Stormchasing: What I have learned then til now

[Eric Flescher]

Here are mine so far! write your list and post

(1) Use all you have (doppler, Stormchase, TV current reports , intuition) to make your target the right one

(2) always have your batteries charged

(3) always have your camera, camcorder and other stuff ready to go in one place

(4) have a checklist or reminders what you need to do before you rush out to chase

(5) write down your reports etc as you go

(6) follow up your reports for Stormtrack ASAP or whenever you can

(7) find and secure one or more nowcasters and thank them for your support

(8) take as many pictures as you can

(9) Figure out ways to analyze the counties where the storms are on the maps ASAP when you hear of reports

(10) use wifi or if you are lucky to have an onboard computer to anaylze current situations

(11) enjoy what you find ,discover, photograph and videotape.

(12) Don't kick yourself too much for
A. Going the wrong highway
B. Being a little too late for the event
C. Making the wrong decision
D. Deciding on the wrong target
E. Being so close but not seeing the torn!

 

[Scott Taylor]

Yeah, agree with most of what you wrote Eric... and the biggest thing I've learned over the years is to stop second guessing my first gut instinct! I've missed a number of good storms/tors because I over-thought something instead of just going with my first initial instinct.

 

[Adam Lucio]

Amen to that Scott!

further elaborating..

1- Dont get suckered out of your target area by a red box that pops up elsewhere.

2- Rear wheel drive van + muddy field = bad times. Dont swing around on the grass if you want turn around, simply reverse out of there or do a 3-point turn.

3- Have the phone numbers for the local NWS offices you will be chasing near ready so you can phone in the report quickly and more accurately.

4- The Applebees in Hays will be the only resteraunt to remain open during a major severe event.

5- Ban your chase partners from eating mexican food at leaste 24hrs prior.

 

[Michael Towers]

The more I learn the more I realize I have a lot more to learn. It’s scary to think back to my first chases (2001) knowing now what I didn’t know then, and it’s scary to think that back then I thought I had enough knowledge to chase and that I knew what I was doing.

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is to be patient. I’ve abandoned what I knew was a target area with great potential to go after storms already firing in a less favorable environment. The target area ultimately produces but by that time I’m too far away and miss the show, settling for something much less than what I would have gotten had I had patience and stuck with my plan.

Here are mine so far! write your list and post

(3) always have your camera, camcorder and other stuff ready to go in one place

Yeah, that helps, lol. I spent the first minute after initially sighting May 23 Quinter #2 getting the damn camcorder ready to film. I spot the most amazing tornado of my life and the camcorder is still zipped in the bag sitting on the floor in front of the passenger seat. I hurriedly unzip and extract only to accidentally open the disc compartment instead of the viewfinder, which further delays filming and adds to my frustration as the camera has to read the disc again. Fortunately the tornado lasted another 11 minutes but if it had dissipated or become rain wrapped within that first minute I would have missed capturing the best tornado of my life due to not having my equipment ready. I’m sure I’d still be kicking myself today. From that point on I always make sure my stuff is ready and accessible, as well as monitor things like available disc space, memory, battery charge, etc.

 

[David Drummond]

One thing I learned over the years is that some chasers I met online first that I thought were cool turned out to be assholes in real life, and some chasers I thought were assholes online turned out to be pretty cool in real life.

 

[Steve Miller]

I'll second what Drummond says. Not everyone is what they seem - especially in storm chasing. Makes for great blog material though!

 

[Matthew Fischer]

5- Ban your chase partners from eating mexican food at leaste 24hrs prior.

Hey that was early in the season...and we chased in Wisconsin of all places!!!

 

[Matthew Fischer]

So far from what i have learned is:

1) Always pee when you can.

2) We need to get a real laptop stand instead of using my lap!

3) Get a better weather radio or just get a scanner

4) Get my darn HAM radio license!

5) Once you get to the storm always pay attention to your surrounding.

6) Oh not eat Mexican food 24 hours before a chase! lol

 

[Jay McCoy]

1. The area north of Dodge City towards I-70 sucks for chasing NNW moving storms unless you love driving on mud or have a bigfoot truck.

2. 1st thing you do when you get to Hays is grab a room before they are all gone and you get stuck at the motel 6.

3. Hays Applebees is chase central

4. losing your radar and GPS (laptop reboot) right when your trying to get through or around a tornadic supercell sucks major cowpies.

5. I need more RAM. 768mb isnt enough to run GR3, WxWorx, GPS, SpotterNetwork all at once let alone streaming video.

6. chasing with friends and having nonstop laughs will outdo catching a wedge anytime. The memories will last longer. (Thanks for one of the best vacations ever Jeff, Steve, Dennis, david, Jason).

 

[Kem Poyner]

what I learned

I learned its a bad idea to drink Four Rockstars and be couped up in a small car for along period of time.

 

[Christopher E. Kincaid]

I found that if you are going to shoot in L RAW and JPEG have more than just 4GB in your camera. Or better yet, just shoot in RAW!

 

[Christopher E. Kincaid]

I have learned that after five years of running down C IL wx, if you never bump into Skip Talbot, Andrew Pritchard, Stan Olson, Mark Sefried, Colin Davis, Dan Dimitroff or John Farley, then you were at the wrong places all along

How many of you guys were on that overpass near Jacksonville on May 30th? That wallcloud was awesome!

I learned to know the roads a little better!

I was a little too close to that Jacksonville wallcloud:

 

[Christopher E. Kincaid]

That storm was a beast. I can not believe it did not make a tornado.

Look at that hook!

 

[Christopher E. Kincaid]

This was my first time chasing in many years. I had chased with GR3 and my new XTi for the first time. I learned a few things this year.

Two more lessons from the Oakford IL supercell on 05-30-08:

1) Be sure to check to make sure that you did not stop GRLevel3 from updating before you leave on a chase. Here is a screenshot from GR3. I own property just outside of Petersburg. You can see my position on the radar - that is me just south of the warning box. That storm was just miles from my yard. Sigh. I had GR3 paused on that screen when I took off after the storm. So I chased a still image!

2) Don't just rely on radar but watch the clouds! I missed a tornado becasue I relied on GR3 rather than eye-balling the storm. This storm dropped at least 1 tornado. Here is what it looked like from my yard:

The storm had a weird structure. It *appears* the outflow wrapped around the wall cloud. Please correct me if I am wrong. Here is a shot a few minutes later:

Note my lunch (the white plate in the yard and the Snackwell container) that got sucked north towards the storm. I never got hit with outflow at my place.

 

[Angie Norris]

Things I've learned:
Trust my instincts, stick with my target (as in not letting people talk me out of my target), don't take so long with forecasting that I start to second guess myself, knowing that weather doesn't always play by the rules, and expect the unexpected.

Things I'm still working on:
Trusting my instincts, sticking with my target (as in being patient and waiting for the storm AND not letting people talk me out of my target), remembering to use the zoom when I'm filming, remembering to document times and places better, and having things organized when I start out instead of scrambling once the action starts (most of the time I'm organized, but there's been times I could have done better).