Favorite interception strategies

[Eric Flescher]

What are your Favorite interception strategies? * post ideas, situations, * examples and dates that worked (and did not work if you want) * anything else you want to say about this thread

 

[Dan Nichols]

Eric, I like your thread, and hope it gets several good responses. I'm definitely "lo-tech", because my main motive is enjoying a storm without the distracting hardware.

You see a big storm on TWC or other radar. Obviously it's going to miss your neighborhood and your town. Along the moving radar image, take a ruler, a pencil, or your forefinger and try to project where that storm is gonna be by the time you get in your car to go there. If the forecast gives a projected time of, say 7 PM at Point A, I actually start earlier to try to get there at 6:40, or go a bit further to maybe a Point B, directly in line, just as long as I get there before it does. There, I can then savor the whole 'show' from first rumbles, the dark skies, the blinding rains and severe lightning, to a possible final rainbow. For now I've achieved my 'Pot O' Gold'!

With the help of radar, I shot up to the top of my state (CT), arrived in plenty of time for a good storm that I would've surely missed at home, and saw a lamp post 60 feet in front of me get struck!

 

[Shane Adams]

To be there when the tornado happens.

 

[Aaron Kennedy]

To be there when the tornado happens.

Well Shane said it best! Obviously there are some general considerations I make (target area, storm motion, major obstacles such as rivers,forests,lack of roads,etc., but it seems like everything goes out the window once storms fire.

Here's a particular intercept strategy when there are two cells to choose from: flip a coin. I always seem to choose the lesser of the two

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

My favorite is using cornfields to make up lost time.

 

[Laura Duchesne]

Squall lines/haboobs - Try to stay ahead of it all the time to get nice shelf cloud photo opportunities. I enjoy watching the dust wall come at me. May 31, 2006 we were on a haboob that developed in Colorado and moved into western Kansas. We stayed ahead of it pretty well, but we had to keep moving. It was fast paced but a lot of fun.

Supercells - On June 5, 2006 we chased a tornadic supercell in Sanborn county, South Dakota. We intercepted the storm from the east on highway 14, just north of I90. We cut south and stopped for a bit to watch the wall cloud develop and RFD kick in and listen to an unforgettable hail roar sound. We then cut south of the storm to get out of the path of the storm, and arrived in time to watch the meso really start to crank and witness the tornadogenesis process. The RFD clear slot was just behind us. After the show, we played around in the RFD with some blowing dust. My fave storm to date!

My least fave interception strategy is obviously trying to chase storms coming from the west... trying to keep up is so hard to do! And if you get caught up, that's great, but you don't want to get caught in the outflow....

 

[Bobby Prentice]

What are your Favorite interception strategies? * post ideas, situations, * examples and dates that worked (and did not work if you want) * anything else you want to say about this thread

Jim Ladue maintains an excellent storm chaser education presentation at:

Short Term Chase Target Selection

The last several slides of his online presentation (#131 through #136) show "common targets" and miscellaneous chase strategies.

Jim writes that he gave this talk for the first time early in 2002 as part of Tim Vasquez’s forecasting class. It's geared towards the novice/amateur storm chaser.

 

[Derek Weston]

To be there when the tornado happens.

If he dropped the 'ter'....

 

[Jason Foster]

A short few ideas

To intercept storms/tornadoes:

I tend to start south of the storms near a fast moving road intersection (that goes north/south or east/west). For me, it's kinda has to do with navigation and I only do well with maps when they're oriented north (including GPS). Starting in a southern area of a target has worked countless times.

I also use the adage "when in doubt, go south" a lot, which as also worked more time than not.

For Hurricanes, I always stage to the outer portion of the side which is going to get the highest intensity of winds. If the storm is moving parallel to a coastline, I start at closest point and move with the storm. Hurricane Charley was a perfect example. While everyone kept forecasting Tampa (and I didn't really dispute it), I felt that I wanted to move down toward Ft. Myer (luckily everyone else was thinking the same), following this little storm (as we knew it at that moment) up the coast, stopping when the eye came ashore. Before we got to Ft. Myers, we stopped in Punta Gorda, FL, checked out radar (on our brand new sprint cards) and realized the storm was starting to turn, a little before that we got word that it just became a Cat4. So we stayed put. Of course all this is on the Hurricane Charley DVD.

