Tornado Hunter

Severe weather for parts of the Southeast Sunday/Monday

2012-01-20T19:23:00.000-08:00

Just a quick blog for our friends over in the SE. Looks like Sunday into Monday could be a severe weather day for you. Looking at latest models, it appears as though TN Alabama and points east could see some severe with all modes possible including tornadoes.

Stay tuned to your local media and NWSFO for details as they unfold. I will try to update later.

DEADLY STORM SYSTEM POSSIBLE!!!!! 1/17/12

2012-01-18T08:34:00.001-08:00

As can be seen in the graphics below, a powerful storm system is taking aim on the upper West coast at this time bringing with it very strong winds and major snow.

Current RUC sounding was so enlarged that the Hodo was off the chart! But as we can see below, winds from the basement (ground level) through 200mb) are very very strong with gusts over 80kts!

I looking at the at the surface winds via the RUC for the same time frame (real time) 12z we can see that the winds at the surface could be gusting well over-60-65kts! which is almost Hurricane force winds@ 74MPH at the surface!!! This is going to create a very dangerous situation for the folks in the upper northwest coast, especially people who live right along the coast!

Of course the snow depth looks to be in the 10-20inch range, depending on where you are located so blizzard like conditions will no doubt be a possibility as can be seen in the graphic below.

All in all, this storm system certainly could be deadly if people do not pay attention to the weather. I would encourage the folks living in this area to monitor the weather very close today!

STORM CHASING TOURS

2012-01-17T08:49:00.000-08:00

Obviously have not posted in a while but with the latest round of severe weather and this years first Tornadoes, I thought it might be a good idea to post. This time of year we are slowly gearing up for the chase season by updating our website and booking tours. As of right now Extreme Chase Tours already has limited seating available on most of our tours so it looks like it might be a great year business wise....now lets hope and pray that mother nature will also be kind.

So if you are interested in going on a Storm Chasing Tour with us then I would encourage you to reserve your seats ASAP before we book full again this year. You can reserve your seats by going to our website at listed below:

http://www.extremechasetours.com/

As far as the severe weather.....currently we have ongoing severe in KY into TN as this system pushes east. Might be a good idea to keep an eye on the weather throughout the day if you live in the southeast.

Also, got a chance to go out and film our first "snow storm" here in Oklahoma. Not much of a storm so to speak but it was fun to play with. I have posted the video below. I shot this video with my Nikon D90 so the quality is not the best as this was the first time I actually have used it to shoot video with.

Been A While....

2011-10-30T03:17:00.000-07:00

Looks like it has been a bit since my last blog and with much happening I figured what the heck....I can't sleep so I might as well post on the blog. So currently the reason I cannot sleep is because I broke my leg in 3 places and chipped it as well. This accident happened about almost a week and a half ago, and was caused by nothing more than a trip on some cables but it has certainly caused some major pain! You can see exactly where all three breaks are at in the X-Ray below, and of course, the resulting full cast. Not Fun times at all.

I am just thankful that it did not happen in the middle of May during chase season! Hopefully it heals very soon and the pain stops so I can get back in the tree stand doing some hunting. Looks like bow season will be a short one for me due to the injury.

Nothing to really report on the weather as of yet.....although it does look like the November 5-7Th time frame we could see some severe, that is if the models are to believed this far out. I am always very skeptical when using certain models this time of the year. Experience has taught me that some models do not do well during this time of year VS other models, especially with moisture return. So for now I will only mention the possibility of some weather during that time frame. Per the GFS 00z for oz Sunday (graphic below) it is painting a pretty decent area of low pressure and some decent moisture return through the central and southern plains. Not real sure I am good with this as I just do not think we will see those kind of dew point returns. But anything is likely and it is a 7 days out....something to keep an eye on for sure though.

With a broken leg I have not had a chance to really do anything except take some pics here and there....nothing real fancy or great but decent fall colors starting here in Oklahoma as can be seen below:

I plan on posting more pics as I get time and hopefully better pictures as well.

2011-09-03T16:29:00.000-07:00

Extreme Chase Tours latest production video. For productions/media

A few new pics

2011-06-11T21:56:00.000-07:00

Finally got a chance to get the camera back out and do a little shooting the last few days. Thankfully the last couple of evenings have provided at least a few opportunities for some sunset pictures. Nothing that I would write home about but it was good to get the camera out of the bag and actually do some shooting. Hopefully I will be able to keep a little time to do some shooting over the next couple of weeks!

A good day!

2011-06-05T15:08:00.000-07:00

After spending some time on the lake tubing with the family yesterday, this morning my daughter, Rylie, and I went fishing. I kinda had an idea that the sandbass might be biting so we loaded up the boat and hit the water at 8am sharp. I had not been to this fishing hole since last year so it took some time looking at the fish finder, but in about 30 minutes we were on the spot and had one heck of a time! Rylie caught her first sandbass and then her second, third and about 15 fish later she was complaining that her arms were sore from catching so many fish! A wonderful day with my little fishing buddy!

A Little Change....

2011-06-04T02:04:00.000-07:00

I have been neglecting this blog for some time now simply becuase I have not really had time to really post anything. WE have been so busy with the tours and with life in general from the kids to soccer practice to soccer summer camps, there has certainly not been enough hours in the days to complete everything especially with the tours. I would like to give a big shout out and thank you to Shane Adams and Bridget for helping me with one of our tours. It was a true pleasure to not have to hold their hands and just let them go and do their thing. While the weather did n ot play real nice during this tour I am thankful for both of their help. I want to also thank Mr. Kevin Rider for his help as well. Kevin is a good friend to me and did an fantastic job on the tour especially it being his first tour to go on.

Thank you all for all your help....Jeff, Chad and all of us really do thank you so much for your help. Mr. Reed Timmer....I would personally like to thank you for your help with Mission Of Compassion and Extreme Chase Tours, Jeff Smith. Reed gave a very nice donation to help Jeff fund Mission Of Compassion trip to Ringold GA where Jeff and other members of Extreme Chase Tours and MOC took a very large load of supplies to try and help those folks who were hit by the monster EF-4 deadly tornado. Reed asked nothing in return and has not even promoted this publically but I was amazed and would like to thank him personally and publically for all his help. Heidi this includes you as well! ;)

So much has happened with the weather that it is hard to know exactly where to start....from the Joplin EF-5 and 138 people dead from that one tornado alone, to the violent tornadoes in Oklahoma including the EF-5 down by Piedmont to the deadly outbreak in the southeast, this tornado season has been so very costly in terms of deaths and destruction....it is truly hard to fathom....

So I thought I would try to kinda change the blog up a little and maybe start posting some more of my photography work to swing the mood a little so to speak. I hope you all like the pics and please check back often as I will try to update with more pics as I can. Some of them are older ones and some are new....I will be posting more as I get them processed.

-Lanny

Thanks again for everyones help.

