Back to chasing roots -

[Mike Peregrine]

I think more than a few chasers can relate to feeling overwhelmed at times by the near constant state of chaos surrounding the online community of weather enthusiasts and the digital age in which we find ourselves. Many of us have searched for things at one time or another that will take us back to feelings we may have enjoyed in earlier days when things were simpler. For most chasers, I've found that there was something special early on that made us want to see the sky ... and for a lot of folks, this happened when there were no message boards or forums or chat rooms, or digital photos or video to share. Chasing was a very personal experience. This is something I've been personally working very hard to revive for myself, just because I'm at this point in life where it just feels right.

Different things work for different people, of course, to give them whatever experience they are ultimately looking for in all this. Some may totally thrive on and really get a kick out of the online environment. For me, though, I've started using the forums during the spring for the most part, and then migrating elsewhere to concentrate on other things that deserve attention for most of the rest of the year. It's almost time for my annual migration ... so I thought with one of my last posts for the '08 season, I'd share a few things that have helped me regain some balance and focus on the things I really enjoy. Maybe some of you can share your thoughts on what you enjoy or what works for you this way.

One thing I see myself affected by is just information overload. I think there really is such a thing as too much information. While I love the forum and use it from time to time, I'm trying to limit this a lot more. I also have a blog aggregator that lets me pick and choose the chasers I want to keep up with that I can check from time to time. It's sort of a chasing buffet of the items I most want to consume. Forums will always have a place and be useful for some things. But I don't feel the need to click on everything anymore. I don't even feel the need to post all of my chase photos at once right after an event. This gives me the freedom to work on photos gradually as I have time, and then release one or two at a time.

Doing this also helps me avoid a lot of commotion in which I would probably get involved otherwise. Some fights are worth fighting ... but let's face it, most just aren't. People weren't made to just interact this way, that's all I know. Frustration can accumulate over time ... and in all honesty, the way we know people in a place like this is almost never what they are actually like in person.

Two weeks ago I sat out in the country, completely alone, under a supercell that was lighting up the sky. The crickets were chirping, the fireflies were flashing, the stars came out behind the storm and I thought ... "oh yeah, this is why I do this!"

 

[Eric Flescher]

I am reminded why I do this all the time

I don't do it to make money, to get my pics or videos in the papers on CNN or Weather Channel (well would be nice though). I do look at the sky for the storms and tornadoes and the celestial sky at night to get some of "ahas (satori)" that I will remember. And technology has helped capture these ahas. Tornadoes, storms, total solar eclipses , lunar eclipses , observations through telescopes etc etc

It seems a long time ago even before I got to Kansas (1981). First there were the computers , then internet, then websites. I learned about the forum and Stormtrack and this interactivity in between times of chasing that helps bring the gap. Then I learned what blogs were but what the heck was an RSS feed? Then wifi, high speed and more. Some people can catch up with all of it and it takes time. Sometimes you don't, can't or then there is the issue of $$$, time or other pursuits (including work, finding jobs, teaching , websites, hobbies, interests, family etc).

While we are blessed with being in tornado alley, success sometimes comes about in different ways or different amounts. It is difficult to believe that we might have to wait til March 2009 to begin again (or whenever storms arrive again). But we have our videos, photos and accounts.

But what is nice is meeting other chasers on the forum and along the way and even meeting new chasers and others people that become more then email buddies (although that is not bad either). I appreciate the people who helps me with my nowcasting, chasing with others during the years, communicating with/ to my queries about their photos, avatars or had more to say about my blogs, threads or more. Connections they are .

And why I have RSS feeds and constant "rain" of data coming in from different sources, sometimes there is not enough time to look at it all. But I like coming back and "listening and seeing what happened to others" that appear on Stormtrack forum and threads daily and weekly. The personal nature of these "feeds" is nicer in the forum area then clicking on the feeds.

But meeting people like David Hoadley (Stormchasing conference 2001- gosh I was sitting right next to him ) after seeing his published stuff that I had talked to kids about ) and knowing others and meeting other chasers and knowing them that is a rich experience in itself.

