Lisa Beal

16 May 2014 – Bare Rock and a Bear Hug

0730 – Wake up; shower; pack, but leave everything in the room since it’s a little ways to the breakfast room and the vans are closer to my room in the front of the motel.

0830 – Ate in the breakfast room. My waffle stuck to the waffle machine, and I was barely able to get it out before started burning. It was so funky looking I decided to do something totally off the wall and put white gravy on it instead of throwing it out and getting a biscuit. All things considered it was pretty tasty, but I certainly got some strange looks.

0930 – Meet at the vans; load up; we do a short weather briefing, and discuss what things look like for Saturday and Sunday, which look like our first days with a reasonable prospect for severe weather on the high plains. Patience!

1000 – Depart Cheyenne on westbound I-80, for Laramie, after breakfast.

1040-1100 – stop at the Ames Monument, a tribute to a pair of brothers who made major contributions during the building of the Transcontinental Railroad.

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____ – continue to Laramie for lunch at Lovejoy’s: spicy buffalo burger! We do a bit of shopping afterwards. I’m running low on laundry, so I buy a T-shirt to hold me over until I do laundry tomorrow morning.

____ – head south towards Walden, CO; beautiful snow-capped mountains rise to our west, south, (later) east

____ – Enter Medicine Bow National Forest (elevation:____)

____ – we rise to 9150 feet in elevation, allowing smaller vehicles to pass us.

____ – As we descend, we hunt for a turnout with a scenic view. The drivers, Bob and Rook, get plenty of practice downshifting.

1450-1501 – Scenic overlook #1 (photos in gallery, below)
1513-1526 – Scenic overlook #2 (photos in gallery, below)

[Gallery will be inserted here a bit later… laptop battery DYING]

1600 – We enter Walden from the north; check-in at the motel.

1640 – I chat briefly with the motel manager, whose daughter is fascinated with both storm chasing and Antarctica. I offer to chat with her if she is interested. I wander over to the town bank to buy a couple of roll of quarters, as it has reached the point of the trip or I will need to do laundry pretty quickly. The T-shirt that I bought in Laramie will buy me an extra 24 hours, but no more.

1658 – I get my quarters for laundry, with two minutes to spare before the bank closes for the weekend. I wander around the main strip of town just looking to see what is there and taking pictures of some interesting stuff I encounter along the way. I wander up to what looks like a good place for dinner, the River Rock Café. Looks like they have a terrific menu and I bump into Bob one of our drivers there, who agrees this is a good choice for dinner.

1800 – The gang gathers close to my room to wander up the main street for dinner. It looks like Eric is sitting this one out. I hope he is feeling okay.

I order the Volcano Burger, opting for the 1-pound size, because I’m a little bit hungry. There is a 3-pound size available called “the challenge”, but I don’t feel up to eating that and the waiter warns that the burger is extremely spicy, made with jalapeños and habanero sauce. I later discovered that the burger is hotter with every bite, and barely finished 1 pound burger, guzzling several quarts of water along the way to cool my taste buds. I reward myself with a scoop of vanilla ice cream at the end of it all, partly as a self–congratulations and partly to cool the heat of the habaneros that have saturated my taste buds when this time.

On my way out the door, I get a farewell hug from River Rock Café’s mascot, Fred the Bear.

EOD – North Park Inn & Suites

TRAVEL SUMMARY
Start	Cheyenne, WY
Finish	Walden, CO
Route	I-80W, through Medicine Bow National Forest, to Walden (CO 14)
Miles	___

DRAFT - Map for 5/16 travel — DRAFT – Map for 5/16 travel

15 May 2014 – Holy Holyoke

0600MDT/0700CDT – wake; shower; pack bags. Can’t find my neck pod (Sima VideoProp) – later found in my duffle bag.
0850MDT – Pack the vans. test the Diet Coke and Menthos myth: VERIFIED!
[I’ll add video later]
0910 – Weather briefing. Another down day today.
0920 – Depart Imperial, NE westbound on US 6.
1000- enter Colorado, heading to Holyoke, CO for breakfast
1040-1140(est.) – breakfast at Kardale’s, Holyoke, CO.

