Just finished up editing lightning photos from the chase night before last across West Texas and Eastern New Mexico.  Fun, but long day, despite the lack of anticipated severe weather and flooding rains.  It was nice to finally get a shot at some local lightning photography!

You can view all the photos and the chase story here. All the photos there can be clicked on for a larger size!

This past weekend I had the opportunity to watch storm chaser Ben Holcomb’s new 2011 Storm Chasing DVD creatively titled Relocated. Ben moved to Central Oklahoma from Michigan to more conveniently and actively pursue his severe weather interests, and this DVD shows that move certainly paid off!

In full disclosure I must confess that I am friends with Ben. I’ve known Ben for a while now and have watched him grow not only as a storm chaser but as a photographer as well. His video skills have greatly improved over the last couple of years, and some of the segments in this video really show that!  That said, he knows that I would be brutally honest in a review of his DVD, good or bad.

Despite the fact that I personally had the worst storm chasing season since 1988, Ben seemed to have been on a lot of tornadoes in 2011, and I’m kicking myself for not being there.  There aren’t the killer, more well known tornadoes from 2011, but some of the lesser known events. Despite them being lesser known events, they are still no doubt stunning captures. A couple of the tornadoes he caught I was somehow unaware they even happened!

The package quality was no less than you would receive from a store bought DVD. Nothing about it screams amateur DVD.  (In fact, I’ve seen a couple of tornado knockoff videos in the past that sold on store shelves that were downright awful compared to Ben’s offering).

Most of the DVD is in full resolution HD. I watched in on a 82″ DLP screen and the quality was great on most of the clips.  There were one or two (a clip from the dashcam) that come to mind, that were sprinkled in that didn’t appear to be HD, as well as some of the trailers for other chaser videos at the beginning (more on that in a minute).

If you like tornado footage, this DVD does not disappoint, including a couple of long lived tornadoes he managed to capture.  I found myself yelling at the TV while he was shooting the tornado near Chickasha, OK. There was an embankment about 15 feet tall next to the road he was on, and as the tornado moved behind it I was begging him to grab the camera and run up the embankment, as it was obscuring the ground contact of the tornado!  Nonetheless, it was a great tripoded video segment and clearly had me engaged in the action!

He even includes a bonus at the end of video and photos from his trip to view the final space shuttle launch.  A nice treat I wasn’t expecting.  As a whole, I can find little to complain about in this DVD (I know, a rarity for me, right?)

One thing that really stuck out as a negative was a couple of the trailers for other storm chaser DVDs.  This was a nice idea and I kinda hope it catches on, to expose people to more of the DVDs produced every year.  But one thing I would do, and this is directed at the creators of those trailers, make sure your trailer is in full 1080p HD before you give it to someone to include on their DVD.  Some of them looked downright awful on a big screen, especially the text.  There are a lot of big screens out there now.  I know Ben just inserted them in the quality he received them, so not a knock on his DVD.

Bottom line, go right now and buy Ben’s 2011 Relocated DVD, you will NOT be disappointed!  If you aren’t convinced yet, here is the trailer!

Short, backyard chase yesterday around the Lubbock area. Thanks to Steve Miller of Amarillo for the heads up, as I was working my side job yesterday and not expecting much after the models downplayed everything.

I have posted the full chase report on my website, with a few more images as well!

Judging by the amount of emails I received, it hasn’t gone unnoticed that I took a self-imposed Sabbatical toward the end of May. Thank you for all that wrote in concern!

Yes, I haven’t even posted on my blog here in nearly 3 months, and rarely on Facebook and Twitter during that time. What happened?

The 2010 chase season got into its stride and as many know, I opened Dryline Media up to representing other storm chasers video just before the season started. Without getting into all the dirty details of why, around mid-May I decided to shut down that extension of Dryline Media. There were a myriad of reasons, but the bottom line was that it was causing me an unreal amount of stress and taking it’s toll on me physically, emotionally and mentally. I have to take care of myself first, and although it was a hard decision, I realized that continuing the way things were was severely detrimental to my health and things had to change.

This all came along with what seemed to be a peak in stress with storm chasing in general. Some of it was self imposed, because of how hard I’ve been pushing the media aspect of it further and further. Other parts were allowing myself to get caught up in all the extensive drama in the storm chase “community”, which believe me, this year was in epic proportions. Due to the Storm Chasers TV show, the constant publicity of the Vortex 2 project and the constant and real time updates by the latter as well as most all other “storm chasers” has caused the ranks of storm chasers to grow exponentially. I put “storm chasers” in quotes in this context, because many of the people on the roads of late aren’t your typical dedicated storm chasers, but rather locals who saw all this coverage and wanted to get out and be a part of it I guess.