OK, not so short of a post, but I love telling story about Hurricane Charley, best chase experience ever (and best intercept strategy success).

 

[mrobinett]

You must first intercept one, which I havent, even trying for three years (05-07)
Ill let you know when it happens, my favorite will be the one I just did!!

 

[J Kinkaid]

I like to cut in front of the receiver and to jam them at the line ... Wait wrong kind of interception

 

[Olivier Staiger]

shh.... secret .... new outlaw strategy for 2008 :

follow GPS tracking of C9 http://www.cloud9tours.com/chasecam/
and / or TVN http://www.tornadovideos.net/index.cfm/do/s.livetracker

;-)

hey , even myself Klipsi will occasionnally stream live video with GPS tracking

http://www.klipsi.ch/twistandshout.htm

( GPS tracking with bambuser http://alpha.bambuser.com/channel/Klipsi only if using N95. if streaming with N93i it has no GPS.

... and pocketcaster http://www.comvu.com/live/?klipsi if streaming with N95 or other GPS-capable phone )



but if I see chasers using my strategy , following my GPS tracking, then beware .... I have a secret to get rid of followers :

I blink signal left, but turn right !

;-)

 

[Robert Edmonds]

I think someone mentioned this, but I agree starting south is usually better than starting too far north for a target. I also like to sit infront of where the storms will fire. I'll write more later but I gtg

 

[J.K Oudshoorn]

IMO the best way to intercept a supercell is from the southeast as most storms will move to the northeast. (you'll be able to see the wall cloud). 1 Thing is that you need to make sure that you are standing on a road that leads you to the north and south. So you can get closer to the storm, but if the storm makes a turn to the right (rightmover) you can escape.

regards,

Koos

 

[Terry Tyler]

ok, this is how it goes down when im ficcin to chase a storm or something like that...

usually, my chase starts a couple days BEFORE the event...i usually go to the SPC website and check the 4-8 day outlook and see if there is even an area out before i do anything...and as always, if there is anything going on here, i update my chasing site...

if i do see that we are in an area where some storms are expected...then i hit the models on the web, UCAR, and COD and earls weather site and i start seeing what is really going on out there...looking at the upper level charts and what not...

well, if its looking good, i usually talk about it a little bit, and give it a day or so...that way, if the models were not agreeing with something...they might iron themselves out...

when im about 2 or 3 days out, and i can see that its looking to be something decent, you know...i write about it or whatever, and start thinking whats gonna happen...as always i stay up on the latest model runs, and see what kind of conditions are going to be present and how its supposed to be looking...if its gonna be limp dick, or if its going to be buck...

i can usually get a good feel a day before it happens...

in my experience with big severe weather events...usually, i look at day 1...for those of you in the south, you know that the big storms usually take day 1 out in the central plains, and then day 2 in the south, and day 3 in the east as the systems eject out...i ALSO LOOK at the winter side of the system, and things like that...cause, if there is a major blizzard going on in the cold sector and a major severe weather outbreak in the warm sector...i know its a GOOD system...

when day 1 rolls around...the first thing i do is check the SPC website to see what kind of RISK we are under...if it looks like its going to be a good day, then i go to the models...

i prefer earl bakers models, cause they are the best out there IMO...i check things like the 0-3KM cape to see how much low level instability the storms are getting, and i check the wind-fields...i check visible satelite images, and **** like that...then, i go outside...and see what things are looking like out doors...

if everything in the first steps works out ok, then i wait for the watches to come out, and i usually wait to see how things go in the watches before i make any moves...i dont chase using any kind of radars or internet or anthing, just a radio, so i gotta sit at the house till the last minute and make a decision based on what im watching, and make a good estimate on how long it will take me to intercept the storm, and how fast im gonna have to drive...

like for example, one of my best calls was that storm on 1-10-08...i seen it was looking good on the radars, and i left before the TORNADO warning was out...i knew how fast it was moving, and where it was headed...and i knew where i needed to be, and what time i needed to be there, so i ended up going with that...and sure enough, i wound up there right when the damn thing come across the highway...tornado warnings, and wall clouds and all that!

it may sound like some bull to some of you guys with all that stuff in your cars, but if you were here and seen what all goes on, and how fast-paced and crazy it gets some times...its crazy man...