From a Novice Night Chaser-LONG

[Suzi Q]

Just some thoughts from a novice night chaser and some opinions. Ya'll can take 'em or leave 'em. This was officially my fourth chase, but my first night chase and one I will never forget.

1. ALWAYS take a buddy. I never realized how important this was until I was driving on the tollway and saw a funnel cloud to my north, but also saw extreme weather to my west, was trying to listen to current warnings and manuever around those that aren't as crazy as me. Virtually IMPOSSIBLE to do everything by yourself.
2. DON'T stay on the freeway if at all possible. It makes for great visibility as to what is off in the distance, but then you get trapped trying to get off and go where you see the action happening and get frustrated in the process.
3. For me who has flatly REFUSED to get a cell phone, my thinking has now been completely reversed. They are a must when traveling to check in with other chasers (specifically on this board) and family members who are fearing the worse.
4. For you women out there, choose your clothing attire carefully. A WHITE T-SHIRT, when drenched from you standing in the rain, will draw more attention than you need and you will end up getting ALOT of stares, and NOT just because you are standing in a pouring rain taking pictures when most normal folk would be inside.
5. Take defensive driving. Or Offensive driving. Or better yet, they should offer a driving class for storm chasers. NORMAL people tend to slow down in bad weather. I was trying to get around them and getting extremely frustrated. I learned real quick that visibility at night absolutely sucks but you have to not only out-manuever them but also not cause an accident.
6. IF you encounter your local law enforcement, be POLITE. They will in all likelihood think you are completely brain dead for doing what you're doing. Case in point, I was standing in the middle of a parking lot in a lightning storm trying to get pictures and had not one, but TWO of them try and persuade me to either get back inside my truck or get some serious psychiatric help. Explain to them that you are a trained spotter and it does no good. I finally convinced them that I KNEW what I was doing (which I may not have) and one even offered to let me sit in his patrol car. I politely declined.
7. Watch the road, watch the road, watch the road. It's very easy to get excited in the heat of the chase and to veer into other lanes without knowing it.
8. If someone else uses your vehicle before you and you KNOW you are going on a chase, gas up BEFORE the weather hits. I lost precious minutes after realizing that SOMEONE hadn't filled up my tank.
9. If you get slammed against your vehicle standing outside taking pictures, make sure if it happens again you're not standing next to a side mirror or anything else that will leave a really pretty bruise on your back.
10. If you use a videocam great. GET SOME SORT OF WATERPROOF COVER FOR IT. I used my my 35mm which I love but will be purchasing one of those covers for it real quick.
11. Should you encounter storm damage and there are people affected, DON'T bother them and remember they need their space. This did not happen to me on this chase, but it did on the one in November and I can't tell you how many TV people I wanted to slap for invading these people's privacy.
12. Remember that what goes up must come down. I am talking adrenaline here folks. I for one get a HUGE rush when I am chasing but once home, I come down hard and start reflecting on what I saw, what could have happened, how fortunate I was.
13. Lastly (aren't you glad I'm shutting up now?) remember to thank those who gave you a heads up, called you with info, whatever. There are alot of us out there who chase, and sharing of information is imperative. I had watched this event early during the day but then blown it off after the last few times ended up being non-events. BUT, one of my pals on here, Jim, pm'd me TWICE to let me know his view and I saw others on here as well stating this might be a good one. It was his info and others that got me on the road and safely back home.

Hugs to all and everyone have a SAFE and happy Easter.

TwisterSuz

[tomboudreau]

Suzi...

Great info. I am glad that you are safe. Hope you learned many things last night that you will take on your next chase. And, thanks for the info.

Tom

[Stephanie]

Wow! Great advice. You are sure learning alot and so are we from your experiences!

[george_r_1961]

Suzi you ever thought of writing a book? If you do I want a FREE autographed copy

[Suzi Q]

George, my english prof suggested I submit some of my essays to magazines, etc. but I never did. Thanks for the compliment though.

[vbhoutex]

Yep we could have easily gone together since I live about a mile and a half east of the tollway. I never did get out in the weather(out of the vehicle)nor did I see your funnel cloud. I think I probably saw the precursor to it though. It was definitely some interesting chasing and in an urban or suburban setting like ours your rules are expecially important to follow. I will add one more rule to those you listed. When you are in possible flooding situations like we were yesterday be very attentive to water across lanes or the entire roadway. It is almost impossible to ascertain in the dark. I hydroplaned badly 2x yesterday because of it and I was in a heavy SUV that could easily get therought the water.

[Houstonia]

They are not of the storm, but they are some of the damage in my neighborhood. is it possible to post photos here, or do I need to do it on my own website?

thankee..

[ColdFront77]

To get pictures posted to a thread, put [.img][/img] (without the ".") around the image's web address.

Example: [.img]http://www.pictures.com[./img]

[Houstonia]

I don't have a website to post pictures to, so I probably won't be able to post them.

They aren't that great anyhow...

[ColdFront77]

If you put the "img" tags around the image "web address" as I said above, it should work.

[Houstonia]

I am totally ignorant when it comes to this stuff...

You say to put "img" tags around the image "web address". However, my images are not AT a web address--they are actually sitting on my hard drive. Wouldn't I have to have an actual web address (like a web site?) before I would be able to put tags around an address?

