How close is to close?

[Brian Stertz]

RFD's can happen well away from the tornado...and every meso structure will be different. Safety is priority one...and a good viewing angle is priority two for me. I don't have any real need or desire to get in deep on a tornado any longer....unless this means staying up with a tornado before roads get blocked off by the local/state authorities.

 

[Joshua Nall]

Thanks for the input so far. My other question is the best method of getting internet or radar at a low cost. As of now, I have no way of getting info on storms except for my eyes.

This was my challenge. I knew next to nothing about computers, cell phones, and how to get the right programs on them. What I started out doing is looking at the radar before heading out the door.... and this was just for local stuff. Then I tried using a portable weather radio for a couple years... that was the pits, and I did that with storms that came with 50 miles or so of my house. May be ok for the plains but not around here in the trees. Then I got a cell phone and a hand held GPS hoping to be able to look at the radar on my phone and see my position on the GPS and meet up with the storm that way... much harder than I thought, that is... when the radar actually loaded. And again I'm talking about mostly local stuff within 200 miles. This would probably work ok where you can see 10 miles. Bottom line, and you probably already know this... you need to be able to see you and the storm on the same screen.... unless you are rolling in the dough, how ever you can do that as cheaply as possible and still be reliable is what you need. Everything else is fluff. I still tether with an alltel phone for I think 25 a month, but it's Verizon now and I don't know what it costs. Loads of information out there if you do a little searching you'll find something that works for you. Good luck.

Josh