Do you chase at night?

[Tony Laubach]

I don't do it much, but I've done it more in the last couple seasons as I've become more equipped to handle night chasing. I LOOOOVE shooting lightning, so I'll stay on storms all night if they keep dropping CGs.

 

[Bill Tabor]

Yes, I chase a lot at night. I never used to really intend to, but it doesn't matter the storms never let me quit. Over the years I've had many, many hair raising adventures at night. Night chasing is quite a bit more exciting (because of the unknown factor), but it is also a bit scary and dangerous. For some reason that doesn't stop me. By now I suppose I've gotten used to it. Generally if you chase at night you should chase storms with higher bases, with quite a bit of lightning, and hopefully not moving too fast or too congested with other storms. Preferably you also have good radar / gps and have a working knowledge of storm structure / dynamics during the day so that you can guestimate at night. PS: One tough part about night chasing is photography / videography. You need equipment that will work in low light and you need to really understand how to use it well. I am still learning in that area. Here are some links to a few of my night encounters:

http://www.tornadoxtreme.com/Chases_By_Year/1999_Chases/1999_chases.html
http://www.tornadoxtreme.com/Chases..._Hoisington__Ks/tornado_-_hoisington__ks.html
http://www.tornadoxtreme.com/Chases_By_Year/2002_Chases/May_4th/may_4th.html
http://www.tornadoxtreme.com/Chases_By_Year/2004_Chases/June_12th/june_12th.html
http://www.tornadoxtreme.com/Chases_By_Year/2005_Chases/April_21st_05/april_21st_05.html
http://www.tornadoxtreme.com/Chases_By_Year/2005_Chases/June_9th_2005/june_9th_2005.html

My latest night tornado was the other day by McLean:

 

[John Olexa]

Yes All the time But then again my chases involve lightning.

 

[Gerrit Gulden]

Yes, Nighttime is my favorite time of day for lightning photos. On different occasions I would stay up till 7am shooting photographs. If there is a thunderstorm around and the lightning looks good enough to shoot I will take a vantage point, setup and shoot till the sun comes up.

As far as Tornado warned storms at night, I havent yet had the opportunity to experience this and dont really see myself chasing the storm unless the lightning is vivid.

-gerrit

 

[Jim Leonard]

I have over many years have chased at night. What I find most dangerous at night is washed out roads that you may not know about until the last second. As far as tornadoes are concerned you must know what direction your wind is at all times. If your in raging northeast, east or southeast winds and there is a meso nearby your in real danger. On May 22, 2004 we were in southern Nebraska with lightning about as constant as you will ever see. On the radio they were blurting out tornado warnings all around us and some of my passengers were getting anxious to say the least. I had told them we were safe as we were in stong west to northwest winds at the time.

 

[Bill Hark]

I have over many years have chased at night. What I find most dangerous at night is washed out roads that you may not know about until the last second

Jim has a good point. In 1999, somewhere between Amarillo and Dodge City while driving through blinding rain at night, I accidentally drove into a washed out area as water crossed the road. Luckily, I was driving fairly slow and quickly hit my breaks. I felt the front of the car start to shift from the river of water crossing the road. I was able to shift into reverse and backed out. If I had been going faster, I would have plunged into the water and been swept off the road. I had actually stopped chasing and was trying to get into better position for the next day.

Bill Hark

 

[cedwards]

In 1995, I came very close to hitting a tree that had fallen across the road ahead of me. I didn't see it until the last second and slammed on the breaks. If it were daylight, I would have seen it with plenty of warning. I was lucky enough to stop in time and turn on my hazard lights to warn cars behind me as well.

 

[Wesley Luginbyhl]

On March 28th chase at about 9pm north of McLean, we about hit a group of deer. I come over the top of a hill and decided to turn on my high beams since no one was around. As we came down the hill i noticed something moving. I started to slow down because I know this area always has lots of deer. Atleast 5 deer were standing there, some on each side of the highway. If hadnt turned on my highbeams, or hit my brakes when i did, it could have been real bad. That makes the 2nd night chase in a row that I almost hit (or got hit by) a deer. Something about those big storms that really stirs up the animals.

 

[Johnathan Brouwer]

Chasing and night do not go together. Period.

 

[David Drummond]

In 1995, I came very close to hitting a tree that had fallen across the road ahead of me. I didn't see it until the last second and slammed on the breaks. If it were daylight, I would have seen it with plenty of warning. I was lucky enough to stop in time and turn on my hazard lights to warn cars behind me as well.

I've almost hit cars that were stopped blocking something with no flashing lights other than their hazard lights to warn me. Didn't see them in the downpour after dark. Too bad they didn't have some blinding strobes I could have seen further back. (This was true actually.)

 

[Dean Gill]

I also voted yes, but must admit I don't especially look forward to going chasing at night. The thing is that since many storms fire up sometime in the afernoon (or late afternoon) and end up around midnight, night-time chasing is for me the natural and logical outcome of a "normal" chase day.
Even if luckily some of my best shots were done just after dark (see the video http://www.deanostorm.ch/USA2006/Limon Hysteria.wmv ), I generally find this activity rather frustrating.
My conclusion is I definitely prefer to chase during daylight.

 

[Jason Boggs]

WOW! Dean, that is some great video. That's the kind of lightning I want with a storm of that magnitude when I'm chasing at night!

 

[Susan Strom]

I relish chasing at night, both desert and Plains. I love being alone on the road with the storm, with not a soul around. I can really concentrate and be productive, taking my best pictures between midnight and 3am. I like the way Plains structure looks at night too (although it is more dangerous and you have to see the radar, that eerie feeling that you know something is out there and could be close is nothing to play around with).

Photography-wise, even out in the country there might be annoying air traffic that can get in the pictures, that problem diminishes as well after 2am. During summer monsoon, the desert works on a reverse clock. Plants and animals sleep in the heat of the day, and come alive at night. Cactus flowers also bloom at night. It is nice to see all the wildlife running around, and when the moon is full, you can see everything in the desert, the moon is so bright (like this picture, people think it is the sun but it is actually the moon http://www.lightninglady.com/) There are also a lot fewer people around, which is a huge plus. Earlier in the night some are out drinking and shooting just causing trouble, and after 2am, that problem sharply declines as well.

Have always chased at night, will always chase at night. Daytime in the plains is great too of course, but the icing comes at night, especially if there is some highly electrical MCS stuff wandering about producing great lightning. A typical desert monsoon chase (for me) is only done at night, from about 7pm-3am.

 

[Melissa Moon]

Hahaha no....I don't like chasing at night. I had a bad experience with that once and do not care to revisit it . Now, if perhaps I had all of the fancy equipment (like mobile internet and a really good GPS) I might reconsider.

 

[Martin Kucera]

Chasing during nights is a real treat during wet season here in Florida Keys. I especially love clear nights where after you let your eyes adjust to darkness you can see billions of bright stars. During summer months, highly electrified thunderstorms occur nightly on the ocean horizon, where a lonely lighthouse beacon is the only manmade light out there. Every once in a while you can see a shooting star pass by... some nights dozens of them. No people around and only a few cars pass by. On active nights I spend many hours out there in awe... some nights all the way through sunrise. For some reason, watching the night sky and related events is very different from doing the same during daylight. I guess you get sucked into the moment since everything else around you is pitch black dark and you don't pay as much attention to your immediate surroundings. This enhences your perception and the way you concentrate on the subject (thunderstorm, lightning, tornado, etc.)... Something like when you watch the night sky through the binoculars/telescope and get that feeling like you are not on this planet anymore... ever get that feeling ?