Vehicle/Technology – Page 3 – UnderTheThunder Storm Chasing & Weather Blog

01 May 2013 – CHASE 2013 – DAY 1

01 May 2013 – CHASE 2013 – DAY 1 – Oklahoma and Texas

06:15 – Wake; morning chores;; pack bags

07:30 – Drop bags at Holiday Inn; return rental car

08:00 – Return to Wyngate via shuttle; eat breakfast.

08:30 – Walk to Holiday Inn; meet other chasers; do introductions and safety briefing,

10:30 – Pack vans, grab cameras and head for Wichita Falls , TX then toward Abilene.

12:50 – Rest stop then lunch 20 minutes later (just north of Wichita Falls, TX).

13:20 – Continue southwest from Wichita Falls on US277.

15:12 – stop at Munday for bathrooms, fuel, food. Continue southeast

17:15 – turn back north from Albany on US283. Storms with 55,000 foot have developed along I44 in southern OK, with the line spreading into our area. We are in a severe storm watch box.

18:00 – sky stop. We see a storm with a hard back sheared, take photos as it evolves.

18:30 – depart south on US283 as the cold outflow breeze of the storm invades.

Air being pulled up into the storm, near Throckmorton, TX, 01 May 2013

19:35 – we duck south, bit by bit, trying to keep out of monster (2.5-inch or larger) hail. At one point we can to the hail roar of the storm. (Hail roar is the sound of large hail hitting the ground, cars, rooftops, etc. It can sound like thunder only it can last for minutes at a time.)

20:30 – We stop west of Albany,TX, where we witness a spectacular display of spider lightning. I have embarrassing camera issues here, because I miss a control setting. Our team leader helps me figure it out, but I miss the best part of the lightning. To add insult to injury, the Storm Prediction Center indicates an unfavorable weather pattern (for storm chasers) for at least three days. I feel terribly frustrated.

Still, I captured a little bit:

22:30 – We depart for our hotel after a fast food dinner at the Dairy Queen in Fort Griffin.

23:00 – We check into The Ridge Motel in Breckinridge,TX.
23:46 – turn in for the night. I’m exhausted physically and emotionally.

30 April 2013 – CHASE 2013 – Arrival

TODAY”S activities:

05:00 wake up
05:10 morning chores
05:20 Take trash to the curb
05:30 Airport limo arrived. My favorite driver, David, is driving. We talk about friends, relationship maintenance, and life on the trip to O’Hare.
0615 Arrive O’Hare. Due to my tripod case looking like a gun chase I check that along with backup photo gear. ($60 to check two bags! Highway robbery!!) I also end up gate-checking my carry-on bag (with my primary camera gear). I try to hide my displeasure and eventually settle in for the flight. Regional jets are more intimate than their massive cousins, but I always suffer separation anxiety when I travel separately from my most expensive toys.
__ Wheels up and on our way. Our compact yet comfy Canadair CRJ700 angles southwest toward the heart of Tornado Alley. As I sip my diet tonic water — scored a full can! — I chat with the flight attendant and compare note on her Canadair vs. the ski-equipped KC-130 aircraft of my Antarctic era. It seems that both planes began their lives as cargo aircraft are were later retrofitted with seats for passengers. (Learn something new every day!)

_____ arrive at OKC. To my chagrin, I discover my rental car location is not at the airport, but a $20 cab ride away. What’s more: the airport rental agent had put through the charge already, so I had to have him back it out.

_____ drove downtown. Ate lunch at Thai Kitchen (a recommendation from my Thai can driver). Great meal and great price. I guess the detour to the rental car served a second purpose. Lesson: Learn to make the most of detours; sometimes the scenic route turns out better.

_____ Consulted Google Maps to find a photo store. All the signs (Yelps, reviews, etc.) point to Baker Camera in Yukon, a short hop west of OKC. Upon arriving I make two wonderful discoveries: 1) Yukon is Garth Brooks’ hometown (“teenage!”) and 2) Hank Baker, the owner of this oasis of prosumer Nikon and Canon gear, is also an accomplished storm photographer.

_____ Swing by the Sam’s Club off McArthur Blvd. to pick up protein bars. Imodium (just in case), dried mangoes, and a jar of marinated asparagus.

____ Back to the Wyngate for a brief unwind.

_____ Go to the Texas Roadhouse. Celebrate Willie Nelson’s 80th birthday with a Skinny Margarita. A 12-oz. ribeye, and a cup of chili.

