The Thank You Thread

[Mike Peregrine]

How about thanking all the folks we owe something to after this week? I think it sounds like fun ... there are lots of nice chaser folks out there. So a big thank you to:

• Brian Stertz, Fred Plowman and Eric Flescher for offering to take a stranded chaser in.
• Don Harmon & Channel 4 in KC for carrying us from our ditch in central Kansas to a comfy motel in Osborne. Sorry about your rear window - that was just weird.
• Dennis Sherrod for going out of his way to take us back to our car on Friday morning ... and thanks for then getting stuck alongside us, because it made us feel better about ourselves.
• The DOW and Discovery Channel crew for pulling up in the nick of time and pulling us out of the ditch. You guys get a bum rap. You're actually nice people, it turns out.
• And my biggest thanks to my chase partner Scott Currens this week for putting up with me and offering to let me come along. You are cool.

I'm sure there's more I'm forgetting. So thanks to you too -

 

[Dennis Sherrod]

My thanks also go out Big Time to DOW and the Discovery Channel folks. Your help was greatly appreciated and needed.

Mike and Scott..Thanks for letting me get bogged down in the mud next to you. I can't think of a nicer couple of guys to stand around and laugh with about getting stuck in the mud.

David Drummond... Thanks for letting me know you are a lightning magnet after I get my butt zapped when we were standing next to the fence that got struck by lightning. I think that is what killed my cell phone too. It didn't work right after that and I had to replace it two days later.

 

[David Drummond]

Very much thanks to Steve Miller TX and Dennis Sherrod for coming to my rescue in Perry, OK after my vehicle was zapped by lightning and stranded me on a holiday weekend. I sat there with my hood up and counted 47 chase cars go by me without stopping before those two showed up.

To Dr. Jason Pershoff for calling me immediately after finding out I was struck by lightning that day and doing a verbal evaluation and telling me what to look out for, even while he was chasing in NE. You're the best Jason.

To the several others who emailed, PMd or left messages in my blog inquiring as to my well being and offers of help.

To Steve Miller TX for taking me chasing with him the next couple of days so I wasn't left out of the action, and to Steve Miller OK for putting me up in his house in OKC for the week while they got my chase vehicle repaired (had to have a new engine computer).

It's weeks like I just had when you really learn you your friends are (and aren't).

 

[Kory Hartman]

Thanks to all of our great streamers who provided major tornado action on the live cams this past 9 days.

We are greatful!

Glad you guys are all OK after getting stuck/zapped/whatever too.

 

[Ben Prusia]

Thanks to those on #stormchase who helped get in touch with somebody who get me out of the mud on May 22nd in NW Kansas.

 

[Jason Boggs]

Thanks to God for affording me the ability and finances to chase.
Thanks to Jay McCoy for chasing with me last week.
Thanks to Jeff Bernard for being so kind to me.

 

[Bill Hark]

Mike, it's great to have a good thread instead of complaints!!

During this season, I would like to thank Jim Leonard, Tim Vasquez and especially Charles Edwards of Cloud 9 Tours for forecasting advice and updates. I didn't always take the advice but it was very helpful. I would also like to thank Dave Lewison for some nowcasting.

I would like to thank Jason Persoff for helping convince me not to attempt the dirt roads to follow the first Quinter area storm north of the interstate area on May 23 and that allowed me to later capture the second Quinter wedge tornado.

Finally, I would like to thank a local rancher who lives north of Beloit for helping me change a tire after the Beloit area storms. He had a much better tool than the one in the rental car.

Bill Hark

 

[Shane Adams]

Chad Lawson and Mickey Ptak, who've been great friends chasing and away from chasing....despite knowing me

Bridget Geaughan, the wonderful woman in my life who funded our amazing streak of chases last week because I was broke...without her, none of it would've happened, so I owe her much.

Every chaser who's walked up to me this year (and past years) and said hello. I'm not a huge socialite but I will happily have a conversation when someone introduces themselves....and I've had many pleasant ones this year (and years past), which is always cool.

It's impossible to remember the names, but thanks to every small town tire guy who's saved our butts this year, with NASCAR-speed tire changes during chase mode situations that didn't cost us any storms.

Thanks to all the NWS offices I've worked with this year submitting real-time reports. You've all been very informative with recent storm behavior/history and friendly to boot. You guys make me want to keep calling in reports.

Thanks to StormTrack, which, despite all my complaining and shenanigans, remains a place I love to frequent, and value highly. I gripe because I care

And lastly, I'm just thankful in general to have the ability to chase and live my dream. I often get too bogged down in the day-to-day, chase-to-chase BS that blinds me to the very real fact that I'm the luckiest person alive. But at the end of the day, I look at what I've been able to do and I'm extremely grateful for the opportunities I've been blessed with over the past 12 years. I'm looking forward to another 40 or so

 

[Jay McCoy]

I want to thank 1st of all ma nature for timing her outbreak to coincide with my vacation

I also am thankful I got to chase with all my good friends Jason Boggs, David Drummond (your now ahead of me in lightning strikes survived 4-3 ), Steve Miller (tx), and Jeff Bernard and to all the new friends I made this year like Dennis Sherrod. I will never forget how we met that night...lol.. So your never going to chase at night again huh??? classic....lol. I am still laughing about that insane night north of Hays. Inflow if 70-75 sustained!!!

And to the staff of the Applebees in Hays who handled a good 300 chasers after the chase on the 23rd without hardly any waiting. It was beyond standing room only where the stories and alcohol was flowing freely. Great to see so many old friends and others I have met and met that night..Poor staff didnt know what hit them. We swarmed in and left that place like an f3.