Deaths, severe weather, Osage tornado, MOC, and fishing

2011-04-17T02:07:00.000-07:00

It is that time of the year again where I get busy with the tours and the weather and simply do not have much time to blog. I really wish it wasn't this way because I do enjoy blogging and letting my thoughts out to my readers. So to start off with...it has been a very active severe weather month so far with over over 150 tornado reports in the last three days. Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Alabama, Tennessee, North Carolina and many others have seen some very violent weather and sadly some fatalities. Below are just a few radar grabs from a supercell in Greenville NC. The image below is a velocity image taken today (4-16-11) which is basically showing "which way the wind is blowing mode". You can clearly see the "couplet" right where the bright red color and bright green colors meet. This was producing a large damaging tornado at the time it was taken! Thanks to Mr. Jim Sellars for posting this image on his FB page. Jim is the Regional Skywarn Cord. for SW Missouri and is always on top of weather situations throughout the US. This was no exception. Of course this system actually started producing severe weather here in Oklahoma on the 14th. Below is some video I shot while intercepting a tornado in Osage County Oklahoma. I briefly observed a pretty decent cone tornado looking towards the Hominy area from just north of Cleveland OK. I lost sight of the tornado very quickly as it either got rain wrapped or dissipated. The National Weather Service in Tulsa just completed their damage survey from this event and have rated the tornado an EF-1 tornado. After leaving this storm I then raced back south and east to Sand Springs and headed south to Sapulpa OK on the next monster supercell. I had to punch the core of this beast and experienced quarter size hail with a few golf balls. Jeff scored a tornado east of Tulsa and Chad also scored big down in se Oklahoma near Madill. He actually intercepted 5 tornadoes so it was a great day for ECT excluding hearing about the deaths that happened near Atoka and Tuska. Jeff is doing another mission of compassion down to the area later today (Sunday) to try and help the folks out. Seeing some of the video from down there it is very bad to say the least! In looking at the latest model runs it appears that we will have our next possible severe weather/tornado outbreak in the Tuesday time frame from eastern OK through southern Missouri into Ill. I would encourage everyone who lives in these areas to stay tuned to local media for further information . Now on to other news besides the weather.....Laura and I took the twins fishing today at a local pond and had a blast! Brandon caught a small bass and so did Rylie, I actually think we all caught fish with Rylie's being the biggest one. We really had a great family time and I can't wait to go out again. I took some pictures but have yet to process them or even dump them on the desktop. When I have time I will try to post them soon.

Russian now bashing Obama's actions in Libya!

2011-03-22T08:52:00.000-07:00

MOSCOW -- In a stinging rebuke of U.S. policy in Libya, the Russian defense minister accused the U.S.-led coalition of killing Libyan civilians through errant air strikes and called for an immediate cease-fire on Tuesday. The comments drew a quick rebuke from visiting Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who said the Russian criticism was based on "outright lies."

Speaking to reporters following an hourlong meeting with Gates, Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said Russia continued to support the United Nations resolution authorizing the creation of a no-fly zone over Libya but made clear that Moscow was increasingly uneasy about the escalating campaign.

"Unfortunately, recent developments in the country demonstrate that it is experiencing real hostilities, destroying civilian facilities, and the killing of civilians," Serdyukov said. "This shouldn't have been let to happen and we informed our U.S. counterparts of our opposition."

Gates, in his own remarks, said the coalition was going out of its way to avoid civilian deaths, noting that most of the strikes have targeted Libyan defensive systems located far away from major population centers. Gates also said he expected major combat operations over Libya to taper off markedly within the next few days; he is the first senior American official to put any sort of timetable on the ongoing offensive there.

Gates fired back at the Russians shortly after departing the Ministry of Defense. Speaking to reporters in his hotel overlooking the Kremlin, the American defense chief said he was taken aback by the ferocity of the Russian criticism of the ongoing American-led military operations.

"I'm a little curious, frankly, about the tone that has been taken," Gates said. "It's perfectly evident that the vast majority, if not nearly all, civilian casualties have been inflicted by Qaddafi... and it's almost as though some people here are taking at face value Qaddafi's claims about the number of civilian casualties, which as far as I'm concerned are just outright lies."

Gates's comments were an implicit rebuke to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who on Monday accused the U.S. of causing significant civilian casualties in Libya and likened the entire American-led operation there to a "crusade."

That triggered an unusual public spat between Putin and his nominal ally and successor, President Dmitri Medvedev, about the country's support for the U.S.-led military campaign against Libya. Medvedev fired back quickly, telling reporters was that Putin's comments were "unacceptable."

Russia had abstained in the U.N. Security Council vote that authorized members to take “all necessary measures,” including military force, to protect Libyan civilians from attacks by loyalists to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi and enforce a no-fly zone.

American officials traveling with Gates said the two Russian leaders had probably been surprised by the scale and intensity of the allied bombing campaign inside Libya. But the U.S. officials said that, at least for the moment, they didn't expect Russia to take steps aimed at bringing the conflict to a close.

Qaddafi-controlled media reported dozens of deaths by coalition airstrikes, while the U.S., France, and Britain reported Monday that they had no indications of civilian casualties.

“We have been very precise in our instructions to the air crews about what they may and may not do, and we are very, very conscious in... limiting civilian casualties,” said commander of the operation in Libya, Gen. Carter Ham, on Monday, adding that the missions to protect civilians will only be conducted with force “where we can safely without risk to other civilians and causing collateral damage.”

Coalition air forces from the U.S., France, Spain, Italy, Denmark, and the United Kingdom flew missions to sustain the no-fly zone over Benghazi to protect civilians from attack by regime ground forces and to conduct further reconnaissance. Only problem is that we are killing inoccent people at this very moment.

Obama...The great black eye

2011-03-21T21:57:00.000-07:00

Farrakhan Says President Obama Needs To Be careful Going Into Libya After Gadhafi, Also Speaks On The CIA

*Video:| Farrakhan Says President Obama Needs To Becareful Going Into Libya After Gadhafi, Also Speaks On The CIA |

Anybody who knows me knows that I am not a muslim however, I have through the years, kept an ear to some of the teachings of Mr. Farrakhan. While I may take some heat for this the fact of the matter is that I feel he is dead on with the speach he gave on the Detroit radio station regarding Obama's position with Gaddafi. What the heck are we doing? We have a president that is cheering for the muslim nation as a whole and who was of a muslim nature himself. And all this while he and his family is on vacation??? I ask aagin, what are we doing?

WOW!

2011-03-11T23:25:00.000-08:00

In logging into my blog tonight/this early morning, it's clear that I have not posted in a while. I am just now really getting back into the swing of things with mother nature and so much is going on that I have not really had much time to post.