I have the images, I just don't have a web address.

I don't think I do anyway.

[ColdFront77]

I'm sorry... right click the image you want to post click Properties (at the bottom of the menu list), highlight the Address [URL] and post that in the "Post a reply" window; then put the "img" tags the way I instructed above.

[Houstonia]

Okay. I get it now.. I will try to post them later when I get home.

Thank you SO MUCH for your patience!! :-D :-D

[ColdFront77]

You're welcome Houstonia. Thank you for my patience as well.

Once you know how to do it, it is "second nature."

[PTrackerLA]

Suzi good luck with your chasing this season but don't be upset when your car is badly hail damaged. A friend of mine chased storms out in Texas many years back for the first time and did $3,000 worth of damage to his car because of hail!

[PTrackerLA]

Suzi good luck with your chasing this season but don't be upset when your car is badly hail damaged. A friend of mine chased storms out in Texas many years back for the first time and did $3,000 worth of damage to his car because of hail!

[Aslkahuna]

it is not recommended to chase at night since one can run into major trouble because the storm details are not readily visible nor are flooded areas. However, all chasers (including myself) have done it at one time or another (and a couple have regretted it later-including myself when I ran into damaging hail during a night chase in the 1960's). As an example of how one can get into trouble. My son and I were heading towards Amarillo after chasing a storm to the south in 1996 which dropped big hail. As we were going along a tornado warning was issued for the town that we were just passing by-fortunately in this case we were able to catch a glimpse of the wall cloud thanks to some lightning and thus were able to determine that we were in the clear based upon storm movement at the time. Here in AZ, many of our severes are in the evening to I'm content to watch them from a distance since I see far too much nasty looking stuff in the lightning flashes to want to be close to the storm-not too mention the very high risk of flash flooding due to our terrain.

Steve

[Rainband]

Just some thoughts from a novice night chaser and some opinions. Ya'll can take 'em or leave 'em. This was officially my fourth chase, but my first night chase and one I will never forget.

1. ALWAYS take a buddy. I never realized how important this was until I was driving on the tollway and saw a funnel cloud to my north, but also saw extreme weather to my west, was trying to listen to current warnings and manuever around those that aren't as crazy as me. Virtually IMPOSSIBLE to do everything by yourself.
2. DON'T stay on the freeway if at all possible. It makes for great visibility as to what is off in the distance, but then you get trapped trying to get off and go where you see the action happening and get frustrated in the process.
3. For me who has flatly REFUSED to get a cell phone, my thinking has now been completely reversed. They are a must when traveling to check in with other chasers (specifically on this board) and family members who are fearing the worse.
4. For you women out there, choose your clothing attire carefully. A WHITE T-SHIRT, when drenched from you standing in the rain, will draw more attention than you need and you will end up getting ALOT of stares, and NOT just because you are standing in a pouring rain taking pictures when most normal folk would be inside.
5. Take defensive driving. Or Offensive driving. Or better yet, they should offer a driving class for storm chasers. NORMAL people tend to slow down in bad weather. I was trying to get around them and getting extremely frustrated. I learned real quick that visibility at night absolutely sucks but you have to not only out-manuever them but also not cause an accident.
6. IF you encounter your local law enforcement, be POLITE. They will in all likelihood think you are completely brain dead for doing what you're doing. Case in point, I was standing in the middle of a parking lot in a lightning storm trying to get pictures and had not one, but TWO of them try and persuade me to either get back inside my truck or get some serious psychiatric help. Explain to them that you are a trained spotter and it does no good. I finally convinced them that I KNEW what I was doing (which I may not have) and one even offered to let me sit in his patrol car. I politely declined.
7. Watch the road, watch the road, watch the road. It's very easy to get excited in the heat of the chase and to veer into other lanes without knowing it.
8. If someone else uses your vehicle before you and you KNOW you are going on a chase, gas up BEFORE the weather hits. I lost precious minutes after realizing that SOMEONE hadn't filled up my tank.
9. If you get slammed against your vehicle standing outside taking pictures, make sure if it happens again you're not standing next to a side mirror or anything else that will leave a really pretty bruise on your back.
10. If you use a videocam great. GET SOME SORT OF WATERPROOF COVER FOR IT. I used my my 35mm which I love but will be purchasing one of those covers for it real quick.
11. Should you encounter storm damage and there are people affected, DON'T bother them and remember they need their space. This did not happen to me on this chase, but it did on the one in November and I can't tell you how many TV people I wanted to slap for invading these people's privacy.
12. Remember that what goes up must come down. I am talking adrenaline here folks. I for one get a HUGE rush when I am chasing but once home, I come down hard and start reflecting on what I saw, what could have happened, how fortunate I was.
13. Lastly (aren't you glad I'm shutting up now?) remember to thank those who gave you a heads up, called you with info, whatever. There are alot of us out there who chase, and sharing of information is imperative. I had watched this event early during the day but then blown it off after the last few times ended up being non-events. BUT, one of my pals on here, Jim, pm'd me TWICE to let me know his view and I saw others on here as well stating this might be a good one. It was his info and others that got me on the road and safely back home.

Hugs to all and everyone have a SAFE and happy Easter.

TwisterSuz

Excellent Post.