Long time between posts I know.....

After yesterday’s bust we woke up this morning to meet at 9am. With the pattern going stale very soon we had to make some major decisions today. After yesterday’s bust we needed to decide whether  there were going to be any good chase days left or if we needed to start making our way home. We were split up into pairs by Dr. Call to look at specific days to decide how that day looked. I was paired with Candace and we were to look at Wednesday and Thursday. We looked at both days and basically there is what we call a “death ridge” setting up for the next week. For people that like hot weather you will love it. I am ready for winter at this point to be honest. As we do some further discussion we realize that tomorrow in Montana was started to look pretty decent. All of the major severe weather indices CAPE, LI, and Helcity are really making a bull’s-eye for severe weather in Central and SE Montana. There was some difference in opinion on what to do so we ended up taking it to a vote. As we voted I was very reluctant to vote chase just from the perspective it was another 500 miles just before we are coming home.  Wanting one last chase day I reluctantly voted to go for Montana. I knew that I would regret not going if something ended up happening. The other option was to stay in Denver (This city is so awesome) and site see all day today and tomorrow then head out tomorrow to go back to Indiana. As we took it to a vote chasing won the vote 6-4. I am pretty sure everyone was on the fence.  

Before we left to stay the night in Wyoming tonight we decided to spend the day in Denver and at Rocky Mountain National Park. First we went to Boulder and went to an amazing part of town that was like 8 blocks of food places and little shops. People in this area are so fit and healthy it is really an amazing contrast between this area and Muncie. Makes me think more about where I want to live and possibly get a job. Seems like a great place to have a family.

Next we drove through the Flat Irons to get to the park. As we got there we made a stop at a gas station to use the restroom and get some snacks and drinks. One of the professors had mentioned that we might take a hike so I decided to buy some water. Thank goodness I did. We stopped off at the visitors center and talked with a ranger at the information booth so that we could get a recommendation on what trails to take. Once we got that info and a map we went off towards the trail area. As we got out we started out as a group and saw some reindeer and caribou. We also were able to get a nice lady to take a group picture of all of us on a enormous area of rock. As we went on we started to split up a little. Reuben really took off and got ahead of everyone and then Justin and I separated from the rest of the group. Our destination was an area called Cub Lake. The distance was about 2.5 miles. On the way we say many chipmunks, prairie dogs, ducks, and also a snake. Once we got to Cub Lake the view was unbelievable.  At this point all I needed was to have Kelly with me and I would have been in heaven. The Lake with a temp around 80 degrees with snow still on the ground and the forests in front of you and the snow covered Rockies in the distance.  It was one of the most beautiful settings I have ever encountered. Once we got there we were there for about 30-40 minutes just relaxing.  We then departed to make the 2.5 mile trip back down the trail to the vans.  Obviously at this point everyone was very exhausted due to the 5 mile hike.

Beautiful View

Now as I right this we are on our way to Casper, Wyoming which will be a new state for me. I am so blessed to have been able to travel as much as I have. Before I met my wife I never really traveled a lot. Now it is like an addiction I can’t get enough of. Tomorrow we will get up and probably leave by 9 to head to Montana for what likely will be our last chase. Earlier today the SPC put a 30% hatched area in Montana. This will probably mean 30% chance for wind and large hail and 15% chance of tornadoes. I am glad we have one more chance before our long dive home. On the other hand I am now ready to be home and stay home. Living out of a van has gotten old and I miss my wife and dogs at home. :)

PS. I know I have not posted in a while. I will try to catch up on some of the other days in the coming days.

Loooooooonnnnnnngggggg Daaaayyyyyy!

Well we started out the day in Kansas City. We decided that we would move down to Wichita, KS and stop and discuss our next move. Would we move west in Kansas or move South into Oklahoma? We decided to move down to the Enid, Oklahoma area to wait for storms to fire. As we were driving storms started to pop just southwest of Canton, OK we decided to intercept this cell which looked really good with very defined rotation on the velocity scan. We made a move north when we should have went back south and ended up missing the tornado by maybe 5 or 10 minutes. It was very short lived due to the southerly storm cutting off any inflow. In that area unlike Central, KS and Northern, TX the dynamics were not quite as good. This tornado was unable to maintain its strength with out the strong inflow winds. We made a few moves on some other storms that never panned out. Looking back on it should have not stopped so many times and I should have went with my original gut decision I had on Monday with going towards the Oklahoma City area. Although i will say I was pretty confident that these storms would stay discrete longer than they did. High Risk was definitely warranted with the dynamics that were in play. Unfortunately some people lost their lives. 