Sitting here reflecting over the days events....I am overtaken with sorrow for those in Japan. The video and pictures certainly tell a story of death and destruction and one that is almost unwatchable at least for me. At first I had the idea to post some of the video that I witnessed today and maybe some of the "cool" little graphics to go along with it but, I couldnt bring myself to do it. I think simply becuase I don't want to see any more of it. Such loss of life in only minutes is hard to imagine and understand. I pray for those in the area....

Snow Snow Snow

2011-02-08T17:24:00.001-08:00

No captions or words needed.

Nikon D7000 Silver Award Winner!

2011-02-04T22:38:00.000-08:00

Interestingly enough the new Nikon D7000 has won the Silver award through DPREVIEW.
As most people know I am a die hard Nikon shooter and was stoked when I heard of the D7000 press release. This camera was/is supposed to be an upgrade for Nikon D5000, D3000 and D90 shooters. See the link below for camera specs and more info.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond7000/

However, after doing much research on the 7000 compared to some of the other mid range "prosumer" cameras in this class it became very clear that the D7000 is not such a big upgrade at least from the D90.

Currently I have a D90 which I love shooting with. I usually use the Nikkor 50mm 1.8 as my base lens and then the 18-105mm kit as an all around general everyday lens. I don't feel like going into much detail as I will let you do the homework on it but suffice it to say, that if you are shooting with a D90 currently, before you make the upgrade to the D7000 take a look at the specs and rating that Popphoto gave it versus the Canon 60D.

For now I will stick with my D90 and wait until Nikon can figure out the Hot pixel and new sensor issue they have before I make any upgrade. It stands to reason that if you do well with a Sony sensor like Nikon has for many years then stay with what is going good!
Just my two cents!

[HQ] Jim Cantore - Thunder Snow in Chicago Blizzard 2011

2011-02-04T07:33:00.000-08:00

Wildfires to Blizzards...Crazy Oklahoma Weather!

2011-02-03T03:24:00.000-08:00

Above is a little video I shot during the wildfires on 1-29-11. This fire came very close to my house, within a half a block! It is is interesting that we had 70degree temps on the 29th and just 2 days later we were dealing with a monster blizzard, and still are! In fact, currently we have about 14 inches of snow on the ground outside my house with 3.5ft snowdrifts....and it really is not going to go anywhere for a while thanks to very cold temps and a few more "clipper" systems like what we experienced on the 1st. Looks like we will have another shot of some winter precip late this weekend and then again next. Both systems look to be pretty strong and I suspect we will hold on to this "cold dome" for awhile or at least until some of this snow melts.

I can't wait for spring!

MAJOR WINTER STORM!

2011-01-30T19:55:00.000-08:00

The above graphic are snow totals through Tuesday evening from the NWS in Springfield, MO

Most of the talk the last week has been centered around our next upcoming storm system that will affect the central and southern plains into the midwest starting Monday night going through Tuesday night/Wed. morning. Just like everybody else I have looked at the models over and over with every new run that comes in. There is a difference between the NAM model and the GFS model with regards to placement and the track of this next storm system but all models agree that there WILL BE A MAJOR WINTER STORM that will affect the central/southern plains and midwest part of the country.

As can be seen above via the GFS weather model, the forecasted snow totals from Oklahoma, southeastern Kansas into southern Missouri are close to the 12inch range with some higher amounts possible. These higher amounts look to be right along and north of the Interstate 44 from OKC to Tulsa to Springfield MO and even to St. Louis.

Of course this is a major worry for travel along I44 as I suspect that there will be road closings due to the amount of snow as well as the high winds the area will experience. As seen below winds are going to be pretty strong with gusts in the 20-40 mph range which will cause blowing and drifting of snow as well as possible white out conditions. On the backside of this storm system temperatures are expected and forecasted to drop well below freezing and wind chills will be in the very dangerous negative range.

If you live in these areas it is encouraged that you review your winter safety plans and avoid travel during this time frame if possible. Pay attention to local media and again, try not to travel if you do not have to.
This winter storm has the possibility to be crippling and deadly if people do not take precautions. After talking to Mr. Jim Sellars and looking at the local forecasts it looks like we should start seeing some type of precip start falling as early as tomorrow night (Monday night) and then all the way through Tuesday evening. The big question is how much ice/freezing rain we could see. Obviously the more freezing rain we see before the changeover the worse it may be with power outages due to the very strong wind gusts. Of course the current path of this system could shift a little and as little as a 50-100 mile difference could make the difference between receiving heavy snow and possible major sleet.

Again, for those that live in these areas please pay attention to your local media outlets and forecasts.

Not Much....

2010-12-23T03:05:00.000-08:00

Pretty calm in the weather world as of late, in fact no real drama issues right now that I know of. Of course I have been trying to lay low and stay away from it for the most part with the hopes that I don't get wrapped up into anything. Seems to me that this time last year Mr. Doug Kiesling himself was giving birth to a horse becuase he had different thoughts about what I needed to do with my video. Wow....I will leave that one alone for now, after all, it's been a year and after the spanking he took it's all good.

Not much really going on with the weather either at least locally until we get closer to Christmas and then it looks like a possible winter mix for southern Kansas and most of Missouri Christmas evening. Below is the graphic issues from the NWSFO is Wichita, KS and their thoughts on the "possible" situation.

I usually do not put much faith in some of the model output during wintertime and or winter events. I simply don't becuase many times the model is wrong on the projected forecast track of the storm system or even the strength of the particular system.

Winter forecasting is much harder to do for everybody becuase of issues like these.

Hopefully it will not get real bad and everybody can make it "home" for Christmas.

Other than that, Not Much going on.....

New strain of Gonorrhea found!

2010-10-20T11:34:00.000-07:00

Nealz Nuze on boortz.com

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

ALERT FROM CDC:
Information about Gonorrhea Lectim ...

The Center for Disease Control has issued a warning about a new virulent strain of this old disease. The disease it called Gonorrhea Lectim. It's pronounced "Gonna re-elect 'em," and it is a terrible obamanation.

The disease is contracted through dangerous and high risk behavior involving putting your cranium up your rectum. Many victims contracted it in 2008 ... but now most people, after having been infected for the past 1-2 years, are starting to realize how destructive this sickness is.

It's sad because Gonorrhea Lectim is easily cured with a new drug just coming on the market called Votemout. You take the first dose in 2010 and the second dose in 2012 and simply don't engage in such behavior again; otherwise, it could become permanent and eventually wipe out all life as we know it.

Several states are already on top of this, like Virginia and New Jersey, and apparently now Massachusetts, with many more seeing the writing on the wall.

Please pass this important message on to all those bright folks you really care about.

Fall 2010

2010-10-15T08:59:00.001-07:00

As is seen in the map graphic from TWC parts of the US are in fall and in full swing. I wish the same could be said here in Oklahoma. Looking around some might think it is the middle of summer as no real changes to trees have occured yet. Hopefully that will change in the next week or so.

Not much else to really blog about....been some heated discussions over at Mox Nic that I have attempted to avoid simply becuase I just didn't want to get involved. But FWIW, I can see both sides and agree with some of what Shane Adams had to say.

