Basic storm chasing process

[Doug Russell]

Hello everyone,

I’m a long time enthusiast of storms but a very new storm chaser. I’m trying to synthesize all of the information I have learned studying storms to form a general storm chasing process. My wife and I will soon be living in the central part of KS for work. Chases will predominately be chased in KS only, but depending on the circumstances, we may be willing to chase into either southern NE or northern OK. I realize that each person is unique and has their own chasing strategies, but does my general process get me on the right track?

1. Monitor various models days in advance to see if there is a potential for thunderstorm development. Consult the SPC Convective Outlooks. From all of this information, a general area where storms are likely to develop is chosen.​

2. On the road models, radar, satellite imagery, surface and upper air charts are consulted. This narrows the target area for the chase. My understanding is to be able to identify dryline/warm fronts and be positioned in those areas.

3. Be in the area before a tornado warning is issued and follow the thunderstorms. Might get lucky!​

Anything I am not considering? Is the order of operations ok?

To give you a little background on what I’ve studied so far over the past two or three months:

- Halfway through watching all of Rich Thompson’s tornado forecasting videos
- Halfway through reading Weather Forecasting Handbook by Tim Vasquez
- Countless articles and videos regarding Skew-T, hodographs, station plots, cold and warm fronts, drylines, how to interpret radar, and topics on chasing safety
- Watched a lot of videos by Skip Talbot, especially his analysis videos
- Hours of reading this forum and tracking storms on RadarScope
- My wife and I went on our first chase in Southwest Iowa a few weeks ago! Took some beautiful photos of the storm. It was a lot of fun and much learning even though we did not see a tornado. A tornado landed 30 miles north of us though!

 

[Todd Lemery]

Doug, you're doing everything you should as far as making the effort to learn what's going on during a chase day as far as I can tell. I'll just beat this into the ground a bit more for you in hopes of good chases in your future. If at all possible, find somebody locally with some chasing experience to team up with a couple of times. The knowledge you gain from all your reading and studying is great, but spending some time with someone with experience will really shorten the learning curve. Post on the "chase partner" thread and see if you can go with someone from your area. If you are able to hook up with an experienced chase partner for your first few chases, you'll be way ahead of the learning curve. Just getting out with an experienced chaser could knock a huge amount of time off the learning curve. If not, you'll still get there but, won't have to re-invent the wheel...

 

[Paul Knightley]

Agree with Todd.

Additionally, I would say that finding a storm is actually not so hard these days, with the profusion of better models/convection-allowing models, as well as real-time info from many sources, which you can access on the chase. However, once on a storm, this is really when experience starts to be a big plus, including keeping options open, and planning an 'escape route' at all times; trying to anticipate the storm's next move (not easy!), and adjusting your tactics accordingly; making judgement calls as to when to leave a storm when other storms may be more likely to produce (this entails an understanding of the evolving situation, including working out where the 'best' storm environment is), and so on. When in the heat of the chase you need to try to keep a cool head - even experience doesn't always help here!

 

[Greg Flint]

I'm a novice, so tagging along with someone in the beginning certainly would have helped my success rate early on so i can confirm/agree with what everyone above is saying. If you cannot find someone to tag along with, understanding the storm motion/speed is very important early on. Understanding how fast the storm will move, and knowing the road network around the storm you will be chasing is very important because early on you find yourself "reacting" a lot, while most chasers with more knowledge are proactively positioning themselves based on their experience. You won't have that experience, so you want to put yourself in the best position possible without taking uncessary or unknown risks. You should have a good understanding or feel if your vehicle or tires will be able to handle clay/mud/dirt/gravel etc. Has the terrain you are chasing on been effected by the storm (i.e. flooded roads or mud make for impossible conditions at times.)

During your first couple of chases, if at all possible, try to position yourself far away enough where you can gain visual cues on the storm and this is where your reading/preperation may pay off. Hanging out under a wall cloud is likely not the best idea, because you may be too close to have all of the visual clues to understand what is really going on with your storm. Hang back early on, but again, you need to know how fast your storm will be moving/cycling because if you don't you may put yourself in danger or playing catch up.

Lastly, knowing your role and your chase partners role is important in my opinion. You each have a role, one to drive ONLY, and one to navigate/storm spot and lots more. Its a MUST for the passenger to be able to read a map and understand at any given moment know which way North South East or West is. I think this can be a very important aspect of chasing, directional awareness. Do not underestimate each of yours ability and practice without cell phone coverage. While coverage is better today than it was years ago, you need to be able to chase with a map and visual cues on the storm alone without help from technology should you be in a situation where power goes out.

Even if you practice with "pop-up" thunderstorms that don't have a chance of producing tornados, you gain experience just being out there and putting your situational awareness through the test.

 

[michael beard]

Pay attention to where hail cores are. Never go down dirt roads unless you know the roads and know you can out run the storm before it turns into mud. Always have some sort of head protection for suprise hail if you are outside your vehicle watching the storm.

 

[Paul Knightley]

...and (which all of us 'forget') - remember the lightning! If you have to get out, position under overhead lines to benefit from the 'cone of protection' - but don't rely on it completely! If you're downshear of a strong mesocyclone, expect frequent CG lightning - quite often, in a well-developed supercell with a strong low-level mesocyclone, and a decent 'tilt' of the updraught, these will be powerful +ve strikes. Very impressive, but pretty scary!

 

[Doug Russell]

Thank you, everyone, for all of this invaluable advice! I’m glad to know that I’ve narrowed down the general process, and from here it calls for more learning and refining. More time needs to be spent studying models and what they're telling me, and learning how to interpret what I'm seeing so that I can be better positioned. Though I'll soon be living in good old tornado alley, I don't want my chases in Kansas to be reactionary (getting in the car at 5:30PM when the county over gets a tornado warning). I want to strategically think about what I'm doing, why it works or doesn't work, and be in the right area for good things to happen!

If at all possible, find somebody locally with some chasing experience to team up with a couple of times.

Will definitely do this!

Lastly, knowing your role and your chase partners role is important in my opinion.

Very true. The driver must not have their head in the clouds! Being a safe driver is most important thing at all times, stormchasing or not. My wife is the driver because she’s great at it, is relaxed, and follows the rules of the road. She’s also great at photography and that is her other role too, when the car is parked of course.

Pay attention to where hail cores are. Never go down dirt roads unless you know the roads and know you can out run the storm before it turns into mud. Always have some sort of head protection for suprise hail if you are outside your vehicle watching the storm.

Excellent idea! We’ll take a trip to Walmart and get some hard hats.

 

[Mike DeLange]

Speaking from experience, hope this helps...

Try to estimate/understand what potential weather you may encounter on the way back home (this is especially true when chasing W of your origin, having to drive back to the East and through junk such as MCS/wind events, etc)

Also, please be aware how tired you may be post-chase (adrenaline, early morning on the road, long chase day) and be prepared to stop for rest or get a hotel, etc. It takes "no time" to get to target only to figure out you are 6 hours from home at 10pm and need to work the next day. =)

I would also suggest downloading maps ahead of vs relying on cell sig or have a backup paper atlas for that tried and true old school feel.

One last note - when utilizing radar, keep tabs on your radar time stamp for accuracy and safety; at the same time, chase with your eyes whenever possible. Radars have delays. Radar/(data) can stop without warning. Try developing a scan routine, much like a pilot does gauge scans for accuracy, checks and balances.

Have fun, be safe!
-Mike D