First Post and Upcoming First Chase

[welkin87]

Greetings! I am a new member from Tennessee and am very excited about this forum. I've been watching and filming weather since I was 10 years old and have always been fascinated with storms and tornados. I am graduating this May with a Bachelors in Electrical Engineering. I am currently planning a post-graduation 2-week chase with a friend. This is something him and I both have wanted to do for a LONG time and am very excited.

My 2-week chase is planned to start on May 13th (give or take a few days depending on the weather). What region of the country will be the general target zone for major storms during mid to late May?

Right now, my biggest concerns are mobile internet and weather/radar software. (currently looking at RadarScope for Mac or WeatherTAP)

Anyway, I'm happy to be here and welcome all suggestions!

Thanks!

 

[Skip Talbot]

My 2-week chase is planned to start on May 13th (give or take a few days depending on the weather). What region of the country will be the general target zone for major storms during mid to late May?

Welcome to Stormtrack, Welkin. For the second half of May, you'll want to focus on a region between North Dakota and northern Texas. "Gee, thanks for narrowing it down, Skip." The geographic center for the area most likely to see discrete supercells is probably in north central KS that time of year. The chances of this area experiencing a supercell are just marginally higher than anywhere else in the plains, however. Be prepared to chase the entirety of the plains if you want to maximize your chances. There could be tornadic supercells in Oklahoma one day, Minnesota the next day, and Colorado the day after that.

 

[Jim Parsons]

Welcome to ST. For mobile internet try http://www.millenicom.com/ and GRLevel 3 is the way to go for RADAR http://www.grlevelx.com/

 

[Joshua Nall]

Glad you joined! Sounds like an exciting way, depending on the weather, to celebrate your graduation. Hope its really bad! You probably already thought of this, but take plenty of maps. Counting paper and digital I guess it's about 5 or 6 that I have available. That's probably overkill in most folks eyes but I like maps, some with lots of detail, some for seeing the big picture.

 

[welkin87]

I have come across GRLevelX before and really liked the look of it. Why GRLevel3 over level 2?

Thanks for the mobile internet suggestion. Never heard of them but it looks good.

 

[Jim Parsons]

The Millenicom Advanced plan runs on the Verizon network(great coverage in tornado alley) and their is no contract to sign...You can activate it during storm season and turn it off for the rest of the year. GRLevel 3 seems to be the #1 choice for chasers...It used much less data than GrLevel 2 and therefore it is much friendlier when you are running off a mobile broadband card.

 

[Bryan Stokes]

Welcome to Stormtrack welkin87! Congrats on gettign out to chase for two weeks -- you'll have a blast.

As you're doing, keep doing lots of research and learn all you can between now and then. Two weeks on the Plains will be a lot of fun!

Bryan

 

[Jane Herbert]

In the past we've used Sprint, but are unable to source from www.rovair.com, but they can give us Verizon...is there much difference between the coverage with Sprint & Verizon? Our home base is Hillsboro, KS and we can be found anywhere from Alabama to South Dakota to Wyoming to Texas during chase season... your thoughts would be greatly appreciated.....will also investigate Millenicom..

 

[Jim Parsons]

I've chased with Sprint the past couple years and have had no issues but, they recently lost some agreements with other carriers they would roam on and lost a bunch territory. Verizon now has agreements with those other carriers and now seems to have the best coverage all throughout tornado alley...Go to Sprint and Verizon's website and check out their coverage maps and you'll see a difference. My contract is up in April and I'm jumping off Sprint and going with the Millenicom Advance Plan on the Verizon network.

 

[welkin87]

The only thing I'm not liking about Millenicom is that you have to buy the device ($99). Already being a Verizon customer, I figured I could "rent" the device and pay for just one month of service. Maybe I'm wrong.

 

[James Hilger]

The map on Verizon show a huge hole in North central Ok and SC Ks. I guess will see if that fills in for sure soon.

 

[Jake Orosi]

The only thing I'm not liking about Millenicom is that you have to buy the device ($99). Already being a Verizon customer, I figured I could "rent" the device and pay for just one month of service. Maybe I'm wrong.

According to their website they do have a "Bring Your Own Device" plan - look closer...

 

[STexan]

SE Ok is bad with Verizon, too. But not much better with others. $99 for a device is not bad considering, ATT & Verizon will charge about $250 for a similar device without getting locked into a contract. I'm keeping my ATT smartphone that shares (has built in WiFi tx) and adding in a Millinicom device for Verizon to add more available usage and a backup/alternate service. I think if one had the money, the only other addition might be a US Cellular device data device to fill a few more coverage gaps in OK and along the Red River.

Also a good idea to have a decent GPS map device such as a Garmin Nuvii. They will keep you provided with the real available roads picture in your current location so you're not having to sort through maps when you're in a hurry. And if you can get one with topography feature, that can be helpful too when you're looking for a high spot to drive to. Many paper "Gazateer" maps have topography lines, but these are hard to deal with as they don't "fold over" well without coming apart at the bind.

Also, depending on where you primarily chase there may be a state map/atlas such as http://texascountryreporter-store.stores.yahoo.net/mapscos-roads-of-texas.html these can give you great photo op locations while waiting on storms such as ghost towns, cemeteries, old churches, etc. Most states have similar maps but you may have to search long and hard to find them and may have to order online.

 

[Jim Parsons]

According to their website they do have a "Bring Your Own Device" plan - look closer...

I beleive their "Bring Your Own Device" plan runs on the Sprint network instead of the Verizon network....

 

[Jake Orosi]

Hmm, yes I suppose that would be problematic.