Another Season of active weather is in full gear, and I am ready to join the fray.
This Year’s chase approach
Since my regular chase partner is unavailable when i have time off, I am using my fallback strategy: go with a commercial chase tour (my old favorite, Tempest Tours). Beyond that, I will be limit to weekend chases (with a long-distance trip for Independence day weekend, weather permitting).
Given that my regular ‘commuter car’ — a 2001 Chevy Prizm that has never had a moment of trouble until now — is not in running condition, my chase vehicle is my temporary commute vehicle. I use a separate vehicle for chasing to avoid risk to the car I use to go to work, but cannot realistically exercise that option now. Once my tax refund arrives, I’ll fix the Prizm and revert to the old vehicle strategy.
Pre-season training and certification
As in past years, I have done some pre-season training, highlighted by the Advanced Spotter Training seminar that DuPage County (Illinois) Emergency Management Agency (DCEMA) sponsors annually. This year, the training counts toward my biannual spotter re-certification, so I do not need to re-do the basic spotter training class. As usual, the DCEMA folks rounded up some excellent speakers and the talks were educational and informative. I even sat a few seats from a fellow survivor of the 1967 Belvidere, Illinois tornado, the storm that is probably responsible for setting my path toward storm chasing. (OPTIONAL: Insert Twister / Helen Hunt joke here. 
).
[SIDE NOTE: YouTube has a couple of Belvidere videos here and here, if you want to learn more.)
The annual WGN9-TV/FermiLab severe weather seminar acts as the other part of my training refresher (especially the presentations on lightning, tornado injuries, and storm safety). Some high precip storms came through the area (drenching us when we entered the build at 5pm). The local chasers were easy to identify: all had a ‘should I stay or chase’ look on their faces. Nothing like have a good storm during the storm seminar to confuse the die-hard weather weenies!
The 6-10pm presentations ran so late that Ron and Cheryl Schmalz (my local chase partners) and I left early to get our first real meal of the day. The evening meal at the local Sonic, the post-storm sounds and smells, and my van full of chaser gadgets made it feel like the end of a chase day.
Cheryl was fortunate enough to win on of the weather radios that was given away. (I believe that brings the unofficial radio count for the Schmalz household to 20 or so!) I’m sure she and Ron will enjoy many hours of use from the new radio, as they are very active in storm spotting for their community. They are both terrific examples of the many selfless individuals who give their hearts and hands over to the cause of keeping their neighbors safe when the skies grow threatening.
More pre-chase preparation
Hopefully, before the trip, I empty out the 2008 chase video from my HDD camcorder, prep my cameras (including the Pentax 14M-pixel K20-D), and get my chase laptop rebuild (as it is a bit too-crash prone to use in the field right now). I also want to update my chase pages, espeiclly the tools section. I’ll be using some Tim Vasquez weather book for inspiration in that area.
Stay tuned for more updates soon!
Lisa