Storm chasing basics

[Jordan Lopez]

Hey all,

I'm am finally able to really storm chase, because I live in a place that actually gets severe storms! I'm currently in Austin, Texas where we are getting a bit of a buck, rainfall wise by Tropical Storm Hermine, but what do you chase in a storm like this?

What do you chase? Is the goal to find the "heart" or "eye" of the storm? Or areas with highest precipitation/powerful winds?

Here is another big question: How do you stay safe while chasing a storm? I realize that there is risk no matter what, but how do you go about chasing the right and smart way? I'd like to purchase a tough built camera and start chasing for pictures and videos of storms we get for the rest of 2010, but I don't want to go out there like a fool.

My idea of chasing back when I was in Southern California, was to head to the darkest part of the storm, with the harshest conditions I could find, in a 1970 Mercedes benz Diesel no less haha... Although now I'm in a more versatile MB here in Texas.. Another thing is, storms here can produce Tornados, and this is something I've never had experience with.

What is the right course of action if you see a funnel cloud starting to form, but yet you still want to keep chasing/photographing.

Any info and tips are greatly appreciated. Before I would just drive to a storm to see what I could find, I want to do that now, but this time, the right way and safe way as well. Are there any members who have group chasing here in Austin??

Thanks!

 

[KendraReed]

Jordan, check out the educational forum, and by this I mean look through the archives. Not sure if you have already done that or not. It will answer most of your questions.

 

[Jason Foster]

Jordan, you are on the right track asking questions. There is tons to read and learn about and it won't happen overnight.

As Kendra said, reading the educational forum (among many other areas) is a great idea. Be sure to read a lot, get the tone and style that is posted here, it will make you time at stormtrack more enjoyable and productive. But don't let this site be you only means to learn. Others will contribute their recommendations as well. You may have been doing this to some degree since you did join back in June.

Before the site became strictly a forum, there was some old stuff which was great reading. The link below is dated by a number of years, so keep that in mind, but the basis for much of the reading is good:
http://www.stormtrack.org/library/faq/

 

[Rob H]

I strongly agree with Kendra, but I'll touch on a little of what you're asking.

1) Having a "tough" camera is pointless in my opinion. If you position yourself well, 90% of the time you won't be in rain while you're taking pictures of the storm.

2) You're going to be a fool and make mistakes at some point so there's no sense worrying about it. The important thing is to never assume you know it all, and learn from your mistakes.

3) Driving into the "nastiest" part of the storm is a bad idea. Staying out of the hail core is a good thing. California doesn't get hail like the Plains (and especially TX). 1" hail leaves dents. 2" hail breaks windows. I had 5" hail being thrown at me this year. You need to respect the ice cubes!

4) If you know you're safe - keep filming. Unless you're on a wicked storm, tornadoes and hail don't just magically drop from random places. Your #1 goal should be to expose the storm, know where its features are, and keep track of what it's doing.

6) To go back to what Kendra said and to re-emphasize: read. Read as much as you can, and then read some more. Once you feel you can be safe, go out and try it yourself. Then read some more. The learning never stops, but you will get better. Your first question is probably along the lines of how do I forecast? Dig into that at a high level, make note of what you don't understand, and keep branching out. The Stormtrack archives/faqs are awesome, and Haby's site is a great place to get your feet wet. Two good Haby pages to know inside and out are:

http://www.theweatherprediction.com/severe/ingredients/
http://www.theweatherprediction.com/severe/structure/

I'd spend hours just following links from those two pages until I started understanding everything.

 

[Greg Blumberg]

For me the first part was understanding more about these storms. I would recommend attending a SKYWARN training sometime soon. Here's the listing for the Austin NWS office:

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/ewx/?n=skytrn.htm

 

[Jason Foster]

For me the first part was understanding more about these storms. I would recommend attending a SKYWARN training sometime soon. Here's the listing for the Austin NWS office:

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/ewx/?n=skytrn.htm

I would caution this some. Not all Skywarn training is good. I can't say for the Austin area, but I know many areas are NOT respectful of chasers and additionally some training in some areas is severely lacking. While you loose almost nothing by attending, I found the overall time to be better spent elsewhere if you are going to be a chaser. For spotting...different story...but we are talking about chasing here I believe.

 

[Jason Boggs]

I would caution this some. Not all Skywarn training is good. I can't say for the Austin area, but I know many areas are NOT respectful of chasers and additionally some training in some areas is severely lacking. While you loose almost nothing by attending, I found the overall time to be better spent elsewhere if you are going to be a chaser. For spotting...different story...but we are talking about chasing here I believe.

spotting or chasing, he still needs to get the basics down. Any spotter class will help him at first. After that he can get into the nitty gritty details of chasing.

 

[Jordan Lopez]

Thank you all for your posts!!!

Kendra- I will scan this educational forum for sure!!!

Jason- Thanks for the tips and the link, can't wait to get going on it! haha

Robert- Thanks you the individual posts to each question, it helped out a great sum, so tornados don't actually just pop out and strike, which was the impression I was getting watching news ect, you can see and determine where they will most likely form and possibly touch down? Hail is something I am very leary about running into in damaging quantities but those links you posted are gold thank you!!! I appreciate all the info provided!

Greg- I will totally attend one of those when they start in May I believe it said, even if they don't offer much, I still think it'd be pretty cool!!

Jason Boggs- I plan to take the course when they have them again, I think it would be at least cool to say I've taken one if anything LOL

Thanks for all the info everyone!!! It was very helpful!!!

 

[Marcus Diaz]

Yup, all these are great answers. I'm still a newbie chaser, with only 3 years under my belt so far. I've had a very successful season in 2010 here in TX, with my tornado total at 27.

2) You're going to be a fool and make mistakes at some point so there's no sense worrying about it. The important thing is to never assume you know it all, and learn from your mistakes.

This is very important, keep reminding yourself about this. You'll get frustrated a lot, trust me. Especially on your first season. My best advice that I can give you, is to expose yourself to anything weather. I've been extremely lucky to have good friends in the chasing community, that are very willing to have a sit down and teach me everything; from forecasting, to the actual chase, even how to properly navigate. I've driven 10 hours to Cameron, MO just for a 1 day class on forecasting in one weekend. If you're commited to chasing, just keep trying to learn. Good luck out there!