_____ return to the hotel. Charge up phone, photo and video batteries and myCharge (iPhone charge bank). Check the forecasts and models. Looks like we’ll dive south into Texas for our first chase day.

22:00 Turn in for the night

TRAVEL HUMOR:

I usually read along with the flight attendant while she (or he) goes through the safety card. Besides the fact every plane is a little different, I’ve always considered it polite to pay attention to a person when they speak. Usually, the safety briefing is pretty repetitious, but today I found something new:

It never occurred to me that a person with a pacemaker would be required to turn it off during the flight! Everybody got a good laugh when I pointed this out. Now my joke collection has a pacemaker joke. “Who’d w thunk it?”

11 April 2013 – Soggy times

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)

30 April 2012 – PRELIMINARY – DAY 10 – The 5% Solution

0700 – wake up; shower

0900 – breakfast

Some chaser humor: “portions of west Texas and the Texas panhandle were severely damaged by last night’s storms, as shown on the map below”

Sir Richard Pell, Earl of Waffles (no relation to the Earl of Sandwich) posed with one of his famed breakfast creations. “Brilliant!”

1030 – meet at van

Inverted T feature

Photos of my logbook entries for the day:

28 April 2012 – DAY 8 – Slight risk, High Tension

I am still trying to process the emotions of the day.

One person in the group has become so selfish, loud, vulgar, and arrogant that I have had waking fantasies of dragging him behind the van as we race into a hailstorm on a gravel road.

Another lost his wallet (and I feel terrible for him, especially because he is a talented and wonderful person).

I even feel a little down because my netbook is dead, one of my shoes is held together with duct tape.

And we did not see any severe storms, I feel disappointed that after tomorrow the tour is done. I fear having nothing to show for the money I spent.

Photographs of my chase log notes follow:

Xxx

Travel: ??? miles

27 April 2012 – DAY 7 – Mod risk

Log entry delayed.

Summary:
520 miles

Weak, brief tornado east of KS177N, midway between Altavista and Council Grove.

Photos, maps follow:

25 April 2012 – DAY 5 – Fizzle, Fizzle, f’shizzle

ALL TIMES ARE LOCAL (MDT)

0300 – night bathroom run! Gotta avoid caffeine with dinner.
0400 – neighbors making noise So I can’t sleep! Transcribed yesterday’s paper chase log to this blog. Pure hell to enter WordPress entries via Safari!! (I discovered the WordPress app afterwards. This will be easier/saner going forward.)
0900 – Laundry run
1030 – return to hotel ; pack van
1035 – weather briefing: we have a chance for storms that might produce small hail and some lightning in the plains of Eastern Colorado.
1130 – lunch at Kim Lin Chinese Buffet
1230 – Depart La Junta, CO northbound
1315 – stop 2 miles south of Arlington, CO to photograph an old storm shelter
1327 – Arlington, CO – stop at rest area and photograph an outhouse. Yes, it’s a SLOW DAY!
1341 – N on CO59(?); arrive at Eads, CO to watch the sky, data updates, and toss a Frisbee around.
1530 – leave Eads on US287N, heading to an area where storm development has started.
1607 – turn onto northbound CO59
1625 – stop at I-70 for fuel, washroom visits and snacks; continue north to US36W
1707 – pass Cope, CO
1715 – turn north toward Otis,CO
1740 – dinner at Mom’s Restaurant in Otis
1830 – stop west of Otis. Our target storm has fizzled, having run out of moisture.
1900 – return to Otis; after Bill gets us hotel rooms in Yuma, we head to US34E and on to Yuma. On the way, illustrates how super cells look on radar, using a radar image of a southeast moving storm entering Illinois from near Keokuk, IA
1920 – arrive at the Nelson Inn in Yuma. Bill announces we meet at the van at 9 a.m. (MDT) due to a heavy travel day. Tomorrow appears to be our ‘big day’ for our excursion. Updated this blog
2130 – lights out

24 April 2012 – Fred Astaire without Shoes?

Yesterday morning, my netbook computer charged up (by outward appearances), but when I tried to use it, it would not power up.

Last night, it did not even light up when I attached the AC adapter. As it stands, I will be without my computer for the remaining 8 days of my chase trip. As a career computer professional, I find it very trying to be without a computer; as a storm chaser (who needs constant data updates), I feel like Fred Astaire trying to dance with no shoes!