I am still battling to get my videos on DVD but at least the forum soothes this battle. I keep telling my students to "try, try , try" so I am plugging away too.

Sometimes its not so much the "chasing" but when settling down to "see what else you got."

 

[Shane Adams]

I've always kept my roots close at heart, which is why I always insist on getting at least a few bare-bones chases in each year (usually only my solo chases). I've found that as time passes, and people evolve, things will inevitably change. That is the nature of life in general. I like that I'm not the same chaser I was in 1998, because that shows growth and experience on my part, which is of course a wonderful thing. However, the other side of this growth process is the gradual loss of that young, naive sense of wonderment, that comes only from ignorance and inexperience. I've found the more I've learned, the less excited I am about a typical chase day, simply because I know what the factors are that have the odds stacked, a skill I didn't possess during the early years of my chase career. But the gain in this far outweighs the loss, at least in my mind.

I can't go back to the chaser I was a decade ago. Things change, things that are bigger than I am, things that control the environment that encompasses my chasing. I resist change at all possible times, but some changes you must go with, or be left behind. I love chasing with my close friends, it's a happiness and success all its own. It's a different experience from my solo, old-school ventures, but it's just as coveted. Nothing can compare with camaraderie. Despite the fact I have never really embraced techno chasing, I still love being out there with Chad, Mick, and Bridge. We argue and fight like teen-aged girls, but we're always laughing at ourselves and having fun. Do we need the gear? Does anybody who learned to chase before it was around? No. It's just a part of the experience when we all chase together. It's a different age of chasing from when I started in 1996, but I enjoy it just as much. Because despite the differences, we're still out there chasing tornadoes.

Getting back to the roots thing, nothing is as satisfying to me as a solo success with nothing but a NOAA radio and a paper map to guide me. Even this is a technical advantage compared to what chasers had in the 70s, but it's the way I learned, so for me it will always be my version of "bare-bones" chasing. Looking at data, making a forecast (or a wishcast), and then driving to the target and observing a tornado, is the best feeling of accomplishment, joy, and satisfaction I've known. My fondest chase memories are not the mega-outbreaks with tons of tornadoes (which are of course fantastic), but rather, those marginal days where I observed a tornado out in the open, that was so brief and "insignificant", that it would've otherwise fallen through the cracks had I not been there to document it. The kind you'll only see on one of my videos. Those are the ones I live for.

As far as the online chasing world, that's always been a love/hate thing for me. I only immerse myself in it because I love chasing. I have many interests outside of chasing, but I don't frequent forums about any of them. A hobby to me is just a hobby; I only care about it while I'm actually doing it, once the activity is done for the day, I forget about it. Chasing is my life's purpose, so naturally I'm always interested in the day-to-day happenings in and around the chasing world, pathetic as that might be to some people. When it's time to chase, I chase. I tend to avoid the 'tabloid' issues until my main chase season ends. Once I can no longer chase for the year, my attention naturally turns to the daily, trivial issues of the game. I've always been opinionated, so that lends itself to my dabbling in any and everything "chasing" that perks my interest. I used to think I was addicted to the internet, but I'm not. I'm just addicted to storm chasing. I only surf about a dozen websites, ever. And more than half of them are chase-related. But I do get burned out at times, and look forward to extended periods of not thinking about chasing, its forums, chats, blogs, or anything.

 

[mike scantlin]

I know exactly how you feel, Mike. This is why I hardly ever post chase reports here, and I've even neglected to post my past 4 or 5 chases on my blog. Around the end of May, I just get this feeling. Its like I feel obligated to share with everyone on the internet. It just feels kind of forced. Its not as special as it used to be.

Sneak Dads car out late at night to drive up to the hill and watch lightning for a few hours. Not thinking about whats happening 100 miles N of me. Not worried about other chasers doing better than me. just enjoying the sky. The awe of nature.