The end result is that it’s been a cause for some very frustrating and stressful chases for me, particularly in Oklahoma, but certainly not limited to there. While I recognize that everyone has the right to go out and look at clouds if they so choose, the sheer numbers have fundamentally changed what I loved for so many years about storm chasing. The lonely rural drives, sitting out on the side of a desolate highway, just me and perhaps a couple of other dedicated storm chasers, just enjoying the weather. Now it’s large traffic jams on those rural roads and some pretty terrific driving stunts by some of them. On bigger days it’s even getting difficult to find a place to pull off to the side of the road to watch a storm.

This growth has not been lost in the social aspect of storm chasing. It seems not a day goes by any more that some “chaser” isn’t bashing some other “chaser”. The Storm Track forums are now mostly populated by local storm spotters and weather enthusiasts, rather than the dedicated chasers that were there before. Well, some of them are still there, but you see them less and less. Especially veteran chasers who rarely post there any more, as well as many academic and professional weather folks who have left that venue. The staff at Storm Track are pretty quick to pounce on the flame wars that seem to start every few days, but now it just spills right over to facebook and blogs where it continues unmitigated. I used to post on Storm Track daily and was very active, but I’ve gotten to where I only breeze through Storm Track and read threads that interest me and rarely post there any more. I just want no part of all the drama.

Another element of storm chasing that seems to be growing is that of the fraudster. Websites and Facebook pages of “storm chasers” are popping up all over the place. In some cases well designed websites, even storm chase tour companies, all with almost NO experience, but yet proclaiming all sorts of untruthful things. I’m sorry, but if you have been chasing for 10 or 15 years like you say on your website, either you are a horrible chaser, or you would have at least one or two tornado pics to throw up on your site, rather than a crappy shot of a scud cloud misidentified as a wall cloud or a funnel cloud. Seriously, there is no shame in being new at an activity. We were all new once. This coming in making false proclamations about your chasing isn’t doing you any favors. Come in with a spirit of humility and learning and in 10 years you will have a REAL track record to be proud of, not some fake stuff you threw up on a website trying to garner some instant respect.

The point is that lying is a growing element in chasing and it’s getting harder and harder to know who you can trust. Some of these “chasers” are stealing photos and videos from one another, mooching off others to chase, etc etc. A large influx in recent years of some very negative elements in storm chasing to be sure.

Chaser drama…why? What is it about storm chasing that either causes the drama or attracts those types of people that have to continually start crap with people? I’ve never in my life been involved in any activity that has as much back-stabbing and attacking, often on those who are successful in the activity. In my struggle the last few years to learn why storm chasing is becoming so stressful to me, I’ve come to the conclusion that it is that very element that I hate so much about it and it is that same element that I need to distance myself from for my own sanity and well being.

This has caused me to have to block a few people on Facebook and unsubscribe to a few Twitter and blog feeds or set them to ignore status on Storm Track and other things. In some cases it meant distancing myself from some people I considered friends. I’m sorry guys, but I no longer want any part of all the drama and crap. If it comes my way, it gets an instant wall put in front of it. If you are the type of person that must generate or propagate drama, I’m not going to be associating with you. I’d rather have positive people around me.

Storm Chasing…the actual chasing of storms, I dearly love. The adventure on the plains, the drives, the crazy things I see. Witnessing up close the awesome power of nature. I love chasing for KCBD because I love the people there and l love helping the viewers be informed. But all this negative extra-curricular junk in chasing that is severely causing me to no longer enjoy storm chasing. The only way I can continue to chase is to block that stuff out and distance myself from those doing it.

Well, that went to a darker place than I intended when I started this post. I’m sorry about that, just letting my thoughts flow.

I’ve had a break from things now, had time to think outside the box for a while, and have reached some clarity and some level of peace with what I want in the future from storm chasing. In the end, it’s ingrained into me to the point it’s part of my identity. As such it’s not just something I can walk away from and not look back. That said, there are other things in life I want to explore, so storm chasing is going to start having to allow room for that.

So now I am back to keeping things updated again (not that there is anyone still checking for updates here heh). I have a lot of work ahead of me on some video and photography stuff I’ll be posting in the months to come. We’ll also have to see what happens on the hurricane front as well, so far it’s be relatively quiet. Since this is my personal website, you might see a few of those other activities pop up from time to time around here.

I will still be storm chasing when the opportunity arises, but things are going to be different where I am concerned. Let’s see where this adventure takes us now….

Another potent day on tap for most of Western OK and down in to parts of North Central Texas as a dryline will move to along the eastern TX Panhandle/OK state line, and a warm from is lifting north across Oklahoma.

The warm front is currently situated along the I40 corridor with what we call a triple point (where the warm front intersects the dryline) currently in the vicinity of Wheeler County, TX.

The northward extent of severe weather will be tempered by the eventual location of the warm front by mid-late afternoon, but even farther south along the dryline, isolated monster supercells capable of extreme size hail larger than baseballs, strong tornadoes and damaging winds will still be possible.  Storms following the warm front in particular should be especially dangerous!