Kardale's Haystack Breakfast: Hash Brown Heaven! — Kardale’s Haystack Breakfast: Hash Brown Heaven!

1222 – I turn on the GPS Tracks app. (Oops!)
1250-1400 – We stop at Sterling, CO to look for a replacement 400-watt inverter. Without this key piece of equipment, we have no laptop power and no radar images or weather models. After the team lead and one of the drivers check out several local stores, they find the needed item at the NAPA Auto Parts store. Eric and I visit the Verizon store, in the meantime, to locate a phone battery for his iPhone.
1431 – Entering Raymer, CO, traveling west on CO 14, then angle northwest on County Road 390 toward Wyoming.
1446 – We wander off the main route to Keota, where it looks like they’re doing oil exploration or fracking.
1533 – We continue north from Keota, CO.
1556 – We pass through Hereford, CO
1600 – We cross into Wyoming, our sixth state on the journey; the road is now WY 217
1620-1640 – Burns, WY, I-80, WY217 exit – Fuel/snack stop; we enter I-80, heading west to Cheyenne.
1700 – Arrive at Rodeway Inn, Cheyenne, CO. The desk clerk is overwhlemed, so we leave the details of our party and go get dinner, so the poor man can catch up with check-ins, preparing our rooms, etc. (This happens more often thatn you might think with smaller, older motels.)
1720-1930 – We take a liesurely meal at a local Chili’s, near the Wyoming Air Group airfield. Many C-130 cargo planes here! A brief weather update (video) follows:

EOD – _____

TRAVEL SUMMARY
Start	Imperial, NE
Finish	Cheyenne, WY
Route	US6 to Holyoke, CO,CR 390 to Keota then north to Grover and Hereford,I-80
Miles	___

14 May 2014 – Monument Rocks

0730 – Wake up: shower; pack

0800 – Breakfast and conversation with chase team. I overcooked my Carbon brand motel waffle because I did not hear the timer ding after the mandatory 2:30 cook cycle. Crunchy waffles are OK, too, once in a great while (LOL).

0830 – Return to my room; brush teeth, re-pack my bags, and work on my blog for a while.

1000 – Weather briefing (breakfast room)

1100 – Depart Hoisington to the west

1430-1450 – Photo stop at abandoned farmstead

1458-1525 – Stop at Monument Rocks. Bill chills outs to David Bowie’s “Panic in Detroit”

1553-1653 – Lunch at Colonial Steak House, Oakley, KS. Ate at the buffet, as we save steak for after we see our first tornado of the trip. Re-fuel and head for Nebraska

1748CDT – Distant cumulonimbus to our east, a tiny rain shower on our west:

1834-1904 – Stop at another old, abandoned house for photos
[photos to be added later]

1938 – pit stop – St. Francis, KS

1956 – cross into Nebraska on KS27. Jct US34. Head east. Hotel will be in Imperial, NE.

2111(est,) – N on NE61 from Benkelman, NE

2157MDT – Rodeway Inn, Imperial, NE. We grab dinner at a local convenience store. Mmmm, hot dogs!

TRAVEL SUMMARY
Start	Hoisington, KS
Finish	Imperial, NE
Route	(see above)
Miles	310(est.)

13 May 2014 – Hubble Rubble

0630 – Wake; edit this blog site; shower, dress, pack.
0830 – Breakfast: waffle, highly homogenized scrambled eggs, orange juice, toast.
0945 – Pack the vans; weather briefing. The Great Plains will be quiet until Friday or Saturday. Blech! Time to play tourist on our way northwest.
1035 – Depart Days Inn.
1045 – Arrive Walmart
1122 – Dpt Walmart
1140 – Started using the GPS Tracks app to record our route. (Thanks For pointing me to this, Eric Meola!)
1230(est.) – Enter Joplin. Inspect 2011-05-22 EF-5 damage path.

