Could you do it?

[Stephen Levine]

I first started chasing in 1977, and like you Mike, living in SW Ohio -core punching storms at will was the game for me. Chases were always local.

In the early 1990's, during my very first solo trip to the Prairie states, my only "tools" were a weather radio, morning weather data off TV, and a pen and paper for doing "guided writing" during the day where I asked Spirit to come through and guide me regarding my next step. (I know that for some of you readers this sounds awful bizarre, but it still works for me in my regional chases)

Even with that absolute minimum of technology, and ranging from El Dorado KS to Waco, TX, I placed myself right up against a rotating supercell storm near Kingfisher, OK (spectacular meso, with locals going for the cellers) after waiting in anxiety S. of OKC all afternoon because I was guided to wait there and I didn't trust my guidance.

In addition, I witnessed absolutely splendorous skies and placed myself within a tornado-warned storm north of Waco.

The next trips out, I came armed with a radar fax -on- demand service thru Intellicast, motel stops for Weather Channel radars, and ham radio. This minimum of technology brought rewards including witnessing one storm that dropped 6 landspout type tornadoes in NW OK.

It also got me into a terrible internal conflict around the issues of data vs. intuition. When they conflicted, I usually went with data, and this cost me some prizes.

With my on-board radar, a Garmin Marine GPS loaded with WX Works, it's a joy to see the first cells popping up, and being a lightning chaser, also seeing lightning frequency maps.

Having instant radar takes the tension out of the uncertainties of chasing for me.

I belive that ultimately, were we open enough as "channels" of information, that we would not need technology at all. We could merely tap into the "cosmic computer" or quantum field and know instinctively where to go, just as animals do on migration and hunting routes.

However, I myself have not attained this degree of openness, so using the miracles of our present day technology is a real blessing for me.

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

I first started chasing in 1977, and like you Mike, living in SW Ohio -core punching storms at will was the game for me. Chases were always local.

In the early 1990's, during my very first solo trip to the Prairie states, my only "tools" were a weather radio, morning weather data off TV, and a pen and paper for doing "guided writing" during the day where I asked Spirit to come through and guide me regarding my next step. (I know that for some of you readers this sounds awful bizarre, but it still works for me in my regional chases)


I belive that ultimately, were we open enough as "channels" of information, that we would not need technology at all. We could merely tap into the "cosmic computer" or quantum field and know instinctively where to go, just as animals do on migration and hunting routes.

However, I myself have not attained this degree of openness, so using the miracles of our present day technology is a real blessing for me.

Didn't you do something called "muscle testing" with your hands? I might have to try some of this stuff in 2009 at my rate.

 

[Terry Tyler]

i lived and chased like that...thats all ive done the past few years...libraries, my dail up internet at the house, using old rand mac nally maps with the librarys wrote down on em...all this new stuff i bought is just a blessing, iim humbled about it and am going to treat it well...i remebered back when i started...i didnt need the high-tech equipment just as long as i saw a good storm you know...the only reason that i invest in this equipment is to secure the fact ill be better then before, maybe better then ever...

 

[Rob Wadsworth]

Back to the original question, I would say yes - but I like the tools that are available now.
When I went to Hoxie/Quinter this year, all I had was ST opinions/insights on my home computer, the library computers in Stockton KS for NWS/SPC, and my car's AM radio tuned to the station that was running the warning broadcasts. So, I guess that is doing it the old school way - right? Keep in mind this was my first year of chasing - too

It was enough for me to see five tornadoes in two days (22&23May). But on the night of the 23May in WaKeeney, I firmly resolved the need for a laptop w/internet and GR3 - and bought them the following week. There is little doubt in my mind that todays tech far exceeds what was hip only ten years ago. I think GR3 and the laptop w/internet is amazing!

 

[Shane Adams]

Chasing without any mobile data is easy, lots of us have been doing that for years. But chasing without a computer at home...that ain't so easy.

