YOU are a STORM CHASER?!

I have to admit, it is quite the conversation starter.

"YOU are a STORM CHASER!?!"

I think if I were geographically located in the plains somewhere, it would be a bit less shocking, but being in south Georgia, I get quite the reaction. I often joke that I am geographically misplaced.

"You mean, you actually go out looking for tornadoes?!"

Well. Sort of.  I started back in 2006, shadowing a local storm chaser, learning everything I could about severe weather.  I started this blog, and I started connecting with storm chasers throughout the United States.  I made some great friendships in the process and learned so many tricks of the trade.  I really have enjoyed getting to know people who share the same passion for weather as me.  It's an interesting community, full of its own little soap opera-like drama.  We have this thing in common though that causes us to converge.

I actually had a great opportunity to chase in the plains in 2007 with the Twister Sisters, Peg and Mel. We were actually shooting a storm chasing reality show, so I got an all expenses paid ride where we went out to chase a high risk, potentially dangerous situation... and missed the one tornado (a high risk with a total of two tornadoes that whole day) by about 20 minutes.  We had just left the Badlands that June 7th. Talk about bummed.  Leave it to the Dewvoid to kill a high risk day.  I was actually jokingly threatened by local storm chasers to be shipped to Hawaii to keep from killing their storms.  My bad.

I love weather.  I love everything about it.  I am drawn to it from deep within, and I don't really understand that.  We actually discussed it on that same trip, at one point while driving somewhere between South Dakota and Iowa.  What is it about storms that seems to lure us in like a moth to a flame?  Are we just crazy?

Storms are destructive and unpredictable and DANGEROUS!! 

Seriously, what is wrong with me that I would be interested in pursuing something that I could truly describe as deadly??

The easy answer... I don't really know.

Some locals here might eloquently say it like this...

"SHE AIN'T RIGHT."

But... I know that when I look at the sky as it churns angrily above me, I am mesmerized.   I find myself almost lost in it, watching it as it dimples and dips and draws in moisture and climbs to amazing heights while it's rolling and swirling and blasting me with forceful winds and launching electrical strikes.  

I am in awe.
I am mystified.
I am drawn to its striking beauty.
I am seeing something that is truly out of my control and completely in God's sovereign hands, and I love it.

As a recovering control freak, I think that last part might be a huge part of it.  I am not in control, and God is.  I somehow find rest in that.  I find hope in that.  I find courage and strength in that.  I am drawn to that which is way out of my hands, that is so much bigger than me or anything I can pretend to control.  It gives me peace to let the storm be the storm and me be the one in awe of it.

That's why I chase... I think.

Have a super fantastic day!
~Dewdrop

  

Twister Sisters Episode 6, the final episode

I watched the 6th and final episode of the "Twister Sisters" reality tv show on WEtv. I thought it was once again, well done. The producers found it necessary to include yet another segment about chaser/law enforcement relations when Jon Van de Grift and Tony Laubach were accused by local law enforcement of knocking over barricades in Jon's reckless driving through flood waters, causing them to float... hmmm, flood waters, things floating... must have been the "reckless storm chasers", huh? Couldn't possibly be that the water levels rose so high that the stuff was carried away. I wonder if that officer watched the show to see that they actually rescued a stranded motorist??? My heroes! lol It was great for the drama. Tony and Jon seemed to spend most of the show in flood waters. I'm glad they were able to relieve Eric and Beau, though. Those guys were ready to strangle each other by the end of their 4th week. With them airing the Cullen episode prior to the new episode last night, Mini-Dew was able to watch more of the episode and has now decided that she wants to chase with the Twister Sisters. Woohoo! Really, Cullen impresses the heck out of me with his plethora of weather knowledge, far outweighing anything he could possibly learn in school. It's impressive and captivating. I loved the multiple vortex that he captured. It was absolutely incredible! I think that when I finally get to see a tornado, my next goal is a multi-vortex. That was awesome! One thing I noticed to be particularly common in this episode was that some of the tornadoes they dropped into this episode seemed just placed there... and it didn't really make sense at times, why I was seeing a tornado, but I love seeing them, so it was all good. It wasn't a dramatic finale, but I think the show has taken off well. I am anxious to see whether or not they film again this spring. Peggy and Melanie did make an appearance on Jay Leno's show Friday night... That could be promising... Click here for a link to the show...

That said... interesting weather set up for today... not here... but with a high sagging in from the Northeast, blasting north Georgia with cold temperatures and the low in the Gulf invading the region with some much needed rain, it spells ICE for the northern part of the state. That is not good news. For us, only having the Polar airmass approach, temps are rather mild, but with the Arctic airmass hot on its heels, we can expect temps to fall this weekend. If you click on the map here, it should loop the graphic for you. That is what we are looking at now. I am excited about the prospect of rain. We can certainly use it, and we are expecting 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 inches over the course of today and tonight. Widespread severe weather or even thunderstorms is not expected with this low, but wording exists in the SPCs outlook to warrant at least a mention of a chance...