Looks like we could see some possible severe weather early next week but I am not real sure how much faith I have in the models this time of year. Would be nice to get some decent severe, structure or lightning shots though and another tornado this year would be great! Of course this time of year my time and focus is on my family as well as bow season. Deer season officially started October 1 and I have not been able to hunt much so hopefully I will be able to get out this weekend and next week.

Latest photoshoot

2010-09-09T22:34:00.001-07:00

Just a few pics from my latest photoshoot. Nikon D90 with MB-D80 pack, Nikkor 50mm 1.8 with CP filter.

Hermine is inland!

2010-09-07T14:39:00.000-07:00

Hermine has made it inland and looks to be on course with projected track paths via most models. She still has an impressive "eye" and is still generating tornado warnings for the eastern side of the low. I am still thinking that we will see some probable flooding issues in central Texas and through most of Oklahoma. Looks like itcould be a long week!

Did someone say RAIN?

2010-09-06T21:16:00.000-07:00

Tropic Storm Hermine making landfall near Brownsville Texas

Okay....so the big bad Earl was not so big and bad afterall. But what does appear to be big and bad is the upcoming flodding event that will take place starting this Tuesday and go through the better part of the week for parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri and possibly Kansas.

Currently we have Tropical Storm Hermine making landfall near Brownsville, TX with thunderstorms and even a few tornado reports on the northeast side of the cirrculation.

Below I have posted a current radar grab of Hermine from level 2 that clearly shows her "outline" as well as a Tornado Watch and a single tornado warning.

What is more interesting to me however is the projected path of this TS as "she" moves north into TX and then Oklahoma. Below is a graphic of the "Spaghettii Models." These are Hurricane models that forecast the exact movement of a tropical system, hurricane or otherwise. Usually there is a little difference between each model and sometimes they can be way off from one another but generally speaking, when most of the models paint a general area you can almost bet on the track and placement of the system. You can clearly see that the models ARE in agreement with the forecast track which certainly means that flodding is a real probability for Texas and Oklahoma.

Of course this will certainly help some of the folks that are in a light drought but Hermine could and probably will bring some dangerous flooding as well. Most of the local NWSFO within the projected paths have started using somewhat of an enhanced wording at least to say that flooding will be possible throughout the area. The graphic below shows the rainfall totals expected (some could be higher or lower in local areas) and include 3-4 inches.

4+ inches of rain look to be possible in central Oklahoma which could cause some flodding issues. Folks in these areas certainly need to keep an eye on the weather!

A Boy Named Earl!

2010-09-02T01:11:00.000-07:00

As seen above, Earl is a very large Cat. 4 hurricane

I have purposely not posted anything regarding hurricane Earl simply because NO ONE knew exactly what track he might take. It has been questionable at best, to try to figure out which model was correct and it's associated placement of Earl in regards to a US landfall.

While most of the spaghetti models do not show Earl making a US landfall it does seem likely that he will take a glancing blow on the east coast. In fact, North Carloina looks like a good place as any other and I would not be surprised to see some significant damage on the outer banks if Earl satys on current course. I have posted a graphic below with tropical storm force wind probabilities from the NHC as you and can see, TS force winds extend well inland all along the east coast.

Right now (Thrusday 2-2-10) Earl, is a strong cat. 4 Hurricane with sustained winds at 140mph with some higher gusts. At present time if he did make landfall this would be a major hurricane with much devestation I am sure. Of course with the shape of our economy, this would be costly in many ways and something we do not need. But even if Earl stays "out to sea" there is a high likelyhood that the US will take a direct hit from a TS or even a hurricane.

As you can see above, we basically have wave after wave of energey/convection coming off the coast of Africa. Right now we currently have TS Fiona and TS Gaston behind Earl and to top it all off, we have another area of strong convection right behind them. THIS COULD BE AN ACTIVE MONTH to say the least! It is probable that one of these "waves" will "slip through" going into the Gulf which we do not need! (Think Oil) or staying torwards the east and possibly making landfall on the east coast.

Certainly something to keep an eye on!

Nice Outflow!

2010-08-17T02:00:00.000-07:00

Below I have posted a couple of radar shots from Stormlab and GR3 (level 2 and level3 data) what the radar graphic is showing is a very well defined outflow boundy moving through northeastern Oklahoma. Interestingly enough these outflow's are not always as well defined as this one is, infact, some can be really hard to see on radar. This particular boundry was started up in Kansas by some decaying storms that had "gusted out" This gust can great an outflow or a cold pool that can sometimes help to "fire up" more storms. This boundry did not have much to work with and did not help to get any storms going until the following day but I wanted to post this because I thought the radar shot really put the outflow into persepctive.
You can see that the winds behind the outlfow have switched out of the north and some metar/mesonet stations were recording winds that were gusting over 45mhp! In the top center of the first image you can see that there was a severe thunderstorm warning for southeastern KS.
This outflow and the push of the cold front helped to bring our temps closer to normal and aided the NWSFO to drop the Heat Warning that had been placed on northern OK for almost 2 weeks. Hopefully this trend will last and and we should start getting a few systems back down in the central part of the US soon. Let's keep our fingers crossed!

A Few Relfections...

2010-08-14T12:55:00.000-07:00

After going through some of the images that myself and Chad shot during the tours, I started reflecting on this years season....what a wonderful year we had! The above picture of the Gass family who went on a storm chasing tour with us was taken in central Oklahoma, with a supercell in the background it brought back some great memories. We had a really good season and I can't thank the whole team enough! Hopefully 2011 will be as successfull!

Speaking of the tours, I will be posting the new schedule on the website soon and I suspect that just as years past, seats will fill up quickly so if you are interested in going on a Stormchasing Tour or storm chasing vacation please book your seat as soon as you can.

Tornado Hunter: Chad Berryhill Photography

2010-08-09T03:29:00.000-07:00

Tornado Hunter: Chad Berryhill Photography.com

Chad Berryhill Photography

2010-08-09T03:04:00.001-07:00

For those of you who might be needing some senior pics done, have a wedding coming up or are in need of a photographer, please take a look at http://www.chadberryhillphotography.com/

Chad is not only one of my best friends, he is one hell of a photographer who has recently "opened shop" in the Durant Oklahoma area. Chad has a wonderful eye for amazing pictures and I would encourage everyone who is in need of an experienced photographer to check his site out and then give him a call before he books full.

Top Weather Blogs Award? HOT, HOT & HOT

2010-08-08T10:13:00.000-07:00

Online Schools

Got some news that my blog site,(this bog site) Tornado Hunter had won an award for one of the Top Weather Blogs 2010. Although I am not sure exactly how this happened or the in and out of the nomination process but I find it interesting and I guess a thank you should go out to whomever nominated my blog. Thank you whoever did it.