1315(est.) – BBQ brisket and pulled pork at Sawmill BBQ (612 S. Main St. in downtown Joplin, MO; 417-782-7225). SO MUCH FOOD!
1418 – dpt Joplin
1449 – cross into Kansas on US160/MO96
1503 – cont E toward Sherwin, KS
1520 – At Oswego KS, briefly separated from the lead van. Reunited 3 min W of town.
1550 – Reach Jct US160/US169; continue W US160 to Independence, KS. 15 minute pit stop at Citgo.
1638 – cont W on US160
1700 – cont W from Elk Falls, KS
1709 – N KS99
1730(est.) – Stopped to take photos at Hubble’s Rubble metal sculpture exhibit (Howard, KS)

1744 – W on US400 toward Wichita, KS
1825 – Augusta, KS , going W on US400.
1836 – x I-35
1900 – re-enter US400 after meeting with Jim Reed (to get a set of keys); exit to I-235 N, which becomes KS96.
1933 – Haven, KS near KS96. We stop for some sunset photos. I tangle my hand in the latch for the van door after I loose my footing. I’m luckyt to not break a finger! My hand hurts so much, I almost miss a beautiful sunset:

EOD – Arrive Rodeway Inn, Hoisington, KS
EOD – Also ate dinner here: Grilled Chicken sandwich and a diet Coke (with a shot of cherry liquer).

TRAVEL SUMMARY
Start	Springfield, MO
Finish	Hoisington, KS
Route	I-44,US-160,US-400,KS-99,KS-96
Miles	307 (est.)

12 May 2014 – Monday – Missouri Lightning Delivery

1000. Intros and briefing.

This tour’s leadership includes veteran chaser and guide, William (Bill) Reid and drivers Bob Smith (a wildlife biologist) and Bill’s colleague, Rook, who used to work with him as a contractor meteorologist before the National Weather Service and FAA thrust the job of observations and Forecasting on air traffic controllers at small airports.

The rest of the team is a mix of returning chasers (like David Balfour and myself), first-timers from the UK and Australia, and a handful of sky-lovers from all across America (most of whom have had some kind of tornado encounter during their lives). About half of us are degreed scientists (meteorologists, biologists, chemists). Several of us work in IT. Many of us have desk jobs (and need a little excitement to break up the hum-drum routine). There are 16 of us altogether, two full vans of people.

Our vehicles are comfortable 15-passenger vans with broad windows to offer a clear view of the sky from every seat. Over the years, the technology has evolved, so each van has onboard WiFi connections to the broadband modems used to download weather maps and forecasts, view BIll’s many chase trip logs, and exchange email between our laptops (and smartphones) and the outside world. Everybody has a little nook for camera gear and the snacks we carry (as real meals will be few and far between once the atmosphere recovers).

The weather briefing is a little bleak for the first half of the trip: Sunday’s tornado barrage in Nebraska has scrubbed the moisture out of the Great Plains, leaving us only a low potential to see severe weather far to our east (in the ‘jungles’ of Missouri). A strong ridge — the chaser’s arch enemy! — will dominate the plains for 4-5 days thereafter. We get a refresher on the ingredients for severe weather, so we will be reminded when the outlook for chaseable storms improves.

We also get our official T-shirts. This year, Tempest added a nice personal touch: a personal greeting tag attached to each team member’s shirt (pictured above).

The shirts (pictured at right) feature tribute to engineering whiz and self-taught meteorologist Tim Samaras (left), his son and photographer Paul Samaras, and Tim’s longtime chaser partner Carl Young. Also depicted is one of the ‘turtle’ probes that this team would anchor in the path of oncoming tornadoes to measure temperature, wind, and barometric pressure. One of thsee 40-pound probes, an original design by Tim Samaras, took the first readings from inside a tornado (as well as video inside the funnel from ground level). The November 2013 National Geographic magazine talks about the life and death of Tim Samaras, who had received several recurring grants from ‘NatGeo’ for his groundbreaking weather research and amazing photos of his work.

1045 – We depart for southwest Missouri, where our best chance — but not a great chance— for some storms exists.

