CHASE2004 SEASON SUMMARY

CHASE2004 SEASON SUMMARY

CHASE 2004 DAILY JOURNAL

SEASONAL TRAINING: To better appreciate the processes going on in storms and to stay safe, I take classroom training each year
DATE
DAY
START

STOP

MILES
REMARKS
06 Mar 2004
Saturday
Bolingbrook
IL
– Wheaton
IL

Advanced Spotter Training (DuPage EMA)
17 Mar 2004
Wednesday
Bolingbrook
IL
– Plainfield
IL

Basic Spotter Training (BARS,PRL)
03 Apr 2004
Saturday
Bolingbrook
IL
– Batavia
IL

FermiLab Weather Seminar (w/Tom Skilling)

GREAT/SOUTHERN PLAINS CHASES
To keep the look and feel of supercell storms fresh in my mind
CHASE #1
TEMPEST TOURS (commercial tour)
10 days – 4797 chase miles, 8 people
[Flag-USA]
UK flag
Japan  flag
  1. Lead vehicle (8): LEAD: Bill Reid (Westlake Village, CA;KG6FWX),
    DRIVER: Scott Weberpal (Janesville,WI);
    PASSENGERS: Lisa Beal (Bolingbrook, IL;KC9BST), Heather Taluba (NJ),
    Jack Bolo (Burlington, NC)
    , Joel Emilio (S.CA), Dustin Aldridge (S.CA), Samantha McGrath (Bristol, UK)
  2. Part-time lead vehicle (Day 2) (2): Martin Lisius [days ??-??] (Arlington,TX;KC5TQI), Erin Brown (TX)
  3. Media guests (Days3-4) (2): Fuji TV (Mashu, Ken)
  4. Nearby chasers: Blake Naftel, Keith Brown, Kinney Adams, Chris Kridler
DATE
DAY
START

STOP

MILES
REMARKS
27 April 2004
Tuesday Bolingbrook IL -Dallas TX

PROLOGUE
28 April 2004
Wednesday Bolingbrook IL -Abilene TX
183 TRAVEL: Check-in; meet the team; chase/position
29 April 2004
Thursday Abilene
TX
-Wichita Falls
TX

415

DAY #01: Making the most of a so-so day
30 April 2004
Friday Wichita Falls
TX
-Temple TX

 

425
DAY #02: Mo Wind, Mo Better
01 May 2004
Saturday Temple
TX -Fort Worth TX

 

242
DAY #03: An Outside Chance for a Storm
02 May 2004
Sunday Fort Worth
TX -Springfield
MO

 

565
DAY #04: Missouri Misery!
03 May 2004
Monday Springfield
MO
-Nevada
MO

 

95
DAY #05: Stockton Revisited
04 May 2004
Tuesday Nevada
MO -Altoona
IA

 

426
DAY #06: Re-positioning Day
05 May 2004
Wednesday Altoona
IA -Fairmont
MN 558
DAY #07: Capped in Dakota
06 May 2004
Thursday
Fairmont
MN -Clinton
IA

 

368
DAY #08: Curses, capped again!
07 May 2004
Friday Clinton
IA – ?
??
???
DAY #09:
08 May 2004
Saturday ?
?? – ?
??
???
DAY #10:
09 May 2004 Sunday ? ?? -Arlington TX ??? RETURN FROM FIELD

CHASE #2:
PRIVATE TOUR
3 days – 2664 miles, 4 people

[Flag-USA]
UK flag

    1. LEAD:  Scott Weberpal (Janesville,WI); PASSENGERS: Lisa Beal (Bolingbrook, IL;KC9BST), Heather (NJ),
      Samantha (Bristol, UK)
    2. Nearby chasers: Tempest Tours (tour #2; Bill Reid, Chris Gullickson), Jim Leonard, many others

 

 

DATE
DAY
START

STOP

MILES
REMARKS
09 May 2004 Sunday Arlington
TX
-Wichita
KS
374
TRAVEL TO FIELD: (TBD)
10 May 2004 Monday Wichita
KS
-Limon
CO
481
DAY #01: Limon Mini-Outbreak (coming soon!).
See Scott Weberpal’s photos from Limon for now.
11 May 2004 Tuesday Limon
CO
-Norfolk
NE
499
DAY #02: Bustola!
12 May 2004 Wednesday Norfolk
NE
Kansas City
MO
798
DAY #03: Attica Attacker
13 May 2004 Thursday Kansas City
MO
-Bolingbrook
IL
512 TRAVEL: Long Road Home
14 May 2004 Friday Bolingbrook IL EPILOGUE

