*New Users. Meet and Greet Area*

[Scott Fortune]

Hi all, here is my first post - I thought I would introduce myself and why I am here!

I am Matt Lochansky from Raleigh, NC. I'm a professional scientist (analytical chemist) and computer guy, with a keen interest in many things in the natural world - I'm an active amateur astronomer, gardener, and recently got my open water SCUBA certificate. I am also interested in weather, but it's been brought to the forefront by my son, Jack, who recently celebrated his 15th birthday. He's been a weather kid for many years. He's gone to weather camps, been to a few NWS offices, and is very active learning meteorology principles and climatology with other weather folks through discord, twitter, and his youtube channel. For a 15 year old, I think he spends too much time tracking/forecasting storms and stuff, be he loves it. He plans to pursue a career in atmospheric sciences / meteorology. He's been wanting to chase for a while now but we don't live in the most tornado-prone area. Before he graduates high school, I want to get him out on a tornado expedition. Perhaps closer to home, Hurricane Isaias should be in the area on Monday and we were going to go see what we see. We've got lots of radar tools (GRAnalyst, Radarscope), a handheld bluetooth weather meter, and our gopro cameras. Wish us luck!

Hey Matt, Good Luck, but not wasting my time or gas on Isaias. Tropical storm, Cat 1 at best,can get that over here on upstate SC without going anywhere. I'm waiting for at least a Cat 3 to come. Certified SCUBA here too, use it gold dredging.

 

[Rick Dubowits]

Hello,

I’m Rick and Iive in rural Manitoba (as far as I can tell, the North Eastern fringes of the tornado belt). I saw my first tornado as a teen when we were poor dirt farmers. The wind picked up During a hail storm and shingles we couldn’t afford to replace on anew outbuilding were blowing off. I went up to hammer some boards down to keep them from lifting. That’s when the twister formed to the south right in front of me on our 80 acre barley crop. I couldn’t do anything other than hold on and watch and hope it didn’t come my way (it didn’t).
To this day I still remember those few moments, yet I always wondered how I could see a tornado yet not hear about it on the weather... since then I had a 16 year army career which involved endless miles of travel across Canada. I happened across other tornadoes, mosltly in rural/northern Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. Again, they were never seen on the news.
I realized after a while that meteorologists likely couldn’t detect these tornadoes, and I was likely the only person (or one of a few) to see them in remote areas and they were just never reported since they didn’t do significant damage or hurt anyone. So, lately I’ve gotten an idea in my head that I should, when possible, watch these storms when I can and do my part to fill in the gaps. I came to this board mostly to read, learn, maybe ask a few questions when I’m stumped.

I should add, this interest sparked recently when I took my wife and kids, with a huge camper and canoe, near a region the very same day a fatal tornado touched down not all that far from where I went... I had no clue that there was even a potential threat of a storm in the area. There are clearly gaps that need filling in our weather reporting system, especially for rural/remote areas where I am.

 

[Andy Miller]

Hi, I’m Andy!!! I have been interested in meteorology since I was a kid. I would sit watching the Weather Channel for hours and after Twister came out, I was hooked. Growing up in Southern California in San Diego, I was far from tornados and severe storms, but during the summer when we would get monsoonal thunderstorms in the mountains, my parents would take me out “chasing”. During high school my family moved to Minnesota, living in a small town north of the Twin Cities. The first spring in Minnesota I found out about Skywarn and attended my first class, that was in 2000, now being involved in Metro Skywarn for 20 years. Now living someplace that has tornadoes and storms, I was able to start chasing and spotting. While finishing high school I intended to go to college for meteorology and I even got to job shadow with one of the local tv meteorologist in the Twin Cities. Well after graduating high school, I decided to change majors and career paths. I have a degree in animal science, it was really a pre-med/pre-vet degree. During this time, I never lost my interest in the weather and I got more involved with emergency management for the county that I lived in. Working towards gaining experience for medical school, I started working in EMS and after three years working on an ALS ambulance, I switched to working in an emergency department. For several reasons, I decided to leave the medical field. Trying to figure out what I was going to do, I decided to go back and get my meteorology degree. With in meteorology, my interest are severe storms and fire meteorology. Interests outside of weather are living history/re-enacting, other earth sciences, space and astronomy, woodworking and blacksmithing, and anything outdoors, fishing, camping, hiking, etc… That’s about it.