1223 – as we approach the outskirts of Tulsa, light rain starts

1238 – Heavy rain as we pass through the Tulsa metro area.

1450 – cross into MO on I-44. For about 45 seconds, no rain, then car wash 2 begins.

1510 – we make a 10-minute pit stop at flying J in Joplin, MO, where and EF-5 tornado plowed through on 22 May 2011. The regional hospital in Joplin was so badly damaged, that they had to tear down and build a new one. Many people lost their lives that day. I was out with the Tempest Tours team chasing that day, but was near Southwest City, MO, several counties to the south. Today, the storms are only delivering rain and LOTS of lightning. Apparently, delivering lightning is a local specialty.
1525 – dpt Joplin for points east.
1541 – We take the Sarcoxie exit south.
1544 – Travel east, out of Sarcoxie

1600 – Cross highway MO37

1607 – Arrive at Pierce City, MO

1617 – Depart Monett, MO, eastbound on highway on H. The radar show several storms, but nothing is rotating:

1631 – We move south, past Verona, continuing eastbound on US 60E. Trying to get ahead of the outflow boundary into warm air, where we might see some lightning and hail together. We are briefly pinged by pea-sized hail.

1700 – We enter Springfield, MO from the south. We have abandoned hope for today being a good severe weather day, at this point. It looked like we might see some good storms on the front of the outflow boundary, but they never materialized. We had a brief encounter with a storm that was dropping piece sized hail near Monett, but that is all. Mostly driving through a long car wash, getting wet, and everybody getting my impromptu mini-lecture on how all the various radar screens — reflectivity, base velocity, storm relative velocity, etc. work.

1745 – Check in at Days Inn (near huge, new Bass Pro store). WiFi here is DaysInnBassPro ( YES, really).
I wonder if I’ll be logging into FishNet. (LOL) The storms slog slowly to the east, but weaken as they go. (Yawn!)

Here we are:

1900 – Meet for dinner. We eat at a local sports bar and grill, Bair’s. I opt for the buffalo chicken salad, a luxury meal compared to the convenience sore meals that lie ahead. We watch the Boston-Montreal hockey game (a warmup for Bill’s game, the L.A. Kings vs. the world). Bill jokes about the Cubs wasting all those runs, as the rain approaches. If the game is rain out before the 5th inning is done, it’s a ‘no-gamer’. (The Cubs go on to slaughter the Cardinals 17-5 in 9 complete inning. Nice try, Bill!) I remind Bill how much I’m looking forward to the Blackhawks-King series for the conference finals, should each of us cheer our respective NHL favorites on to victory.

EOD – We return to the motel. Here our route for the days ends.

Route for 12 May 2014: OKC to Springfield, MO

We blow off a little steam with a lobby party. This particular Days Inn sells a little alcohol at the front desk.

Lobby party with Alan (l.), Kristy, Marina, and myself (front). Others join later. (See my Facebook feed for more photos.)

TRAVEL SUMMARY
Start	Oklahoma City, OK
Finish	Springfield, MO
Route	I-44,US-60,many side roads
Miles	307 (est.)

11 May 2014 – The Great Siren Scavenger Hunt

09:00 – Louise, Owen and I meet for breakfast in the hotel. We opt for scrambled eggs (made to order), bacon, sausage, and chocolate milks wash it all down with.

Lids store, Penn Square Mall, Oklahoma City, OK — Lids store (right), Penn Square Mall, Oklahoma City, OK

12:30 (est.) – We had for Penn Square Mall, about 15 minutes away. We strolled the mall, stop in at the Lids store to buy a couple of hats for the trip. We search for a nice sitdown lunch place in the main part of the mall, but discover the food court is nothing but fast food places. Realizing we’re going to get our fill of fast food and convenience store stops over the next 11 days, we opt to move on to someplace else for real lunch.