Its not the same anymore. Luckily, I have had a few good local chases with non-chaser buddies that brought that old feeling back. Just talking about life and BSing while watching the most amazing show on Earth. It may have only been for a few hours, but I wasn't worried about who saw tornadoes that day, or if I picked the wrong storm. I didn't care. I mean, hell, I ruined both my still camera and my video camera that night(filming and taking pictures of golfball hail under a carport, wind gust, rain, you get the picture), and I still consider it one of my favorite chases of all time. I went home completely content. I didn't send any video to my station. I didn't get on ST to post what I saw, or see what others saw. I just sat on my hill, shut the computer, and watched natures fireworks.

 

[Dan Robinson]

While I enjoy observing and capturing tornadoes, I have always been more of a lightning fan than anything else. It took buying a DSLR this year to rediscover how great it feels to have a successful lightning photography chase. I'm happier after getting a great lightning shot than I am catching good tornado video. It's been about 7 years since I really put effort into lightning stills, after getting 'sidetracked' by chasing tornadoes in the Plains annually. I will still chase the Plains when I can, but it's not the priority that it was for me.

I'm not sure how much of an influence that economics has in rationalizing this shift, I'm sure it has at least a partial role in it. It's becoming less affordable to do the Plains trips, so I'm more or less forced to find another way to get a storm fix. Chasing just isn't fun when you realize how much it's costing you and what the financial consequences of a long-distance chase will mean (credit card debt, faster wear on an aging vehicle, less money to spend on other parts of life).

Thankfully for me, lightning happens everywhere, and I don't have to travel much to get it. This past June yielded more lightning captures in West Virginia (most within 30 miles of home) than all of my Plains and out-of-state ventures during the past 7 years combined! I even got into tennis-ball sized hail 10 miles from home. Consequently I'm less motivated than I've ever been to drive more than a couple of hours for a storm. If I can have a month like June 2008 for next to nothing in cost, why pay for the mileage to chase long-distances?

 

[Dann Cianca]

It took a long while for me to decide whether to respond to this post or not. I don't have near the experience as many chasers on this forum. Storms have always been a part of my life, however. Growing up in Montana, I was far away from mesocyclones, wall clouds, and killer tornadoes. 1.5" hail was unbelievable. I grew up watching The Weather Channel and sitting on my front porch through every summer thunderstorm. My first introduction to storm chasing, from what I recall, came from Warren Faidley videos on TWC.

As soon as I got my license in 1996, I would leave the house in Butte and set up on a road with a view to watch the storm come in. My grandfather really encouraged my passion for meteorology and accompanied me to spotter training in the late 90's.

Storm chasing for me then was just going out and observing. Occasionally I'd see a little rotation and I was always ready to fly back into town to call it in ... (didn't have a cell phone back then and knew nothing (still really don't) about radios.

I moved to Colorado in 2004 to pursue my degree in Meteorology, which I just completed this spring, and it is here where my storm chasing opportunities have really been realized. I'd say I have been actively chasing for the past three years. In my life, I've chased 44 times.

... and I have yet to see a tornado.

That's an 0-44 record. Maybe I should put that on my signature.

I don't have a laptop. I chase with my DeLorme atlases, a weather radio, a camera, and a towel. If there's one thing I've learned ... always bring a towel! I do have a phone with MyCast on it, but that only works in Colorado (not in Nebraska or Kansas) ... and it's spotty.

Sometimes I just want to say "screw it" and buy the laptop, get the aircard ... and drive toward the little pink triangle. I've watched people I know, some who don't even have much an interest in meteorology, buy the equipment, go out twice a year and get their tornadoes.

... that's a little frustrating. But I guess, I want my first time to be special. Like Shane said, one of the most rewarding things is to go out and experience the storm on your own. A storm that you forecasted and you chased without having a carrot dangling in front of your face.

I know I sound like I'm talking about 'virginity", but when it comes to tornadoes ... that's where I'm at. I know that first time will be amazing ... because I'm waiting, forecasting, and trying to use what little instinct I've acquired as a meteorologist. Of course, it always could be a fluke ... I could just be driving to work one day and see a random Denver landspout.

