Author: Doug

Ok, last post for the day to all my Myspace friends.

I chased again today and got on a insane tornado and got way too close.

Here is the video link

Oh I did hear from Chris Collura, he did lose a window from the debris hitting him and he was a half mile behind me.

Ok it is very late and I need sleep.

Rabbi Chris and a new chaser that we met up asked to tag along and he was cool so we said sure.

We saw several tornadoes today.  It is late so I don’t have time to go into details but here are some of the photos and the video is on The Weather Channel tonight and in the morning.  The tornado video that is on The Weather Channel is from the Grinnell Kansas area.

Looks like tomorrow will be a carbon copy of today.

It’s just like a hurricane chase… Huh you say, yes it’s just like a hurricane chase because I woke up in the target area in perfect position in Hays Kansas and Chris Collura is here with me.

We are sitting in perfect position in Hays Kansas just waiting for this mornings weather to clear out and the main chase of the day to begin later this afternoon.

The Storm Prediction Center or SPC has this area bulls eyed for some pretty serious weather this afternoon.  Were under a mod risk right now and it will be interesting to see what the updated forecast will be when the 1630z runs come out.  

Here is the Tornado Forecast and it could not look any better for a chaser or any worse for this area.  I hope we see some tornadoes over open country but I don’t want to see any towns getting wiped out.

Just got in to Hays Kansas tonight waiting for the storms.  Not much to report except for a long drive and another Road To Nowhere photo that I posted in the gallery.

Just waiting on the Day One to come out from SPC then going to get some sleep.  Tomorrow looks pretty insane for the tornado setup.

I’m out chasing, finally!!!  When I say that I’m out chasing outside of the area I normally cover for the local station and the tv networks in and around Minnesota and it feels good to be back on the road and back out in the field.

Currently I am just west of Sioux Falls SD and in route to Kansas for tomorrows tornado outbreak that is looks to be happening.  Today is a driving day and I’m doing something different which is I am driving under the speed limit and doing a little drafting.  Yes I know it will piss off some semi drivers but I know what I’m doing.  The crazy part is that I’m getting 22 mpg with my Jeep which normally I average about 15 if I’m lucky.  

The main thing is that I replaced some old vacuum lines last week and it made a huge difference.  Combine the slower travel speeds and drafting and it really makes a huge difference.  The mpg while drafting is about 25-28 mpg and add in the fact that I’m price shopping for fuel and finding deals where the gas is still $3.63, and this is going to be the chase where I see what I can get for the total mpg at the end of the trip.

Well time to wrap up and get back on the road.  Next stop somewhere in western KS tonight.

Ok, I’m still at home sick and going to get checked out on Monday to make sure this is nothing worse like walking pneumonia.  All I know is it sure feels like the last time I had it walking pneumonia and my lungs are taking a beating from the coughing. 

Alright, enough about me being sick.  Here are some shots of the storms that rolled through the Burnsville area tonight.  They look a lot worse than they really are because this is pretty much Virga dropping down and with the sun back lighting the storms it looks like something else.

Ugh, the bug that Neva had that she got from her family that I ended up getting is still kicking my ass. Virtually nothing is getting done here while I sleep and sleep and sleep some more. With sparing the nasty details, I feel like shit and I’m going back to bed.  

I’m pretty much shutting the phone off and having some undisturbed me time to rest before I go chasing in a few days. 

Yes, I had to wait until I knew Neva was coming home so I would not ruin the surprise.  She thought I was kidding when I told her I was going to bake her a cake for her birthday.  Happy Birthday Neva

Today is Neva’s big birthday and I know she does not want to make too much of a fuss about it, but I just wanted to let everyone know.  And as strange luck as it, it is also Tom’s Birthday.  Yeah, I can call him Tommy because he is still my little nephew.

So while we were trying to go out with some friends for dinner, I think it might be put on hold for a BBQ later in the month because Neva has the flu and I really want her to relax and rest.

But also as luck would have it, today is another huge milestone in the history of BNVN because we cracked a code last night in the video display process that is going to change everything. 

Everyone asks, why don’t I have this done or why is the site not ready or what is the delay on this part of the project.  Well it is simple, unless each custom built part of the project is not working and fitting just right, it’s just a waste of time to do anything because it will only have to be fixed later.  And I don’t feel like having to go back and redo a billion lines of code when I can do it right the first time!!!

Code, it’s all about the code and now what is the code?  Sorry, you will just have to wait about another 8-15 days for me to do a little more sql work and then…  well were not competing with the storm chasers anymore, were going after the networks 🙂

Neva took me to the Twins Game last night and it was fun but I still don’t like baseball that much.  Sorry, I just don’t see the thrill in it just like some people look at storm chasing and say “It’s Just The Weather”.

Well the seats were next to where the pitchers warm up and we were in the front row right next to where they were throwing from mound.  I don’t think they liked it when I said “I have stood in faster winds in a hurricane, I want to see at least Cat 3 or faster!”  Neva said they heard me from the look she got. 

Here is a photo from the game.  It was fun but Baseball, it’s just not my thing I guess.  I’ll go again because I get to relax and veg a little with Neva but to compare Storm Chasing to Baseball, it’s like sitting out in the middle of a field in Kansas waiting for the cap to break and then it never does, just hour of watching your chase partners goof off. 

Just working from home today and was hoping to get a much needed brain dead time to sit back and veg and go work out but that’s not going to happen today.  The forecast for tonight in Minnesota is for a chance of snow now.  And I thought we were done but I guess the snow is caused by this global warming stuff, oh wait, snow is cold… Oh well, it’s just another tax on us poor people.

Wow this is going to get chilly up here for the next few days per the GFS forecast.

Ok, off to try and make it to the gym to work out.