Open Wide! Hangover Burger at Whiskey Cake Cafe

13:58 – We go over to Whiskey Cake Café (on the southeast fringe of the mall complex) for lunch. It is a little bit of an upscale restaurant (with upscale mall prices). At first I turn my nose up to the beat juice cocktail, but decide on one a little bit later. We have the hangover burger, a brisket burger made California style with a fried egg on it. The hangover burgers are pretty tasty, but I’m not really digging the egg yolk one all over everything. What a mess! Also the burger is so tall, that I’m actually straining to get a bite in my mouth.

14:49 – After lunch we head to the west, in search of a tornado siren. Louise is on a mission! We must find a tornado siren! One would think that finding a tornado siren in Oklahoma would not be a difficult task, but they’re sufficiently camouflaged in an urban setting that it is no small task.

Unofficial State Tree of Oklahoma: the Remote-controlled Tornado Siren

Owen has some instructions to find a siren from one of the servers at the café, so off we go in search of the elusive howler. We end up westbound on Northwest Highway so far west that we actually go past Meridian (due north of the hotel by several miles) and on almost to the point of giving up. We finally reach Rockwell Avenue and turn to the south, our three sets of eyes scanning mirror the treetops intensely. It is actually good practice for scanning the sky later in the trip, so we are not really wasting our time, only spending a little bit of gas money. We go past the apartment complex where our server says there’s a tornado siren, but our scavenger hunt comes up empty. I feel a little stupid: here I am in Oklahoma and I can’t find a tornado siren. Duh!

We decide to continue south, as Louise and I heard them sound at noon on Saturday. When we get to Reno Avenue and Rockwell, we spot a very large tornado siren at the gas station on the corner. We park the car, take a few pictures of “the official Oklahoma State tree, ” (siren) and head back to the hotel. Mission accomplished!

16:04 – After a quick detour to fill the car with gas, we return to freshen up a little before our 5 PM meeting. Our tour guide, Bill Reid, has invited us together to potentially do an extra chase before the tour starts officially tomorrow. There is a chance that western Oklahoma may see some storms, but the real action is up around eastern Nebraska, where intense line of storms is charging at Omaha.

17:00 – A handful of us meet in the lobby to discuss the weather in western Oklahoma. While the weather models broke out potential severe storms earlier in the day, the updated models are a lot less encouraging.

We are victims of bad timing. The day between two tours is the day that storms fire and the whole string of tornado reports come in to the southwest of Omaha, about five or six hours drive to our north. Video from the television seems to indicate there isn’t a lot to look at, but just the same, we would love to be around Omaha now instead of stuck in Oklahoma City waiting for the changing of the guard.
Even if everybody was already here, it’s really too far to go to see the storms, given that we’re spending the night in Oklahoma City. No sense wearing out the drivers for the tour before we really get started, right?

This is not an unusual situation, as the weather is always active in the midsection of the country in May. I’m not taking it personally, but this is a little bit difficult given that last year we didn’t see very much, and for the next few days the prospects of severe weather are not very good. Why am I spending my hard-earned money to see nothing, spending thousands of dollars on camera and computer gear only to have it sit idle. This is frustrating part of chasing: all the preparation is done, but there’s nothing to see. To put it another way: we are ready to rock, but there’s no dance music.

After some discussion, and even sitting in the van for a little bit to look at the radar and extended models, we decide to stay in Oklahoma City. In the words of Porky Pig, “Nothing to see here, move along.”

18:00 – According to the NAM and GFS models, we are not going to have very much to look at for the first few days of the tour, so we decided to just get a good night’s sleep. Perhaps the weather pattern will be more active leader in the tour.

19:00 – I decide to take a little bit of a nap. I wake about four hours later. This would be a time I normally be going to sleep but I’m a little bit awake right now. What to do?

23:00 – My room is freezing! I’m not real impressed with the thermostat that runs the hotel register. I tweak it up to 74 and try to go back to sleep. Hope I don’t get too much sleep that’s almost worse than not enough. Looking forward to tomorrow being a better day.

10 May 2014 – To the Field

0530 – alarm goes off. “This is vacation?”

0600 – airport limo arrives. 1 passenger and four bags to O’Hare.