 

[MarkH]

Howdy, y'all......I've checked out this site several times in the last few years, and finally decided to sign up. Name's Mark, I just moved to Lawton, OK. I'm a freelance photographer, audio/video editor, and travel writer that specializes in Route 66, and the desert southwest. Hoping to have new camera gear before next year's chase season....it seems I'm in prime territory, and won't have to go very far. I'm a trained spotter through Skywarn, also taking some online weather classes. Looking forward to learning more on here.

 

[DJ Gisler]

Hello everyone! My name is Dylan, and I reside in South/Central Texas. I started chasing locally in my area about 3 years ago and just this year started branching out into North Texas and Oklahoma. I normally chase solo but I'm always willing to learn from someone that has more experience. I've been pouring over the message boards on here for a couple months and there is a wealth of knowledge in here and some very talented people. I hope to meet some of yall out on the road one day! I come from a Public Utility background and I am CPR/first aid trained should it ever be needed in the field. I chase for photography but public safety is always my top priority, I'm not the guy you will see blowing past a damage area to keep chasing. That's about it!

 

[Don Kemper]

Howdy from NE KY. I'm Don Kemper, an old worn out, broken down, dilapidated caver of yesteryear and have a wide range of interests. Several of my interests have strong ties with weather. Has anyone heard of "Clear Sky Charts?" It is the opposite of what would be of interest here since it is for astronomers. You could imagine the weather concerns for caving. Don't get me wrong, I like like storms and am greatly interested in weather of al types.

A few years ago a friend at a local radio museum gave me a cheap PoFung hand transceiver and told me I had no excuse for not getting a ham license. So I studied for four weeks (monthly exams) and passed the tech exam, a month later became a general class operator and spent the rest of the year getting certs of several kinds that are related to ham radio and ARES, among them SKYWARN and FEMA certs.

Since the Covid-19 epidemic, I've been pretty much hiding under a rock and have just recently thought I'd review SKYWARN information and ran across Spotter Network. Having already watched a few hours of weather tech/chaser videos on YouTube, I decided to join. Again I was faced with yet another course and test, Awareness. It was well done, just right with technical information and fascinating. I enjoyed it every bit, including the test, even though I couldn't see any of the videos including the two in the test. It closely resembled the SKYWARN material I studied a couple of years ago but with more detail and additional information.

Will I be a chaser? Spotter? Some yahoo sitting around in the back of the room? Well, I live on the Cumberland Plateau, in the Ohio River Valley where Ohio, West Virginia, and Kentucky comes together in the Charleston WV radar and forecast area. The topography is a lot of eroded valleys, making for a hill and valley landscape with meandering backroads with tight turns here and there and high horizons. It is not as conducive to storm chasing as it is in the midwest planes. For this group, I'd be a weather enthusiast and that's how I have it when I made the SN profile as well as a spotter from time to time when there is something suitable to report.

Other interests include, caves and related geology, triking, astronomy, electronics and repairing vintage electronic entertainment equipment, antique electronic equipment, photography, shopwork and a few other things. I used to be a caver, cave rescue instructor, and somewhat of a hiker. I still get out and walk trails occasionally, do a little geocaching, but the days of hard caving are over for me for various reasons.

As a weather enthusiast, I'll enjoy the thunderstorm course and will continue to learn to identify cloud types and weather. I look forward to that and to reporting once in a while. I hope to make a few friends here and if you are in my area, I'd like to meet you. OK, I'd probably like to meet you if you aren't in this area... I enjoy a little humor once in a while.

