Chase Log : 5/19/2013

Outlook: Moderate

Target Area: Southern Kansas/Northern Oklahoma

Chase Partners: Shane Adams, Bridget Geaughan, Wes Carter

Chasers Encountered: Andrew Revering, Randy Denzer, Verne Carlson, Chris Rozoff

Travel Time: Approximately 9 hours

Miles Traveled: 371 miles

Result: 1 tornado, several wall clouds

Personally I felt like I was on top of the world with the tornadoes we grabbed the day before, and when you're on top there's only one direction you can go....this would be the best way to describe our chase on May 19th. We spent the night in Great Bend after our 5/18 chase; we left shortly after 10:30 AM and headed south on I-35 towards Wichita where we stopped for lunch. At the time our thinking was south and east of Wichita somewhere around the KS/OK line as a starting point (Shane even at one point thought about heading towards Missouri to start out); the updated SPC outlooks still had Eastern Kansas as the primary target for severe weather.

We left Wichita around 1:30 and continued southward; shortly after passing a toll booth on the Kansas Turnpike we noticed towers firing up to our west (this setup like the day before was an MCS type system where if you see a storm fire you need to jump on it and hope it doesn't turn linear quickly, but unlike 5/18 the storm motions were a little faster which made this day complicating and somewhat frustrating). We proceeded west for about 18 miles before heading north on highway 49 towards Conway Springs. At that point the storm became severe warned; we stopped north of town to film the storm as it quickly intensified to a supercell. 

I noticed two areas of rotation at the base of this storm after grabbing a shot of this wall cloud. We couldn't picked a better spot to view this storm but because of the 40-45 mph movement we couldn't stick around very long (we also noticed a precipitation core to the southwest which gave us a clue that more storms were firing behind this one).

We watched the storm for a few more minutes before we headed north to stay with it; about 2-3 miles in Shane spotted a weak tornado that touched down to our northwest near the town of Viola. It only lasted about a minute but it was enough time for me to get video of it before it dissipated (My video of the tornado can be found at this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrwqyoZl2ys)

It was a great start to the day but unfortunately the lone highlight of the day in regards to seeing a tornado. This storm would produce two more tornadoes at it moved northeast towards the Wichita Metropolitan Area but we had to give up on it because more storms were rapidly firing to our south and we didn't want to get in a situation where we would be stuck on the northern fringe of the southern cells (especially with a large tornado threatening Wichita).

At that point the remainder of our chase in Kansas consisted of trying to get in position to view an HP storm that came up from Oklahoma. The photo below is one of the HP storms we saw near Arkansas City.

We then proceeded south into Oklahoma to make a play on storms that were a little more on the isolated side. We stopped near the town of Newkirk as we saw one storm grow into a supercell. This storm showed promised; it had a nice wall cloud to it and we even saw some of the same motion we saw on the Rozel storm the day before as it was about to produce, but outflow from the storms further north hit it and it slowly died out.(Another 5-10 minutes it very well could have produced a tornado.)

Our last shot of the day was with this storm near Tonkawa that quickly went linear.

After that we called it a day and headed south towards Guthrie where we spent the night. I really can't complain too much about this day; it was the first time I saw tornadoes on consecutive days. It was very frustrating though to have to give up on the storm that gave us our lone tornado as it went on to produced two more defined tornadoes including a large tornado that threatened Wichita. It was also frustrating that the storms in our target area quickly became linear as it moved east of I-35 while the storm of the day was in Central Oklahoma around Shawnee (an area I really didn't pay that much attention to). Still though I did accomplish a first in those two days of chasing and so far I'm a perfect 3 for 3 on chases in the state of Kansas; a state known to have given many chasers headaches.

Chase Log: 5/18/2013

Outlook: Moderate

Target Area: West Central Kansas

Chase Partners: Shane Adams, Bridget Geaughan

Chasers Encountered: Wes Carter

Travel Time: Approximately 13 hours

Miles Traveled: 542 miles

Result: 2 tornadoes, multiple funnel clouds

 
My first full day of a 10 day chase vacation started off with a bang; we left North Richland Hills at around 8:30 that morning and proceeded northward on I-35 to OKC before hitting I-40 west towards El Reno and then hitting highway 281 toward our target area which was in the Pratt area as a starting point. We made it to Pratt at around 3:30 and hung around in town for about 45 minutes before heading west on US Highway 400/54 to Greensburg where there was already a chaser convergence in the city.