Looks like according to the new RUC that there will be some supercells popping in eastern Kansas and western Missouri. Not sure if we will end up chasing in that area or not due to the terrain being a little rough. We will meet with our forecast leaders at around 8:30 in the morning to decide what to do. Looks to be some other things setting up for Saturday and Sunday in the better chasing area of the Plains. Things will clear up over the next few days to narrow down the ares. 

For all of my Indiana family and friends follow SWAT(www.SWATChasers.com) for any severe weather updates. This system should initiate in Illinois in the early after noon and move east into Indiana. 

Setup day

Around 10:30 we all met at Cooper to depart for The Plains. Unfortunately right away we had some issues with the computers and also had to deal with some setbacks from parking services. We ended up leaving at around 11:15. We drove until the Plainfield, IN area and stopped and grabbed Subway. I went with the Spicey Italian and added some jalpenos! As we departed from Subway we got the computers up and running and after having some issues with the GPS everything worked fine after that. We then drove until Greenup, IL. We stopped here to assess the oncoming bow that we were driving into. As it moved toward us it weakened and did not end up being much more than heavy wind and rain. We ended up driving several hours until we got through all the rain. We stopped in St. Louis and after realizing for whatever reason the most non-chain restaurants are closed on Mondays we stopped at one of the best Italian places I have ever eaten. It was called Moe's Pasta Bowl. The Italian guy that owned the place was awesome.

As we were driving west on I70 we could actually see some towers building ahead of us. When they started showing up on radar they grew to 45,000 feet and we decided to pull off to check them out. As we pulled off the nest 2 radar scans weakened the storm significantly. Here are some pictures from the storm.

Tomorrow we plan to move on to Wichita, Kansas to get in place for a possible large scale tornado outbreak. As the upper level low ejects out of Colorado it will move into Central Kansas. The dynamics are lining up perfect with the cold front, warmfront, and the dryline. Off to bed I go so that I can get up around 6:15 CDT.( In less than 6 hours.)

3 weeks in The Plains

Today I am trying to get some last minute things together before I leave for The Plains tomorrow morning. I always hate getting ready for vacations due to the fear of forgetting something. This one is even worse since I will be gone for 3 weeks. I have most everything ready a little early since I plan to chase today with SWAT (www.facebook.com/SWATChasers). Today there should be several supercells popping up all over Illinois and Indiana. You can follow us on our website www.SWATChasers.com where we stream live video of these severe storms.

Update on my dog Sancho who was hit by a tractor a week ago today. He is home resting and getting better every day. He femur was surgically repaird with a metal plate and should have a full recovery. He will be down and out for about 6-8 weeks total. He has so much energy that it is terribly hard making sure he is not doing the things on his restriction list. Thanks for all the support on this!!

Now for the trip. We leave tomorrow morning around 10:30am. I have been chosen along with Teri Watkins to lead the first chase on Tuesday. Right now the SPC is targeting Eastern Oklahoma and Kansas and NE Texas. The problem is many of these areas have terrible terrain for chasing.

Chasing in many of these areas just is not possible and very unsafe. I am very confident that we will get to see many great things on this trip. The pattern looks to be very active this year and we should have ample oppurtunity.

Life is an adventure.

Today is the day that Sancho gets to come home. Kelly and I are to meet with the doctors around 4:15pm so that they can fill us in on all restrictions and things we must do to complete the proper recovery. I am sure my other 2 dogs will be very happy to see Sancho back home. We had to purchase a larger cage to make sure that he can stretch out fully and not be to cramped up in his cage with that leg trying to heal. Kelly went to see him yesterday and he is getting more back to normal despite being on morphine to keep the pain away. She told me it looks like he has last 5-10lbs. We keep our dogs on a pretty strict eating schedule to keep them healthy and lean. If we didn't do this they would all be fat for sure.

The next few days will be busy. Along with caring for Sancho on Friday I am off to Dayton to be part of Dayton Hamfest for the day with the rest of my SWAT (www.SWATChasers.com) members to show off the vehicle and possibly get more sponsorships and advice even on what else we can do to better our vehicle. Due to the cost of Sancho's surgery I will be holding off this year and not buying anything except for maybe an antenna for my HT to use in the car. That night is one of Kelly's best friends kids 1st b-day and promised her that I would go with her since I will be leaving for 3 weeks in a few days. Saturday will be busy to hopefully get some more yard work done before I leave one last time and maybe even plant a few garden plants for this years Garcia-Reese crop. Saturday night we have inventory for work from 5pm until we are done which could be well after midnight. In past years we were usually done before 10pm but due to some major changes it won't happen this year.

