$4,000 Chaser Project

[Matt Handley]

Hello all!
I've been a Skywarn spotter for my local FD for 9 years now. Spotted several tornadoes and severe storms over the years here in central Iowa with the basic Skywarn training made available to our local fire departments. You could say I caught the bug and recently I've decided I want to move up to chasing. I've always had a passion and respect for weather and even picked up a minor in atmospheric science in college in hopes of moving on to meteorology one day soon. So I saved up about $4,000 in a special chaser fund and here is how it's coming along. Did all the work myself (not that there was much to do, just wiring and mounting mostly)

First I had to find a decent 4x4 that's not horrible on gas, after months of looking, test driving, and kicking tires I went with a '99 Isuzu Rodeo (Honda Passport). Great little suv for 2k plus $500 for the new tires I put on after I bought it.

I had always wanted mobile threatnet so I pulled the trigger on that, (satellite version, big thanks to Cliff Windham) $1,100 plus $99 a month for service(responder package).

After that I got the little stuff, el cheap-o scanner (to hear HAM bands, and will be upgrading soon), el cheap-o CB, RAM mount, power inverter etc. (no amber strobes )

Already had 2 lap tops (one for backup) have Verizon iPhone 4 for my hot spot (I'm not including those costs as I had them before the project)

Went just a hair over my goal of 4k and rang in at $4,250.

It's not totally done, working on my HAM license and hope to get a HAM radio in there soon.

Had tons of fun on the build and look forward seeing you guys and getting to know you out there! I may not have the most classy chaser out there but hey the way I see it, at least I'm out there!

I would welcome suggestions, demands, etc. as I'm new to the actual chasing and understand I have a lot to learn.

Took it on a chase in Nebraska, turned in for the night in a local motel and woke up to find this outside, honestly I found it interesting, hadn't seen it in person before.

 

[Jim Parsons]

GRLevel 3 would be a nice additon to your setup... http://www.grlevelx.com/

 

[Jesse Risley]

I would welcome suggestions, demands, etc. as I'm new to the actual chasing and understand I have a lot to learn.

The automobile is arguably the single most important tangible object for a chaser, and it looks like you've covered that part well. Just be sure to keep up regular maintenance duties, especially changing the oil as required, along with the transmission fluid, miscellaneous filters, etc.

With that having been said, I think your next task should be to learn how to properly make a good forecast for the day of your chase. I would recommend Tim V's Storm Chasing Handbook as a starter, simply because it does have a lot of great information about forecasting: http://www.weathergraphics.com/chasing/

For no cost at all, you might also check out this free site for some great information on various weather-related educational articles: http://www.theweatherprediction.com/

 

[Dean Baron]

Looks like a solid setup. As someone mentioned, get GR3, $80 one time payment, you won't regret it! As far as learning, any of Tim V's books, Mike Hollingshead has a video (can't remember the name) that teaches about some storm structure. You should be able to find it on his website (http://extremeinstability.com ). Other than that go back through the forecasting threads so you can get a feel for what to look for when you are trying to forecast and then go through the reports threads to look at pics/vids to get a feel for what to look for when intercepting. The discussion threads are pretty good too, more detailed discussion on random things about the given event, and I bet there is a lot of good reading in those too for new chasers. Other than that, it's just experience. You have been spotting for a while, so I'm sure you are ahead of the curve a bit.

 

[Mark Blue]

What you're going through Matt is an exciting time and it actually got the juices flowing when I read your post. Most of the suggestions thus far have been right on target. I think the DVD Dean was referring to is called "Storm Structure 101" and is a good tool to use to identify different aspects of a supercell.

One thing I didn't see you mention was mapping. Are you using a software package or paper maps? Maps in general aren't absolutely required but come in very handy when you find yourself in an unfamiliar place. I've actually never used Threatnet but have heard you can use the $49 package for data and get by just fine, so that maybe something to look into as the extra savings each month would come in handy.

I would also suggest that you create a good set of organized bookmarks or favorites in your browser of choice. When you're chasing you want everything to be organized and at your fingertips, so there isn't any guesswork as to how to get to a website you want to look at. You probably already have this covered but it is one of the little things that really comes in handy when you're pressed for time out in the field. One last suggestion I have is to get a Bluetooth mouse to use with your laptop. For some reason all of the bumps in the road really make using the touchpad very difficult and I find by using an external mouse it eliminates all of the headaches of not being able to navigate quickly and effectively.

