My Chicago Garden » Storm Chasing

Starved Rock State Park – 2010

tyler — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 03:54:27 +0000

Trip Report

for

Starved Rock State Park, Illinois (6/4-6/2010)

Picture Gallery: Flickr

We hit the road at 11AM on Friday.

As we did last year, we stopped at Outdoor World on the way down to Starved Rock to pick up some last minute items. We [...]

Day 9 – 2010 Storm Chase

tyler — Sat, 01 May 2010 14:34:08 +0000

9:30am – Late start to the day, but we are in the right position. Last chase day of the trip and the best opportunity for a good storm. Tomorrow we head home.

10:15am – Heading to Little Rock.

12:00pm – Quick lunch stop at Arby’s and back on the road.

2:00pm – Ice cream [...]

Day 8 – 2010 Storm Chase

tyler — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 14:41:53 +0000

9:15am – No real good play today so we are making the only play we have. Heading south to Tulsa and then on into north Texas.

12:30pm – McDonalds stop for lunch. Back on the road.

3:45pm – Stopped at a DQ in Paris, TX. Warm humid air. First time we’ve felt that since [...]

Day 7 – 2010 Storm Chase

tyler — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 13:17:54 +0000

8:15am – Woke up missing my girlfriend. Forgot my good zip off pants/shorts that I use for camping/hiking at the last hotel. Hopefully not a sign of a bad day to come.

Map analysis begins.

9:45am – Paul is hopping around all happy. The model runs for the past few days have been wrong [...]

Day 6 – 2010 Storm Chase

tyler — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 14:49:46 +0000

9:30am – Map analysis begins. Paul says we are going to have lunch in Fort Worth and then about 2pm head towards Whichita, KS. No storm chasing in the forecast.

10:15am – Paul is finished with the 500mb map and he’s saying “wow, never seen this before”…in a bad way. *sigh* Change of plans, [...]

Day 5 – 2010 Storm Chase

tyler — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 18:44:41 +0000

9:30am – Map and analysis work.

11:30am – Extended analysis over. Storms are still in the forecast for Thursday…maybe a bit on Wed. Off to do sone shopping and maybe go to the Sox/Rangers ball game.

12:30pm – Disappointed with the shopping. Nothing on my list was really available. I think Ill look for [...]

Day 4 – 2010 Storm Chase

tyler — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 14:31:58 +0000

9:30am – Headed to SPC

11:30am – Great tour by Rick Smith of the Norman NWS/WFO. Also got a quick look at the OK mesonet gear thanks to Mike Wolfinbarger. Now to drop south into TX. Probably stockyards tonight.

12:50pm – Lunch stop at the border. Dave Mayhew dropped in to say hi. Nothing [...]

Day 3 – 2010 Storm Chase

tyler — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 15:10:45 +0000

9:45am – Finished GardenFork.tv radio show.

10:15am – Tourist day begins. We are heading to Coffeyville, KS. Looking for the largest something on the side of the road so we can stop for pictures.

11:10am – our first “diner, drive inn or dive”. BBQ Shack in Paola, KS. Our waitress is Roxy! [...]

Day 2 – 2010 Storm Chase

tyler — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 15:56:12 +0000

10:45am – Late start to the day. Nothing really expected today from a severe weather perspective in our area. We are heading south out of Des Moines towards Topeka. We will figure out which direction to head when we get there. Looks like the next few days will be “down days” for us.

[...]

Day 1 – 2010 Storm Chase

tyler — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 12:32:48 +0000

Last night the CoD group made a 5 hour late night push to Des Moines from Chicago, so we could have an easier time at setting up in the morning for the afternoon storms.

12:15am – In Des Moines, IA at the Courtyard Marriot. $65/night, no wireless, tiny room, Clint Eastwood movie on [...]

Storm Chasing Starts Thursday

tyler — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 02:00:22 +0000

My yearly pilgrimage to the great North American plains begins Thursday night. I will be once again storm chasing with the folks at the College of DuPage. (You can follow us here) I do this as part of my job with AllisonHouse.com, a weather data company, for first hand knowledge of how storm [...]

Busy few weeks ahead

tyler — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 00:57:47 +0000

I have a bunch of projects in the works that need to happen before I head out to the great plains to go storm chasing with the folks at the College of DuPage at the end of the month.

Wire up the Jeep for two batteries

I have a dual battery rig being delivered [...]

Looking back, and forward

tyler — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 23:52:26 +0000

2009 In review

Purchased a worm bin in early March and got it going. Still going strong in the garage. Spring started on March 15th for us with a trip to Scooby’s Went to the Wheaton Native Illinois Plant sale, like we do every year. Need to get in line no later than 7:30am. [...]

Storm Chase Vacation 2009 – Followup

tyler — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 03:09:23 +0000

Some images and videos from others who were on the Valentine Beast of July 14th

http://www.warnerimages.com/gallery/090713/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCg6U87W4YQ

http://www.extremeinstability.com/09-7-13.htm

Storm Chase Vacation 2009 – Day 9

tyler — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 03:08:52 +0000

After a horrible night sleep in the crappy Lubbock Inn (3 diamond in the AAA book) we had breakfast at IHOP with the intent to just head home. Then Paul throws a curveball and were going to chase after all but we must leave no later than 7pm.

11:25am – Back up into the [...]

Storm Chase Vacation 2009 – Day 8

tyler — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 03:08:13 +0000

10:45am – Target is Dalhart, TX for lunch. Storms should fire in the North West panhandle later in the day. This will be our last day if chasing.

12:00pm – Woohooo!! SPC update with TOR probs for our area. 2 or 3clock initiation probably.

1:45pm – Hanging out in Dalhart after lunch. Probably heading [...]