NEVERTHELESS...WIND PROFILES WILL BE QUITE FAVORABLE FOR SUSTAINED SUPERCELLS... AND AMPLE LOW LEVEL SPEED/DIRECTIONAL SHEAR LIKELY WILL BE PRESENT TO SUPPORT LOW-LEVEL STORM ROTATION... DESPITE LIMITED INSTABILITY... EMBEDDED CELLS IN THE SQLN COULD POSE A THREAT FOR LOCALLY DAMAGING WIND GUSTS AND/OR A BRIEF TORNADO OR TWO... MAINLY TONIGHT AND EARLY THURSDAY FROM THE FL PANHANDLE SE TO AROUND TPA

I'll keep an eye on it, but for the time being, I am just looking to enjoy the rain. You can see here that it is just now arriving here.Toodles,
~Dewdrop

Tornado outbreak in... January????

I knew when I saw this yesterday afternoon that it was going to be an eventful day. I was talking with Mike and Matt on Dick and Darin's online chat, and we were watching as the storm intensified right before our very eyes. I watched as Dick and Darin got set in position, until I had to run to an appointment, and I couldn't even arm chair chase. I am sure that with as many tornadoes as there were that broke out in Missouri, Wisconsin, Arkansas and Illinois yesterday (37 reports thus far, and sadly two reported fatalities), that those guys encountered something. They were in it. They weren't too far from the one above actually. A tornado outbreak... in January...??? I thought this was SDS season. Anyways, I was watching TWC this morning, as they were showing the storm damage, and while I was watching, they flashed a picture that one of the "Weather Warriors" sent in. It was a picture of some of the hail that fell yesterday in the severe weather outbreak compared to a can of Mountain Dew. Dew sized hail!!! I love it! I know Mike (not Meso Mike, Alabama Mike, Tennessee Mike, Nebraska Mike, Oklahoma Mike, or Storm Chasing Mikey.., this was Texas Mike) was getting readings of up to 4.13" hail potential off his GR2ae. Now, it looks like round two has begun:

835 AM CST TUE JAN 8 2008

THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF

MUCH OF EASTERN AND SOUTHERN ARKANSAS
PARTS OF WESTERN KENTUCKY
PARTS OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
PARTS OF NORTHERN MISSISSIPPI
PARTS OF WESTERN TENNESSEE

Just a little further east, and it looks like Tennessee and Alabama Mikes would be contending with this one. Locally, we've got nothing, except some more of that exceptionally dense fog (not as dense as yesterday, but still pretty thick). That makes three days in a row now, that the fog was so dense and low that it left the concrete damp. It almost looked like it had rained... but no such luck. I even caught the fog drops... eh, let's call them dewdrops ;-) ... dangling from the branches of my little tree. I love the way the sun spotlights my anemometer. A true weather geek lives here is what that picture tells me.Well, tonight is the big night... the "Twister Sisters" show on WEtv, will be Dew-ified. I have a couple of members of the chase team stopping by for the big show, and I am certain that I will be teased heartily regardless... I am ready. I will be offering a full review of the show tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Have a lovely day!
~Dewdrop

Twister Sisters episode 2 (The Cullen Show) was very entertaining...

Well, I personally thought "The Cullen Show", with a guest appearance by the Twister Sisters (LOL), was quite entertaining last night. A few times I noticed errors with editing where people started out wearing one thing and ended up wearing another, and my-my, the contrast and type of nader they showed Jess seeing was a whole lot different from the one she showed me... I know, I know, all for the sake of television. Accuracy is not the main concern of the producers. I think it was interesting how much they emphasized Cullen's reaction to the night time event they encountered. I am certain that the reality of it was just a brief nervous/uneasy feeling (yes, yes, Bill, adrenalin) that he responded to by going with his gut (smart kid), staying in the vehicle. He is an exceptionally knowledgable 9 year old with a tremendous wealth of chasing experience, and he is just plain adorable, to boot. I loved how they showed him trying to calm the nerves of the nervous guests at the hotel, "Ladies, it's fine... really, we missed the good stuff... DARN!"... Bill, how staged was that? ;O) Really, I thought that episode 2 of the "Twister Sisters" reality show/"documentary" was a terrific show. There were great chasers cast, not TOO terribly dramatic. I thoroughly enjoyed it! One thing that made me chuckle was when they had Heidi play the weather reporter. It made me chuckle because if that made the show, my Happy Dew Dance could very possibly make it... Yikes.... Mini-Dew was actually late getting into bed, and as she was heading in that direction stopped when she saw Cullen at the beginning of the show, and I couldn't tear her away (woohoo, I'll make a storm chaser of her yet.) Of course, I loved Jess's passion, which was evident from the beginning. The pic above is from when Jess and I went to the Boondocks (literally) before attending a Skywarn class in central Florida together. Way to go, Jess, you are a SUPASTAR!!!