When I started out I watched TWC and local news to get my chase days lined out days in advance, but all this really did was help me know when to ask off work...I wasn't really gleaning any knowledge from a red box on television. What's helped me improve over the years is learning how to interpret real-time surface obs and satellite data, along with forecast models. It's easy for me to say I can chase old-school, as far as once I leave the house. But since I've learned what I'm doing out there, I live and die by home internet access. I'll never be the kinda guy who can look at a paper map like TM uses on his chase videos, and be able to grab subtle data from those. I just don't have the skill. But put me in front of a computer with pretty colors and easy-to-understand legends, and I can nail it. It's not even that I'm learning about forecasting, I just have pre-set parameters in my head of what I like (based on experience in the field) and I lock onto the patterns I recognize in models and understand from their displays. IMO that's not really me learning how to forecast, so much as just being a trained monkey who points at the right spot from memory.

I'm comfortable enough with my ability once in the field to be able to find a storm, but trying to decide where to go from the house, that's something that I'd be in serious trouble with if it weren't for the internet.

 

[B Doss]

I chase with a camera and a atlas or sometimes just a road map of the area. I have a cell phone in case of an emergency. I brought my laptop (no data unless at a wifi location, no software) for two chases last year. I don't know what I would do with the equipment that others haul around and frankly I can't afford it. I can't say my success to failure margin is wider than anyone else on any particular day that I'm aware of. I gather data online the days prior to game time to pin down a target and adjust accordingly, other than that I just use my eyeballs.

 

[Greg McLaughlin]

Mid 90s? It was like this back when I started in 2001. Remember when people were talking about putting DirecTV dishes on the back of their vans to get an Internet connection? The only two things I went out with were my cell phone, a ham radio, and my Delorme maps. I didn't get GPS until 2003. I've only had data while chasing for the last two years. I would not have scored on May 5, 2007 without mobile internet, but nothing really would have changed for me on May 29 of this year because my target was dead on.

I will admit that all of my chases where I scored a tornado, I did have access to some kind of data away from home. Although, in 2004 and 2005 it was limited to truck stop/hotel/restaurant WiFi.

I've lived in the Panhandle for about a year now, so I'm still not very familiar with a lot of the roads and landmarks out here. But, I still have my Delorme paper maps, and I keep those in the car at all times. If it was a chase in the Panhandle for me, I would be totally willing to go chase "old school."

Anywhere else, I'd have to take everything with me and go all out. If I'm getting to chase outside my area, I'm going to use everything I've got because I don't want to drive so far and spend all that money on gas just to go and miss storms again. My chase opportunites are too limited to play around.

Chris, do you remember 2002 when we did our chase expedition and we were out in the texas panhandle....Crosbyton supercell day? I remember we used Dave's cell phone as a modem to connect to the internet. We would wait like 5-10 minutes to get a radar image. I can't imagine waiting that long now.

When I first started chasing in 1997 all I had was an Oklahoma road map, a voice recorder and a cheap 35mm camera. I didn't even have a video camera. I've come a long way since then.

 

[Doug Mitchell]

I miss the good ol' days of looking for a library in town and have the local librarians look on in suspicion. I was actually kicked out of a library in Sioux Falls stating that "only residents could access the internet".

 

[Chris Nuttall]

Chris, do you remember 2002 when we did our chase expedition and we were out in the texas panhandle....Crosbyton supercell day? I remember we used Dave's cell phone as a modem to connect to the internet. We would wait like 5-10 minutes to get a radar image. I can't imagine waiting that long now.

When I first started chasing in 1997 all I had was an Oklahoma road map, a voice recorder and a cheap 35mm camera. I didn't even have a video camera. I've come a long way since then.

Heh. Yeah, I guess I did try to connect to a dial-up ISP with my Nokia and a PCMCIA modem back in 2002. I think I connected once...for 30 seconds. I only got half of a radar image....lol.

 

[Stephen Levine]

Didn't you do something called "muscle testing" with your hands? I might have to try some of this stuff in 2009 at my rate.

Thanks, Mike.. yes, this is incorporated in my arsenal of tools; I find the "guided writing" to be more specific and detailed.