Storm Chase Vacation 2009 – Day 7

tyler — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 03:07:51 +0000

10:20am – On the road from Overland Park, KS to Newton, KS playing along nice well-defined outflow boundary

1:30pm – Stopped in Wichita, KS at Hog Wold BBQ for lunch.

2:10pm – Heading to Pratt, KS. MCS is screwing up the storm setup.

3:30pm – Gas stop in Pratt. Paul us totally confused as [...]

Storm Chase Vacation 2009 – Day 6

tyler — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 03:07:24 +0000

Down day…nothing to report in the way of storms. Later in the evening we eat at Jess’n'Jim’s steak house and closed the bar down with the two owners. Good stories!

Storm Chase Vacation 2009 – Day 5

tyler — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 03:07:00 +0000

[ morning update delayed because AT&T lies about their coverage in Lusk, WY]

9:00am – Gilbert and I are looking at data issues at CoD.

9:30am – Gilbert reports CoD has rebooted their firewalls (what they should have done 2 days ago) and now everything is working again.

10:00am – Paul is dancing around [...]

Storm Chase Vacation 2009 – Day 4

tyler — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 03:06:30 +0000

[ morning update delayed because AT&T lies about their coverage in Lusk, WY]

9:00am – Gilbert and I are looking at data issues at CoD.

9:30am – Gilbert reports CoD has rebooted their firewalls (what they should have done 2 days ago) and now everything is working again.

10:00am – Paul is dancing around [...]

Storm Chase Vacation 2009 – Day 3

tyler — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 03:05:59 +0000

We left CoD around 10am and headed south west towards Davenport, Iowa. At one point Paul decided to head south on I-39 and make a play for southern Illinois but then 30 minutes later called it off and we did a Uturn and ran back to I-80. During a gas stop we picked [...]

Storm Chase Vacation 2009 – Day 2

tyler — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 03:05:27 +0000

8:00am – Wake up to find CoD has had a major data outage and there’s no weather data to review. Made a call out to Gil for help since I can’t find anything wrong with weather or climate servers. Gil can’t find anything either so calls are made to CoD IT.

9:30am – In [...]

Storm Chase Vacation 2009 – Day 1

tyler — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 03:04:18 +0000

Storm Chase Vacation 2009 – Day 0

tyler — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 03:03:36 +0000

Every year, at least I try to make it every year, I go out on a storm chase vacation. This year I’m going with the College of DuPage group for 10 days starting tomorrow/friday. I’ve gone with them once before and had a blast. I’ll be posting updates as often as I remember and [...]

First Storm Chase of 2009

tyler — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 03:02:06 +0000

Last wednesday (5/13) I took a day off from work and went storm chasing in south western Illinois just over the border into Missouri. That’s me near the driver side in the picture to the left. Drove nearly 1000 miles in 16 hours but we were able to get our eyeballs on what [...]

Storm Chasing — Morning Start

tyler — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 15:27:20 +0000

I’m heading out storm chasing today with Paul Sirvatka (meteorology department of CoD) and David Mayhew (professional photographer) . Paul is having a heck of a time deciding where to go while David is pushing him to send us further west. I’m just along for the ride and bring my geek toys. We should [...]

Car electric fails

tyler — Mon, 25 Dec 2006 00:57:55 +0000

Figures…

As I posted in an earlier post I had invested in a battery isolator/combiner and some auxiliary battery capacity so I wouldn’t damage my vehicle electric system. Well that system paid off in an unexpected way. On my drive up to Chicago for my first day of work several weeks ago, my car [...]

Power upgrade

tyler — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 02:56:31 +0000

My Subaru Outback has been having electrical problems of some kind over the last few weeks. Last week I took it into the shop and they replaced some parts and gave it it's 90,000 mile checkup. $1500 later and it purrs like a kitten.

I'm not going to take any chances though and have [...]

May 25, 2006

tyler — Thu, 25 May 2006 23:38:36 +0000

Miles Traveled: ???

Picture Gallery

Total Bust. Just some random weather pictures while driving around…..again.

But this time my oldest girl (Sierra) went with me for her first storm chase! She had a blast…eventually.

A short video of she and I taking some video of a nice sunset after the [...]

College of DuPage Storm Chase Trip #1

tyler — Tue, 09 May 2006 23:26:32 +0000

April 28 to May 8th, 2006

See the blog I kept while on the chase

Awsome trip! I plan on going again next year.

April 14, 2006

tyler — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 23:24:19 +0000

Miles: Traveled: 117

Picture Gallery

Total Bust. Just some random weather pictures while driving….again!

January 02, 2006

tyler — Mon, 02 Jan 2006 23:23:34 +0000

Miles Traveled: 129

Picture Gallery

Total Bust. Just some random weather pictures while driving around.

November 15, 2005

tyler — Tue, 15 Nov 2005 23:21:09 +0000

Miles Traveled: 235 Not a great chase, but then again what was I expecting in November? Point A (See map above) was my first target. I figured after 60 minutes of driving I'd be closer to the action and be able to decide where to go next. At position A there is a good [...]

June 14, 2005

tyler — Tue, 14 Jun 2005 23:20:02 +0000

Miles Traveled: 146 Forecast and radar data says time to go if I want to catch the first storm in Ripley County, IN. I have about a 60 minute drive to where I want to be (Red Dot on Map)

The atmosphere wasn't right for a tornado or anything more than soggy wet [...]

June 12, 2005

tyler — Sun, 12 Jun 2005 23:19:20 +0000

Miles Traveled: 15

I hadn't planned on chasing today as the forecast didn't look good in the morning. That'll teach me to only look at the forecast and data once! Anyway, I happened to bring up my radar software towards the end of the afternoon while working on something else and I notice [...]