And mostly I am thankful for another safe chase vacation with only a cracked windshield and front brakes/rotors replaced. A few close calls with a number of chasers but nobody has been seriously hurt or worse.

 

[Chris Rice]

I would like to first off give thanks to my lord and savior Jesus Christ for allowing me to stay safe and affording to go chasing. Secondly, I would like to thank my wife for understanding my obsession(s) as I am OCD, and chasing with me from time to time. I would like to thank my new storm chasing neighbors Jon Davies and Shawna Helt for taking me under their wing, and showing me the ropes of forecasting, and just being all around cool, they've treated me like family. Tim V's books have helped alot too, but I had to pay for those!

Chris Rice
www.stormchaselive.com

 

[Heidi Farrar]

I, too, would like to mention (hopefully all of) those Stormtrackers who have helped me in some way throughout the year so far. I've tried really hard to get this in chronological order; here's what I came up with:

* Michael O'Keeffe & Reed Timmer for answering (in some cases excessive amounts of) questions about video cameras and video editing software back in January; (and later, King Shelf-Cloud himself for telling me I had to get the 17-70mm lens instead of the 10-20 I almost got.)

* Ronan Nagle for letting me PM him about my lack of pole-vaulting and trombone-playing skilz.

* Bob Hartig and Shane Adams for encouraging me to sample some real Lambics.

* Eric Flescher for preventing my husband and I from forgetting about any astronomical events throughout the year.

* Reed Timmer for having great timing: calling my house phone on the night of Feb. 5, literally moments after we lost our internet connection and cell service (due to tornadic activity in the area). He was chasing in southern AR but could see very clearly that the monster raging through the Ozarks, at that time a county away, was making a beeline for our place, and wanted to make absolutely sure we were on top of it. In total darkness and with a low cloud deck/non-existant view of the approaching storm, we went to shelter a few minutes after the call; the tornado missed us by 2.5 miles.

* Jeff Smith for organizing a relief mission for the tornado victims in my county. They got here Saturday, Feb. 9th. It's hard not to get choked up when I think about seeing their entourage from the Tulsa area show up in Izard County, AR, with 2 full-sized trucks, beds overflowing with water & Gatorade, and pulling U-hauls filled with the essentials.

* People like Brian Emfinger, Chad Cowan, Don Giuliano, Darrin Rasberry & Lanny Dean who called, emailed or PMed just to say something nice after everything happened here.

* Dick McGowan, whose written account of his experience at Greensburg (which I read last year) allowed me to be in some way prepared for the kinds of things I would ultimately experience here after Feb. 5th.

* Dick McGowan for his nowcasting, as I continue my ridiculous quest to see storms in the Ozarks. He still does this even though he has learned that it's basically not possible for me to ever get on the right side of a storm in time to see anything.

* David Drummond & Chad Cowan, who have offered to nowcast even though I am pretty sure they also realize the above.

* Anyone (mostly a repeat of those already mentioned) who has offered to take me and/or encouraged me to chase somewhere with a view! It'll happen one of these days, guys!

These last two are not in order, but I can't forget:

* Everyone who participates in the FCST threads. To be able to just read what people with degrees and/or lots of experience think and then go and compare that to what I'm seeing with the models is a fantastic way to learn about forecasting at my own pace.

* All the mods & Tim V. here at ST, for doing what they do. I know it isn't necessarily easy keeping things running as smoothly as they do around here! Good job.

 

[Shari Logan]

I would love to thank the men in my life. My son, who is the only reason I'm still here today. My Dad, who means more to me than I could ever say. My chase partner and long-time boyfriend, Sean. Without these guys, I would never have gotten where I am today. I surely not be out driving around the beautiful countryside, chasing the storms that are guaranteed to take my breath away.

The list of thanks goes a long way. It must always include the generations upon generations of folks who died so that we could have this wonderful choice.

I want to thank everyone and every experience, good or bad, that led me to where I am today: living on my acres of Oklahoma, saving through the years, spending my hard-earned money, waiting every year for those chases that make it all so worth it. Without every choice and every experience, I would never have gotten here.

So to all the ones I've loved and/or cursed over the years; Thank you for making my happiness possible. Whether it was your intent or not, I'm so very happy and fulfilled now, because of you all.

lol....all this over a thread. you should see me at Thanksgiving.....

 

[Dennis Sherrod]

..... and to all the new friends I made this year like Dennis Sherrod. I will never forget how we met that night...lol.. So your never going to chase at night again huh??? classic....lol. I am still laughing about that insane night north of Hays. Inflow if 70-75 sustained!!!

Thanks Jay. Great night! Besides you, Jeff, and Jason, I think about 4 others saw me tearing down that dirt road at 9 PM with that 'nader hot on my tail. I thank God for that last second lightning strike to show me that monster staring at me. The winds were wild.
Ok, so yeah, I chased the next night. Again! But we did get to eat at Sonic later. Whoo Hoo.

 

[M Potter]

I want to Say thank you to Tim V. & All the mods here at ST, for keeping this site up and running. I know it isn't necessarily easy keeping things running as smoothly as you all do.
I also want to thank you all for your nowcast and forecasts i have learned so much from these.

And most of all My good friend Ray W. we have chased the plains the last 2 years and I must say for a young man with no formal training he is one of the best there is in the chaser community. I have missed him these past 4-or-5 weeks.