As most of you know this time of year I slowly withdraw from the weather world to spend more time with my family doing all the family stuff. This usually goes until around October 1 when deer season, specifically Bow season starts....during this time frame I usually do not get much time to update the blog or even run my forecasts twice a day, so don't be surprised if I don't seem to update this regularly.

Looks like we will be dealing with very hot temps through this week and are currently back under an excessive heat warning...below I have posted a graphic from NWSFO in Tulsa that shows the current temps as well as a map of the current dew point. Yes, that is a 75 degree dewpoint right on top of where I live just west of Tulsa and with temps close to 100 degrees this will make it feel like 105-110 with the heat index! If you have any outside activities or are going to do anything outside drink plenty of water!!! Low temps don't look to get below 70-75 degrees so we will not have much of a "cool down" in the evenings. I hate hot weather like this.

A few Pics, Nothing Much.

2010-06-22T01:47:00.000-07:00

"Light Painting"

Got back home from the tours finally and decided to play around with the D90a little...took a few shots while I was "painting with light" of a few various things around the house.

Really not the best pictures at all but I did enjoy taking them and had some fun. I am really liking the Nikon D90. I was not real sure if I would like it when I first purchased it but after spending some time with it it is a great camera. I love the picture profiles and the live view and face detection system work very well. Not real happy with the video quality but then again this is a DSLR not a camcorder. For video needs I am still using the Full HD 1080i Canon as it works very well for what I need and do. Main problem with the video from the D90 is the "rolling shutter" effect. But again, I do not use it for video so it is not a problem for me.

For those that might be searching for a mid range camera take a look at the Nikon D90. It is certainly worthy and has a great track record.

I plan on spending some much needed time with my family but I am going to try and shoot more pics and try to do some more painting with light as I really like the shadows and all the things you can do with it. Seems as though there is no real end to light painting!

Chase Tour hit by tornado, South Dakota mess up, Josh Wurman, Sean Casey's ignorant ways and more!

2010-06-03T09:47:00.000-07:00

Looks like I have not updated my blog in some time......no real excuses except that I have been very busy with the tours and trying to put family time in between chasing/tours. We have had one heck of a year already with filming somwhere around 20 tornadoes thus far and the tours have been good. Finally got a chance to meet Mr. Jason Boggs back on the 22 of April during the Allanreed TX event and what a great time we had! Thanks to him for shooting some of those great pics!
It has been a crazy season for some, most particularly those who almost got eaten by the tornadoes in south Dakota. Many of those chasers I know personally and would consider them friends, others I would not. But friends or not, I understand how they made the mistake because I have done the very same thing. Much respect should go out to those that were honest about the situation and what exactly happened. It no doubt would have been much easier to tell a different story.
Now on to other issues......

A chase tour took a direct hit from a tornado back on the 10th of May with some of their guests getting cut up and injured. Not much to say about it that I have not already said on Storm Track. feel free to look that thread up for more of my thoughts on the matter.

Josh Wurman, you remind me of that spoiled little kid who when they do not get their way, cry and piss and moan until they do. You complain about other chasers who chase for money or glory and not science but yet it was you who ran with Discovery the 3 years prior to the start of V2. I am more than aware of the contracts you held with Discovery and it would be a safe statement to say that you gained greatly financially off of those shows. In the past I held your opinion very highly but as of late you seem to do nothing more for me than make me want to bend you over and spank you as if you were a little child. Get over yourself already and grow up.

Sean Casey, your just ignorant. It is really simple actually....great video of you passing cars in a no passing zone, up hills with no way to tell if someone is coming or not and I really don't care if your "front" vehicle is in constant contact with you or not. One day you are going to get someone killed or yourself killed....I think old Uncle Chuck has a nice catch phrase for this.....Darwinism

Now thats off my chest....I fianlly got a chance to put some video together of the Hennessey tornado (see below) This was a very cool event for us becuase we were able to help one of our guests see his first tornado and becuase we didn't get caught up in any of the chaser convergence and stupid actions like I have mentioned above. Thanks to Mr. Chad Berryhill and Jill Gilardi for an amzing trip and running the tour...you guys did a heck of a job!
Looks like I have to make a trip to Boston early next week and I plan on taking the D90 and see what kind of pictures I can get. Should I get some nice ones I will try to post them here when I get back.

A few days of severe?

2010-04-01T02:27:00.000-07:00

I am not going to post a bunch of maps or outlooks from the SPC partly becuase I am a little lazy right now and busy with work. Suffice it say that later today (Thursday) actually looks interesting for severe in western/central Oklahoma. Latest model (GFS) run is painting a nice dryline over south central KS and western OK and some decent CAPE values through that area by 00z later today. Looked like we had some pretty good mid-level temps 8-9c @ 700mb and I am a little worried about the CAP strength and if it can be broken. Moisture return did not look like much of an issue to me depending on what model of choice you looked at, but it appears we should see dew points close to 60 degrees or even a little higher.
This should spark off a few isolated cells that should promote decent structure at the very least. There is a possibility of a tornado or two especially if a lone cell can bust the CAP.

I plan on playing later today if I can break free early enough. My attention then turns to Friday as that looks to be "the day"
With "real" upper level support a little closer it seems as though we could see a pretty good severe weather day in the works on Friday.

Took my daughter fishing the other day and got some good pictures of her as she caught a really nice bass....I plan on posting those pics as I get time. Looks like spring has sprung and I am very excited....I hate winter and this one was no exception. Fishing season is upon us and I plan on taking my daughter (my fishing buddy) as much as I possibly can.

3-20-10 snowstorm round 2 then 3?

2010-03-20T15:15:00.001-07:00

Below I have posted a few radar grabs from my StormLab of the ongoing "snowstorm"
As seen in the first image, it appears that we are seeing some dry air push in from the west which could help to limit some of the snow totals over a large area. In looking at model data and profiler data this certainly seems like a real possibility. If this verifies then our snow totals would be much lower than what was originally thought and called for (shame on some of the TV mets in OKC....Yes Mike Morgan, I am talking directly to you.). Of course, we should see a couple more "rounds" of snow through tomorrow morning as the dry air pushes further east and dew points actually come up a little. This will no doubt help to increase the snow totals as another 2-4 inches is expected over my CWA (Tulsa) area.
At this time I DO NOT SEE ANYTHING CLOSE TO THE 22-25 INCHES THAT MIKE MORGAN WAS CALLING FOR IN THE TULSA AREA AND CREEK COUNTY AREA.
In fact, I would think we might be lucky to see 8-10 inches if the latest runs are to be believed.
No doubt I could be wrong as these types of winter storms are very hard to forecast and predict exactly just where the highest total amounts will be. I guess time will tell.

