPC has it within their day 3 with a 15% slight risk straddling the CO/KS border. While its close to home and over a weekend, I am pretty well booked solid through this weekend and likely will not chase unless something amazing starts to unfold. Fortunately with a target so close to home, it can be a pretty late decision should something crazy occur.
A side note, my infamous T. Laubach #81 jersey finally started to show signs of wear when the first 'A' of my last name fell off. After three years of hardcore chasing, the original jersey will be retired. Fortunately, early birthday presents from family will replace the jersey. Two new #81 jerseys are on the way as we speak, one with 'LAUBACH' and the other 'LUBACCA'. Which of the two will be the field jersey remains to be seen, but it'll likely be the 'LUBACCA' as I'll save the 'LAUBACH' for conferences, talks, and other chaser-related things. I know, I know... "DORK"... you don't have to remind me... I know! As for next season, I will bring a whole set of jerseys into the field with me, many of current Redskins players or other well-known former players such as #83 THRASH, #8 BRUNELL, #81 MONK, #89 MOSS, and others. And because I am a statistical knucklehead, I'll probably keep track of what jersey I wear on what chases and compare results to see if a specific jersey scores better than others. Yes, I have waaaay too much time on my hands. I'm a nerd, its to be expected, right? Haha!
So that's all I have right now... if I do sneak out on Saturday, obviously I'll be sure to include it in a weekend entry, otherwise I'll be rooting on the Rockies for their playoff push! Fortunately this weekend is a bye for my Skins, so I don't have to worry about missing my game!
Ciao!
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Sunday, September 23, 2007
Back in Denver after a short trip to Oklahoma City for Eric's Gathering. I landed this afternoon just in time to watch my Redskins blow a 17-3 lead and lose to the Giants at home. Should've just stayed in OKC. On the flip side, the Broncos lost, too, so I won't take any crap this week that I can't return. I'm also happy to say the Rockies swept the Padres and are going to make a run for the post season! That, to say the least, is quite exciting!
The gathering was very nice. The folks at the Weather Center were amazing; allowing the guests to check out the NWS office and SPC. The food was good, slides and videos great, and the people the best. While we all will say that we wish the circumstances were much different, it was a good chance to sit down and catch up with a lot of these people. Amos, Scott, Scott, J.R., Michael, Tom, Shane, Katie, Chuck, Dave, Jason, and many others. After the gathering, we headed over to Coach's in Norman for blue drinks and more chat. We closed the place down and then some before Tom and I left and I slept in late before flying home this afternoon.
It was certainly great to see everyone again under a less hectic situation, but as I said, wish the circumstances were different. But it was overall a rather nice atmosphere. The only trouble is, I was getting a bit burnt out on chasing and looking forward to wrapping the season up, but now its a different story. After chatting around, swapping stories, and just being in good company, I'm eager to get out again. Damn it! LOL
Lastly, a final word on Eric. Having chased with him on numerous occasions over the last few years, I know future chases will have a void with him not around. However, I am a strong believer in some sort of afterlife, and feel pretty confident his presence will be well noticed. And I can assure you, that us chasers can use all the guardian angels we can get, and I think having Eric sitting along side my boy, Scudder, will keep us in pretty good company. You're a great man, a terrific chaser, and one that will be greatly missed among the chaser community. But that blue drink of yours... what were you thinking?!?! Hahaha. Rest in peace my friend...
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Monday, September 17, 2007
Back to normal, or as normal as my life can get. This weekend wrapped up the lengthy lightning project which I have been once since August 10. The quiet weekend ended the project even as a round of severe storms rolled through Denver yesterday. My motivation to chase was hardly there as I barely paid attention over the football games I was absorbed in. Hell, I barely made it out of my PJs yesterday, let alone get out to chase. Between the lightning project and my own chasing, I covered over 40,000 miles this year with a total of 70 nights in hotel rooms since May 10. I am without regret in terms of saying I'll be happy to be home.
One more weekend away is in store for me, however. The passing of Eric Nguyen has left a huge void in the chasing community, and in memory of Eric, a gathering is being held in Norman this coming weekend. I am happy to say I'll be in attendence for this as I'll be flying out early the day of and returning the following day. Information on this gathering can be found here. While there is some potential to chase before I return to a full-time normal schedule on October 1, I would imagine this to be one of the last chaser-related events of the year for me. A bitter-sweet event as it'll be nice to be within the company of many I haven't seen in a few months. I just wish the circumstances of this gathering were much different.
In the meantime, clean-up and resettling are in the works for me over the next couple of weeks. I'll probably work off-and-on for campus and immediately begin my 4-a-weeks at the news station before the October 1 full-time resumes for me on campus. I have enough to do between now and then where the extra time will be put to quick use. My first class of the semester is this evening, to which I'll rush out of to root on my Redskins as I've DVR'd tonight's matchup against the Eagles. I'm sure I'll be home by the time the game ends, so no one spoil it for me. My phone and internet will be off for that just in case! LOL
So with that, updates will be issued in the coming weeks as I knock out various projects. My first is the Storms of 2007 Chapter I am producing this year covering the April 13 Seymour Wedge Tornado Day. This was one of my final chases with Eric and was certainly a high note for us. I'm hopeful my work will do justice for Eric as the chapter will be dedicated to him.
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Sunday, September 09, 2007
With great sadness, I write this entry. Early Sunday morning, storm chaser Eric Nguyen passed away in a hospital room in Arlington, Texas, surrounded by friends and family. The news was posted this morning on Stormtrack.
My heart is heavy with the news, and my thoughts and prayers go out to the friends and family of Eric. There are never any words in times like this, and even still, days after hearing about what happened, am still short on anything to say. Such a loss is devestating to those close to him, and its hard to think of the right thing to say.
I've been lucky to have chased with Eric on numerous occasions, and each time was a joy. Some of the more memorable chases were the May 5, 2006 Seminole, TX hail day and the April 13, 2007 "thank God he was driving" Seymour wedge day. I learned a great deal from Eric, and the memories I have with him will remain etched in my mind as long as I live. We shared some memorable chases, busts, and a great deal of excitement. We shared a love for giant hail and there were very few cores he wouldn't probe.
Eric was a great chaser; very knowledgable, and always was sharing his knowledge. His sense of humor made every chase a new venture in cheap humor. I always looked forward to meeting with him in the field and will greatly miss all he brings to chasing. This is a huge loss for the storm chasing community and will leave an empty space beneath all mesos in the future.
My thoughts and prayers are with Eric's family and friends... he was an amazing person and will be missed by all.
  
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Tuesday, September 04, 2007
I have added chase logs from the August 23 and August 31 Denver lightning storms. Both chases were off-the-clock from my current assignment and thus I am able to post them as normal. The links to those logs and shots are below; overall, a total of 34 photos are posted.
August 23, 2007 Storm Chase Log
August 31, 2007 Storm Chase Log
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Sunday, September 02, 2007
Another round of storms fired over the metro area today but were a far cry from the Christmas gifts reigning down from the sky in previous. In fact, the storm I sat on for nearly 45 minutes hardly gave me any hope. The occasional boltless flash in the clouds gave me enough of an area to aim my camera. As the storm was going into submission, I got the one lucky shot of the night, followed by about 25 minutes of the occasional flash. My patience paid off with the one strike, thus I didn't come out empty handed.
Earlier in the evening, storms which fired died away giving way to a nice rainbow.
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