 

[Matt Handley]

Wow thanks for the responses and suggestions. I've heard great things about GRLevel 3, I will be getting that soon thanks to you guys pointing that out! I'm SO excited to get into the forecasting part of it. Forecasting was a big reason I wanted to start chasing. I will look up those books and dvd's and I thank you for pointing me in the right direction on those.

Mark as for maps, I'm using Microsoft streets and trips in tandem with the threatnet for GPS location relative to the weather maps on threatnet. I always keep it running in the background on the P.C. as for paper maps I bought some nicer maps that include topo by state. I bought one for Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Oklahoma as these are the states I plan to do most of my chasing in. And of course got the ol' wal-mart road atlas in there.

I have tried the $49 data package with threatnet and it was solid, but I really liked the addition of the extra features in the $99 package. Mesoscale discussions, (I know those are on SPC as well but its handy to have it implemented into the threatnet, wind shear, and a few forecasting tools.

Glad to hear I'm on the right track, REALLY looking forward to the forecasting end of all of this! That's what I'm most excited about. Forecasting then heading that way to see how my forecast develops. On that note, do you guys have any suggestions for useful sites for forecasting? Something with good Dew Point models, CAPE models, etc?

 

[Dean Baron]

Just throwing this out there, there are a ton of placefiles for GR (ie MDs, watches, surface obs, etc) and a lot of them you can find for free. also, if you are planning on using your gps for more than just streets and trips you are going to need a gps splitter. Google gpsgate, its what most chasers use (i would link but im posting from my phone)

 

[Mark Blue]

On that note, do you guys have any suggestions for useful sites for forecasting? Something with good Dew Point models, CAPE models, etc?

I have a folder of my *key* chase bookmarks that I can share with you if you are interested. I use X Marks to sync my bookmarks across all browsers and it offers a way to share them kind of like an RSS feed, but when I went in there tonight it said the service was temporarily unavailable, so I'll check it tomorrow and see if it's up and running. I have pretty much every key website in there that works for me and would be happy to send it your way.

In general the SPC Mesoanalysis page is a great place to start on the actual chase day and can be found here. Just select whatever sector you want to work with at the top and take it from there. As far as models are concerned the College of Dupage and Twister Data would probably satisfy what you need for the time being. If you Google them you'll get to where you need to be in short order.

 

[Mark Blue]

The X Marks service was back online this morning, so I went in and shared that folder with you Matt, so check your e-mail as there will be a link in there where you can paste it into your browser. There's a folder called "Temporary" within the main folder that has websites that piqued my interest, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to add them to the main folder permanently, so some of those may or may not be what you are looking for but the main folder has a lot of great information.

I was thinking about another member here Mike Geukes who maintains a blog that has a gillion great links. Those can be found here. The best thing to do is scan through what I've given you, then bookmark whatever works for you and you'll be set.

 

[David Wolfson]

Matt, are you planning on chasing solo or with partners? It's a good idea to take your kit out on the road chasing showers before severe season multiple times so you (and partners, if any) get used to working with all the stuff and handling the mechanics of chasing. You will find some things you want to change, and some things won't work right. Chasing can be darn dangerous, especially unless you master the multi-tasking before you're facing down real supercells. FWIW.

 

[Matt Handley]

Thank all you guys so much!!! Great links to all kinds of great stuff! I am chasing with a partner, actually my girlfriend (yeah I know but hang on) she is also a new weather enthusiast with all my talking about it, models, forecast maps, footage, etc. I had her take the Skywarn training, but mostly she just drives while I navigate, forecast (in my best attempt), and read data. Our first chase (the day after she got her Skywarn certificate) I put us in position to observe the Mapleton, IA storm. We hung back simply because it was dark. We also chased out in the Hayes, KS area, Joplin, and Valentine, NE cells. So we have about 80+hrs of chasing in so far. We found new places to mount things, and more efficient ways of setting up and running all the gear by doing so. Being we are new at the game we spent this spring/summer positioning ourselves on the west side of the storms just to get a chase understanding, we did punch one core but it was on a weakening cell that was choking it's self out, and that was only to reposition to get to a good point for the second line. Truth be told we were about 300 yards from the actual core, but that was from radar data so we knew we were working without real time displays. We are learning to compensate for the delays in updates. We figure better safe than sorry while we get the hang of this ever so addictive form of understanding what mother nature has up her sleeve.

 

[Josh Richardson]

That's great your girlfriend is interested as well, my wife has enough interest that she does come along for some chases. Usually just within IA/MN/SD though. Thanks for the PM back and hopefully we'll hook up out there this season.