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. 

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.

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