0644 – Arrive at O’Hare. My driver, Chip (short for Chiprian, a classic Romanian first name) helps me unload, runs my credit card ($56) for the fare, accepts my tip — I always try to do cash, because it is more helpful to drivers, as a rule — and I roll off to check two of my bags.

0700 – After a bit of fumbling and stumbling, my bags are checked in. I was so tired I almost left my boarding pass at the check-in kiosk! The upside: I got a TSA pre-pass. Not having to unpack my laptop, remove my shoes, etc. is really helpful in the pre-coffee hours of the morning.

0930 – we board the plane for OKC.

1015 – Tons of cumulus humilis are bubbling up to my west.

1115 – We lower to 5,000 feet, where we get a good look at the read clay soil of Oklahoma. The haze to the west clearly shows lot of moisture in the air.

1120 – Wheels down at Will Rogers Airport in OKC.

1200 – I arrive at the Holiday Inn as the local tornado sirens blare under blue skies. Is this a typical Saturday lunch signal, a personal welcome, or wild coincidence. I choose to take it as a good omen that our chase team will have a successful journey. I text Louise to alert her to her arrival; she replies that she’ll be down to the lobby in about ten minutes.

1210 – Louise Anderson and I meet for the first time. She is a quiet person with a bit of a Mona Lisa smile and a gentle demeanor. We chat for a moment. She’s had lunch already, but I’m famished. She decides to tag along while I grab a bite to eat at a nearby Subway sandwich shop to the west.

1254 – I grab a quick BLT footlong, thinking we will be going out toward El Reno to find the Twistex Team Memorial. When I mention that I also want to stop at a good camera shop Louise suggest we doubled back to the hotel so we can get her camera. I gladly agree, because it makes good sense to have your camera along with when you go shopping for accessories. We double back.

1320 (est.): We depart the hotel for El Reno, cameras in hand.

1350 (est.) – We exit I-40, southbound. We wander around just within a 2 mile radius of US 81 sticking mostly so the roads west of US81. We based our advice on a news article on channel 9, which as it turns out had east and west mixed up. We spent probably an hour wandering around looking for the memorial. We finally mosied up to a Days Inn and ask for directions.

1505 (est.) – We finally find the memorial, just east of the corner of Reuter and Radio Roads (approximately N35.479035, W97.898345).

Louise and I feel a strange mix of emotions. We’ve successfully found this treasure (despite a bit of misdirection from the Channel 9 video about the location being two miles west of US81, when it is east of that highway). We are also on the most hallowed ground of the storm chaser community.

Three of the most respected storm researchers to ever tail twisters lost their lives here. This location is somewhat desolate, with only the hum of tires from I-40 (a mile and a half to the north) to tie the place to civilization; it seems like an especially lonely place to die. Here, there are wreaths, flowers, a “pocket tornado” novelty, various chaser knick-knacks and some jagged pieces of automotive plastic that hint at the brutal pounding the chase team’s Chevy Cobalt must have endured. It is a very sobering reminder of how dangerous it is to chase storms. It is a tribute to the dedication of Tim Samaras, Paul Samaras, and Carl Young to better understanding of severe weather.

Team Twistex Memorial (approximately N35.479035, W97.898345)

1520 (est.) – We depart the Team Twistex Memorial.

1545 (approx.) – We arrive at Yukon. After a few minutes of wandering about, we visit Hank Baker at Baker Photo & Video. Hank runs a really well-equipped Canon/Nikon photo store (though he carries a few other brands). It has become my new Oklahoma home for photo equipment, to cover lost or damaged equipment, and hopefully some new gear someday soon. Hank always greeted us as if we were his long-lost friends or best neighbors, which is another good reason to shop there. Louise and I only picked up a couple of small items (lens cap keeper, UV filter, and various odds and ends). We may not spend as much money as some of his best customers, but he always treats us is if we were his #1 customers walking through the door. Such is the camaraderie amongst storm chasers.

