COVID 19 and the 2021 Chase Season

[Jeff Duda]

Staff note
Keep this thread on task...we will lock it if posts start deviating from the topic. You must relate COVID-19 to storm chasing in your posts.

Now carry on.

 

[Dave C]

Will do what I did last year if needed! Bring all my own food and beverages. Twin Mattress in my car. Only interaction with humans/covid is gas stations.

Same approach. I will be self contained with chemical toilet, food and water, car fridge/freezer unit, sleeping pad, masks and gloves for high touch surfaces like gas pumps (even though the risk in surfaces that see sunlight goes way down). I doubt I will even go into gas stations unless I really need to or if they are very slow. Restaurants will be a hard no. Grocery only if truly required. Always masked indoors.

I will be willing to stay in hotels with precautions of a wipedown of glossy surfaces and adequate non-central ventilation in the room. Will prefer ones without a lobby, or just at check-in there once and use the side door and stairs vs. elevator. The less I can be in others airspace, the happier I will be.

Any people contact anywhere indoors or within less than 8 feet of people not traveling with me will be with me wearing N95 masks, which are now gradually becoming available for consumers again if you know where to find the genuine ones.

If I chase with anyone, they must be practicing safe isolation habits and masking in their life and be symptom free when we leave for a chase. I won't require mask use in the car, but around anyone outside our bubble I will, to protect others and their communities.

Also if I experience any symptoms of anything I will isolate in my vehicle and immediately return home rather than dare expose any rural areas.

 

[Dave C]

My biggest hesitation is just bathrooms. Even here in Georgia which has been somewhat more open than other areas, bathrooms in private establishments (mainly gas stations) are still hit or miss. Rest areas on interstates are open, but very little of my chase territory here gets near them.

I bought a foldup toilet seat and waste bags, with kitty litter. Total cost ~55 dollars US. Sets up fine inside my SUV behind the passenger seat for a quick temporary relief. I put sunshades up on the main windows (I also have dark tint), setup the toilet seat, place the bag, do the business, add kitty litter, seal the bag and place it in the odor liner outer bag, and then later deposit the bags in the trash (completely legal). No odors or issues with the system. No worries about having to stop and find an open bathroom, and also feels safer to me than using high touch surfaces at a busy truck stop or gas station, and alleviates my worry of giving someone anything if I was an asymptomatic carrier. The only place I stopped near any people last year was gas pumps, and was totally self contained. Even at gas pumps I wear a mask and one glove and touch nothing.

 

[Randy Jennings]

If you missed Dr. Jason Persoff's fantastic presentation at the National Storm Chaser Summit you can view it here at about the 4:14 mark:

National Storm Chaser Summit - 2021 Virtual Summit LIVE | Facebook

Here is a key slide he presented:

 

[Ben Holcomb]

No changes for me this year. The extremely cheap motel and gas prices made last year great. If only we had any weather to go with it.

Cautiously optimistic on prospects this season. Unless they can somehow stop interstate travel, I plan to be everywhere from Mexico to Canada this year. Unfortunately oil and gas prices are rising and should continue that trend. I drove from Norman to Atlanta on $50 back in November. Don't expect we'll see prices that low this spring.

 

[JeremyS]

This chart may help ease some concerns. Total active Covid-19 cases in the plains (chart is for Kansas) have been dropping dramatically since its high on November 9th. One explanation is that we may have reached herd immunity way sooner than predicted. Regardless, the possibility exists that Covid-19 could be all but done in the plains by April if the total count continues to fall at its current rate. View attachment 21103

Herd immunity is reached when conservatively 60-70% of the population has been infected. Sorry, Kansas and this country as a whole is nowhere near this level. There are a multitude of reasons why cases go up and down and right now herd immunity is not one of them.

 

[Paul Lemery]

Herd immunity is reached when conservatively 60-70% of the population has been infected. Sorry, Kansas and this country as a whole is nowhere near this level. There are a multitude of reasons why cases go up and down and right now herd immunity is not one of them.

That would be correct based on the reported number of cases. However, there is a very large, but unknown population that had Covid , but was never tested for it. They could have been asymptomatic or simple didn’t feel the need to test. I personally know a pile of people in the latter group. If the dramatic drop in cases continues and largely doesn’t come back we will know. In the meantime the mask mandates are pretty much a thing of the past in the plains and it’s looking like all systems go for a Great Plains chase season!

 

[JeremyS]

That would be correct based on the reported number of cases. However, there is a very large, but unknown population that had Covid , but was never tested for it. They could have been asymptomatic or simple didn’t feel the need to test. I personally know a pile of people in the latter group. If the dramatic drop in cases continues and largely doesn’t come back we will know. In the meantime the mask mandates are pretty much a thing of the past in the plains and it’s looking like all systems go for a Great Plains chase season!

Definitely wouldn't be because of the vaccine rollout and being past the holiday season etc. right?

 

[Paul Lemery]

Definitely wouldn't be because of the vaccine rollout and being past the holiday season etc. right?

The drop started in early November. That was long before vaccines and the holiday season. Great news nonetheless!

 

[Warren Faidley]

Hopefully, hotel operations will be back to "semi-normal" by May. One problem I encountered while hurricane chasing was motel room availability. Most hotels were only booking at 50 percent occupancy to avoid over crowding, so it was difficult to find a room on some nights - especially weekends. I'm assuming with an eventual reduction in fracking, more rooms will be available in the petroleum areas.

 

[Ben Holcomb]

As someone who spent 60 nights in hotels last year, I can say that hotel availability should not be a problem. They're filling those bad boys up now it seems, at least Hilton chain hotels. Most are painfully empty anyway still. Stayed at a hotel the other night with like 5 cars in the parking lot when I arrived after midnight.

 

[J Sims]

Storm chasing for me this year will be thin, unless it is Northeast Florida or Southeast Georgia I won't be able to. Due to the restrictions placed on me by the Navy due to Covid. Traveling won't be in my future. I'm really just stuck within 150 miles of Mayport/Jacksonville, Florida, leave will be next to impossible to get for me for anything outside that.

With the way I see everything going due to Covid, I still think most if not all restrictions due to covid will still be in place come this spring/summer. I don't see the Navy reducing restrictions on me until at least next year or this coming winter. 2022 sounds like a better chance for me.