Nikon D90 pics

2010-03-12T07:09:00.000-08:00

After months of not have a camera (I sold my D80 back in November) I finally upgraded to the new D90. Actually my wife got it for me for Val. day...thank you babe!
In selling my D80, I kept the MBD80 battery pack and my 50mm 1.8, so upgrading to the D90 was no big deal. Below are a few pics that I have shot with it. I am not sure how I like it....I thought it would just be a simple upgrade from the D80 but this is certainly not the case.
I have found that there are many new features that I am going to have to learn.
the D90 has HD video at 720i but I have not even really had a chance to play with it at all and besides, I have the Canon HV 40 for that. I am going to be shooting the twins birthday party this weekend with it and should be able to post some more pics and maybe even have time to give it a full review so to speak. Enjoy!

My First Tornado!

2010-02-16T23:57:00.000-08:00

Going through some old pictures tonight in search of pictures of my sister who passed away on Saturday, I ran across a few of my old weather pics and one included a shot of my first tornado that I actually chased as a stormchaser. The picture below was taken on April 26 1991 just north of Sooner Lake on 177 HWY southeast of Red Rock Oklahoma. The tornado at this point was very wide...probably close to 3/4 mile wide and was rated as an F-4! It was on the ground for 65 miles and was well documented by many many chasers including me.

April 26 1991 was a day that made such an impression on me and is the main reason why I chase today. Actually it was dumb luck that I even saw a tornado on this day as I had no real idea what I was doing or even what I was looking at. The chase started for me after I heard the tornado watch being broadcast on local TV and I decided I was going to go out and see a tornado. I thought it was really that easy.....if there was a tornado watch I could drive to it and see a tornado! Wow.......talk about a newbie!!!

Another Winter Storm?

2010-02-06T22:19:00.000-08:00

I don't know about anyone else.....but I am sooooooo ready for spring!!!
After looking at the latest data and some of the local NWSFO, it looks as though we will see another major winter storm for souther Kansas and Northern Oklahoma. The graphic that I posted above is pretty much on course with current model data and shows some significant snow amounts through Monday night. After that it looks like we will see another winter storm in the Wed. /Thursday time frame. It will be interesting if this will be a trend that we could see going into the spring season.

Ice Storm Video

2010-01-29T06:34:00.000-08:00

Above I have posted a little video that I shot last night west of the Tulsa OK area. Actually it was not that bad....roads were slick but not real bad. Chad Berryhill decided to come out and join me we had a pretty good time.
We are expected to get some more snow today so I plan on updating the blog when I can.

New Pictures and More Winter Weather???

2010-01-24T20:49:00.000-08:00

A few pics of my daughter Alex that I took

Potential for another winter storm??

Going over the latest weather models, it appears that our next storm system will effect my CWA (mortheast OK) and southern Kansas Wednesday afternoon through Thursday night.

The above map via NWSFO in Norman, shows the possible position of the cold front early Thursday. As you can see, it appears that we could see some possible sleet and snow during this time frame as the current track of the low places it just south of the Red River in Texas However; depending on the track, we could be looking at some pretty good snow amounts or a possible significant ice storm.

At the very least we will probably see some sleet/ice late Wed and then turning over to snow early on Thursday morning.....old man winter is certainly not done yet!

Something to keep an eye on!!!

Classic "Hook" and blog update!

2010-01-21T07:22:00.000-08:00

Below I have posted a couple level2 radar shots from last nights severe weather. Both images clearly show a monster supercell that was producing a tornado at the time the image was taken.
I had been updating the Extreme Chase Tours blog as well as our Facebook page most of the evening with radar grabs and info but when I saw this return I was simply amazed! For those that do not have their links updated please update them to inlcude the Extreme Chase Tours blog: http://www.extremechasetours.blogspot.com/
Also, please feel free to click the follow button and follow us.

Classic "Hook" from Tornadic Supercell 1-20-10

SRV level2 Tornado On the Ground! 0.4

And for those of you who might be interested in the doppler radar software I use, go check out StormLab at: www.interwarn.com StormLab was built by meteorologist and stormchaser, Evan Bookbinder and it is a wonderful program. There are so many more things you can do with it than GRlevel3. Don't get me wrong, GR3 is a great product and we use it on the tours as well as personally but I really like StormLab. I have been using since 2005 and to me, it has got to be one of the best doppler radar software packages out there!

StormLab Level 2 and Level 3 data and severe weather?

2010-01-15T19:02:00.000-08:00

Level3

Level2

Have had a few people ask me about what radar products that I use so I thought I would post a few radar grabs of both Level 2 and Level 3 data. The grabs are from my

StormLab 4.0 Supercharged. Both doppler radar grabs show quite a bit of rain ongoing in central and southern Texas as the Low pressure system has moved very little. Could see some real flooding issues if this trend continues....people in these areas should pay attention to local forecasts and media outlets for more info.

Also, in looking at a few of the latest weather models it appears that we could see our first shot of severe weather for the year later next week and then maybe into the weekend.

As I posted in the Extreme Chase Tours blog (see here) if the models verify we could have a decent chance of a few tornadoes. Of course this is still 8-9 days out and things will probably change but it is something to keep an eye out on for sure! Below I have posted the 2m dewpoint and 10 temps for 204 hour from the GFS. Looks like it could get very interesting later next week!!!

www.ExtremeChaseTours.com

www.extremechasetours.blogspot.com

NEW BLOG!

2010-01-14T08:52:00.000-08:00

Okay folks, Extreme Chase Tours has set up a new blog which can be found here:
http://www.extremechasetours.blogspot.com/

Feel free to take time to bookmark and or link the new blog. We are going to try and post some really fresh ideas and news about Extreme Chase Tours as well as news about current weather.

And if you have not done so, feel free to jump on over to the website and book a tour! Seats are filling fast, don't miss your chance for the adventure of a lifetime!
www.ExtremeChaseTours.com

Historic Blizzard?

2009-12-25T01:06:00.000-08:00

What can I say? The Massive blizzard beat us up today here in Oklahoma pretty bad. I have included some video that I shot during the height of the storm. This storm will probably go down in history!!!

Wonderful Christmas tree!

2009-12-24T08:15:00.000-08:00

With all the different colors the NWS graphic above reminded me of a Christmas tree!!! As of right now we have everything from tornado warnings down south to blizzard warnings here in OK to flood warnings in Arkansas....what a mess and it will probably only get worse for some folks! Current weather model data has pushed the low a little further south, thus, increasing the snow probabilities for central and southern Oklahoma. This is certainly not good news for people living from Lawton to Pauls Valley OK, where we could see 11 + inches.

My good friend and chase partner Chad Berryhill called to inform me that Stillwater was already getting hammered with sleet and that the winds were really picking up out around the I-35 area. One look at mesonet data from Perkins, OK and you can really get an idea of just how windy it is (see below)

Looks like winds have been sustained at near 40mph and one gust nearing 60mph!!! The NWS office in Norman has recently put that area under a Blizzard Warning due to these high winds which will certainly cause blowing and drifting of snow later this afternoon.
This could get really nasty!!! Will update as I can

Ho Ho Ho!!! Christmas Storm Of 2009???