1617 – We depart Yukon, re-entering eastbound I-40. While looking for the location of the Sam’s Club, I look down at the wrong moment. Suddenly the car is centered on an exit ramp for the Kirkpatrick Turnpike. Embarrassed, I ask Louise if she has 35 cents change. After the first convenience store stop of the tour, I’d already have an inconvenient supply of quarters and dimes, but it’s too soon. Fortunately, she has change. A quick Jordanesque dunk shot at the toll gate, and we’re off! We wander east on US66/OK66 (“The Mother Road”) and duck south on McArthur Boulevard to the Sam’s (which is a block south of I-40 on the frontage road). I wonder, “Do they have big box stores in Australia?”

1722 – We pick up some protein bars and a $13 tub of single use laundry soap packets to cover everybody’s laundry needs on the trip. I savor the 90-degree temperature, as it is so welcome to me after the brutal 2013-2014 winter in Chicago. “This Chicago winter was the 3rd snowiest and coldest winter on record,” I explain as we put our purchases in the car. We do a bit of mental math: this would be about a 32C temperature. Hot indeed!

1830 – Louise and I meet Owen in the lobby. After a few minutes, we arrive at Charleston’s a favorite American-style eatery just a few blocks south of the hotel. Owen orders a huge, inviting full rack of ribs, Louise choose a nice beef filet, and I opt for the prime ribs (medium rare, if you please!). We order an artichoke and chips appetizer plus the nacho/queso/salsa combination, not realizing what generous servings we’re getting. The appetizers arrive and we dig into them enthusiastically. Good eatin’! Once we start the tour, a sit down dinner will be a rarity, so we seize the moment. It is “the last supper” that most chasers embrace before a string of dinners at small town McDonald’s and gas station sandwich displays.

2026 – Depart Charleston’s. Man, am I stuffed! We carry several styrofoam — or polystyrene, if you’re British , like Owen — buckets of left over chips, queso and salsa. We head to a Super Walmart to pick up some provisions for the trip. Once we reach the tiny town motels along our journey, the last trace of big city luxury might be the travel size bottle of a favorite shampoo (versus the bland generic shampoo at the motel).

2119 – We depart WalMart. We arrive at the hotel, decide to gift the third shift desk clerk of nacho leftovers, and head off to our rooms for a good night’s sleep.

2014 CHASE SEASON

Use the links below to navigate this blog site

JOURNAL

SUMMARY
4060 miles
11 days

CHASE VAN

TOOLS

2013 Season Summary

Here is the overall plan for my 2013 storm season (which I’ll update as events warrant):

CHASE 2013

DAILY JOURNAL

DATE

DAY

START

END

MI.

REMARKS

SEMINARS & TRAINING (WEATHER/SAFETY):

25+ hours of classroom training on weather
(especially radar interpretation), first aid, and CPR
[163 miles travel]

16 March

Sat.

Bolingbrook

Naperville

DuPage OHSEM
Advanced Spotter Training
http://www.dupagesevereweather.com

27 March

Wed.

Bolingbrook

Naperville

Naperville EMA radar class
(#1 of 3)
http://www.napervilleema.org

25 March

Mon.

Bolingbrook

Naperville

Naperville EMA:
Blood-borne Pathogens
http://www.napervilleema.org

03 April

Wed.

Bolingbrook

Naperville

Naperville EMA radar class
(#2 of 3)
http://www.napervilleema.org

06 April

Sat.

Bolingbrook

Batavia

33rd Annual FermiLab/Skilling Severe Weather Seminar

08 April

Mon.

Bolingbrook

Naperville

Naperville EMA:
CPR/AED Certification
http://www.napervilleema.org

17 April

Wed.

Bolingbrook

Naperville

Naperville EMA radar class
(#3 of 3)
http://www.napervilleema.org

SOUTHERN/GREAT PLAINS CHASES: early MAY: 3,362 miles

Tempest Tours #2013-2B:
Jim Reed Photo Tour
May 2013 chasing with Jim Reed, Bill Reid and friends
in the Southern/Great Plains.

