Dan Robinson
EF5
How many of you have relocated, or considered relocating, with storm chasing being a major motivating factor?
I thought and planned for a move from my original home state of West Virginia starting around 2005, and finally did it exactly 5 years ago this week (January 9, 2010). My job is web development that I do from home, so I literally could go anywhere I wanted. Like most chasers do, I strongly considered several locations in the Great Plains: Tulsa, Enid, Pratt, Amarillo, Lubbock or somewhere within an hour's drive west of OKC or Wichita. I also had a few Midwest locations in mind. My only criteria was 1.) to be close to an urban area for easy access to services, conveniences and jobs (if needed) and 2.) to have a wide-open sky view from home.
In the end, I chose not to go the Great Plains, but to move to the St. Louis metro. Here are my reasons:
- I'm always going to make trips to chase the Plains from wherever I live anyway, so moving there isn't necessary to benefit from its setups.
- The Midwest is full of chaseable events. Studying up on the Midwest's tornado history made me realize that I would have many opportunities there throughout the year that would likely not be seen by many others. Events like the Tri-State Tornado, many of the historic outbreaks in the region and finally seeing the Crosstown, MO F4 in 2006 convinced me that I would likely get to see significant events on a fairly regular basis.
- As much as I'm fond of the Plains, I wanted to retain a little bit of it's "road trip vacation" novelty. I felt like moving there would remove that aspect of chasing that I've come to love. Kind of like someone moving to their favorite tropical paradise full-time. You'd probably get sick of living everyday life there eventually - then where would you go to "get away"?
- Being in St. Louis meant that I could still make most Plains targets with relative ease (I-70 and I-44 leading directly to most S Plains setups).
- St. Louis and the I-64/70/44 corridors have always held a special place in my heart from my many trips through the years going to do something I loved. The Arch has always been my personal symbol of heading west to go chasing.
- The eastern STL metro in Illinois is Plains-like, as flat as the Texas Caprock and western Kansas, with wide-open skies and great roads.
- I wanted to remain within a day's drive to family and friends back east so as not to isolate myself from them too much.
I thought and planned for a move from my original home state of West Virginia starting around 2005, and finally did it exactly 5 years ago this week (January 9, 2010). My job is web development that I do from home, so I literally could go anywhere I wanted. Like most chasers do, I strongly considered several locations in the Great Plains: Tulsa, Enid, Pratt, Amarillo, Lubbock or somewhere within an hour's drive west of OKC or Wichita. I also had a few Midwest locations in mind. My only criteria was 1.) to be close to an urban area for easy access to services, conveniences and jobs (if needed) and 2.) to have a wide-open sky view from home.
In the end, I chose not to go the Great Plains, but to move to the St. Louis metro. Here are my reasons:
- I'm always going to make trips to chase the Plains from wherever I live anyway, so moving there isn't necessary to benefit from its setups.
- The Midwest is full of chaseable events. Studying up on the Midwest's tornado history made me realize that I would have many opportunities there throughout the year that would likely not be seen by many others. Events like the Tri-State Tornado, many of the historic outbreaks in the region and finally seeing the Crosstown, MO F4 in 2006 convinced me that I would likely get to see significant events on a fairly regular basis.
- As much as I'm fond of the Plains, I wanted to retain a little bit of it's "road trip vacation" novelty. I felt like moving there would remove that aspect of chasing that I've come to love. Kind of like someone moving to their favorite tropical paradise full-time. You'd probably get sick of living everyday life there eventually - then where would you go to "get away"?
- Being in St. Louis meant that I could still make most Plains targets with relative ease (I-70 and I-44 leading directly to most S Plains setups).
- St. Louis and the I-64/70/44 corridors have always held a special place in my heart from my many trips through the years going to do something I loved. The Arch has always been my personal symbol of heading west to go chasing.
- The eastern STL metro in Illinois is Plains-like, as flat as the Texas Caprock and western Kansas, with wide-open skies and great roads.
- I wanted to remain within a day's drive to family and friends back east so as not to isolate myself from them too much.