CHANGES YOU WILL MAKE FOR NEXT SEASON

[SteveCarter]

For a mount on your dashboard for a camcorder...try velcro. Simple, it REALLY works, and you can just pull the camcorder right out when you need to get out and move about. It really is a steady pic too. It really comes in handy when the storm is in front of you, and you can adjust it any time you want to. Some of the best shots I've gotten has been from the dashboard. Another thing I'm doing different next year is NOT leaving a storm to get to another one until I KNOW for SURE the first storm has bottomed out. I can't say how many storms I've painstakingly got to, and then left to early, and then heard it go tornado-warned 20 minutes after I abandoned it. Have to be more PATIENT.

 

[John Erwin]

Learn more
This is on my list every year. I try to study as much as possible in the off-season.

Better preparation
While I tend to plan out my annual "chase-cation" very well I'm not so good at keeping a good level of readiness for local setups, which became oh-so-apparent this past year when I was basically only catching the tail-end of some really wild stuff here. Specifically here's what I need to do:

- keep chase vehicle gas tank above half at all times. Got caught on this one recently and it cost me valuable time getting out to target.
- Perform all preventative and planned corrective maintenance on vehicle and equipment outside of "normal" chase season.
- keep chase "go" kit ready at all times; no fun trying to find stuff when time is limited.
- keep closer tabs on local weather and trust personal forecasts to determine potential targets over what is being provided through official channels, which has proven to be too little/too late/wrong.
​

Budget
I plan on creating an extra account that I'll keep a reserve of cash in for the sole purpose of chasing. If something unplanned comes up and I'm a bit tight it means I won't get tempted into dipping into other funds or using the ol' credit card as much.

 

[David Mikulec]

1) More study time

2) Keep closer eye on local conditions (which hopefully will be better next year)

3) More chasing / Less armchairing

optional: better camera

 

[Joey Ketcham]

Yea, the El Reno tornado was back in 06. I really need to get a portable TV for those chases close to a big city where I can get radar updates and cut-ins from the TV station.

This is several pages in, so someone may have already mentioned this.. I have a USB TV tuner for my laptop that works great.. might look into doing that.

 

[Josh Richardson]

1. Getting away from the northern plains and back down south more.

2. Adding F5 Data to my list of products to use.

 

[Michael Towers]

1. Take an extra trip to the Southern Plains and extend my annual trip.

2. Buy a better camcorder, maybe an HD.

3. Learn more and rely less on the forecasts of others.

 

[Skip Talbot]

NOT leaving a storm to get to another one until I KNOW for SURE the first storm has bottomed out.

That can bite you either way. On May 5 Chad and I were under a big junky whale's mouth. We were sure it was done and were in the process of bailing from it when a big cone dropped on the north end of it. We almost missed it had I not seen it out of the corner of my eye. After the tornado lifted we had to keep up with the storm to really make sure it was done, and got snarled up in Great Bend. Meanwhile the cells to south started dropping tubes and although we bagged a tube, it was a multi-tornado day if you played the line right. So definitely don't blow off a storm early, but also don't follow some embedded, tease wall cloud into oblivion while Tail-End-Charlie starts spinning up to the south.

 

[Scott Roberts]

Biggest changes for next year:

Stick with the early target. Surprising how many times I nailed a target previous night or in the early AM, only to change my mind as I left town ... and regret it.

If in doubt, stay home. I just have too much going on and requiring my time (like multiple hours of work in the overnight hours that go much slower when I'm in the field) to do much more than local chasing.

 

[Verne Carlson]

I have some big plans for next year!

First and most exciting is that I have my 'Wicked Witch Project' RC video and camera planes that I will be deploying in and near thunderstorms to try and get some unique shots of storm faetures and tornadoes.

Second I will use my RC glider and a 30 sq foot parasail kite to get high resolution 'first light' photographs of tornado damage paths. I would like to document the damage through towns and also the subtle multi-vortex swirl patterns visible in crops only seen from the air. Also I want to document a seldom photographed phenomenon - hail swaths. Unless a TV News copter catches them they have already melted before a conventional aircraft can get to the area.