I can use hotel lobby computers and my iPhone to update my blog (as I am doing right now). I can probably improvise a solution for getting my photos into those blog entries, but will be hard pressed to incorporate my forecasts and nowcasts into the blog ‘in the moment.’

29 May 2011 – Fast Movers!

Chased after some fast moving storms, but could not circumnavigate the south Chicago metro area and keep up at the same time. These storms produced tornadoes around Kalamazoo, MI, but I was 2 hours away as this happened. At least I got a good look at some dramatic daytime anvil crawlers. Sorry, no photos. But the GoPro camera is on my Christmas list. After seeing Chris Gullikson use it so effectively, I want one! I may even go 3D (http://gopro.com/hd-hero-accessories/3d-hero-system/).

The good news is that I passed my Spotter Network exam and have the software for real-time reports set up. The near real-time positioning works as long as I have a broadband connection up (and the laptop does not hibernate, as it did when I stopped for a quick McDonald’s run).

Was I wasting my time? Maybe. Was it a good storm day? Yup. Check this storm reports excerpt:

000
NWUS53 KLOT 292344
LSRLOT

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO/ROMEOVILLE IL
644 PM CDT SUN MAY 29 2011

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

1145 AM     TSTM WND GST     DUPAGE AIRPORT          41.92N 88.25W
05/29/2011  M58.00 MPH       DUPAGE             IL   ASOS
            1135 CDT.

1224 PM     HAIL             KINSMAN                 41.19N 88.57W
05/29/2011  M1.00 INCH       GRUNDY             IL   AMATEUR RADIO
            WEST OF THE TOWN ON GARDNER ROAD.

1253 PM     HAIL             JOLIET                  41.53N 88.12W
05/29/2011  E0.25 INCH       WILL               IL   TRAINED SPOTTER
            INTERSECTION OF ROUTE 30 AND GOUGAR ROAD.

1259 PM     HAIL             NEW LENOX               41.52N 87.98W
05/29/2011  E0.75 INCH       WILL               IL   TRAINED SPOTTER

0103 PM     FUNNEL CLOUD     KANKAKEE                41.12N 87.86W
05/29/2011                   KANKAKEE           IL   TRAINED SPOTTER
            CROSSING I-57

0105 PM     TSTM WND DMG     KANKAKEE                41.12N 87.86W
05/29/2011                   KANKAKEE           IL   LAW ENFORCEMENT
            12 TO 16 INCH DIAMETER TREE UPROOTED ON COBB ST. TREE
            FELL ON CAR. DRIVER NOT INJURED.

0105 PM     FUNNEL CLOUD     HERSCHER                41.05N 88.10W
05/29/2011                   KANKAKEE           IL   TRAINED SPOTTER
            AT COUNTY LINE RD 8000 S AND RT 45.

0105 PM     TSTM WND DMG     KANKAKEE                41.12N 87.86W
05/29/2011                   KANKAKEE           IL   LAW ENFORCEMENT
            TREES DOWN ON CAR ON COBB BLVD

0115 PM     TSTM WND DMG     KANKAKEE                41.12N 87.86W
05/29/2011                   KANKAKEE           IL   TRAINED SPOTTER
            3 LARGE TREES DOWN ON MAIN ST NEAR HOSPITAL

0115 PM     TSTM WND DMG     KANKAKEE                41.12N 87.86W
05/29/2011                   KANKAKEE           IL   LAW ENFORCEMENT
            TREE LIMBS AND POWER LINES DOWN CITY WIDE

I am also running with the $25/month AllisonHouse data service subscription. It’s WAY easier to make chase decisions when you can see fronts quickly (like the warm front below), take the tornado risk ‘blob(s)’ — the purplish contours, below — into account, see dew point contours (green), etc.:

NOTE: This particular screen shot shows why Tempest Tour’s Bill Reid chose to stay at West Point, NE (near KOAX) last night: short drive, big storms right on the doorstep. His passengers even have time for a Walmart run this morning and a sit-down lunch before scoring a big storm. Good call, Bill!

Old Moveable Type blog entries migrated

OK, gang! the old MT blog has been fully converted to WordPress entries. Most of the 1997-2007 entries are marked private until I add the photos, clean some formatting, and otherwise make them more presentable. Keep checking back!