Chasing blizzards - what's the point?

[ChristofferB]

I see on Twitter that numerous reports and photos are coming on from the blizzard in New York. Living in a country that get blizzards now and then I can't really see the point of chasing a snow storm. I mean, you can't really see anything, right?

To some extent I guess the same goes for hurricanes but you can get some cool footage out of that, as I have seen. For me, it's all about the visual beauty (and contrast) of a tornado or a super cell that makes storm chasing so appealing.

On a different note, I have tried to stay away from this forum as long as I could during the off-season in order not to get excited about this season too early. There are still four months until I get to go...but, it was just too difficult

 

[Adam Lucio]

I enjoy extreme weather and blizzards certainly fit the bill. The GHD blizzard we had here in 2011 had insane thunder and lightning, wind gusts over 60, even 70mph. It even hailed while snowing (I didnt even know that was possible until it happened.) So I can see why some people would want to "chase" the events. Especially if they have media arrangements for ENG video.

As for me personally, I wont travel the distances I do to pursue tornadoes, but if a high end, extreme blizzard event presented itself within an hour or 2 from home, I would bite.

Now what I DONT understand...at all...are people who will drive hours to "chase" a snowfall event when the forecast only calls for 6 or 8 inches. To each their own though.

 

[ChristofferB]

Thunder, lightning and hail during a blizzard - that would actually be quite interesting. I have never heard the likes of it but on the other hand, we don't get those types of blizzards here in Sweden!

Hail is actually so uncommon and so little understood that I quite often hear: "It's hailing in the middle of the summer! This is crazy!". We pretty much only get thunderstorms in July/August over here.

 

[JamesCaruso]

I just happened to be thinking of this topic before I saw it. I live in the Philadelphia area and have been on a local weather forum monitoring last night's / today's big nor'easter - which, by the way, has turned out to be a big disappointment in my area. Anyway, someone on the forum mentioned going up to Massachusetts to "chase" the storm, and I was wondering exactly what that meant: did he just want to be safely ensconced in a hotel somewhere with high snowfall totals? Or would he actually try to be out driving around, either during the storm or after when the roads started to clear but he could still get good pictures?

Anyway, I can see the appeal of chasing blizzards or big winter storms. Just as I love all storms, I love the drama of a big snowstorm, and as a weather weenie I certainly hope for big snowfall totals every time a storm is taking shape on the models. So "chasing" a snowstorm I guess is just a matter of saying, "if the snow's not coming to me, then I'm going to the snow!"

I could imagine doing that when I am retired, when theoretically time won't be a factor (and hopefully money won't either, because I would want to cozy up in a decent hotel), maybe heading from Philadelphia to Boston to get in on an event like they are having at the moment. But I certainly wouldn't go much further than that... Although, for whatever strange reason, I did always have some desire to experience a big Montana blizzard, probably a "sense of place" I picked up from a book a long time ago, where the protagonist was on the run from the law and for part of his journey he was holed up in a quaint Montana motel during a blizzard There has always been something I liked about a big snowstorm hitting when I happened to be traveling for business. Yes, I love the storm itself, but there's something about it hitting while I'm on the road and in a hotel, I can't explain it...

Of course, the best is still when it hits in my own back yard, particularly on a weekend when I can enjoy it with the family without having to decide whether or not to try to get to the office.




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[JamesCaruso]

...On a different note, I have tried to stay away from this forum as long as I could during the off-season in order not to get excited about this season too early. There are still four months until I get to go...but, it was just too difficult

Christoffer, I feel the exact same way during the offseason about the forum and, really, anything at all having to do with chasing. I don't want to get excited and anxious about the season too early - especially in a year like this where work and family stuff may limit my chasing to just a week during peak season, or if I can get two weeks it may end up being post-peak in June.

But on the other hand, this is the time that needs to be used for learning. And at least no one can chase now anyway, so there's no reason to feel anxious because we're not missing anything. To be on the forum, and follow the weather in general, during the spring if I can't be out there, now THAT is gut-wrenching!

 

[Dan Robinson]

A blizzard/ice storm chase is in the same category of a hurricane chase, at least to me. It's about being there to witness and experience a weather extreme. That said, I'm similar to Adam in that I don't find a snowstorm interesting enough to travel more than a couple of hours from home for one. A blizzard is definitely a hunker-down-in-a-hotel type 'chase' in that it's usually not possible to drive around in one, even with the biggest 4WD truck you could find.

When it comes to big winter storms, I find major ice storms more interesting and am willing to travel farther for one of those. There are many great photo ops with significant icing, especially after the storm when the sun comes out.