Beyond that I am leaning more towards saving my vacation for MOD and HIGH risk days and moving away from the prolonged chase-cations. Favoring more 3-4 day trips around big events. Chase early and chase late, May and June just don't cut it anymore.

 

[Michael O'Keeffe]

Don't second guess everything I do.

Get closer, better, higher quality video.

Don't chase SLGHT risk (busted on every SLGHT this year) further than 150 miles away.

Continue improving and adding to our website.

And of course learn to forecast better, there's always more room for imporvement.

 

[Chris Wilburn]

I agree with Michael above about chasing slight risks greater than say 200 miles or so. I know there are exceptions, but this has burned me out in the past, esp. if you do it a few times in say a couple week span. Other changes would be letting the tripod film while I get several digital pics. of storms. This was my first year to shoot video and I spent too much time with my camcorder and didn't end up with too many good digital pics. from this year. Of course learning more about forecasting is always a priority each season. Avoiding them mud/clay/"black ice" type roads to avoid getting stuck. Try to chase as many moderate/high risks as possible.

 

[Jim Rood]

1) Stop chasing the Slight Risk areas completely! Waste of time and $$$.
2) Keep a log of the good Beef Jerky brands (cattle country) and cheese curd brands (Wisconsin chasing only!!)
3) Take a sick day or two and travel to the MDT areas

 

[Bill Tabor]

Fix my stupid notebook USB port that kept making me lose my gps tracking in all sorts of crazy weather situations last year.

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

Sweet, it's good to hear so many are not wanting to chase the slight risks. A large chunk of the cooler storms I've seen were slight risk days. Risks mean ziltch to me and I'm not sure why they'd mean much to others. You can have a fantastic setup with only a couple storms likely to develop and be in a slight risk. Or you can have a higher risk, high speed unidirectional shear, and low instability...and know in your head it's going to suck.

Here are a few crappy slight risk chase days I can recall.

http://www.extremeinstability.com/04-5-16.htm
http://www.extremeinstability.com/04-7-12.htm
http://www.extremeinstability.com/04-6-13.htm
http://www.extremeinstability.com/04-5-28.htm
http://www.extremeinstability.com/05-11-12.htm
http://www.extremeinstability.com/02-07-26.htm

(yikes May 12, 2004 sc KS was a slight risk too....wished I'd have chased that day)

2004 was FULL of "crappy slight risk" days. Most of mine above have 2004 dates. Plus the May 12 day I just mentioned(think long lived flying saucer tornadic beast). Just found this one too, July 7, 2004 a fairly good sized tornado outbreak in nc KS. That one storm up there that day was on TWC over and over and had some of the best structure in all of 2004....and that is saying something. May 10, 2004 slight risk. Tornadic machine east of Denver anyone?

So I don't know. I'll be glad if the roads are really more vacant on all these horrible slight risk days.

 

[Paul Knightley]

I think we will probably not drive all the way to Montana or N Dakota for a SLGT risk! As we're limited by our 2 weeks vacation, we always try for most days, but I've found that invariably if we had stayed in AMA we could have got some quite decent storms, rather than busting a gut to get to the better shear!

 

[Andrea Griffa]

Sweet, it's good to hear so many are not wanting to chase the slight risks. A large chunk of the cooler storms I've seen were slight risk days. Risks mean ziltch to me and I'm not sure why they'd mean much to others. You can have a fantastic setup with only a couple storms likely to develop and be in a slight risk. Or you can have a higher risk, high speed unidirectional shear, and low instability...and know in your head it's going to suck.

Here are a few crappy slight risk chase days I can recall.

http://www.extremeinstability.com/04-5-16.htm
http://www.extremeinstability.com/04-7-12.htm
http://www.extremeinstability.com/04-6-13.htm
http://www.extremeinstability.com/04-5-28.htm
http://www.extremeinstability.com/05-11-12.htm
http://www.extremeinstability.com/02-07-26.htm

(yikes May 12, 2004 sc KS was a slight risk too....wished I'd have chased that day)

2004 was FULL of "crappy slight risk" days. Most of mine above have 2004 dates. Plus the May 12 day I just mentioned(think long lived flying saucer tornadic beast). Just found this one too, July 7, 2004 a fairly good sized tornado outbreak in nc KS. That one storm up there that day was on TWC over and over and had some of the best structure in all of 2004....and that is saying something. May 10, 2004 slight risk. Tornadic machine east of Denver anyone?