 

[Don Kemper]

We do have a new place across the street, the old Hitchin' Post, but nothing compares to the F4! Every year on May 22nd at 8:30 the 9 of us that took shelter in the cooler would pile in there again for a "celebration" shot. Hmmmm, wonder where we'll go this year...can't break tradition!

WOW! What a scary experience that must have been.

I know this is an old post but I just joined and thought I'd read up on others' introductions. From NE KY, I can't imagine what that must have been like. Life is so different in other parts of the country.

 

[Wes Carter]

Howdy from NE KY. I'm Don Kemper, an old worn out, broken down, dilapidated caver of yesteryear and have a wide range of interests. Several of my interests have strong ties with weather. Has anyone heard of "Clear Sky Charts?" It is the opposite of what would be of interest here since it is for astronomers. You could imagine the weather concerns for caving. Don't get me wrong, I like like storms and am greatly interested in weather of al types.

A few years ago a friend at a local radio museum gave me a cheap PoFung hand transceiver and told me I had no excuse for not getting a ham license. So I studied for four weeks (monthly exams) and passed the tech exam, a month later became a general class operator and spent the rest of the year getting certs of several kinds that are related to ham radio and ARES, among them SKYWARN and FEMA certs.

Since the Covid-19 epidemic, I've been pretty much hiding under a rock and have just recently thought I'd review SKYWARN information and ran across Spotter Network. Having already watched a few hours of weather tech/chaser videos on YouTube, I decided to join. Again I was faced with yet another course and test, Awareness. It was well done, just right with technical information and fascinating. I enjoyed it every bit, including the test, even though I couldn't see any of the videos including the two in the test. It closely resembled the SKYWARN material I studied a couple of years ago but with more detail and additional information.

Will I be a chaser? Spotter? Some yahoo sitting around in the back of the room? Well, I live on the Cumberland Plateau, in the Ohio River Valley where Ohio, West Virginia, and Kentucky comes together in the Charleston WV radar and forecast area. The topography is a lot of eroded valleys, making for a hill and valley landscape with meandering backroads with tight turns here and there and high horizons. It is not as conducive to storm chasing as it is in the midwest planes. For this group, I'd be a weather enthusiast and that's how I have it when I made the SN profile as well as a spotter from time to time when there is something suitable to report.

Other interests include, caves and related geology, triking, astronomy, electronics and repairing vintage electronic entertainment equipment, antique electronic equipment, photography, shopwork and a few other things. I used to be a caver, cave rescue instructor, and somewhat of a hiker. I still get out and walk trails occasionally, do a little geocaching, but the days of hard caving are over for me for various reasons.

As a weather enthusiast, I'll enjoy the thunderstorm course and will continue to learn to identify cloud types and weather. I look forward to that and to reporting once in a while. I hope to make a few friends here and if you are in my area, I'd like to meet you. OK, I'd probably like to meet you if you aren't in this area... I enjoy a little humor once in a while.

Welcome! I grew up in coal mining country near the Cumberland Gap and worked in mining for a few years so I’m very familiar with your neck of the woods. Now I live within sight of the other end of the Cumberland Plateau down near the Alabama state line.

This is a good place to learn and you can be in decent chase territory within a few hours of where you live. Indiana and Illinois both have some decent terrain for chasing.

 

[Mark Stephens]

Hi!

I've been following these forums for a few years now, but decided to actually set up an account and contribute for once. I'm Mark from Philadelphia PA and I'm an amateur storm chaser. I've spent time researching the basics of meteorology during my spare time from resources found on the internet, and spend time every year getting out in the field to chase storms!

While I do spend a good amount of time chasing locally in PA and elsewhere in the Mid Atlantic, I also venture out a couple times per year to the Southern/Central/Northern Plains.

Have been chasing for 4 years now and plan to do many more!

Thanks for being a wonderful community all!
Mark

 

[JamesCaruso]

Hi!

I've been following these forums for a few years now, but decided to actually set up an account and contribute for once. I'm Mark from Philadelphia PA and I'm an amateur storm chaser. I've spent time researching the basics of meteorology during my spare time from resources found on the internet, and spend time every year getting out in the field to chase storms!

