Road Network

[JL Gacke]

I also favor the Baron MTN, it almost never goes down. I also run GRLX. The combined road mapping isn't highly detailed but shows most main roads. Radar is almost always recent.
I still prefer a laptop and always use the old MS Streets and Trips. It has pretty good GPS accuracy. The MS S&T does show most roads but certainly not quality - gravel vs mud. It does delineate between paved and gravel most of the time, though I don't trust that for life & death. Also, I've been fooled several times into thinking I have a road ahead to use only to find it's ruts through a pasture. It might be a public ROW but no way passable.
Go ahead and laugh, but I keep thinking it'd be nice to acquire that defunct S&T program from MS and someone good with code-writing capabilities, would be able to rebuild/release under a different name and for a reasonable price and with updated road info.

 

[Jeff Johnson]

I generally use a Garmin stand alone GPS along with the maps on RadarOmega. I generally don't get too aggressive with dirt roads, but I've never had a problem using these tools.

Thank you, Jason, for mentioning Radar Omega. I was not familiar with it. We downloaded it in the control room at our radio station in East Texas Friday morning (4 NOV 2022) and used it that afternoon and evening to warn our listeners about the 17 Tornado warned storms that passed through our area. You likely help saved lives last week. Thank you!

 

[Jeff Johnson]

I always use a mapping system that is frequently updated and offers heads-up directional viewing as I find it's easier to mentally calculate routing. I use Google or Apple mapping for general driving, viewed on a dash-mounted iPad. I know those maps are always updated. I also have a standalone GPS / Satellite XM radar with road overlays in the event cell signals fail, which has happened. I use several radar apps with road overlays for plotting -- like My Radar Pro or Radar Omega. I carry paper maps in the event of total system failure. Improved gravel roads are generally OK, especially in areas like E. CO. Even with a Ford Ranger Off-Road edition, I choose my roads carefully. If the target storm is in front of me, and there are no other storms coming up behind me, I'm not so cautious. On a day like El Reno, I avoided all dirt or gravel roads. On the big or complex chase days, I always visit the state's local transportation webpage to get updates on road closures and detours.

Thank you, Warren, for mentioning Radar Omega. I was not familiar with it. We downloaded it in the control room at our radio station in East Texas Friday morning (4 NOV 2022) and used it that afternoon and evening to warn our listeners about the 17 Tornado warned storms that passed through our area. You likely help saved lives last week. Thank you!

 

[Jason Boggs]

Thank you, Jason, for mentioning Radar Omega. I was not familiar with it. We downloaded it in the control room at our radio station in East Texas Friday morning (4 NOV 2022) and used it that afternoon and evening to warn our listeners about the 17 Tornado warned storms that passed through our area. You likely help saved lives last week. Thank you!

Thank you sir! I appreciate the kind remarks!

 

[Jason Boggs]

Also make sure to use a radar program where the update notices are quite clear. I've seen some radar apps that don't, and it's no fun to notice the radar scan you are watching is 15-30 mins old.

That's what I like about the audible updates with RadarOmega. I recommended it to them, and they included it in one of their updates.

 

[Jeff Wright]

Just in case some of you think about chasing in Alabama and haven’t been here, a long time project I-22 directly linking Memphis with Birmingham was finally finished a decade or two back…greatly easing traffic on Highway 78, and 269–crossed by the tornadoes of 1998 and 2011. From there to Lamar County on the AL-MS state line is usually the place to watch…though Cullman is back to being a “hot spot” it seems.

Lamar Country is rather flat in areas with better lines of sight than you might imagine.

 

[Jamie H]

I use a TomTom app on my iPhone, which I imagine would work just as well in the US as it does in Europe. I know Apple Maps uses TomTom data, but the actual app is superb not only for routing but also for live traffic updates as well. Maybe it will be useful for chasing?

 

[Cameron E.]

If you like a good offline map that's free, try HERE WeGo. I think it used to be used exclusively in Lexus cars then got put into an app. You can download map data for entire states and the whole country. I think Google Maps has interior offline map options since you can only download data in a rectangle on the phone; like taking a screenshot. It's weird. It doesn't work well at all if your state is horizontally long (like most plains states lol).

Then there is Gaia GPS that at free mode has more road/map data than I would ever need lol. And if you go premium, there is a ton of information available for you to use. You can record trips on this app I believe like Strava (if you wanted to capture your driving route for the day). If you're a real nerd, consider this one for map/road data. I love this app.