The icy road coverage trips that I've been doing for years are whole different animal in that it doesn't take a significant storm to cause chaos on the roads. Most of the events where I've captured that type of footage have come with the very light winter precip events that barely reach warning criteria.

 

[Royce Sheibal]

The only time I enjoy a good blizzard, is when the blizzard chases me...to Colorado...when I'm skiing. I was in Winter Park for the record breaking 120" snowfall in March of 2003, the passes were closed for days, no one in, no one out. Normally during March there's a couple feet of snow on the ground in the city, but it was amazing seeing snow up to 2nd story windows. Somehow the buses kept running, but skiing was almost impossible. If you went off the beaten path you'd be into snow over your head and couldn't go anywhere. Also, tons of lightning during the snow forced lifts to shut down for a while. And whilst I'm used to thundersnow in Nebraska, seeing multiple cloud to ground during a snowstorm is freaky.

 

[Kevin Rimcoski]

true there's no nice storm structure like supercells in the plains. I personally would chase a blizard jst for the experience of the weather itself. I've always enjoyed being able to experience storms we got in CT. Just something about getting buried in snow with the wind howling. I just don't know if I'd want to hit Boston or Cape Cod

 

[Bob Schafer]

TWC was forecasting a snowstorm event for the San Juan mountains in early 1987. I drove to Telluride (CO) to ski. The first day saw a few inches of fresh snow, and the skiing was good. The second day I woke up to about 10" of new powder, and the skiing was fabulous. Satisfied and thinking that that was "it", my plan was to drive home on day 3. Oops. Woke up on day 3 and there was a brand new 33" on the ground. All the roads were closed. "Career Day"!

Having done a bunch of skiing in the Colorado mountains over the years I can't help but find it pretty funny when the media goes berserk about a foot of snow somewhere. Wolf Creek ski area averages over 500" of snow annually.

 

[Jeff Duda]

I can certainly understand wanting to venture out into a blizzard if it's extreme in the way Adam described. However, I will never understand someone who will drive hours just to get in position for that. I will also make fun of anyone who live streams a blizzard. I can't believe anyone would pay to see a screen full of gray/white with, at best, very fuzzy detail, and essentially, a video with no texture or real content. Take a still shot with a decent camera - that will tell the story much better than any video.

 

[Robert Forry]

Especially if they have media arrangements for ENG video. .

I'm with Adam on this point. If someone wants to pay for a live stream from my camera pointed out of the house, that's the only way I'd do it. Plus with events like this, I'd be be too busy plowing out driveways for $30-50 a pop...

 

[calvinkaskey]

I see on Twitter that numerous reports and photos are coming on from the blizzard in New York. Living in a country that get blizzards now and then I can't really see the point of chasing a snow storm. I mean, you can't really see anything, right?

To some extent I guess the same goes for hurricanes but you can get some cool footage out of that, as I have seen. For me, it's all about the visual beauty (and contrast) of a tornado or a super cell that makes storm chasing so appealing.

On a different note, I have tried to stay away from this forum as long as I could during the off-season in order not to get excited about this season too early. There are still four months until I get to go...but, it was just too difficult

LOL I'M WITH YOU MAN! not as pretty with the clouds, no ice bombs from the sky, no 300 mph winds, no 50 k degree bolts. I wouldn't even bother chasing a hurricane. Just not exciting visually other than damage and waves.

 

[calvinkaskey]

You guys should chase 6 foot lake effect events off of Tug HIll in New york. Not much traffic in the wilderness there if you can get there lol

 

[Ben Holcomb]

I understand why some people do it, but I think they're crazy. I'd never chase snow.

Well I do take that back, I did chase the Feb 2011 blizzard here. I drove into OKC and got video of an OKCPD car stuck in the snow spinning its tires and made a bunch of $ (just resold it again recently) on it. But it was only marginally worth being cold.

 

[ChristofferB]

The only time I enjoy a good blizzard, is when the blizzard chases me...to Colorado...when I'm skiing.

As far as I understand there are skiers who actually go "storm chasing". Basically, when they hear about a blizzard coming to mountains somewhere they go there in order to enjoy the powder!

Speaking of 2nd rated weather phenomenons to chase. Imagine if rainbows were extremely rare, I think there would be quite a similar culture/discussions around rainbow chasing. Positioning to get it from the right angle, finding the rain that would be most likely to produce the right size of rain drops etc. It would be quite interesting how one would forecast and chase them in that case. After all, rainbows are really pretty - they are just too common.