While I do spend a good amount of time chasing locally in PA and elsewhere in the Mid Atlantic, I also venture out a couple times per year to the Southern/Central/Northern Plains.

Have been chasing for 4 years now and plan to do many more!

Thanks for being a wonderful community all!
Mark

Welcome Mark! Noticed you are from the Philadelphia area so wanted to say hello! Where in the Philly area do you live? I am in Newtown in Bucks County. I have been chasing for almost 25 years, but don’t know many chasers out our way, other than @Lou Ruh and @Jeff Lieberman (I also know someone in NJ that has been chasing even longer than me, but I don’t think he is on Stormtrack).

Interested in hearing about your local chasing activities, as I have never considered it worth doing around here with the traffic, hills, trees, traffic lights, etc. I have driven a few miles from time to time just to get a somewhat clearer view of an approaching storm already in progress, and I like going to the NJ shore if a hurricane is churning up the surf, but that’s about it. Also interesting that you are able to get out to the Plains more than once per year, I guess you do a couple of short trips instead of one longer chase vacation?

Would be great to connect, feel free to message me directly on Stormtrack. Also wondering if you are on the local Philadelphia weather forum, PhillyWx.com? Great group of people, including NWS Mt. Holly mets. The members are mostly into winter storms more so than severe weather (all of us snow lovers are pumped up about the pattern starting today through the next two weeks) but great variety of content throughout the whole year for weather geeks like us I am on there as JimCaruso (I go by Jim, even though my username here is James Caruso).

Again, welcome and hope we can meet one day.

Jim

 

[K Nugent]

Hello from Florida.

I've enjoyed storm spotting & chasing at a more casual pace since 2006. Recently, I've turned it into a fun spring & summer hobby! I spot for SKYWARN in NE Florida (kJAX/kMLB). The tools I use are RadarOmega, SpotterNetwork, Chaser Location, mPING & MyRadar. While I'm not a meteorologist, in another life where I didn't own a business, I'm positive I would be!

Something on my bucket list is chasing with the pros in the plains and getting up close and personal with an f3+ (not many of those here in FL)

 

[J Sims]

Hello, I am Joshua Sims and I am rejoining the site after a few years away. I'm actually one of the first people to introduce myself on this very thread, I'm like the 6th post on this thread, I no longer have access to the email attached to that account so I had to make a new one. I have relocated to Florida due to joining the Navy almost two years ago.

 

[Jessica B.]

Hello, I'm Jessica and I happen to be a 25-year-old college graduate who loves literature. I can talk about any era of literature, ranging from Shakespeare to Flannery O'Connor - plus some contemporary authors past my area of expertise. I also am a weather enthusiast who got into weather events since I was a child with Hurricane Katrina, and more so since the March 2, 2012 tornado outbreak. That day was when an EF-2 tornado hit East Bernstadt, about 30 minutes north of where I currently reside. However, what really got me into the community was after the Nashville and Cookeville tornadoes. EAS scenarios fascinate me, but I also have a sense of determining what is fiction versus reality. In my spare time, I talk with other weather enthusiasts on Discord, browse interesting articles on the internet, and read books.

 

[Cody Allen]

Hello, my name is Cody. I'm from Georgia, more specifically northwest Georgia. I've been interested in weather since I was a kid. It's always just been a hobby, but now I really want to dive deeper and learn more about, well, everything really. I found this forum while googling something I read in a convective outlook forecast, and I'm really glad I found it. Seems like I can learn a ton of awesome things here!

 

[C A Carle]

Hey all! My name is Chris, and I'm out of the Cedar Rapids, IA area. I've always been interested in weather since the floods of 1993, but have only really been looking into learning more over the last few years. I did my first spotter training just a couple of months before the derecho hit Cedar Rapids last year, and going through that storm really amped up my desire to learn more to help people not be caught in situations like that. I'm looking forward to learning from all the valuable information here and can't wait to get to know everyone.