The point of it all for me is, though I've gone out a lot over the last few years, I don't consider any chase a bust. Every time I got out, I learn something, I experience or see something that I wouldn't while sitting home in my room on the computer. Sure, gas is expensive, but I wouldn't trade any of my chases in for twice the cost of the fuel spent.


Dann.

 

[David Hoadley]

Back to chasing roots --

Mike Peregrine's "Back to chasing roots" is a recurring observation by veteran chasers over the years --- "feeling overwhelmed...by...the digital age", "information overload" and missing the "earlier days when things were simpler".

The technology that improves our material well being in the broader world also enhances storm chasing, while redefining what some count as success. No one seriously advocates a return to the old days of ignorance and missed opportunities. However, it is useful to understand what we have given up in the process. As improved knowledge shapes our reasoning and improved measurement guides our decisions, the measure of success has become more quantifiable --how many seen, how close, how long in the lens, etc.. What has been lost is the magic and the mystery that made each storm special --what caused it, why did it happen where it did, why didn't it happen when it should? Luck was a large part of each success, which made the individual less responsible for his or her mistakes. Now, with all the techy-tools at hand, failure becomes more of a personal deficiency: "How could you not have seen it coming?" "Why did you rely on this model, when EVERYONE knew that one was better?" "Well, I had a continuous signal from..." etc.

There was once an "age of innocence" in this as in so many other things our grandfathers once did in small town America (e.g. buggy rides, hand-cranked ice cream, concerts in the park), and there is a certain charm and nostalgia for doing it "the old fashioned way." Not that it was better, just more comprehensible and dependent on individual ingenuity and skill. Each of us enjoys storm chasing in his or her own way, which is as it should be. For myself, Mike's comments ring true. Some of us are a little over-whelmed with the multiple choices of technology (what is the latest and best) and regret how it increasingly *reduces* the wonderful mysteries of life and the natural world into so many chromosomes and data-bites.

However, for the hopeless romantic even in this catalogued and defined age, we still have only to look up into a clear night sky and visit the latest Hubble images to find mysteries that continue to enthrall and confound, even as they did our grandfathers --and quite enough for several lifetimes.

- - - David Hoadley

 

[Scott Bell]

This is an interesting topic, as I had a similar discussion with a non-chasing friend that I took out for a couple days this past spring. He is an avid hunter, as am I, and we both have fished a lot in the past. The comparisons to the development of these hobbies are very parallel. Here are the stages using fishing as an example:

Stage 1: catch a fish...any fish will do really, but you GOTTA catch one.

Stage 2: catch a limit...any limit, but catch them.

Stage 3: catch LOTS of fish. Preferably big fish, but you really don't mind little ones either. The first day you can say "I caught xx fish" is a huge milestone in your life

Stage 4: catch trophy fish...You have to catch the biggest, baddest fish in the lake or the day is a complete bust.

Stage 5: relaxing stage...you just enjoy the fishing for itself. Catching fish is great, but you don't have to in order to enjoy the day. The stream, the sun, the time spent with friends are all parts of what makes it an enjoyable experience.

It's the same thing with most hobbies I guess. I know that all of my hobbies seem to progress along a similar path. Every person works through stages at their own pace, and may never move on to other stages (many people are completely happy catching a limit every time out and that's fine).

 

[Mike Peregrine]

David Hoadley, you represent the very best in us. I hope you know that.

Your poetic take on some of the elusive aspects of things that the rest of us ache to describe but just can't quite is always so enjoyable! It also helps us relate to each other in a better way than we can simply posting messages back and forth online. Your posts often pinpoint the connecting threads between people. Thanks much for your thoughts, and to all the other nice thoughts in this thread ... it makes this year feel somehow complete.