While we were in Greensburg Shane, Bridget, and I got to meet up with my friend and occasional chase partner Wes Carter. I would have never known Wes if it weren't for Shane and Bridge so this meet up was a significant one for me and one of many highlights of my trip (I've known Wes for about 3 years and during that time the one thing we haven't done was see a tornado together in person. I felt that the stars had aligned for the both of us that day).

Around 5:00 was when what would be the storm of the day fired up around Greensburg; it was the lone cell of what was an MCS mess that fired up in West Central Kansas that day.

It was moving NE at a snail's pace (only 20 mph) as it became severe warned; we headed north on highway 183 towards the town of Kinsley as these shots were taken.

As we stopped to set up shop we all started seeing shear funnels to the right of the base. (From this noob's prospective it was so fucking cool to see that ;-)~)

We headed NE towards the town of Sanford to reposition; shortly after 7 PM the fun began as the storm we followed for over an hour finally began to show us some love.

At 7:22 PM our first tornado of the day touched down near the town of Rozel; for the next 25 minutes we got to film from start to finish the entire life cycle of that tornado....this is hands down the best tornado I got to see and the first one I saw from start to finish. It was initially rated at EF2 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, but wind measurements from a Doppler On Wheels truck detected winds in the 165-185 mph range thus it was upgraded to an EF4.

We initially thought this was a separate tornado but after further review from the National Weather Service Office in Dodge City; they determined  that the tornado below was still the Rozel tornado as it began to rope out. We were about 7 or 8 miles away from this tornado. When it disappeared before roping we weren't able to see the ground circulation other chasers closer to the tornado saw.

After the Rozel tornado roped out another tornado touched down at around 8:00 PM near the town of Sanford....the rope out on this tornado is up there with Goldsby as the best I've seen.

A new tornado warning was issued on the storm but that point it turned into an MCS crap that signaled the end of our chase. We headed up to Great Bend for the night for food and beer to celebrate our epic chase day.

This was a chase I can tell stories about 20 years down the road....it was after all the best chase I've ever been on.

2012....May You Rot In Hell

Since I won't be chasing again until 2013 I may as well do my year in review blog; as the title notes this year from a personal prospective was one of the most shittiest I've dealt with.

Chasing

Stats for 2012:

Chases- 4
States Chased In- TN, AL, MS, KS
Tornadoes- 5
Tornado days- 1

Milestones for the year- First Kansas tornado and first night time tornado.

January 22nd, February 29th and March 2nd were the only good severe weather events in the South; we blue sky busted on the 22nd setup, couldn't chase the 29th, and I was limited to a VERY local chase on the 2nd. April 14th like for many other chasers was the lone saving grace for my season; yet that chase almost ended in disaster when a few weeks later I had a falling out with my chase partners over my attitude towards them during our chase. That would be my last meaningful chase until Labor Day weekend when Ashley and I went down to Huntsville to chase the remnants of Hurricane Issac; the chase in general was a bust yet successful at the same time as I nailed my first target area as a brief tornado was reported near Madison, AL about 13 miles southwest of Huntsville.

My Life In General

I topped my tornado total from last year; under normal circumstances I should be happy with that but the mistakes I made in neglecting my financial responsibilities that ultimately ended my season prematurely and cost me seeing more tornadoes (5/25 in particular) along with the overbearing stress I had to deal with at work and the personal animosity I had towards a friend made any positive moment for this year an after thought.  My personal life from March all the way toward July was a train wreck as I was in fear of losing my job. I also fell behind on my payments to my old apartment, and as a result I had 25% of my weekly pay check garnished in order to pay it off which ended up costing me my chasecation because I didn't have the money to go after that. I sat at my computer the night of May 25th heart broken and angry at myself as I was hearing about the tornadoes in Central Kansas including the LaCrosse tornadoes that Ashley got (I fucked up...I hated myself for a long time after that....to this day I can't even watch video of that night).