Tempest 2013T2B Gang (minus Bill Reid, behind the camera)

Our team was from all over:


USA	AUS
Jim Reed (KS [KD0TVZ]) – photo guru William Reid (CA [KG6FWX]) – lead Danny Gonzales (CA) – guide/driver Ron Riemersma (WI) – guide/driver Martin Lisius (TX) – CEO, Tempest Tours (5/1) Jenna Blum (KS) – media guest Lisa Beal (IL [KC9BST] Kristin Heil (OH) Stacy Williams (CA)l Patti Schulze (TX)	Nathan Chester (Brisbane) Belinda Cripps Lee Cripps Michael Thompson (Shellharbour) Priscilla Yeo

DATE

DAY

START

END

MI.

REMARKS

29 April

Mon.

Bolingbrook

PROLOGUE

30 April

Tue.

Bolingbrook

Oklahoma City

TRAVEL: Flight + 60 miles around OKC

01 May

Wed.

Oklahoma City

Breckenridge

230+

DAY 1: Spider lightning as a monster cold front passes

02 May

Thu.

Breckenridge

Terlingua

451+

DAY 2: Down to the Border

03 May

Fri.

Terlingua

Santa Elena
Canyon

37RT

DAY 3: Rugged Road to Santa Elena Canyon

04 May

Sat.

Terlingua

Marfa

208RT

DAY 4: Rolling Thunder and F5 Girls

05 May

Sun.

Terlingua

Van Horn

192+

DAY 5: Old McDonald Had a Telescope?

06 May

Mon.

Van Horn

Plainview

459

DAY 6: New Mexico Storm with Great Structure

07 May

Tue.

Plainview

Dodge City

326+

DAY 7: 3 States of Mind: Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas

08 May

Wed.

Dodge City

Clinton

237+

DAY 8: Time to Get Outta Dodge

09 May

Thu.

Clinton

Fredericksburg

448+

DAY 9: Okie Dokie

10 May

Fri.

Fredericksburg

San Antonio

426+

DAY 10: Mini-Haboob!

11 May

Sat.

San Antonio

Oklahoma City

469+

DAY 11: Long Drive North and a Czech Stop

12 May

Sun.

Oklahoma City

Bolingbrook

DAY 12: Departure

13 May

Mon.

Oklahoma City

Bolingbrook

Epilogue

IL/IA CHASES/SPOTTING:

(TBA)

Bolingbrook

(TBA)

–

Chaser/spotter fun within 300 miles of home

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

Season Plan

Accommodations

Restaurants

Tools

Web Links

NOTE: The restaurant and accommodations links will be dead until I get out in the field.

12 June 2013 – Eyes on the Chi-town Skies

This morning started with a MOD RISK declared for Chicago and environs:

There was also much discussion about a HIGH RISK being declared, with a focus on the severe wind and hail threats:

While the tornado threat has been downplayed, I feel a bit wary about the hatched 10%(+) area:

Even early in the day, the severe parameters show signs of moving ‘into the hot zone’ later today:

We’ll have to watch this one carefully (as Gilbert Sebenste pointed out in my Facebook news feed). Gilbert is a respected expert in Northern Illinois weather, and I’m glad we have him watching our area. He’s generous with his knowledge and is a great natural teacher. (Frankly, I wish there was some way I could carve out time to attend either his meteorology classes or the one’s Paul Sirvatka teaches at College of DuPage. Both of the gentlemen have a great sever weather sense, and I’d be delighted if their wisdom would rub off on me. I could always use more.)

11:00am:
As the morning wore on, the air was increasingly humid. Definitely, “air ya kin wear’, to use a Northern Virginia-ism.

14:30CDT:
Per http://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/watch/ww0298.html , A PDS (particularly dangerous situation) area has been issued to our west:

A rare Particularly Dangerous Situation (PDS) Tornado Watch 298 — A rare PDS watch issued nearby

Certain aspects of today remind me of the

August 4, 2008 derecho event. On that day, the EF1 tornado in Bolingbrook, Illinois passed less than a mile south of my house. Too close for comfort!

SUMMARY4060 miles11 days

DAILY JOURNAL

SUMMARY
4060 miles
11 days