So I don't know. I'll be glad if the roads are really more vacant on all these horrible slight risk days.

Saint words, Mike! My first chasing commandment is: Don't let yourself be conditioned by spc risks, even if it's simple to say but just more difficult to do.

 

[Dan Robinson]

Never discount a day based on the SPC risks! The SPC risks factor in storm coverage in addition to severity. In other words, a risk of one or two isolated supercells over the Texas panhandle may warrant only a slight risk, because the storms will only affect a small total area. 5/9/2003 and 5/12/2004 were slight risk days involving only one supercell - a strong tornado-producing one, but only a single one. A moderate risk implies greater coverage and number of storms.

 

[Shane Adams]

It's important to note that SPC outlooks reflect storm coverage, not storm intensity. A solid forecast whether there's one storm or ten in your target is still a solid forecast, and worth putting some faith in IMO. Then again, I'm kinda like H...I'd love it if the roads were empty on "green circle" days


EDIT: Sorry, didn't read Dan's post above before I posted this one. I basically just repeated what he said.

 

[Tony Laubach]

In regards to limiting myself to certain days... as most anyone who knows me and my chasing, I chase just about anything that moves regardless where it is! And I'll continue to do so! I echo Hollingshead's comments; higher vacancy rate! I don't mind busting; I'm on the road enroute to randomness! So long as that desire remains, chasing is an excuse for a road trip! Now I won't chase a 'SEE TEXT' all over creation, but slights... hell yeah!

 

[Patrick Martin]

Chase more. Am setting aside 5-10 vaca days to use for ad-hoc midweek chase trips. Need to also be better aware of local opportunities (within 100 miles) that can be reached after work. If there is even a small chance of an "after work" chase, need to be sure I have everything with me. Missed out on a couple of opportunities b/c of leaving all the gear at home.

07 was the first year I felt I actually had a handle on forecasting basics, reading models, and ability to choose a viable target. Need to invest time and effort in this area to improve.

Need to purchase or build some sort of laptop mount. Having it on a mickey mouse setup on the passenger seat did not prove effective in 07.

Purchase detailed road atlas for: KS, NE, TX, OK, SD . I'm set for CO (it never leaves the car) and already run Streets & Trips w/GPS, but don't want to have the GPS or laptop poop out, and be in an unfamiliar area with no backup.

Do a better job of networking. I don't have a chase partner (other than my wife when her schedule allows) and having a nowcaster or other people to caravan with would be welcome.

May explore a wireless data plan to access information beyond WxWorx which I already run, but cost/benefit may be an issue.

 

[Martin Kucera]

Will get a fast powerboat in April and finally film & research big waterspout events here in the Keys the way it is supposed to be done. Been planning for a few years now to do just that... nobody will see me at work for at least three months.

 

[Scott Taylor]

Changes for next season:

- Chase more than once. If possible.

I rarely ever get the opportunity to take to the plains anymore. Hopefully things will align for me better in '08 for more than one chase opportunity.

 

[Laura Duchesne]

1. Save money - I agree that's easier said than done. That means I need to start saving as soon as I'm done my xmas shopping and that also means I cannot go to the mall for fun anymore. I can be such a shopaholic lol.

2. Buying an older Toshiba Satellite laptop from my dad who got it from my sister. My sister bought a brand new Sony Vaio, and my dad was going to sell the older laptop to some guy for $700, but he's going to give it to me for $500... I borrowed it for two weeks last season and it worked well for what I needed it for. I originally thought of getting a brand new laptop that weighed less, but I came to the conclusion that it just wasn't feasible for me to do. I would only use it for blogging and download wx models, and using grlevel 3.

 

[Jeff Miller]

Buying an older Toshiba Satellite laptop

Bad news here. These things are absolutely notorious for overheating and fan problems. Make sure that isn't happening with that before you buy it.

 

[Laura Duchesne]

At least I think it's a satellite.... well I used it last year, it would get a bit warm but it seems to be fine... my dad says it's a good laptop anyways (he's a computer technician nut so I trust him).