Tui McInnes
Enthusiast
Hey, so just introduced myself in the thread at the top of this sub-forum... But anyways, I'm an operational meteorologist across the Pacific. The weather's a little different here where I am (only a tiny handful of tornadoes for us annually, usually frontal, short-lived ones at that...).
I have been wanting to try storm chasing for a while now, and the current plan is to give it a shot next year mid-May/early-July. The plan is to chase with my father - do a sort of road trip of sorts through a bit of the US and chase for two weeks.
Now I know that two weeks is a small time, but to be honest, the forecasting side of things and being able to even just see TS's one the scale of the midwest would still make the holiday a success in my books (we only get about 2 days with thunderstorms annually on average where I live). Also it being a holiday, time is of course a limited resource. A pity about the current state of ENSO, I was hoping that a La Nina phase could make for increased activity...
So some starter quesitons:
What are the more "unique" things I need to know about mid-west storms? I've taken to reading a few papers on tornadic thunderstorms but of course the meteorological nature of the mid-west is very different from down here!
What sort of car is a minimum for chasing in the plains? Where would I find information on the actual logistics of chasing?
What are the best ways of getting model data? (Which models do people use and how do the access them?).
Pertaining to the last question, how do chasers get their data on the go (quickly and not costing the Earth...)
Hopefully I can start gaining insight into some of these points. Sorry if I've approached this with the wrong tact or in the wrong place! And sorry for being such a rambling poster!
Cheers,
Tui
I have been wanting to try storm chasing for a while now, and the current plan is to give it a shot next year mid-May/early-July. The plan is to chase with my father - do a sort of road trip of sorts through a bit of the US and chase for two weeks.
Now I know that two weeks is a small time, but to be honest, the forecasting side of things and being able to even just see TS's one the scale of the midwest would still make the holiday a success in my books (we only get about 2 days with thunderstorms annually on average where I live). Also it being a holiday, time is of course a limited resource. A pity about the current state of ENSO, I was hoping that a La Nina phase could make for increased activity...
So some starter quesitons:
What are the more "unique" things I need to know about mid-west storms? I've taken to reading a few papers on tornadic thunderstorms but of course the meteorological nature of the mid-west is very different from down here!
What sort of car is a minimum for chasing in the plains? Where would I find information on the actual logistics of chasing?
What are the best ways of getting model data? (Which models do people use and how do the access them?).
Pertaining to the last question, how do chasers get their data on the go (quickly and not costing the Earth...)
Hopefully I can start gaining insight into some of these points. Sorry if I've approached this with the wrong tact or in the wrong place! And sorry for being such a rambling poster!
Cheers,
Tui