Regrets

[Mike Hollingshead]

If one has a nowcaster I wouldn't think they'd consider themselves very gadget free and such sky readers. At least with the gadgets and no nowcaster you are figuring the things out on your own(with the info the nowcaster would have).

Sometimes it is hard to see those surface boundaries with your eyes from 100+ miles away(pre-convection). Go gadgets! Paper maps would also take up more of your "sky time" than if you had been running GPS.

Some of our most rewarding chases (example: May 16, 2004) were done without laptops, just choosing the target (in that case, O Neill), and sticking with it and getting there at the right time.

Do you wonder if you had info if you'd of been there sooner and further sw to see the first torandoes though? Seeing the cool things period is very rewarding and having info on stuff you can't see will always help you to that. Being very annoyed you missed stuff because of a lack of data while on the road I think would take away from any of the "reward" feeling of doing it with "no data".

 

[Jeff Miller]

If one has a nowcaster I wouldn't think they'd consider themselves very gadget free and such sky readers. At least with the gadgets and no nowcaster you are figuring the things out on your own(with the info the nowcaster would have).

Sometimes it is hard to see those surface boundaries with your eyes from 100+ miles away(pre-convection). Go gadgets! Paper maps would also take up more of your "sky time" than if you had been running GPS.

Some of our most rewarding chases (example: May 16, 2004) were done without laptops, just choosing the target (in that case, O Neill), and sticking with it and getting there at the right time.

Do you wonder if you had info if you'd of been there sooner and further sw to see the first torandoes though? Seeing the cool things period is very rewarding and having info on stuff you can't see will always help you to that. Being very annoyed you missed stuff because of a lack of data while on the road I think would take away from any of the "reward" feeling of doing it with "no data".

Mike, I know what you are saying, I just never considered a cell phone a major piece of "gadgetry". Although you make a very good point about the nowcaster taking away from "true sky reading". I guess on your scale you might call us "quasi-gadgeted" :lol:

Yes, I have wondered that....but I still am not dissapointed at our catches over the past 3 years on the Plains. If I miss things, I miss things, theres no sense in stewing over spilt milk (ya, tell that to me when it happens LOL (i.e. June 23 ) I'm assuming you are saying that the grand events I did have would have been much grander if I had all the gadgetry?

Regards,
Jeff

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

If I miss things, I miss things, theres no sense in stewing over spilt milk (ya, tell that to me when it happens LOL (i.e. June 23 ) I'm assuming you are saying that the grand events I did have would have been much grander if I had all the gadgetry?

Well, I'm just trying to say we all use it to some degree, wether we just get online in the morning and look at stuff or if we have the perfect setup in our rides. I don't see info hurting. I don't have the attitude if I miss things I miss things. I want to see things very very badly and I do stir over the things I miss. Some cases it was because of lack of info(a number of them). The majority however didn't come down to info. It came down to either not going out at all or leaving too late. THAT is the key imo. Being out and being out early is as important as having info on the road. So I can't say if your events would of been even "grander", but the one I mentioned I just assumed it could of....but perhaps that was not being out early enough(I do that alllllll the time and it drives me insane until I get around to the next season). So if you were out early and missed the first part of that event then you either wanted to or didn't have the info. I'm just trying to point out gadgetry isn't so evil or so perfect. It is a very useful tool that can help you see things not many others on the planet ever get to witness.

I chalk that spefic day up to LUCK for me. When I look at getting data like xm or something I don't just look at the days I could of done better if I had data, I look at those LUCKY days. The days I did it "the hard way" and scored. I don't want to rely on luck(or my morning target always working out) when I put so much time into all this. Often those days "sky readers only" nail tubes on were a lot of luck, if you think about it all. It isn't the hardest thing in the world to "read the sky". It is however hard to read the sky you cannot see. Your target can verify later that day and you could score a tube at it. Great. The days that get you are the ones your target doesn't verify and you needed to change that target say after a storm furhter south went up. As the day goes along a lot of things can mess up your morning target, things you won't always be able to note with no data. I'd rather have all the info I can get all the time during the day than doing it the "pure" or hard way. I see no reason to think it is more rewarding to do it with no data other than pride. Pride can be cool, but I myself would rather just see all I can see, screw pride.

 

[Jeff Miller]

I totally agree with you, Mike on leaving and not leaving at certain times. If we HAD of left 1 hour earlier we would have caught a lot more than we did. I think you had some great opinion there, Im glad you shared.

I guess I have to take the "if I miss things i miss things" attitude after the fact because if I didnt I would STILL be beating myself over the head for missing all those tornadoes in SD for getting stuck in mud. Im naturally hard on myself for screwing up, so thats more of a personal thing I guess

Regardless, excellent thoughts and enjoy the cantor