*New Users. Meet and Greet Area*

[JDusek]

New Member

I wanted to send a shout out to everyone on Stormtrack. I am Justin Dusek and I am from NW Suburbs of IL. I have always been interested in storms since I was young(er). I deal with the after effects of storms with my profession as a Firefighter / Paramedic more so then real time. A couple years back I responded with a task force to Utica, IL. where a tornado had struck and decimated the town. Since then I have really been interested in seeing some intense storms first hand. My wife Heather is a Scientist, not directly pertaining to weather, but shes taken a fair amount of weather classes. So we have decided to take a little weather based trip at the end of May and see if we can experience and document a super cell storm or maybe even a tornado. We will be leaving May 25th and heading to Wichita, Kansas from there the weather will lead our travels. Were defiantly open to meeting up with other trackers. Learning of places of interest for other storm trackers in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Nebraska. Maybe even some great places to dine or stay overnight. Thank you all and be safe!

Justin and Heather Dusek

 

[Jennifer Johnson]

Hello

My name is Jennifer and I'm from Oklahoma born and raised for almost 40 years in August. I would love to storm/tornado chase but I must chase with a professional a storm chaser cause I haven't a clue as to what I'm doing. I have alway's wanted to storm/tornado chase but don't know anyone to do it with.

I'm freaking out a little bit about tomorrow's weather Monday May 10th, but would still love to chase has always been a dream of mine just don't know anyone to chase with Thanks for letting me join and hope to get to know everyone.

Jennifer

 

[PHackett]

Hello from Texas

Hi folks,
I've been kind of shy about posting but I would like to go ahead and introduce myself. My name is Patrick, I live in Denton County, TX and I have been an amateur storm chaser since 2004 although I have had a lifelong obsession with tornadoes from as long as I can remember (I had the newspaper clippings of the Edmonton, AB tornado hanging in my bedroom!).

I have a science background, though not in meteorology, and I think this kind of critical and analytical thinking has helped me in my storm chase tenure even as I continue to learn more every day. My first storm chase was May 2004 - Conway Springs, KS - and I have been hooked ever since. My other successes were Brice, TX (Caprock) and Hennessey, OK (pig farm).

My main interest is in learning more about severe weather and meteorology in general. I would also like to meet other folks in the area that may be looking for a chase buddy. After 5/10/10, I now have renewed hope about 2010 and am hoping that this season will stay active on the plains. I want to thank everyone on here for making this a great forum. I welcome messages anytime. Thanks!

 

[Jeff Turner]

Hello From Fort Worth

Greetings to all here. I live in Fort Worth, Texas. I am not a chaser or spotter but I am very interested in the weather: I go to Tessa and spotter training, own The Big Green Book, and have other books like those written by Tim Vasquez. I am in Fort Worth Community Emergency Repsonse Team (http://www.fwcert.org/)which would be mobilzed in the aftermath of a tornado hitting the area.

As an aside I used to live one block from the legendary Harold Taft in east Fort Worth. He was an interesting fellow for sure, all in a good way of course. Finfrock used to live nearby too.

I also take some pictures, clouds and landscapes in black and white. Here are two examples:

http://www.redbubble.com/people/jeffturnerphoto/art/4782781-7-a-tree-and-the-sky

http://www.redbubble.com/people/jeffturnerphoto/art/5192006-2-before-the-bottom-fell-out

All of the material here is very interesting to me and I have already learned a great deal.

 

[Joe Pudlik]

Just though I would stop by and say hello to everyone...

I live in the NW. Suburbs of Chicago. I'm currently in college on my way towards getting my B.S. in meteorology.

Due to work and class I have only been able to chase two times thus far this season, but I have hope that I'll be able to get out more soon.

 

[Jess Gjerstad]

My name is Jess and I live in Kansas city. There is the possibility of me going on some local chases (within 50-100 miles of KC) if conditions are right and if I am not working that day.

I belong to a rather large organization called IHOP-KC. Since we commonly do large public events, I am interested in keeping people safe (especially overseas guests); particularly during tornado season. Experienced meteorological opinions and especially Now-casting during threat days in KC are really valuable.

