Starter Advice??

[Johnna Foster]

Hey guys,
I just joined the sight because I am obsessed with severe weather in the great plains. I am finishing a semester long meteorology class and I am wanting to start to get into the field and chase these storms. I am wondering what would be some good equipment for me to start gathering. I have a decently good vehicle for it I think. It is a 1993 Toyota 4Runner, 4 wheel drive of course, for tight situations. Anyway, if you have any advice, ideas for equipment I need to get or have, anything at all, please let me know! I love to get new ideas from anyone who has them. By the way, I am located in southeast kansas, pittsburg to be exact. ANYTHING will be helpful, dont hesitate!
thanks in advance!
either reply on here or to my email, [email protected]

 

[Jason Boggs]

Your first priority should be educating yourself on severe weather and forecasting. Yes, chasing can allow for lots of experience in the field, but learn as much as you can.
Some stuff I carry along...
laptop with Grlevel3, Delorme GPS, and a Sprint data card for internet access
wx radio
cell phone
paper maps
digital and still cameras..

You get the idea by now. Everyone has different reasons for being out, therefore the list varies quite a bit.

 

[Jason Boggs]

By the way, here is a sticky of a good thread on what you're looking for.

http://www.stormtrack.org/forum/showthread.php?25904-Recommended-Chaser-Equipment-List

 

[Jim Parsons]

A great educational video for just starting out.... http://extremeinstability.com/stormstructure101.htm

 

[Rob H]

I have a decently good vehicle for it I think. It is a 1993 Toyota 4Runner, 4 wheel drive of course, for tight situations.

I'd recommend against thinking of dirt/gravel roads that way. Use them to get closer when you know what you're doing, never as a planned escape route. They slow you down, and lots of people get stuck on them. Take a look at the 'Field incident' from 5/22/10 for example of what happens to experienced chasers when smaller roads don't work out the way they planned. A lot of people that get 'the shot' do so from a paved road, so offroading like in 'Twister' isn't a necessity. For vehicles the most important question is 'Do I mind getting hail dents and possibly losing a windshield when I make a mistake?'

You'll probably hear this a lot because it's important: learn the basics of forecasting, nowcasting, and storm structure. Haby's Hints, the U of Ill online guide for weather, the archives/stickies here are good places to start. You need to know when you're driving into a hail core with 4" hail or when a storm takes a sharp right turn on an outflow boundary and heads right for you, and consequently what to do.

P.S. You might want to remove your email from your post, unless you really enjoy spam

 

[Laura Duchesne]

If your budget allows it, how about one of those Kestrel pocket hand held weather meters? I have the Kestrel 4000 and found it handy, it measures temperature, dewpoint, humidity, barometer, wind, etc. Helps give you an idea of current conditions while waiting for initiation.

If you have a laptop, Microsoft Streets & Trips comes in really handy. It comes with a little gps puck you can just stick somewhere near the windshield and the maps are very detailed. Good radar programs are GrLevelX and Baron Mobile Threat Net.

Remember that you can have all the gear in the world, it still won't get you a tornado all the time. One could easily become frustrated, but this is chasing. It is also very easy to get distracted and become a little more dependent on your laptop. Just remember that your eyes are your most real time source! Everyone hit the nail on the head, learn about forecasting, nowcasting, how to read the sky and storm structure first. I recommend reading Tim Vasquez's Storm Chaser Handbook, lots of helpful tips, tricks and hints in there.

As for photography, having a good range of lenses can come in really handy... a 10mm will allow you to get more sky in the photo, handy if you are closer to the storm, while a 200mm will zoom in on distant storms if you are far away and can't get to. I own a Tamron 18-200mm lens for my Canon Rebel T1i, and I just recently purchased a Canon 10-22mm lens from B&H Photo.

Hope this was somewhat helpful for you, if you have any more questions, please feel free to ask away!

 

[Payden Miller]

Hey! I live in Pittsburg too. Glad you joined. Welcome to the site. Hit me up on here sometime. I'm still a novice compared to the rest of the people here but I'm learning fast.

 

[Paul Knightley]

Nothing much to add really, other than to reiterate what others above have said - get storm smart! Whilst you can have all manner of laptops, radar, blah blah blah in your car, if you don't know what you're looking at, or how to navigate around the storm, etc, it's pointless.