On Monday I am scheduled to leave for 3 weeks to go to the Great Plains to chase severe weather with the Ball State Geography 490 class. It should be exciting. I have never been to the Plains to chase except when Kelly and I ran from a funnel cloud in Oklahoma City back in the early 2000s when she was attending UNM in Albuquerque, NM. Definitely going to bittersweet leaving the dogs and Kelly behind especially with the injury to Sancho. This is a once in a lifetime experience to be able to be gone for this long chasing storms. I should be back around June 9th or 10th. With the weather pattern looking to ramp back up next week it looks like we may have an active first week out in the Plains.

Also check out the new Facebook integration I added to make it easier for people to comment!

Long Weekend.

It has been a few days since my first post. A lot has happened in the past few days. First of SWAT(www.swatchasers.com) has taken off like crazy. We have done many media interviews and many public events. I am very excited to see where this is going. We are gaining credibility day by day with NWS, media, and the public.

This past weekend my wife and some of her family went skydiving. I decided to stay on the ground and used the excuse my death defying act is chasing tornadoes. I am glad that she was able to have the opportunity to do something like that in her life time. She had so much fun and wants to do it again.

On a sad note as we were driving to Ohio for a SWAT event at Eldora Speedway my neighbor called and said that our dog Sancho got out of the fence and was hit by a tractor. She said he was hiding under their porch and could not get him out. What a helpless feeling being an hour and a half away and not being able to do anything. Luckily I have an awesome brother and I called him and he was able to rush him to the emergency animal hospital in Anderson. He has a fractured pelvis and a broken femur. His recovery time will be 6-8 weeks and will have to wear a cone for 2 weeks. Just got off the phone with the doctor and it looks like the cost is going to be almost 5000 dollars. Kinda crazy but would not even think twice about paying it. I know it is just a dog but for me it is way more than that. The doctor said he will probably fully recover and be able to use the leg just fine.

A week from today I leave for my last class of my college career. I am going to the Plains for 3 weeks to chase tornadoes and thunderstorms. Should be fun but I will definitely be worried about my dog and my wife while I am gone. She is the one that will have to do most of the work to keep Sancho off that leg and dealing with the ups and downs of his healing. If anyone can do it she is the one that can handle it.

To hail with it!

Yesterday afternoon we had a slight risk for storms. I was scheduled to work from 10am-6pm but had decided to go in at 8am to get some extra hours and a few other work related reasons. Around 2pm i decided to go on lunch and grab a frozen dinner I had brought to work. I stuck my dinner in the the microwave and decided to take a look at radar to see if any storms were popping up. To my surprise there is a large supercell moving through Madison county. I take off to the front of the store and tell a couple people I have to go for a little bit to check out the storms moving into the area. Of course I had left my HAM radio at home. Since my house is close to the Delaware County and Madison County line I knew i had time to swing buy my house and grab my radio. Just about as I was leaving my house the storm prompted a tornado warning. Since I had to work on thid day I was just using radarscope on my iPhone to look at radar. I could see a very small area of rotation which is what warranted the tornado warning. I was more concerned about large hail that was associated with this system than I was the tornado threat. Many of the other people that I chase with were also on the storm including two of the other members of SWAT (www.SWATChasers.com). They were able to intercept a pretty nice hail core and get live footage to FOX59 in Indianapolis whom we are partners with. This was very important in our partnership. They have helped us out tremendously and we want to pay them back with things like that. I never really intercepted anything except small pea-size hail and heavy rains. My goal was to cover the tornado threat. Since I was in my own vehicle I was not looking for the ping pong size hail in anyway, lol. I did drive through Hartford City on the way back which is where a pretty large hail core was identified on radar. I witness many leaves on the ground in the area. I am not sure how large the hail was in the area, but I am guessing at least quarter size with all the leaves down.  I got back to work at around 4pm and some of the people at work asked me where I had went. As much as I hate retail I will be honest it has been really good to me with my storm chasing ventures.

Last evening we were able to get the MESONET installed on the SWERV (Severe Weather Emergency Response Vehicle) This will allow us to measure and record pressure, temperature, dewpoint, wind speed and direction, rainfall amounts and a few other things. We are very anxious to try this out. Thursday will be that day after we have another important meeting.

That was my first post ever so be nice. I hope to write something everyday.