Darrin Rasberry
Hello to all of you.
The purpose of this post and topic is to keep a list of my thoughts, ideas, and processes during my first "full season" as a chaser. Since I am a novice, this topic might be more appropriate for that forum; should the moderators see it fit, please feel free to move it there.
I intend to keep an official "blog" noting my preparation and my chases, but I want to keep a different sort of "blog" here to invite any commentary allowable under the rules, especially including non-personal attack criticism, so that I can integrate opinions from experienced chasers into the learning process.
Purpose - My purpose for chasing is personal. It isn't born out of Twister, which I haven't seen above a five-minute Youtube clip I got some good laughs out of, nor is it born from the recent proliferation of the Internet (although the Internet has provided helpful influence). Although I was too young at the time to have any memory of the event itself, the Wichita Falls tornado of 1979 directly affected my life, including playing a major role in the loss of my maternal grandmother shortly after the event. I have decided to chase now because I feel I have finally matured to the point where I can handle the service properly and finish all of the research I need to know, and hopefully help in dispatching warnings and information to the public to minimize as much as I can the damage these storms cause.
My intent while storm-chasing is primarily to identify especially severe weather and report it to authorities and/or media. A secondary intent is to learn how to capture effective video or images and distribute anything worthy to people who would know better than I would how to handle it. Should I meet with any success, I will not collect any sort of funds to a profit; all "excess" will be donated to victims of severe weather.
Methodology - I am a researcher by trade; I am currently a graduate student in Mathematics. I think the researching skills I've learned have played the biggest role in finally activating this hibernating desire to chase. Starting in June, my plan was, and is, the following (in order):
1) Studying footage, accounts, and information to learn how to keep safe during a chase (accomplished in ugly detail, but awaiting official "spotter training" course here in February)
2) Speaking with and hopefully accompanying an established, experienced chaser (I will be posting in the "partner thread" to do this soon)
3) Studying the very basic structure and causes of tornadoes and the supercells that produce them (accomplished)
4) Gathering tools to help on the road (mostly accomplished)
5) Learning basic first-aid in case of situations in which help is too far away or extra help may be needed (not accomplished)
6) Learning meteorological information enough to make effective predictions and forecasting short- (day-of) and long - (1-3 days before) term (just starting)
7) Learning how to safely night-chase and how to identify structures in the evening (partially accomplished)
8) Learning how to effectively film/photograph (not at all accomplished)
Thanks for reading this (admittedly long) post. As the year wears on, I will continue to update experiences both in researching and in the actual field when the three-day rule has lifted. Comments on anything here are welcomed. An actual blog will be forthcoming; I will post the link for those interested when I have created it.
-D.
The purpose of this post and topic is to keep a list of my thoughts, ideas, and processes during my first "full season" as a chaser. Since I am a novice, this topic might be more appropriate for that forum; should the moderators see it fit, please feel free to move it there.
I intend to keep an official "blog" noting my preparation and my chases, but I want to keep a different sort of "blog" here to invite any commentary allowable under the rules, especially including non-personal attack criticism, so that I can integrate opinions from experienced chasers into the learning process.
Purpose - My purpose for chasing is personal. It isn't born out of Twister, which I haven't seen above a five-minute Youtube clip I got some good laughs out of, nor is it born from the recent proliferation of the Internet (although the Internet has provided helpful influence). Although I was too young at the time to have any memory of the event itself, the Wichita Falls tornado of 1979 directly affected my life, including playing a major role in the loss of my maternal grandmother shortly after the event. I have decided to chase now because I feel I have finally matured to the point where I can handle the service properly and finish all of the research I need to know, and hopefully help in dispatching warnings and information to the public to minimize as much as I can the damage these storms cause.
My intent while storm-chasing is primarily to identify especially severe weather and report it to authorities and/or media. A secondary intent is to learn how to capture effective video or images and distribute anything worthy to people who would know better than I would how to handle it. Should I meet with any success, I will not collect any sort of funds to a profit; all "excess" will be donated to victims of severe weather.
Methodology - I am a researcher by trade; I am currently a graduate student in Mathematics. I think the researching skills I've learned have played the biggest role in finally activating this hibernating desire to chase. Starting in June, my plan was, and is, the following (in order):
1) Studying footage, accounts, and information to learn how to keep safe during a chase (accomplished in ugly detail, but awaiting official "spotter training" course here in February)
2) Speaking with and hopefully accompanying an established, experienced chaser (I will be posting in the "partner thread" to do this soon)
3) Studying the very basic structure and causes of tornadoes and the supercells that produce them (accomplished)
4) Gathering tools to help on the road (mostly accomplished)
5) Learning basic first-aid in case of situations in which help is too far away or extra help may be needed (not accomplished)
6) Learning meteorological information enough to make effective predictions and forecasting short- (day-of) and long - (1-3 days before) term (just starting)
7) Learning how to safely night-chase and how to identify structures in the evening (partially accomplished)
8) Learning how to effectively film/photograph (not at all accomplished)
Thanks for reading this (admittedly long) post. As the year wears on, I will continue to update experiences both in researching and in the actual field when the three-day rule has lifted. Comments on anything here are welcomed. An actual blog will be forthcoming; I will post the link for those interested when I have created it.
-D.