2009-12-22T23:22:00.000-08:00

Okay folks, here is the deal....major winter storm looks like it is a real possibility for central and eastern OK as well as most of Kansas.....basically all of the central and southern plains could see some type of winter weather. I was going to load up some maps of the latest model runs and precip type but it is late and I really don't feel like doing that.
There is also a good chance we could see some severe weather most particularly from southern OK, western Arkansas through much of central and eastern TX. All modes are possible including a few tornadoes. The main show though will be the winter storm that will impact much of the US in the next 2 days....this could certainly become known as the Christmas of 2009 storm!!!
Equipment permitting, I will be streaming live on ChaserTV.com during this event and I will update here later today or tonight. http://www.ChaserTV.com

BTW, many thanks to Mr. Scott B. for working all night to help me get all my stuff up and running and ready for this possible major winter storm!
thanks Scott!!!!

My harvest 2009, and more news!!!

2009-12-17T07:48:00.000-08:00

What a deer season!!! So far I have harvested 2 bucks this season, a 6 pointer and an 8 pointer, both of which I shot with my bow. Other news....With not much going on in the weather world (except a bunch of drama) I have been somewhat bored as I usually am this time of year. As such, I have been on the net going over past data, storms, storm video and generally anything storm related. This morning I ran across an interesting article regarding night time tornadoes (see link below)

http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2009/20091214_tornado.html

I actually skimmed over the article early this week but didn't really take time to read it until this morning. Seems as though the guys in Norman AKA The Storm Prediction Center, in conjunction with local NWSFO are going to be issuing "new" public weather outlooks. The article is not detailed enough and does not give a real outline but the main issue is nighttime tornadoes. Of course we all know the dangers a tornado at night can pose (some of those risks are mentioned) but it also really pushes the idea of getting a NOAA radio. Kudos to NOAA for a decent article and for the push which probably could not have come at a better time IMO.

Nothing really!

2009-11-27T23:34:00.000-08:00

Not much to really blog about as of late, the weather is dead, since I got my second buck hunting is dead and so this blog has been dead as a result. I have logged in a few times and attempted to find something to blog about but really not much going on or at least not much to speak of.
Jeff Smith and I have been discussing another possible Tulsa chaser fest but of course that's still up in the air as well.
Been spending some quality time with my family and even got a chance to take my Son hunting! We did not see anything but I certainly had a great time with him. Our morning started out sitting on a hill overlooking a large pond, with the warm weather I figured that the deer would come into drink a few times before moving from their bedding area to feed.
Brandon and I did not see anything deer wise but we were certainly treated to a cool display of hunting from a Sand Hill Crane. He or She, I am not sure which, decided to do some fishing right in front of us. The crane flew in about 30 yards away from us and then slowly and with much grace made its way out towards the middle of the pond. At this point we could see the fish starting to really move and then all of a sudden the crane stuck it's head down into the water and came back up with a very large sunfish. It was really a cool sight to see and made me wish I had brought my camera or vid cam. Certainly a memory I wont forget and one that I hope my Son will never forget!

The reason for not bringing my camera along on this trip is due to my last post...I have sold my D80. I have been wanting to upgrade to the D90 or even the the D300 for a long while now and so I decided just to do it already. I will probably go with the D90 simply because I already have the battery grip, spare battery and a few lenses including my favorite lens, my Nikkor 50mm 1.8. Not sure when I will get it but I will post some pics when I do!!!
That's pretty much all that is going on in my world right now.....cannot wait till chase season...it's gonna be a long one!

NIKON D80 WITH LENSES FOR SALE!!!

2009-11-12T09:13:00.000-08:00

For those that do not know already, I am going to sell my Nikon D80 and 2 lenses!!!
See pics below!

This camera is a 10.2mp DSLR that is in GREAT SHAPE! 10 out of 10 cosmetically and functionality. No scratches, no dings, camrea is 100%!!! I bought the camera and lenses new and use it for all kinds of photography including my stock photography that I sell.
Included in the package are 2 lenses:

Nikkor 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 ED
Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 apo MACRO. Macro is from 200-300mm
Both lenses are in great shape and are also 100%.

I have all original boxes, mauals, plastic, covers, cords, battery, charger and even the sales record!!! I am asking $650.00 for all. This will make someone a great Christmas gift!!! I plan on posting on e-bay next week so hurry and contact me if you are interested. I can send more pictures if needed.

TERRORIST? No doubt in my mind!

2009-11-06T08:16:00.000-08:00

The below post was on Yahoo front page this morning....thought I would share to see what my readers thought about this guy. Is he a Terrorist? And if so, did the FEDS know about it?
The actions that happened down at Fort Hood are no doubt shameless acts of people who do not deserve to continue life. Kill him....thats my thoughts!

