Storm Chasing

[InbetweenDreams]

So sometime back in the winter of 2018 I got the idea to go storm chasing. Learned everything I could and planned to go on a trip (I took off two weeks to have a window). I probably should have got a rental but I was trying to be cheap as possible. Long story short, I did survive and so did my car (although there are some hail dents).

Originally I was going to copy/paste the contents of the blog post. For some reason I thought it might be easier to do that instead of posting a link to my blog...but posting 17 images and 10 videos in one post is well...

Code:

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Anyway, here's the synopsis. I took a 7 day storm chasing trip out into the plains. I encountered 2 tornadoes, hail, the Wichita Mountains and took lots of photos and videos. The blog post goes into pretty good detail about my trip. 

You can read my blog post by going here, http://mikefoley.xyz/index.php/2019/05/3...sing-trip/

Here's a few photos, if you're not wanting to read a short novel (NOTE: You can click the images to get the full resolution):

[Bookworm]

These are awesome pics! I particularly love the last image with the dark broiling storm cell clouds, it's so atmospheric!

[InbetweenDreams]

@Bookworm Thanks! I really would love to do it again. If the hotels weren't closed (and COVID-19 wasn't a big problem) I might try to rationalize doing it again. Although I might get a rental car (with the extra insurance) this time.

It was intense...and there's a ton of driving...You have to be ok with driving 1,000's of miles. I put over 5,000 miles on my car in that trip.

[Bookworm]

@InbetweenDreams I read some of your blog and watched the 'hail sucks' video. It sounded like bricks were falling on your car! So loud! Looked pretty intense there as if you were right under the storm cell. Gotta be careful like you said about situational awareness. Things could change so quickly.

Great work though!

[InbetweenDreams]

@Bookworm Oh yeah hail is friggin loud, much louder than what the video had. I thought for sure my windshield was going to get cracked. I'm not stoaked about dents but replacing glass on that car would be insanely expensive.

What's interesting about supercells, the tornadoes are typically at the "ball" of the cell. Sometimes you can be in the sun watching them. The exact location can be a bit off as the further out you get from the doppler radar can be "dialated' (lack of better term), so you definitely need to be aware. I really would have liked to have had someone come with me...but I guess that was a tough sell asking people hey you wanna go storm chasing?

[Mark]

Pictures look amazing! We don’t have anything like that over here. It reminds me of the movie twister I guess!

[Meebs]

Those are some awesome pictures. I would be way to scared to do something like that.

[InbetweenDreams]

Pictures look amazing! We don’t have anything like that over here. It reminds me of the movie twister I guess!

People actually fly in to take storm chasing tours...that's actually a thing. I did look into that but it was far more expensive than just taking the risk myself. Twister was one of my favorite movies when I was a kid...you'll find that to be a common theme with storm chasers. Funny enough, I did listen to the soundtrack while hauling down the road in the middle of Kansas.

Those are some awesome pictures. I would be way to scared to do something like that.

It is an adrenaline rush. Learning about how super cells form and features to look for and maintaining situational awareness you'll be fine. Your #1 enemy will be hail and the drive.

If you like looking at that sort of stuff Pecos Hank is by far the best. He has a YouTube channel and has been a storm chaser for over 20 years, does his own music, really cool stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/user/honkytonkblood

[princealbertofb]

So sometime back in the winter of 2018 I got the idea to go storm chasing. Learned everything I could and planned to go on a trip (I took off two weeks to have a window). I probably should have got a rental but I was trying to be cheap as possible. Long story short, I did survive and so did my car (although there are some hail dents).

Originally I was going to copy/paste the contents of the blog post. For some reason I thought it might be easier to do that instead of posting a link to my blog...but posting 17 images and 10 videos in one post is well...

Code:

The message you entered contained 17 images, while only 10 images per message are allowed. Please lower the image count in your message to meet the limit.
The message you entered contained 5 videos, while only 1 videos per message are allowed. Please lower the video count in your message to meet the limit.

Anyway, here's the synopsis. I took a 7 day storm chasing trip out into the plains. I encountered 2 tornadoes, hail, the Wichita Mountains and took lots of photos and videos. The blog post goes into pretty good detail about my trip. 

You can read my blog post by going here, http://mikefoley.xyz/index.php/2019/05/3...sing-trip/

Here's a few photos, if you're not wanting to read a short novel (NOTE: You can click the images to get the full resolution):

[InbetweenDreams]

@"princealbertofb" looks like you quoted me but...I don't see what you said...should be able to edit/delete post in the first 60 minutes after posting... But anyway, welcome back!