Things got better for me though; I was bringing in extra money which helped knock out all of my debt and I was finally able to get away for week of RnR in Texas with two of the most coolest people I ever had the privilege of meeting. No chasing during the trip but I did get to see Rob Zombie perform on Halloween.

That pretty much sums up 2012 for me; I'm not going to say 2013 will be a rebound year for me because I have no fucking clue what the new year will bring. All I can say is if I miss out on a decent chase opportunity being broke won't be a reason why. I already made plans on taking my chasecation next year (May 17-27) and all of my money will be devoted on that trip to the Plains and any chases beforehand (even if it means my social life taking a hit, but like I fucking care about that). Everything else at this point is up in the air; I'm just hoping 2013 will not be carbon copy of 2012 (except for seeing tornadoes of course).

iMap Weather Radio App For The Android Phone Review

Greetings from the Boro;


As the title states this is a review of the iMap Weather Radio app that I have waited over a year to purchase for my Android phone after it was finally release one week ago today.

Here's a little background on the app...it was created by Weather Decision Technologies (same company responsible for RadarScope after their acquisition of Base Velocity); this app is pretty much like having a NOAA Weather Radio on your smartphone. The following are some of the features available on this app:

Radio

It has a computerized voice that alerts you of threatening weather conditions in your current location or in 5 separate areas you can program into the app. Even if your phone is in sleep mode it will activate if an alert is issued for the area or areas you programmed into the app (Note: you have to have your notification sound turned on in order to receive the audio alert).

This is how I have my app is setup; my Current Location is Murfreesboro (although that will change while traveling)...I also have three areas surrounding Murfreesboro programmed in (Franklin to the west; Columbia and Lewisburg to the southwest). I also have two cities programmed to where I can monitor the weather for my friends and family and if say a tornado warning gets issued even if I'm away from my computer I will be alerted to the warning and I can give love ones back home a heads up.

Alerts

You can customize what type of alerts you want to be notified of and ignore any other hazard that will not affect you in any way (I live in Tennessee....don't need to worry about any hurricane, tropical, coastal, or marine hazards).

iMap Radar

Using iMap you can view radar or satellite imagery with animation while also viewing graphical overlays of various hazards (Storms/Tornadoes. Floods, Winter, Snow, Ice, Freezing, Fog, Wind, Hurricane and Tropical, and Hurricane Tracks). You can also pinpoint your current location using the arrow on the bottom left corner of the screen which can be useful if you are on a road trip and you're approaching inclement weather.

Background Tracking

This allows iMWR to alert you of threatening weather conditions down to the street you live at; the one downfall to this feature is that like any other app that uses GPS tracking it will drain your battery. You can adjust the accuracy of the background tracking to help minimize the lost of battery.

Media Partner

If any of your local news stations uses iMap radar this app also provides additional content such as live streaming video coverage of severe weather events (my media partner above is WSMV Ch. 4 in Nashville). When you first download the app you are asked to put in your zip code in order to have access to the local content if it is available in your market (if you move out of your current TV market and want to change media partners you will have to uninstall the app and then reinstall it in order to make the change).

This is only one man's opinion but all in all it is a great app. I've only noticed one bug in the app; when I select one of my programmed cities and go to the radio part of the app to play the 5-day forecast I on occasion receive an error log message in which the audio won't play. It normally happens one time....second try it'll play (as with any app released there may be some minor bugs in the app and normally an update fixes the problem).

Currently the app is on sale for $4.99 for a VERY limited time; after the sale ends it'll be $9.99 at the Google Play Store, but even at full price $10 for an app that could save your or your family's life is a valuable invest. And I'm gonna be brutally honest if you can afford a smartphone and put all sorts of paid apps on your phone....this should be one of the pay apps put on your phone even if you already own a NOAA weather radio. If power goes out and you don't have batteries in your NWR or if the transmitter needed to relay warnings gets taken out having this app can be the difference between getting the warning and seeking timely shelter and having a tragic consequence for not getting the warning.

