Our very first trip to Tornado Alley

[John Hudson]

Paul, makes a very good point. Chasing is enjoyable even with no tornadoes or even storms.

Bill Hark[/b]

That's definitely true. I came down to Wichita last year for ten days, and the good chasing weather left before I got there. Sunburn was a worse hazard than the possibility of tornadoes. In spite of that, what was originally to be a chase trip turned into an awesome vacation. I was given a tour of the local NWS offices and was treated like royalty, and got some of the best sunset photos I've ever had the pleasure to take.

If I get to see a supercell some time on a repeat visit, well, that would be the sweet icing on the cake!

 

[William Rayner]

To Jesper and everybody:
Wifi hotspots for your laptop are very nice and I love those motels with free internet service. But I find I use dataports and dial-up a lot. Every sub shop, fast-food joint and (especially) trucker stops has them on their 1-800 phone hookups. Of course, you'll need a 1-800 number from an outfit like AOL or a telcom in order to access the internet. Believe me, the cost is miniscule compared with cellphones, onboard internet and roaming charges.
However, my advice is not to fixate on the tech end. Just come on over and enjoy the skies. You'll find lots of storms without spending a fortune on gadgets. And --- repeating what others have said --- be prepared to drive and drive and drive.

 

[Jesper_Copenhagen]

Thank you all for the numerous numbers of replies. We have now made our final descision and are coming to Tornado Alley on our own.

We do not know if we will be able to work out the internet problem, I we do not we will just rely on the wifi-hotspots.

Right now we are working on renting a car with the proper insurance, and getting the airplane tickets, and of course getting all the possible information on Supercells and chasing from the internet and books.

Hope to see some of You in Tornado Alley, and here in Denmark we will have our fingers crossed for a record outbreak of tornadoes in the last to weeks of May

When we get a little bit closer to our arrival I will post a new tread.

 

[Paul Austin]

Jesper,

When you arrive, PM me. I'll be chasing from May 14 - May 28. If we're ever near each other, I'd love to meet you and your fellow chasers. I'm not the most experienced chaser on the forum, but I'd be happy to share any info or plans we have, and you can chase along with us any time you wish.

 

[Marc Austin]

I second what my brother Paul said, you can jump on board with us any time you want! Well... not literally jump in our car, but... well you know what I mean.

 

[Jesper_Copenhagen]

Hello all You American chasers!

We just returned to Denmark this Monday after spending 2 weeks in Tornado Alley. When we left U.S it was very warm, so it was quite a chilling experience to come back to Denmark. Right now we only have around 15 decrees C, but would you believe it some landspouts developed in the cold north-westerly flow (http://www.dmi.dk/dmi/skypumper_over_landet), though it is nothing compared too what we experienced in the U.S. We thought about going chasing but our families have us grounded for chasing right now, after driving 4700 miles in the U.S looking for tornadoes .

It was a wonderful experience chasing in the U.S and to meet some fellow chasers, even though the omega block made us very worried the first week of our trip, but at least we got to see some sightseeing. But the second week we got two really good chase days, where we got to see mesocyclones, wall clouds, mammatus, and even our very first tornado.

On our two very good chase days some of You U.S chase teams led us tag along with You and led us to the mesocyclones and tornado, we are very grateful and we would like to say that we have been greeted with nothing but hospitality, so thank You all (also the ones who send me a pm but we did not meet with).

We will definitely be back another season, hopefully with no omega block and the Baron system in our car. Unfortunately we did not experience any large hail, but that just means that Budget would be willing too rent us a car next time as well, or maybe we will try to rent the TIV for two weeks

If any of you guys ever come to Denmark to chase landspouts or stratocumulus , please contact us and we will be delighted to help you in any way we can.

Yours sincerely

The Danish Chase team (The Danish Severe Weather Society (http://www.vildtvejrsklubben.dk))

You can see the nice mammutus we saw below


[attachmentid=346]

 

[John Farley]

Very nice mammatus pic! And congratulations on catching a tornado in a VERY difficult May! I would love to see a summary of where you chased and what you saw there. Or, if you have already posted in REPORTS threads for days you chased, perhaps post a link to those days?

Glad you had a good time and some successful chasing in a May that mostly did not cooperate with chasers!

 

[Jesper_Copenhagen]

Well we have promised the Danish Meteorological Society to write them an article about our trip to Tornado Alley, I think I will translate it into English when we have written it, and then I will post a link to it in this thread. But it would probably be a little while before we have finished the article