 

[MatthewCarman]

Welcome all new members to storm track

 

[Frank Kienast]

Hello from the Snow Belt

I've been lurking around for a month or so and finally decided to post today.

I've always been interested in weather. I grew up in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia. As a child growing up in the 70's, I read many books on weather. I often watched storms track to the north of where I lived (southside), and liked the excitement when storms tracked further south and hit my area. One of my earliest memories of storms was a thunderstorm with straight-line winds that actually bent and collapsed a neighbor's metal fence (it was covered with some sort of green plastic strips for privacy, so the wind could not flow through).

After graduating from college, I lived in central Virginia. One thing I could never see enough of was snow. Where I grew up in the Hampton Roads area, it could be years between accumulating snows, and even in central Virginia snow was pretty rare. I remember looking at weather observations after the passage of strong cold fronts. On my side of the mountains, it would usually be sunny with temperatures around 40, while I noted that less than 200 miles to my west there were often intense snow squalls and temeratures around 20. So in January, 1992, I did what could be considered my first "chase". As a strong cold front approached, I drove to Elkins, WV. I watched the front pass as I stayed there that night, and spent the next day getting to see plenty of snow while it was 40 degrees and sunny back at home less than 200 miles away. On November 13th, 1992, I planned to do the same thing to see early season snow as a strong cold front approached. However, as the date approached, the snowfall forecasts kept decreasing, so I cancelled my chase. That evening after work, I happened to check the forecasts for other areas and found out that major lake effect snow was expected in Erie, PA. On somewhat of a whim (I had already packed since I had expected to drive to WV), I decided to take a flight to Erie. I remember at the airport at Erie there being so much instability that it was hailing snowballs (about the size of marbles).

In 1994 I took a job in central Indiana. There I saw more in the way of storms. I became fairly heavily involved with Skywarn. A few times I did some local chasing on my own.

For career reasons, I decided to move back closer to the East Coast in 2000. I originally was planning to move to western PA, but I received a very good offer in the Buffalo, NY area. I've lived in the area for the past 10 years. Lake effect snow is very interesting. I've seen a foot or more of snow on the ground on one side of the metro area and no snow at all less than ten miles away. Usually once or twice a year we get thunder and lightning with the snow.

After reading about storm chasing tours, last winter I decided to go on one. I was on Tempest Tours Tour #4 this May, where we saw quite a few tornadoes in South Dakota on the 24th.

Frank Kienast

 

[jdrenken]

Hello all...

I am a certified storm spotter, M019635, via LSX and will be attending CERT I training on Tuesday here in Columbia, MO. I've been a weather enthusiast, like most of you, since I was a young boy. I'm hoping to graduate into HAM radio in the near future. My current budget has prohibited me from chasing, but I contribute to a major weather forum, have a spotter and weather FB pages to make up for it. Lastly, I'm going to college here to obtain a double major in CIS and Atmospheric Sciences. With this, I plan on develop weather software that rivals the best out there.

By the way...nice to see you here Joe!

 

[Chriss Lyon]

Hello to fellow newbies and seasoned veterans!

I'm Chriss Lyon from St. Joseph, Michigan in Berrien County; extreme southwestern corner of Michigan. Literally on Lake Michigan across from Chicago so I get the beautiful sunsets but the lousy lake effect snow! Not quite an even trade.

Professionally I'm a 911 Supervisor at the County Dispatch Center and work with Emergency Management as well during severe weather. My passion is history, research and writing. I have a special interest in Prohibition Era gangsters, shipwrecks in the Great Lakes, aviation disasters and historical severe weather. I'm just naturally drawn to disasters and life-altering events. I love researching and writing about them. I've worked on a couple of high profile plane crashes recently which got some international media coverage as well as an episode of "The History Detectives" on PBS.

My interest in severe weather started when I was 4 years old and I would watch storms come over Lake Michigan. I remember the green sky but I think the orange sky scared me more! Then on July 16, 1980 at about 6am, I was awakened by a violent storm that shook the house. My parents told me to get into the basement but I remember just standing in our living room and looking out the big picture window watching the large tree come crashing down in the front yard. I got yanked by the arm quickly! I really wanted to watch the action outside and think my parents were more scared than I was.
This ended up being the storm that set my interests ablaze because the damage caused from this Derecho was unbelievable to me. I was interested in knowing more about these powerful forces after that.

