An old mystery, still bugs me.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jason Foster
  • Start date Start date

Jason Foster

Back in 2002 when chasing with the Weathervine crew, Scott Blair and Eric Nguyen, we cam across this very interesting vehicle. It apparently was some sort of storm chase vehicle from the Government. On the side it had something written about Los Alamos Laboratory, and Storm research. I seem to also remember (although possibly in error) hazardous radiation warnings all over.

Below is the only picture I got of it. It was taken after midnight local time on May 23rd, 2002.

Does anyone ever remember seeing this thing, what it was about. I alway thought maybe the government is using a portable nuclear reactor to quash storms....but I know that's not likely.

IM002888web.jpg
 
I know some people at UNM are working on laser triggered lightning, maybe there's a connection to Los Alamos? Just an idea, but I don't really think so.
 
First four pictures:
http://mesoscale.ws/newpix/2002/
LosAlamos_1.jpg


I spent a few hours trying to dig up info on this vehicle to no avail back in the day when Eric told me about it.

Three possibilities: WESTAR the defense contractor that currently has positions open in Afghanistan and Iraq (but no mention of a Los Alamos branch). This would fit the managed company bit. http://www.westar.com/

The other option is WESTAR which stands for Western States Air Resources Council. http://westar.org/ this council includes the state of NM , has DOE ties, and has done work with Los Alamos.

Finally, there is WESTAR Energy company which is based in KS. googling reveals quite a few documents with both Los Alamos and WESTAR Energy employees involved.

What any of these would be doing with a chase vehicle out on the plains is beyond me.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Aaron Kennedy said:
Finally, there is WESTAR Energy company which is based in KS. googling reveals quite a few documents with both Los Alamos and WESTAR Energy employees involved.
.
Click to expand...

My dad worked for WESTAR Energy, I'll ask him to see if he knows but I don't think that it's anything WESTAR Energy is involved with.
 
Good day all,

These folks even left business cards in our vehicles ... Having phone numbers and email addresses.

This was in Elk City, OK (I believe, on May 23, 2002).

Like a prospective date that turns out you're not her type ... No emails or questions were ever answered.

I think I threw the card away, not sure...

Eric Nguyen and Scott Blair commented "I hope these are not those guys who are tryig to warm-up the RFD."
 
The Furuno dome is for a marine radar, I can find nothing directly about the Wild Fire High-Energy Pulsed-Magnetic radar. Nice card slot and keypad entry btw...

Westar Aerospace & Defense Group became a QinetiQ company in 2004 so maybe it used to be Siemens?
 
Whatever Los alamos is they are scheduled to speak at NWC in norman on 20 May 2008
3:30 PM Jon Reisner
Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM i suppose people will find out then what or who they are.
 
cdcollura said:
Good day all,

These folks even left business cards in our vehicles ... Having phone numbers and email addresses.

This was in Elk City, OK (I believe, on May 23, 2002).

Like a prospective date that turns out you're not her type ... No emails or questions were ever answered.

I think I threw the card away, not sure...

Eric Nguyen and Scott Blair commented "I hope these are not those guys who are tryig to warm-up the RFD."
Click to expand...

Eric was in communication for two years with one of the people that left a business card from the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The guy wasn’t able to give Eric very much information about the vehicle or their mission. The information he was able to give didn’t do anything but raise more questions. They had glocks in holsters on both sides of the vehicle and they had some kind of communications panel that allowed them to monitor and communicate with aircraft. I know that sound strange but that is about the only thing that he said he could tell Eric.:confused:

Scott

P.S. I remember a list of states that it could operate in. They were mostly plains state with one or two high profile chase states missing. I can't remember if the list is something the guy told Eric or if it was on the vehicle.
 
rdale said:
"Not likely" -- I think a bit of an understatement :D
Click to expand...

You might not think that if you saw that vehicle in person. Aside from the firearms, dozens of cameras, and card swipe card+keypad entry the vehicle had some other interesting features. The scariest was the warning signs were within the steel cage in the back of the truck. Something to the effect "When alarm sounds you a screwed!â€￾ Inside the cage with the your "screwed warning" labels was a 4'x4'x4' box that looked like kind of like a safe. It had pipes covered in aluminum running from it to the black "radar like" thing on top. The box also had red warning lights and a siren on top of it. You can kinka see the box in the corner of the following pictures.
LosAlamos_4.jpg

LosAlamos_3.jpg


I wish we could have gotten pictures of the warning labels inside the cage but we didn't want to touch the vehicle and set off some kind of security.

At the least, I think they were using some kind of highly radioactive material. In what way they were using that material I have know idea.
 
Good day all,

I remember the glocks (guns) and looked inside the "faraday" (?) cage as well ... I cannot understand how the law can allow such hazardous material on the road - If it was indeed radiation - Of the Government can pull a strong or to to do so (that have POWER, in more ways than one).

It almost looked like a radical science project, many features reminded me of my Tesla coil projects.

I still think Scott and Eric were right, trying to warm the RFD, using high energy. What else would such a massive power source (nuclear power pack?) be for?

Very suspicious.

LOL ... Forget about a leak, what happens when the "beam" goes into the RFD, past it, then hits an airliner passing the storm, and everyone's head onboard explodes?
 
Having lived in Los Alamos for 13 years until just this last December, this whole thread is pretty funny to me. Here's some perfectly worthless info for you:

1) I never once saw that vehicle while I lived there. If I had, I damn sure would have taken notice, and only about 11,000 people live in LA.

2) Many years ago, I contacted a couple guys at the lab when I heard they were studying/researching sprites. (In laymen's terms, lightning above a storm) There are a LOT of projects at the lab, though. I sure can't say that had anything to do with it, but...

3) The whole deal sounds like a B-movie.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

cdcollura
Storm Chasing Equipment Failure - Lightning? Radiation?
Replies
3
Views
3K
Ryan McGinnis
Ryan McGinnis
Back
Top