New chaser

[S Klein]

You didn't mention this, but have you taken a Skywarn spotting class? If not, I would recommend you start out with a Skywarn class through your local NWS office. Usually these are given late winter/early spring and are FREE. Some of the things you will learn are: Thunderstorm development, fundamentals of storm structure, identifying potential severe weather features, reporting critical information, safety, etc. You will also meet people who are interested in severe weather, NWS trainers, as well as seasoned spotters and some chasers.

This I concur with, Skywarn classes are fantastic places to get started!

Take Gabe Garfield's Tornado Forecasting Course. I am doing it now online and it's the best thing I could have ever done.

I respect Gabe, but actually going out and chasing with someone who understands what they're doing is much better than taking an online class. Also, if you learn to forecast your own tornadoes, you can catch them on days where no one else forecasts or chases them!

 

[Hannah.Taylor]

I respect Gabe, but actually going out and chasing with someone who understands what they're doing is much better than taking an online class. Also, if you learn to forecast your own tornadoes, you can catch them on days where no one else forecasts or chases them!

Having chased since 2008 and coming up mostly empty, I highly disagree on it being much better. The online course gives you the fundamentals a chaser needs to put themselves in a better position.

Just because someone knows what they're doing doesn't make them great at teaching it or conveying it to others.

Last year I started to get the basics of forecasting down and I actually bagged several tornadoes. Taking that class this winter has filled in a lot of gaps and helped me to refine my processes.