Spring Break Trumps Chasing (3/18)

During a rather active start to the storm chasing season of 2012 ... A rather frustrating and down right agonizing scenario unfolds to a storm chaser stuck in the "corners" of the country. No, it's NOT because of work, school, family, or what not - But for folks living in the middle of the USA - Read no further (this does NOT apply to you).



In the images above, to the right we see a nice setup example (March 18) unfolding across some favorable and fun storm chasing terrain, and on a WEEKEND to boot. The problem NOT visible here is the TIME of the year - SPRING BREAK. Take a look to the left image ... Yes, nearly $1,500 to fly from Fort Lauderdale to Kansas City - Yes, that's REAL. Most other airlines simply don't even HAVE any seats left.

Any my free tickets on SW - Out of the question, they were smart enough to back those out this weekend. This is WHY I normally do not chase storms before mid April. Aside the linear and fast-moving nature of storms and setups, chasing before late April is just impossible if you are not within driving distance of the central USA.

Bad Start For March (3/2)

The beginning of March 2012 was marked by a very tragic and unfortunate tornado outbreak on Friday, March 2. An outbreak of tornadoes, some violent, occurred during the afternoon on March 2 across Alabama, Indiana, and Kentucky. As of March 5, the death toll stands at 39 people, including a 15 month old baby who died a few days later in the hospital after being carried 10 miles by a tornado after both her parents were killed. This is a very sad and unfortunate severe weather event.



In the image above, taken from a Boeing 737 aircraft flying at an altitude of about 39,000 feet, the distant but ominous supercell storm can be seen prominently looming over the 40,000 foot cirrus deck and extending high into the stratosphere. The flight path was over TN / VA at the time, with the view in the picture westward towards I-64. Right about the same time of this subtle image was taken, tornadoes "under" that same cloud were already killing people.

"Cut To The Chase" DVD (3/1)

This is a career-long compilation of some of the most intense moments of storm chasing with footage as far back as 1987 (almost 25 YEARS of storm chasing). The most boring parts have been edited out and this DVD has almost two hours of non-stop high-action video! See every form of extreme weather, from thunderstorms and flooding to hurricanes, tornadoes, and even blizzards! See some of the gripping footage from hurricane chasing projects, including the violent hurricane seasons of 2004 and 2005.



See tornadoes intercepted in just about every corner of the Central US, as well as their devastating aftermath. This DVD just about has it all - And then some! For more information and how to order this DVD, click the image above or the link provided for it BELOW.

http://www.sky-chaser.com/offers13.htm

This is NOT all that is available in my DVD collections for sale ... Be sure to check out the latest DVD production above, as well as many others by visiting my special "offers" page for video documentaries at the link provided BELOW as well.

http://www.sky-chaser.com/offers.htm

ChaserCon 2012 (2/19)

I attended the National Storm Chaser Convention (also known as "ChaserCon") in Denver, Colorado from February 17-19, 2012 ... This continued to be another fantastic yearly event that brought in storm chasers from all over the US (and beyond) to collaborate in a three-day event in the mile-high city. Having everyone together and the way Roger Hill and Tim Samaras ran the operation was an experience second to none.



What an awesome job, from Andy Gabrielson's touching tribute to video night and spotter training, and over 350 attendees to make it all the better. Imagine having dinner with keynote speaker Sean Casey (IMAX film-maker and inventor of the TIV), seeing Tim Marshall's fantastic presentations, and Howie Bluestein just to name a few ... That's what ChaserCon does - Brings us all together to enjoy our passions!

You can also jump right to the area for storm chasing events in 2012, including the storm chaser convention, by clicking the link provided for it below ...

http://www.sky-chaser.com/picnic12.htm

For official information on this event, you can also visit their site at the link below (link may be time sensitive / subject to change without notice) ...

http://www.ChaserCon.com

2012 Everglades Boogie (1/28)

Each year, Skydive Air Adventures outside of Clewiston, Florida (at Airglades airport) hosts the "Boogie over the Everglades" skydiving event on the last weekend of January. This yearly "boogie" (what skydivers call a "special event") draws a crowd of hundreds from many areas of the United States (and some other countries as well) and has everything from specialty jumps (such as high-altitude or jumps from a helicopter) to skydives from multiple aircraft (Skyvan, DH6 Otter, and A-90 King Air) plus a big party with free beer each night of the 3+ day event.



Air Adventures skydiving continues to make this a well-anticipated and well done event year after year. Weather, although predicted to be bad, turned out to be fantastic as well - For pictures / video of this exciting event, please visit my SKYDIVING section of my web site. You can also jump right to the link by clicking link provided below ...

http://www.sky-chaser.com/skydive.htm

Happy New Year 2012 (1/1)

Wishing everyone a happy and safe New Year for 2012 ... Hopefully this year will be another great year for storm chasing and outdoor activities - But hopefully without the horiffic loss of life and property damage we saw in 2011.

Hurricane Season Ends (11/30)

The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30. Oficially, the 2011 hurricane season is over. To re-cap, the 2011 season was pretty busy, but the only real disastrous storm (affecting land) was Hurricane Irene in late August 2011 (chase log is BELOW for Irene).

http://www.sky-chaser.com/irene11.htm



The rest of the season was burdened by tropical cyclones that were either highly-sheared and / or remained out to sea. All in all, a total of eighteen (18) named storms developed, six (6) of which became hurricanes (three (3) of the hurricanes were major hurricanes). Only one hurricane was intercepted in 2011, that being hurricane Irene. Some other chasers chased hurricane Jova on Mexico's west coast (near Manzanillo) this year as well.

Hurricane Rina (in late October 2011) was another awesome candidate for a chase in Mexico, I actually had tickets booked and all, but the shear ripped Rina apart, and the chase was called off within mere hours of going. The storm was forecasted to hit Mexico during the mid-day hours near Playa Del Carmen / Cozumel as a 120 MPH+ storm, but the shear did not relax, and she came in at night as a 45 MPH dissipating cyclone.



Meanwhile, 2011 lived up to its name as the "year of the tornado" on Nov 7, 2011 in Oklahoma with a late season supercell producing at least six tornadoes some of my fellow chase partners intercepted - Again, the "shear" that never relaxed! For tornadoes in 2011, see the link BELOW as well!

http://www.sky-chaser.com/mwcl2011.htm