Having my life plan not go quite the way I envisioned it, I decided at the age of 39 that I better start enjoying life as a single and not wait any longer....and for my 40th birthday present to myself, I went on my first storm chase trip with the College of DuPage. It turned out to be the best experience of my life and it didn't take long before this was an annual trip. It took 3 trips to see my first tornado! This year I saw not just one but six total!

I respect those who do this more regularly and who gather data for scientific study. I want to be one who documents them for historical value so others will be able to share these moments. I do believe we all have a place in this crazy world and something valuable to offer and I'm very glad to be here!

 

[Chance Metz]

My name is Chance Metz. Like most people on here I have always been into the weather. I have never gone a chase though ad I do not even have a car. My way of chasing is in the house which means I have to wait for the storms to get to me. I am a skywarn spotter as well but I have never used it yet since it ether happens at night when I am sleeping or when I am at work.

 

[Erik Dirksen]

Hi to everyone and I would like to introduce myself. As a certified Spotter and Member of Skywarn Germany and the European Severe Storms Laboratory (ESSL e.V.), I'm interested in all meteorological facts belonging to supercells / tornadoes. Since 2005 I'm chasing storms mainly in my Area (Rhineland, Germany). In 2009 I went with a group of 10 Skywarn-Germany-chasers to the tornado alley and found some interesting storms in TX, OK, KS and NE. Beside stormchasing I'm doing damage surveys caused by wind events here in germany.

I'm self-employed as chimney sweep in Bonn, Germany. This is quite different to most countrys, because we are nominated by government and do expertises for the local bureau of construction due to firesafety of exhausting-systems and check those systems in law appointed intervals regarding to carbonmonocide and their energy-effiency. In case of a sootfire in a chimney we are adviser to the fire department's chief of mission.

 

[Jason Boggs]

Welcome to the forum guys!

 

[Lanny Dean]

Welcome everybody!

Hi to everyone and I would like to introduce myself. As a certified Spotter and Member of Skywarn Germany and the European Severe Storms Laboratory (ESSL e.V.), I'm interested in all meteorological facts belonging to supercells / tornadoes. Since 2005 I'm chasing storms mainly in my Area (Rhineland, Germany). In 2009 I went with a group of 10 Skywarn-Germany-chasers to the tornado alley and found some interesting storms in TX, OK, KS and NE. Beside stormchasing I'm doing damage surveys caused by wind events here in germany.

I'm self-employed as chimney sweep in Bonn, Germany. This is quite different to most countrys, because we are nominated by government and do expertises for the local bureau of construction due to firesafety of exhausting-systems and check those systems in law appointed intervals regarding to carbonmonocide and their energy-effiency. In case of a sootfire in a chimney we are adviser to the fire department's chief of mission.

Interesting introduction Erik! Glad to see another from "across the pond'
Would be interested to hear more of your knowledge and experience of some damage surveys from over there.
Anyways, I look forward to hearing more from you!

Lanny Dean
Owner- Extreme Chase Tours LLC
www.ExtremeChaseTours.com

 

[Frank Kienast]

Hello to fellow newbies and seasoned veterans!

I'm Chriss Lyon from St. Joseph, Michigan in Berrien County; extreme southwestern corner of Michigan. Literally on Lake Michigan across from Chicago so I get the beautiful sunsets but the lousy lake effect snow! Not quite an even trade.

Sounds like a good trade to me! Only if being that close to the lake inhibits spring and summer storms would it not be such a good trade. I lived southeastern Virginia for most of my life, until I moved to Indiana in 1994. Southeastern Virginia can go years without accumulating snow (I think even this past winter they were well under a foot total). I liked the weather in Indianapolis in the spring, but the winters there still sucked. Snow was pretty scarce (unless you count getting the inevitable dustings) and it seemed if it snowed more than an inch it would always change to rain or freezing rain for most of the storm. I used to drive up to the northern part of Indiana (around South Bend), as well as to your state to see lake effect snow in the winter. When I continued as far as Michigan I usually ended up stopping somewhere between Benton Harbor and Grand Rapids.