IL/IN CHASES/SPOTTING:
Storms in the ‘hood!
DATE
DAY
START

STOP

MILES
REMARKS
01 March 2004
Monday Bolingbrook
IL



A very early start to the season, with 68mph winds in Huntley, severe hail in DeKalb, and an unconfirmed tornado in south central Wisconsin.
20 April 2004 Tuesday Bolingbrook
IL
Crown Point
IN
Follow-up trip to surgeon! As I was driving away from home, tornado warnings went up. As this happened during our normal ARES net drill, it took me a moment to use NOAA WX radio to confirm this was real. Utica, IL knew it was no drill! See a Utica photo gallery, NWS/LOT’s summary and a related ARRL article for more.


COLOR CODE

Plan was to not chase GRAY
Planned Chase Day (future) YELLOW
Available to chase; no weather (“blue-skied”) BLUE
Chase Day (have partner and stormy weather) GREEN
No-Partner Day (Weather stormy, no partner) RED
Weather Stormy, but not available for chasing PURPLE
BUST DAY – no severe storms where we looked!
ORANGE
Training Day
WHITE

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CHASE 2004 – Data/Tools

CHASE 2004
Data/ Tools

Revised 2004-Apr-29 09:05 a.m.

TOOLS USED FOR MORNING DATA PASS (7 a.m. CDT=12Z)

Storm Prediction Center (SPC)
DAY 1 OUTLOOK
SPC Day  1 Outlook Map
http://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/outlook/day1otlk.html
DAY 2 OUTLOOK
SPC Day  2 Outlook Map
http://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/outlook/day2otlk.html
DAY 3 OUTLOOK
SPC Day  3 Outlook Map
http://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/outlook/day3otlk.html
NCAR RAP
upper air page

Upper Air_- 850mb Winds/Temp
Upper Air 850mb
http://weather.unisys.com/upper_air/ua_850_inv.html
Upper Air – 700mb Winds/Temp
Upper Air  700mb Winds
http://weather.unisys.com/upper_air/ua_700_inv.html
Upper Air – 500mb Winds/Temp
Upper Air  500mb
http://weather.unisys.com/upper_air/ua_500_inv.html
UCAR
surface maps

+
NCEP surface progs
Surface Map
Surface  Map
http://weather.unisys.com/surface/sfc_map_inv.html


NCEP 18 hr surface prog
NCEP 18 hr  surface prog
http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/92fbwa.gif


SUPPLEMENTARY TOOLS USED FOR MORNING DATA PASS

College of DuPage (IL)
U.S. 500 mb Upper Air Plot
http://weather.cod.edu/wx/public/raob/p500mb.gif
College of DuPage (IL)
Southern Plains – Surface Obs Map
http://weather.cod.edu/wx/public/sfc/sp.wxpsfc.gif
College of DuPage (IL)
Surface Obs w/Contours
http://weather.cod.edu/analysis/analysis.sfccon.html
College of DuPage (IL)
Weather Analysis Tools
http://weather.cod.edu/analysis/
College of DuPage (IL)
Model Tools
http://weather.cod.edu/forecast/
Tempest Tours
Tornado Alley Forecast Center
http://www.tempesttours.com/tornado_alley_forecast_center.html



TOOLS USED FOR MIDDAY DATA PASS (1 p.m. CDT=18Z)








TOOLS USED FOR EVENING DATA PASS (7 p.m. CDT=00Z)








OLDER TOOLS/MODELS USED

LISA BEAL’S
WEATHER (WX) WEBSITE
NUMERICAL WEATHER MODELS
http://www.underthethunder.org/tools/wxmodels.shtml
WEATHER CHANNEL
MAPS BY TYPE
http://www.weather.com/maps/maptype.html
South Central US Current Weather
http://www.weather.com/maps/geography/southcentralus/
Midwest US Maps Index
http://www.weather.com/maps/midwestus.html
US National Severe Maps Index
http://www.weather.com/maps/usnationalsevere.html
US National Forecast Maps Index
http://www.weather.com/maps/usnationalforecast.html
Storm Prediction Center (SPC)
Day 1 Convective Outlook
http://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/outlook/day1otlk.html
Day 2 Convective Outlook
http://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/outlook/day2otlk.html
Day 3 Convective Outlook
http://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/outlook/day3otlk.html
(IWIN)
IWIN National Warnings Area
http://iwin.nws.noaa.gov/iwin/nationalwarnings.html


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