USA Stormchasing trip 2004

This is my third stormchasing trip to the Plains,USA or more locally known as Tornado Alley. There are over 30 Brit chasers descending upon the Plains during May, by far the largest to date. My party consists of fellow chasers Ian Brindley and Lee Wylie. It will be a DIY venture whereby we shall, using our own equipment (& internet) and forecasting targeted locations for storm development.

Equipment

CONNECTIVITY - Laptop, DeLorme GPS 2004 mapping with GPS - for accurate navigation, Orinoco Gold Wifi PC card (used with Net Stumbler software) - for locating and using high speed internet access through wifi hotspots, Nokia 5165 cellphone (purchased from US) with Wilson antenna booster - for complete coverage within Plains via analogue and/or digital networks, Ositech KOH PC card modem with antenna booster- for connecting to Nokia 5165 and obtaining internet access whilst on road,

PHOTOGRAPHY - Olympus E1 digital SLR, 14-54mm lens, 50-200mm lens, 1x1Gb storage card, 2x512Mb storage card (Sandisk Ultra II), 4 LiOn batteries, tripod, monopod, Sony DCR SC100 digital camcorder, wide angle lens, Windscreen mount.

ANCILLIARY - 350W inverter - for powering all electrical items/charging in car, multi cigarette socket adaptor, B Hague Suction windscreen mount (for camera & camcorder), Alinco Scanner - for monitoring HAM radio (fellow chasers and weather warnings), backup hand held weather radio, two-way radios - for inter-chase party communication via chase vehicles, Travelpro transit rolling backpack - for carrying all of the above as hand luggage!!

Day 1, Friday 14th May 2004 - Arrival at Texas

After arriving at Gatwick airport, London very early (0700hrs) I hooked up fellow chasers Ian Brindley and Lee Wylie before boarding the 1030hrs flight to Dallas Fort Worth. The model forecasts at this time were indicating a good setup for the next 10 days. We were assured of definite convective activity for our duration. Short range, it looked like action would start on Sunday 16th and in the Northern Plains. This would certainly give us a few days to get prepared but also meant a hefty mileage to cover from Dallas. The flight over was reasonable & I managed to grab a few hours in order to ready my body for CDT. Hopes were high.

We arrived at Dallas Fort Worth airport at 1430hrs. By the time we cleared customs and picked up the hire car it was 1600hrs. The vehicle was a spacious 7 seater Dodge Caravan and more than enough room for the three of us. Before we could head north there was one task of kit collection required. I had ordered the Baron WX Works Mobile Threat Net system a few days back and arranged delivery from an address in Texas. Massive thanks to Michael Maxwell via the Stormtrack forum for being kind enough to take delivery on my behalf. This is one piece of equipment that was to be an essential for the trip. The traffic around Dallas Fort Worth was awful and it took 2 hrs to reach his place in Glen Rose. We stopped for food in Glen Rose to the amusement of the locals who all thought we were Australian (what is it about our accents!!) and then we steamed north. We made Oklahoma City around 2230hrs pretty exhausted and stayed at a Super 8 overnight. Approximately 325 miles. A quick peek at the forecast has Nebraska/Sth Dakota/Iowa under a Slight risk for Sunday with tornadic supercell potential. A pleasant enough thought to sleep on!

Check out my chase equipment, the team chase car, chase group and our daily route below.