This reminds me of something you wrote back in 1982, you said that storm chasing is the:

experience of something infinite, a sense of powers at work and scales of movement that so transcend a single man and overwhelms the senses that one feels intuitively (without really seeking) something eternal -but ephemerial- almost a conscious thought, but just below the surface. As when a vertical 50,000' wall of clouds glides silently away to the east (intermittent, distant thunder) and goes golden in a setting sun against a deep, rich azure sky, one can only pause and look and wonder.

 

[Adam Lucio]

Stage 5: relaxing stage...you just enjoy the fishing for itself. Catching fish is great, but you don't have to in order to enjoy the day. The stream, the sun, the time spent with friends are all parts of what makes it an enjoyable experience.

I am totaly at that stage with fishing! I just like to be out there.

Its the same with chasing too. I am fascinated by ANY severe weather. Some chasers are only about tornadoes and nothing else. I want it all. Awesome shelf clouds, hail...everything. Ive driven as far as Colorado and got nothing but nickel hail and I came home with a huge smile on my face. Plus I LOVE to travel, to drive on long dark roads with my music blaring through the speakers. Seeing all the sights of the country and meeting people along the way. The whole thing is an adventure, each trip having its own unique aspects of it...catching a tornado just makes it that much more climactic.

 

[beaudodson]

I used to be thrilled just to get StormTrack in the mail.

 

[Erik Burns]

I am totaly at that stage with fishing! I just like to be out there.

Its the same with chasing too. I am fascinated by ANY severe weather. Some chasers are only about tornadoes and nothing else. I want it all. Awesome shelf clouds, hail...everything.

I am right there with you!! Yeah I sure do enjoy getting a nader, but I must say the excitement would not be nearly as good if we didn't have all the other elements of chasing with it.

To me there is nothing on this earth that puts me in awe than a sculpted monster textbook supercell with a mothership meso. I would take amazing structure over a low contrast , almost hidden by the rain tornado any day.

Some of the best chases I have ever had was on non tornado days, being with good friends, meeting new people, going through little tiny towns I will never remember the name of ( some of them I still do ), seeing wildlife, trying different resturants.. I love just being out there.. It's not just about tornadoes, it's about an adventure.

When I first started chasing it was all about the tornadoes. I went 2 years without seeing one. It was when I didn't stress myself out about seeing one and just enjoyed being out there is when I started to bag them. Now 24 tornadoes and 3 years later , I will wait up all night when I know a MCS is going to roll through, grab my camera, get in a good spot for some photos, shoot some lightning, and try to get into some hail or wind. I just love being under the clouds.

 

[Susan Strom]

For me the "roots" are in the search for something primitive and wild. Lightning has always been my #1 quest. I have a couple paragraphs that explain this best I think http://www.lightninglady.com/aboutme.htm

"To me, a primitive thing like a lightning bolt possesses a kind of purity.
It is as if there are two realms to the world, man's various infrastructures,
and the vast and timeless world of natural things."

Some technologies are helpful but I forgo too many gadgets so as not to dilute the whole point of the experience, being in an environment still wild and untamed, especially in the heart of the Sonoran Desert.

 

[Kevin Myatt]

Going out with a new group of students each year ... most in college, a few still in high school ... has helped keep chasing fresh for me. Every year, with 8 or 9 of our group of 12, it's the first chase of their lives, and half or more typically have never been west of the Mississippi. What might otherwise seem like a mediocre chaser of a marginally severe storm early in the trip is an exciting new adventure to many of them, and that excitement rubs off on me anew.

Chasing storms near home in Southwest Virginia throughout the summer keeps the fires stoked. The Blue Ridge Mountains can be a stunning setting for thunderstorms. (Here is an example, and here's another one.) The terrain and forest visibility issues are somewhat offset by the ability to get to elevated viewpoints to watch storms. Besides, chasing mutlicell/linear/pulse stuff in rough terrain keeps me sharp for maneuvering on the big storms in the open Plains during the spring. Last year, I successfully tracked down a pulse storm microburst, which is really more difficult to do than finding a tornado in a supercell.