Aside from all that, everyone down this way has their eyes to this weekend's forecast, though the bulk of the SPC's forecast shows everything occurring further west. Don't they know I am going out of town??? lol Generally, looks like tomorrow is still forecast to be relatively wet, nothing major, nothing to even make a dent in the ridiculous deficit we are experiencing. Besides that is the weekend event... wording from the guys is also sort of losing its excitement:

EXPECT A GOOD LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS WITH THIS SYSTEM ON SATURDAY AND WILL NEED TO BE MONITORED.

BEYOND SATURDAY...THIS PATTERN HAS ALLOWED A FEW SYSTEMS IN THE SOUTHERN STREAM TO SNEAK ACROSS THE SOUTHEAST U.S. WITH SOME RAINFALL. HOWEVER BY CHRISTMAS...A PERSISTENT SUB-TROPICAL RIDGE WHICH WILL KEEP TEMPS AT OR ABOVE CLIMO ACROSS OUR AREA.

Tally NWS updated the storm report for the severe weather outbreak of December 15-16th in South Georgia. You can read that very thorough recap by clicking this link.

That's it for now.
Ciao,
~Dewdrop

The Twister Sisters Reality TV Show...

(Graphic from the WEtv show website) Well, I watched the first airing of the "Twister Sisters" show last night. It was quite entertaining, in a what the... kind of way. It was great to see how they pieced it all together... There were moments when I laughed out loud at the ridiculousness. I thought that it was slightly less dramatic than I feared it would be, which is good news. There were several aspects that I enjoyed. As Bill D. mentioned, the EBS tone for wordy dirds was a riot! The first time they did that, I was rolling. Great idea, but how many people actually picked up on that? Just weather geeks like Eric and Beau, I am sure... that cracked me up, too. I caught it, so who cares, right? Of course, Beau and Eric had their drama... chasers' spat. They don't seem well suited as partners, and I think they actually determined that during the course of the week with me. Something along the lines of "never chasing together AGAIN!"... It's sad how the show destroyed their friendship. Brad and Karen were with me on my chasecation, too. I introduced both to White Russians (are we surprised???) and was later put in charge (by Karen, Karen are ya nuts? lol, love ya, girl!) of making sure Karen made it back to her hotel room... safe and sound... (Oopsie, I got off track, back to my show discussion.) The core punch drama on the dirt road seems to be the big topic of discussion at my office. "Why would they do that? It seemed pretty dangerous." Yeah, well, that's because it was. Brad and Karen got a lovely view of that same first storm, without the core punch drama; however, Beau's failure to share the data card with Brad, when Brad's wasn't working properly was pretty sad, but of course... drama. I think it would have looked better to show camaraderie between chasers... but this IS reality TV, I suppose. As Alabama Mike pointed out in a comment, the hurricane graphic showing the storm location was... absurd... but LA writers, what do they know? Generally, I don't think the show cast Peggy and Melanie in a postive light... as chasers, which is disappointing because they are intelligent, knowledgable women. I learned a great deal from them, even if we didn't get the intercepts that I might have liked. Fabulous ladies. Generally, it's hard to schedule weather for the sake of a show... so it becomes mostly about luck... but I could just hear the call "Uh, yes, Ma Nature... Yeah, we are filming this reality/documentary (cough cough) about storm chasing, and we were wondering if you could just offer up a tornado or two during day light hours, with great contrast for the sake of filming.... Could you do that for us?" Her response... "Will Dew be in the area?" lol. Doesn't quite work that way, folks. I plan to be glued to it next week (especially with Jess, Bill and Cullen on that episode, I am sure Cullen will be a show stealer), regardless, so stay tuned next week. I just can't believe it comes on after that ridiculous "Women on Death Row" show... sigh. My claim to fame was when my dear son called prior to the show all excited about how he saw me on the commercial for the show. Sure enough, there I was... on the commercial... coolness.

Well, aside from all that mess, one big story today is Tropical Storm Olga... I know, I know, hurricane season is over. Regardless, there she is... she is losing her umph though and headed for land... so I don't expect much out of her. The other story is the anticipation of the big winter storm, expected this weekend. We are about to get that cold weather... I know, I know... about time.

I'd better get.

Toodles,
~Dewdrop