Observation
Two phones ringing and several alarms (computers and weather radio) are sounding.
Naperville EMA has activated the weather unit, but I’m shaking from head to toe, due to sleep deprivation. Lots of flooding going on in the area! I expect to see dozens of these today:
I needed to get to work before water bars my way!
On the way home, I checked out the flooding about a mile from home
It’s been raining three days in a row and sometimes heavily:
Finally, northern Illinois is beginning to emerge from the drought.
It’s the perfect weather for contemplation and handling details for my upcoming storm chase trip. During the off-season, I’ve done lots of reading, ingesting books like Tim Vazquez’s “Weather Radar Handbook” (ORANGE BOOK).
In anticipation of chasing for ten days with famed storm photographer Jim Reed, I read “STORM CHASER: A Photographer’s Journey”.
I had intended to go through it over several days, but read through it in a single sitting (unlike the ORANGE BOOK, which I’ve been nibbling at for weeks). I felt it would be beneficial to read Jim’s book to better understand him and his guiding principals of storm photography.
As it turns out, Jim and I have had interesting parallels in our lives:
| Jim Reed | Lisa Beal | REMARKS | |
| Born | Springfield, Illinois | Rockford, Illinois | Also close to the same age |
| Raised in Midwest? | Yup | Yup | _ |
| Non-traditional family | Raised by single mom | One of three adopted children. Raised by almost-single mom until 10. (Dad traveled 5-6 days a week.) |
We may have watched the Brady Bunch, but we were not members! |
| 1st memorable storm | Hurricane Camille (with mom) |
Belvidere, IL tornado (with dad) |
Dominant parent present during first memorable storm experience gave a sense that “everything’s going to be OK” (and it was). |
| Moved from Midwest | to West Coast (California) | to East Coast (to New York) | Off to the big city! |
| Returned to Midwest | Kansas | Illinois | Returned after college in both cases |
| Einstein connection | Ja! | Ja! | God may not play dice with the universe, but he seems to be good at poker. I remember this during storm chases! |
| 1960s TV connection | Gilligan’s Island | Gilligan’s Island | Theory: the seven characters on Gilligan’s Island represent the Seven Deadly Sins. (What would Dawn Wells think of that?) |
| Dedicated chase vehicle | Ford Explorer (as of 2006) |
Chrysler Town&Country (from 2011-date) |
_ |
| Seen lots of tornadoes | 40+ | about 30 (I’m re-checking) |
Easily half of those I’ve seen were with Tempest Tours. Saw 6 on 10 May 2004 afternoon near Limon, Colorado. (“Thank you, Dr. Weberpal!”) |
| Winter photography experience | First chapter in the book captures this | Several photos from Antarctica used on Oprah for Jerri Nielsen’s appearance. | Jim will be supplying 2013 Tempest Tour 2B guests with signed copies of his book during the tour! |
| Camera collection | Nikon-sanctioned photographer | Started with Pentax while working for the Antarctic Program | OK, Nikon! I’m tired of Pentax stuff being ‘niche gear’ that’s both expensive AND hard to find. |
We’ll have plenty to talk about on the trip. I’ll have to remind myself that there will be a dozen people vying for his time, including Jim Reed.
To hear Jim speak about our trip, check out this YouTube video ( 2:14-):
Extended Interview: Jim Reed, extreme weather photographer (KRCG)
It’s a wet day! Too bad this wasn’t spread out over a few days in June:
This morning we had a storm with 30-50+ mph winds charge southeast through the western Chicago suburbs.
Here in Bolingbrook, Illinois, we got 0.50 inches (1.3cm) of much needed rain.
I am still in the setup phase of my weather instruments, so the fixed setup (Davis Vantage Pro) and mobile setup (Davis Vantage Vue, used for correlation vs. the fixed unit) are both in the wind shadow of my house. The fixed units anemometer will be relocated to the roof after I get some lightning protection up there.
I measured peak winds of 28 mph, but the roar of the wind in the trees and sound of wind-driven rain is consistent with 45-50 mph wind gusts. A better look at the storm shows the wind and temperature field (just after its passing):
After the brief visit to the 70-degree mark, we’ll soar back near 90, with even warmer temperatures tomorrow. We can expect to touch the century mark again, as we have so many times this year. Back to the dog days of July and August! (Make sure to protect your face with your favorite hat, like Barb and Joe’s dog, Skuttlebutt.)
[editor’s note: entering WordPress blog entries via iPhone is pure hell. It took almost 2 hours to write this entry!]
ALL TIMES BELOW ARE LOCAL (MDT)
I’ve reverted to using paper chase logs, transcribing them after the fact. My log for 24 April follows:
The weather is being totally uncooperative . As we wait, we feed one of my apples to a horse behind the general store and toss a frisbee with our Spanish and Portugese guests. My impression: it’s a new experience for them.
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Travel: 270 miles
ALL TIMES BELOW ARE LOCAL
341 miles
Wow! I hate packing at the last minute.
I hate the thought that some piece of gear will not be working and I’d have to repair or replace it in the last 48 hours before departure. The lion’s share of my technological toys are specialized enough that a last minute replacement would mean a lot of stress, potentially going out-of-town for the replacements, and unexpected expense.
Odd as this may sound, I’m much more afraid of not being able to record a good storm than of the storm itself; I respect the weather, but fear making the mistake of waiting too long to check my equipment before the trip.
Work has been busy and a bit stressful. I’m very relieved to get out of there for 10 days, even though lots of work will be waiting for me when I return.
Now that all is in order, I can finally relax, just in time for a 6-hour nap before I head to the airport.