End Of A Nightmare/A New Beginning

Greetings from the Boro;

I'm not going to lie my mood in the past month or so has been terrible; a combination of work related stress, stupidity, heartbreak, and the depression that followed the heartbreaking moment has made me one miserable motherfucker.

I was off the emotional high of our successful April 14th chase looking forward to what could have been a breakout year in chasing when things fell apart for me in a span of two weeks. Financial problems which were my doing creeped up on me at the worst possible time....2 weeks before my vacation. I had to stay behind while Ashley got to go and have a memorable chasecation. While she got to see a solar eclipse and 5 tornadoes on May 25th I had to deal with a pay cut and an angry owner of the company I work for over bad business and an investigation over his labor practices. I was at one of the lowest moods I felt in years; I wanted to have NOTHING to do with almost anyone during that period and I even took aggressive measures to keep people away from me (it resulted in hurt feelings which to this day I regret doing).

Fast forward to today which was an uneventful day for the most part until 3:00 PM when my boss called me in. As I made the walk to meet up with him my heart was racing faster than Usain Bolt on cocaine (thinking more bad news); he gave me a message and some paper work to fill out. That investigation from the state labor department yielded some wrong doings on the owner's part; he owed me back pay for skipping out on paying me over time (I work over 40 hours a week and was paid per day instead of per hour which is illegal in this state). I'm owed over $1,700 in back pay it may not seem a lot but for me, it was the miracle I was hoping for. My financial nightmare is over; within a month my debt will be wiped clean and I can focus on the future which of course involves chasing.

I've been having to stick to a tight budget just to make ends meet and even though I will be bringing in more money over the next month I have no plans to get off that budget because I have goals that cannot be accomplished without putting as much money as I can back.

This is a short list of what I want to accomplish in the next year or two:

Vacation- I still have plans on taking a vacation at some point this year (I'm targeting the week of the Weather Fest in Norman to go see some friends at that event and hopefully if possible get in a chase gambling on some secondary season magic).

Solo Chasing- This isn't an indictment on my chase partners they make chases more enjoyable even on a bust. Thing is they might not be around long (Jesse wants desperately to go home in Nebraska while Ashley may move to Norman); I have to be ready for that because I will likely be the last one leaving and until then I want to chase every chance I can get, but that's impossible to do without a car of my own. I also need a confidence booster and a feel of accomplishment and what better way for a young chaser like myself to have that than to do it on my own.

Relocation- I'm a fucking realist, and the reality is I won't be working at my job for two more years in fact I did pretty good being with that company for three years. I'm eventually going to have to move on and my heart is no longer in Tennessee no matter how much I love this state. My heart belongs in the Plains in Tornado Alley; my top two choices on where to move are Wichita and Fort Worth of course that's subject to change (sorry Norman you're a great town but you're not my idea of where I want to live).

There you have it for anyone wondering what I've been up to the past two months or so and what I hope to be doing in the future.

Chase Log: 4/14/2012

Outlook: High Risk

Target Area: Southern/Central Kansas

Chase Partners: Jesse Hines, Ashley Poling, Jessica Chelewski

Chasers Encountered: Ben Holcomb, Cory Watkins, Adam Lucio, Lorraine Mahoney, Bob Hartig, Bill Oosterbaan, Robert Forry, Rocky Watson

Travel Time: 17 Hours for the chase

Miles Traveled: In all about 2,500 miles

Result: 5 tornadoes, multiple funnel clouds, golfball to tennis ball size hail

This was the first major outbreak of the year across Tornado Alley; only the second time has the SPC gone High Risk on the Day 2 Outlook and the first time they did it on the initial outlook. I've never seen a 60% hatch area for severe weather before in my life so we knew there was going to be a wedgefest somewhere on the Plains that Saturday.

We arrived in Norman shortly around 1:30 AM having no clue where our target area will be; Jesse and I wanted to head up to Nebraska to play the triple point while Ashley was thinking Northern Oklahoma along the dryline. In the end we decided to head up to Southern Kansas tagging along with Ben, Cory, Adam, and his crew.

