Death Ridge Phobia

[Kem Poyner]

I am one of the unlucky chasers who live far from the central plains. I have to take a two week vacation each year to chase my storms. For over ten years I go out to the alley in mid to late May. It seems the last few years, the threat of a "Block" or "death ridge" looms in the air before I leave. I hate to get ulcers watching the long range forcasts before I leave.
This year I am leaving to Chase the First of May. There seems to be alot of activity earlier in May now, and I will be farther away from the Summer set-ups that seem to come early each year. There might be a few less chasers out then too??
If keep chasing in Late May, I am going to invest in a "Roach Coach" type sandwich truck, an follow the TIV. That should be very profitable....

 

[Mike Smith]

If keep chasing in Late May, I am going to invest in a "Roach Coach" type sandwich truck, an follow the TIV. That should be very profitable....

You are probably right! Just be sure you sell film, memory cards, and batteries and it should be very profitable.

Love the entrepreneurial spirit.

Mike

 

[Jeff Miller]

HA!

Oh man, a mobile "Storm chase store" on wheels - like the Ice cream truck.

Film, batteries, SD digital cards, anemometers, spare cameras, laptop data for those ill equipped at a charge, wxworks, you name it - visa, mastercard accepted. Even Allsups burritos. Pulling off at a chase convergence near you.

Outlandish,yes but something in me says I could actually see something like that happening. LOL. At the very least it would make a great cartoon!

 

[Kem Poyner]

I notice that big bellies are also very common with chasers. A couple hot girls flippin' chaser burgers, Doppler gobbler chicken sandwiches, Chocolate/vanilla twist Icecream cones called "The Twister", racks of XXL size TIV T-shirts, And a couple pay toilets. That should effectively clog traffic for miles.

 

[Kem Poyner]

If someone did put a liittle permanent chaser themed joint in Pratt Kansas and maybe a second one in Shamrock Tx, they would probably do well. Any investors?

 

[Bart_Comstock]

I am one of the unlucky chasers who live far from the central plains. ..... It seems the last few years, the threat of a "Block" or "death ridge" looms in the air before I leave. I hate to get ulcers watching the long range forcasts before I leave.
This year I am leaving to Chase the First of May.

.....cant you push your vacation back a few weeks? I don't want your bad luck rubbing off on me since I have that same time off for my chase vacation and could do with out a death ridge and I also hate ulcers.

 

[scott r currens]

There seems to be alot of activity earlier in May now, and I will be farther away from the Summer set-ups that seem to come early each year.

Cool, I'll pencil in an early May Omega block followed by a 2004 like late May/early June. IMO the last 3 chase seasons tell you absolutely nothing about the next one. Go with long-term climatology and hope for the best. Ah, the advantages of spot chasing.

 

[fplowman]

I notice that big bellies are also very common with chasers. A couple hot girls flippin' chaser burgers, Doppler gobbler chicken sandwiches, Chocolate/vanilla twist Icecream cones called "The Twister", racks of XXL size TIV T-shirts, And a couple pay toilets. That should effectively clog traffic for miles.

Who are you ? Where did you come from? Get out of my head.. Go away!

lol

Fred

 

[Shane Adams]

I've always wondered, what with the recent talk of May being so overrated and disappointing, why more chasers don't take their vacations in April? Slower storm speeds are beginning around that time frame, and there's no worries about Summer infringing and stopping things early. IMO April is the most under-estimated chase month. Plus, the tours aren't out yet. Hmmmm, then again, you're probably right.

Just come out in May

 

[afischer]

Never an easy decision. I tried to do the "extended block of time off" for a chase vacation in 2004, and chose early May... oops. All my other years, I've had 6-day stretches off sprinkled throughout spring. I had a solid ~42 days off with which to chase during spring 2007... but still missed a good number of big events and only saw tornadoes on days I chased after work. Doesn't seem to get any easier.

If I had travel from the coast and pre-commit to a chase vacation for 2-3 weeks each year, I'd probably go with late May and/or early June... despite the fact that most of my tornadoes thus far have come in early May.

 

[Terry Tyler]

that actually sounds like an intelligent idea...just gotta factor in the miles to there and whatnot...

hell, if i was out there in the middle of nowhere and someone come up with a hot biscuit and gravy, i would be all about buying it...and you know there are all those people out there who just come to see the storm, and if they see some tee shirt or somethin like that, theyre probably gonna buy it...but yeah...

never heard of one before, so i doubt youll have any competition...just go where all the people are at...

 

[Matthew Fischer]

This year i have two weeks off in late May and first week of June. So hopefully the "omega block" or "Death Ridge" will be in play the first part of the month and then have some cool stacked plates storms at the end of the month with a few tornadoes with them would be cool also.