Today has the potential to be yet another tornado outbreak for much of Oklahoma and even parts of North Central Texas.  Everyone have your weather radios on today and pay attention to local media sources.   Storms will be moving much slower today than they did during the last outbreak on Monday, which means you may have more lead time on warnings, but this unfortunately also means that giant hail and tornadoes will have more time over a given area to do more damage.

I’ll be heading out the door shortly for far western Oklahoma, and will be streaming LIVE this afternoon on the LIVE ChaseCam, with AUDIO!

Very potent severe weather day is shaping up for the Texas Panhandle and South Plains area with the possibility of tornadoes and hail to the size of softballs!

Morning surface analysis shows dewpoints in the upper 50s across the area, which is more that sufficient moisture in the higher terrain of West Texas up on the caprock to get good storms going and forecast models show this increasing into the 60s by late today.

A dryline should tighten up near the Texas/New Mexico state line by afternoon and provide a focus for storms to initiate.  Additionally, some old outflow boundaries from previous convection could also provide a focus, especially anywhere those intersect the dryline.

Wind profiles should increase favorably for supercell development as the day wears on. RUC forecast model shows more than sufficient instability for tall, strong storms of the type to produce very large hail,  and the low level EHI (Energy Helicity Index) has a nice bullseye just west of Lubbock by 22z.  Any supercells today that interact with any of these  boundaries will certainly be capable of producing tornadoes, maybe even a strong one.

From a storm chasing perspective, at least the storm motions will be relatively slow so they should be easy to keep up with.

People living in the area should have your weather radios on today, and tune in to KCBD 11 for up to the minute information if you are on the South Plains in the Lubbock viewing area.

I will be out in the field by early afternoon streaming live on the LIVE ChaseCam page!  Be safe today everyone!

I had no time to get a forecast posted yesterday as I had to get on the road. Initially targeted Wheeler County, TX for storm initiation but got tempted by the triple point up on the OK/KS border and incredible cape, and was concerned about the cloud debris inhibiting heating further south.   Short story was, I bailed from the outflow dominant storm at the KS border and caught the tail end charlie storm at Clinton, OK just in time to get the tornado in the video above crossing over I40.  When things finally settle down I will post more in-depth recaps of the better days.

Today will take me to the Permian Basin, Trans-Pecos region, one of my favorite chase areas because of the photops the terrain provides with the storms.  Warm front is hanging out down there and shear is sufficient for a couple of supercells and perhaps a tornado or two.  In fact, there is already a Severe Thunderstorm Watch out for the area north of where I am going for the elevated hailers underway currently, north of the front.

I will of course be streaming live this afternoon on the LIVE ChaseCam page.

No time to post much of an update from yesterday.  Chased the central part of Oklahoma and ended up on the Moore tornado that is all over the news, so you probably already know what happened there.  Last stop was the massive damage on I40 east of  Tinker Air Force Base.  When things settle down I have a ton of pics and video.

Today presents one of my favorite chase opportunities that involves a nice slow moving boundary, ample moisture and heating and slow storm speeds.  While there is a stout cap that could prevent storms from forming, should one form near the boundary it could be a repeat offender in the tornado department.  Since I am already near the target area and planning to be out here chasing tomorrow too, might as well give it a shot.  I’ll be live streaming later this afternoon on the Live ChaseCam page.

Today is one of those days when it’s hard to be excited about chasing. Storm Prediction Center has issued a high risk for a large portion of Oklahoma and southern Kansas, and more than one long track, violent tornado is a distinct possibility. Hail could be larger than baseballs.

While I’m certainly excited by what Mother Nature may have to offer for viewing, I’m equally apprehensive about the fact that someone is likely to lose life and property today. If you live in these areas, be certain to have your weather radios and to be paying attention to live news sources, because once storms fire, things are going to be happening quickly and storms will be moving fast. Have your plan now, because warning times are going to be short and you may not have much time to react.

I’m heading out to Oklahoma today to chase this set up, of course. But I expect it will be difficult to due to fast storm motion and what is sure to be a very large amount of storm chasers on the road.

Shortly after noon, I will be live streaming video for the remainder of the day on the LIVE ChaseCam page.

I didn’t even have time to get a forecast post up yesterday.  I was mostly covering severe weather in our viewing area for the TV station, so I wasn’t able to head to the more obvious tornado target in the eastern Texas Panhandle where so many other chasers scored multiple tornadoes.

The only confirmed tornado on any of the stuff in our viewing area happened out north of Matador and Paducah.  I thought sure we were going to have one there north of Matador, but it waited another 20 miles or so before producing.  I missed it though as I headed back to cover more developing activity by Lubbock.

All was not lost however as I got some nice lightning lit shots of a supercell out by Spur that looks like it came REALLY close to producing a tornado.  The structure of the storm was outstanding and in one photo it appears we probably had a funnel cloud there as well.  The cold front line of storms caught up with it after that and that was about it!

You can click on these and get a slightly bigger version.