We arrived in Kansas just in time for storms to fire along the dryline to our south; first storm of the day we went after was near Greensburg. Spotters had already reported a tornado with it south of town yet when we got to it the theme for that day began....FRUSTRATION!!!!!

 

Every storm we intercepted in Southern Kansas while showed promise did nothing more than funnel clouds and the occasional brief touchdowns (bird fart tornadoes as some chasers call it). Also to add to the frustration was hearing about the first tornadic cell we went after that day while struggled to do shit in SW Kansas moved further NE and produced an EF4 in Salina (I appreciated that kick in the nuts Mother Nature). It wasn't until we got on a storm near Kingman around 7:00 PM that our luck slowly changed; we watched the storm as it was SW of town and moved northeast towards Pretty Prairie when Jesse spotted a tornado right behind us on the road we were on (tornado #1 for us). Wasn't able to get film of it as it dissipated when we stopped, but shortly afterwards another one touched down a couple hundred yards away.

 

After that close but brief encounter with that tornado we tracked the storm to the NE for about an hour as it was cycling. Then shortly after 8:00 PM outside of Hesston the funnel cloud we've been watching for about 10 minutes or so touched down. 

It was on the ground for about 15 minutes or so before it lifted north of town only to have another one touchdown.

After this tornado there was one more touchdown that occurred from this supercell in the Lincolnville/Lost Springs area.

Our chase finally ended around 10:00 PM and we made a mad dash north to escape a tornadic cell that was heading toward Salina stopping in Nebraska to rest up before our trip back to Tennessee. This was just a warm up to my chase vacation next month when I get to be out for a week of chasing and hopefully add a few more tornadoes to the 5 I got from this outbreak.

Confessions Of A Broken Down Sasquatch

Greetings from the Boro,

I got a lot of stuff I need to clear off my chest; the combination of lack of severe weather and policy changes at my place of employment that has for all intensive purposes wiped out my chase season until May 19th when I hit the Plains among other things has made me feel the most awful I've felt in years. Most of the time I live a "life is too short to be mad" type mentality, but that was because I had no worries in the world. That has changed over the past couple of weeks.

First off with work; we're losing business (we averaged $13K/day in profit last year compared to $2K/day on good days this year) and my bosses' over staffing the store I work at has got the owner of the company on a warpath. We got 10 people on staff  while the other stores only have 2 (see why we're hemorrhaging money) so the owner brought it upon himself to enforce some changes in an effort to run some of the employees off. This consist of dress code changes, image changes (I had to cut my beard off and keep my long hair hidden in a beanie because he wants his employees have a  clean cut image), and new protocol on taking time off in which I now have to give a two weeks notice in order to take a day off (hard to be able to chase when you have to roll the dice on a setup that's not even shown on models two weeks out). Even with these new changes there is still no guarantee that the company will be able to avoid having to make cutbacks to stop the bleeding. My boss warned me that day could be in the near future where my pay gets cut, my hours get reduced, and yes if things don't improve layoffs are in the picture.

This is the first time in the almost 3 years I worked for the company I'm scared about my future, and my attitude has been seriously affected by the frightening reality I might not last the summer at my job. I've began to grow resentment towards some of the people who mean so much to me; I'm the type of person who cannot under any circumstances stomach anyone else's happiness when times are tough for me (it's not a knock on them, it's just I could care less about their happiness when I got a ton of shit to deal with). My chase partners were among those I had some resentment and even some jealously toward. They're both in relationships while I'm still single mainly because of my severe anxiety issues I'm too scared most of the time to go up to a lady and ask her out on a date or even do a little chit chatting and that right there tied in to their happiness which to be brutally honest made me sick especially when one of my chase partners made a joke directed at me I seriously took offense to.

Even after the apologies I wanted to severe ties with them (it would have been a decision I'd regret if I went through with it); they've been there for me through the tough times and they've been true friends to me and to do away with all that out of spite I wouldn't be able to live with myself :-(. There you have what I've gone through and I'm still struggling through it yet I refuse to allow it to overtake me. If that light at the end of the tunnel is there for anyone else that has gone through struggles I'm sure this Sasquatch of a man can find it ;-).