Last week I had the honor of being invited to Hamilton College in upstate New York to give a lecture to a group of students and members of the community.

Recently, I have had a few bad experiences with television media companies, as well as print media companies concerning the ability to sell a product – either video or prints. I thought maybe I was doing something wrong; perhaps I was out pricing myself (even though I consider my prices to be extremely decent). I’ve been doing this for years, but it is a quickly changing market.

How to be a Storm Chaser? It’s one of the most popular questions that I receive from readers, so I’m creating this multi-part series to help the newcomer who is interested in Storm Chasing.

22:02Z 3D radar image from KCYS Cheyenne, WY Radar. Notice the yellow lines (precip) wrapping around the updraft. The image below was taken 8 minutes after this radar scan. The tornado was on the ground for over 20 minutes.

Spring-like weather has returned to the Central Plains, but it’s June – not May!

You know how you can tell when your tour customers are happy? They smile! And, these guys should be smiling after witnessing awe-inspiring storm structure in none other than the roadless Nebraska Sandhills on May 20th (Tour 4). Not too mention we just drove through that dark precip area in the background a few minutes before this was taken.

Just a few photos of some storms during the first half of May 2009.

If there is a tornado, I sure hope someone has it covered! There were hundreds of storm chasers covering a severe thunderstorm on May 5th near Breckenridge, Texas. After all, it was the only storm in the entire state so there wasn’t a lot to choose from.

Today’s severe outbreak is setting up. However tomorrow could be the bigger severe event in Oklahoma. It’s going to depend on what happens this evening and if there are outflow boundaries leftover from today’s storms.

Things are getting a bit punchy in Oklahoma at this hour. SPC issued a Mesoscale Discussion just a short time ago – Tornado Watch will likely follow shortly.

Over the past decade a lot of technological innovations has changed the way we chase storms. While I still consider ham radio communications to be an extremely important part of my chase rig for emergency communications, I no longer depend on my ICOM dual-band radio as much as I did just five storm seasons ago.

The DOD recently revealed a new vehicle specifically designed for use in the harsh war-torn environment in Afghanistan, but maybe someday there will be some hope that these vehicles can be acquired for use by private citizens, just as the original Hummer was. Why? Because it would be the perfect vehicle to hunt down nature’s most violent storms.

Storm Chasing Handbook
If you’re reading this blog on stormchase.com, then there is a 100% …

In mid-March storm chasers starting paying close attention to long-range forecast runs showing a very dynamic system that would progress into the central plains. Everything appeared to be shaping up for a major tornado event – but what first appeared to be a classic setup turned out to be classic dud.

Whether your a seasoned storm chaser, or someone who just wants to keep tabs on the latest surface observations, chances are that you’ll find the new stormchase.mobi a useful tool for your hand held mobile platform.