I still do both - even with with the radar at my finger tips- as these tools assist me in dancing with storms as they change their character and direction. Utilizing prayer, guided writing and muscle testing has helped me to "second guess" storms currently in existence and position myself to the right time/space sequence for storms that are yet to birth themselves into being.

I will be fascinated to hear of your results if you honestly choose to try this technique next year....

 

[Alan Broerse]

I do remember those days..."Old School" or "lack of school "days......You chased with a road map,....there was NO county road atlas... GPS.....was something you saw in the latest STAR WARS movie.....We had CB radios....which got you about 2 miles down the road.....cell phones just came in during the mid 80's....but "cell" meant a 20 mile radius --around a large city, with no coverage in between cities..ie OKC to Lawton ect.....You took a look at the live TV coverage, estimated the storm speed and direction...and left the house. The only guide you had was the anvil tops of the storms 50 miles away.....if you were lucky they were discrete cells with 50,000 ft. tops. You learned storm structure up close and personal....not out of a book. You drove to the penetrating top from the east, giving you a peek at the beast hiding in a rotating shroud of rain. You learned that a southeast wind feeing into the storm was good if you wanted too see a tornado. Shear was something you cut wool from a sheep with...unknown as an important tornado ingredient. You learned that if that east wind feeding into the storm went from 10 mph to 50mph....you were way too close to a developing tornado.....that penny hail to tennis ball in a minutes time span meant your car was going to hit nailed...and you might be in the path of a tornado. Video cameras were those $50,000 behemuths that TV stations owned and you were lucky if you owned a decent 35 mm still camera. You learned that RFD doesnt stand for "really fun drive" It only took one 90 mph RFD ride to convince me. When you saw a tornado......you went to a local farm house and phoned the sheriff....or the NWS...but back then neither answered the phone nights and weekends. When I chased on duty as a police officer...we had radio's to relay the message to the TV stations and NWS ....but we still did it the same way....you learned storm structure and dynamics on the job "Training"...you watched for debris and power flashes as touchdown points......not much has changed there......only the hours before the storm studying the models and data.....and the way we get there. Now our vehicles have more electronics than "Circuit City"...wireless internet lets me watch the radar on the 2 hour trip to the storm. Radios...telephones....televisions...anemometers....power inverters....multiple video cams...gps....streaming video.........yes it took a long time to get there....yes we get more tornadoes now......but there was something cool about roughing it back then......do I miss it......yes......and no......would I take for the experience? no money could buy that.......get out and experience life....its priceless.

 

[J.B. Dixon]

Anyone else seeing an angle here for the next season of "Storm Chasers"??? The DOW team with all the bells & whistles, and a team with absolutely nothing but the way Dave Hoadley would plot his surface obs. Maybe it wouldn't be a great angle for the masses, but it would definitely interest me.

 

[Bill Tabor]

I started in 1993 and yep, back then all I had was a road map. I didn't know a thing though, and it is funny when I look back on my video from the first event where I am panning the camcorder around saying this could be a tornado forming pointing at different things. It was a total mystery to me back then. However I was actually successful in scoring a tube my second time out. I didn't realize exactly what I was observing at the time, but it was a forming tornado building in a fog bank. It looked like something from a Stephen King story. Never have seen anything like it since. The RFD hit it and the thing took off across the field.

I recall even back in '97 the day before the Jarrell F5 I was successful in my intercept of a couple of tornadoes and only had a map, and a NOAA radio.

So, yep I can do it. I'm not nearly as high at my hit rate for tornadoes that way though. It is a really good exercise that all chasers should undergo for awhile living without all the resources and learning to look at the bigger picture and look at the whole storm environment.

Also, while I will agree it's much easier now for anyone to find a tornado because of all you mention catching a tornado is still a bit tough the majority of times. Sure if you are talking one of those minor to major outbreaks that really produces anyone could follow the outlook, MD, Watch, Warning. But on less widespread productive days it really helps to understand forecasting and know WHY you are going somewhere. My hit rate is way up because of that. Plus, even if you find the right storm you have to often be very quick, or early or you will miss it. You have to understand the correct part of the storm, and know how to properly intercept. But given someone that can do that...sure eventually you can score a tube by that method.