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Old 04-17-2012, 03:53 PM
 
Location: Viña del Mar, Chile
16,393 posts, read 30,863,208 times
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Just wondering, does anyone here do any storm chasing? I've always been fascinated by storms and I'm going to be moving to Kansas in the next couple months and would love to start doing it.. but I want to get more educated on it before I really go out and do it. Things can get dangerous quick from what I've read (and from common sense).
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Old 04-17-2012, 05:58 PM
 
Location: Western Nebraskansas
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I've never seen the point. Have patience. Storms will come to you.
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Old 04-18-2012, 06:08 AM
 
Location: Manhattan, Ks
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The first thing I would do is get some training so you know what you're seeing and when to be worried. 2012 Spotter Talks - NWS Topeka, KS Training as a storm spotter would help you with this, plus you could be an asset to the community by reporting what you observe to the National Weather Service.
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Old 04-18-2012, 04:15 PM
 
Location: Western Nebraskansas
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But even as a storm spotter, you really don't have to chase anything. The NWS will just call the house to ask what your weather is doing...

A couple of summers ago we were standing on our deck watching the clouds above us absolutely boil. NWS out of Goodland called and asked if we'd seen a tornado come down because Doppler showed one right above our house! lol
"Um....not yet...."

It produced one about 5 miles to the east of us instead.

Another time we called Goodland from our cell phone on the way in to town for our kids' spring music program. We were rounding a corner, still about 6 or 7 miles out of town, when we went through an updraft. It was bizarre. Nothing but normal wind and then WHOOMP all this dirt and grass and such sucked straight up. You could literally see the anvil cloud forming. It was cool...

Again, though, no chasing needed.
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Old 04-18-2012, 07:08 PM
 
Location: Wichita, KS
733 posts, read 1,752,411 times
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I have seen one tornado and two great funnel clouds without having to leave my yard. However, I will drive within a 30 mile radius if there is a nice storm nearby, but I wont go much further mainly because the radar on my phone isn't worth a darn so I have no way of knowing what storms are out there. I just look on the weather channel, then drive as fast as I can to the storm and hope I find it. From there, I'll follow it until it falls apart. Then, I drive back home and look for another storm. Not the smartest or safest way to do it, but oh well.
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Old 04-18-2012, 07:10 PM
 
Location: Wichita, KS
733 posts, read 1,752,411 times
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In a couple months though, it'll be near the end of the storm season for the most part, so you might have to wait till next year. Though of course, we do have severe storms all year, but the biggest storms and the best chance if from April through June.
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Old 04-19-2012, 12:59 AM
 
Location: Viña del Mar, Chile
16,393 posts, read 30,863,208 times
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Yeah, I'll most likely have to wait until next year to really do too much. I guess I wasn't too familiar with the words. I didn't realize storm chasing went too far, like the other poster.. I'd maybe drive 30 miles or so to see some cool formations. I am not looking to drive to Oklahoma and all over the country. I just enjoy cloud formations and like watching severe weather.

Thanks for the advice though, I suppose 'storm spotter' could be a better term for me?
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Old 04-20-2012, 06:21 AM
 
3,339 posts, read 9,321,069 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by burgler09 View Post
Just wondering, does anyone here do any storm chasing? I've always been fascinated by storms and I'm going to be moving to Kansas in the next couple months and would love to start doing it.. but I want to get more educated on it before I really go out and do it. Things can get dangerous quick from what I've read (and from common sense).
Please. Don't. During last weekend's outbreak, roads were clogged with amateur chasers. In at least one case, emergency vehicles got stuck in the traffic. Let the professional storm spotters do their job, which is not to gawk, but to provide eyewitness information to the public. Amateur chasers have long been a problem for the pros, but it's getting a lot worse. Stay home, stay safe, and watch the videos the following day.
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Old 04-20-2012, 07:13 AM
 
13,721 posts, read 19,177,638 times
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I took a spotter training class. But I've lived in Kansas and Missouri my entire life and I have never actually seen a tornado. We don't run to the basement when there are tornado sirens, though - we are out looking at the sky to see what is approaching. My dream house would be a house with windows all along the west side, on a hill, with a clear view of the western sky so I could watch storms approaching. Love it! But I don't go out chasing them.
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Old 04-20-2012, 07:25 AM
 
Location: SW Kansas
1,787 posts, read 3,841,795 times
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Taking a storm spotting class is a great idea! You can learn a lot before the next storm season! Lot's of ways to be involved without even leaving your home. Register as a storm spotter, upload weather pictures to local weather news, etc.

Chasing storms is exciting, but best left to trained professionals. I am a volunteer fireman, and we are paged out to storm spot. It's a lonely place to be on top of a hill with lightening popping all around. My husbands firetruck was hit by lightening. No harm to him or the other fireman, but it killed his truck. Not something you want to happen to you!

Plus, the weather online can be dangerously behind. While you may think you are a safe distance from danger, you could be putting yourself in the middle of it. We were paged to spot last Saturday. The storms were moving around 60 -70 mph. By the time were were in position the storms were through our county. We sat on a hill and watched it hit the next county 10 miles away. Later, after it was thought all danger had passed, a tornado hit Woodward, OK - killing 6.

My point to all this rambling is DO get involved - get training first - and most importantly, always stay safe. First lesson taught in Emergency Services is to take care of you first because you can't help anyone if you get killed.
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