WASHINGTON – His name appears on radical Internet postings. A fellow officer says he fought his deployment to Iraq and argued with soldiers who supported U.S. wars. He required counseling as a medical student because of problems with patients.
There are many unknowns about Nidal Malik Hasan, the man authorities say is responsible for the worst mass killing on a U.S. military base. Most of all, his motive.
For six years before reporting for duty at Fort Hood, Texas, in July, the 39-year-old Army major worked at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center pursuing his career in psychiatry, as an intern, a resident and, last year, a fellow in disaster and preventive psychiatry. He received his medical degree from the military's Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md., in 2001.
While an intern at Walter Reed, Hasan had some "difficulties" that required counseling and extra supervision, said Dr. Thomas Grieger, who was the training director at the time.
Grieger said privacy laws prevented him from going into details but noted that the problems had to do with Hasan's interactions with patients. He recalled Hasan as a "mostly very quiet" person who never spoke ill of the military or his country.
"He swore an oath of loyalty to the military," Grieger said. "I didn't hear anything contrary to those oaths."
But, more recently, federal agents grew suspicious.
At least six months ago, Hasan came to the attention of law enforcement officials because of Internet postings about suicide bombings and other threats, including posts that equated suicide bombers to soldiers who throw themselves on a grenade to save the lives of their comrades.
They had not determined for certain whether Hasan is the author of the posting, and a formal investigation had not been opened before the shooting, said law enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the case.
Federal authorities seized Hasan's computer Friday during a search of his apartment in Killeen, Texas, said a U.S. military official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation.
In an interview with The Washington Post, Hasan's aunt, Noel Hasan of Falls Church, Va., said he had been harassed about being a Muslim in the years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks and he wanted out of the Army.
"Some people can take it and some people cannot," she said. "He had listened to all of that and he wanted out of the military."
She said he had sought a discharge from the military for several years, and even offered to repay the cost of his medical training.
A military official told The Associated Press that Hasan was in the preparation stage of deployment, which can take months. The official said Hasan had indicated he didn't want to go to Iraq but was willing to serve in Afghanistan. The official did not have authorization to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
A second military official said Hasan's family has Palestinian roots. There have been reports that he was harassed for his Muslim religion, but the official says there is no indication Hasan filed a complaint within the military about that.
Terrorism task force agents plan to interview several of Hasan's relatives Friday, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to discuss the case.
Noel Hasan said her nephew "did not make many friends" and would say "they military was his life."
A cousin, Nader Hasan, told The New York Times that after counseling soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with post-traumatic stress disorder, Hasan knew war firsthand.
"He was mortified by the idea of having to deploy," Nader Hasan said. "He had people telling him on a daily basis the horrors they saw over there."
Federal law-enforcement agents ordered an evacuation of the apartment complex where Hasan lived in Killeen, Texas, Thursday night and conducted a search of his home, said Hilary Shine, director of public information for the city. She didn't say what was found during the search.
Officials said earlier that federal search warrants were being drawn up to authorize the seizure of his computer.
Retired Army Col. Terry Lee, who said he worked with Hasan, told Fox News that Hasan had hoped President Barack Obama would pull troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq. Lee said Hasan got into frequent arguments with others in the military who supported the wars, and had tried hard to prevent his pending deployment.
Col. Kimberly Kesling, deputy commander of clinical services at Darnall Army Medical Center at Fort Hood, said she had known Hasan.
"You wouldn't think that someone who works in your facility and provided excellent care for his patients, which he did, could do something like this," Kesling said. She praised his work ethic, saying, "In my personal interactions, there was never any indication he would do something like this." Kesling described him as "a quiet man who wouldn't seek the limelight" and said she was 'shocked' when she heard that he was the man suspected of carrying out the shootings.
Hasan attended prayers regularly when he lived outside Washington, often in his Army uniform, said Faizul Khan, a former imam at a mosque Hasan attended in Silver Spring, Md. He said Hasan was a lifelong Muslim.
"I got the impression that he was a committed soldier," Khan said. He spoke often with Hasan about Hasan's desire for a wife.
On a form filled out by those seeking spouses through a program at the mosque, Hasan listed his birthplace as Arlington, Va., but his nationality as Palestinian, Khan said.
"I don't know why he listed Palestinian," Khan said, "He was not born in Palestine."
Nothing stood out about Hasan as radical or extremist, Khan said.
"We hardly ever got to discussing politics," Khan said. "Mostly we were discussing religious matters, nothing too controversial, nothing like an extremist."
Hasan earned his rank of major in April 2008, according to a July 2008 Army Times article.
He served eight years as an enlisted soldier. Military records show he also served in the ROTC as an undergraduate at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg and received a bachelor's degree in biochemistry there in 1997.
But college officials said Friday that Hasan graduated with honors in biochemistry in 1995 and there was no record of him serving in any ROTC program.

My Fall colors??

2009-11-02T14:14:00.000-08:00

Well, as you can see in the above the pictures....not much fall color change around here! Everything is dying so quickly and it seems like the nornal "fall" turn has really sucked this year.

All pictures were shot with my Nikon D80 and either the 18-135mm or 50mm 1.8 lens.

I used a CP filter for the tree pic and this seemed to really pop the blue sky!!!

Hopefully I will be able to get out and take some more pics soon!!!!

hmmmm.... Storm Chasers????

2009-10-26T08:57:00.000-07:00

Decided to sit down and actually watch Storm Chasers last night and I thought a few comments and thoughts were in order.
Very interesting to see some of the storms and structure from April not to mention some great video. Was great to see more of Tony L. interacting and in front of the camera. I met Tony for the first time in 2006 in Denver and then again last year at the "Steve Miller OK party". I have certainly seen him many times on the road chasing and in my opinion what you see is what you get. He is a top notch guy with a passion for chasing.
I really enjoyed seeing him doing his thing in the heat of the battle and playing the game. Tim also did a great job, as always, and is someone who I respect very much.
I also thought that Brandon Ivy and Matt H. did a wonderful forecasting job despite not being able to check a battery before a chase. lol

Of course, a show is done by editing and can go many different ways depending on how you edit the video. One way for a docu-drama/reality type show such as Storm Chasers to go is to create "issues" between certain characters. Theses "issues" are usually done to keep the audience on the edge of their seat in hopes that they will not change the channel.
Some of the "issues" that a network/production company can and will use can be anything from "he said, she said" to actual verbal abuse from one character towards another.

No doubt Discovery used these "issues" with the situation between Sean and Reed regarding the TIV and the "Big Red Shoe"
Admittedly, and as I have said before and took much heat for, there is no doubt that one resembles the other. I think it would be safe to say that one is a direct copy of the other, at least in the reason for building it, which in some circles would/could be considered stealing.
Am I suggesting that Reed Timmer stole the idea to build "The Big Red Shoe" directly from Sean Casey??? Hmmmmmmmmmmm...........

The answer is hell yes he did. Much the same as stealing the idea of a probe coming from Tim S not to mention the RC plane idea being stolen from Verne Carlson.

There is no question that the word stealing brings thoughts of a really bad person to mind, this however is not one of those times, and the reason why or difference you ask? Well, before you come to tar and feather me or bring Doswells Spanish inquisition to hunt me down let me explain.........It is a fact of life that the wheel was invented once...everybody else just "refined" it. A simple fact when looking at Goodyear....they made it better.
In my opinion Reed took an idea that Sean had, worked angle and simply made it better.
There is certainly nothing wrong with taking an idea and making it better and then capitalizing on that idea financially or otherwise. It is actually how most business work and how most "new" products are built.
It is not a bad thing per say and although at times it may seem somewhat unethical, it's just the way the world works.

On a different note, it was interesting to see some "issues" between Joel and Reed start to show.
Again, it is hard to tell how much was acting for the camera and how much is real and unfortunately the viewers may never really know, especially if they are not involved in or with the chase community.

All in all not a bad couple of shows IMO.

HELP!!!!!

2009-10-09T12:22:00.000-07:00

For those that do not already know, Darrin B. and his other half Lexi, basically lost everything in an apartment fire. Darrin is a long time chaser and friend of mine and could really use some help.
Below is a post that Dick McGowen (Darrin's chase partner) recently posted on StormTrack.
ANY TYPE OF SUPPORT IS GREATLY APPRECIATED

"As some of you already know, yesterday morning, Darin Brunin and his girlfriend Alexis Sullivan, were woken up to a fire that was triggered by lightning in Lawrence, Kansas, which consumed the top apartments where they lived and left their apartment inhabitable. Fortunately, two good samaritans rang all of the resident's door bells in the building, giving them all enough time to escape, unharmed. Here is a link to the story. According to the fire department, they have lost pretty much everything and unfortunately didn't have any insurance. They both have received support from the Red Cross and have been temporarily moved to another apartment, but still lack a lot of essential goods for their new home (including clothes) . It is to my understanding, that they will not be able to return to the apartment to see what's left/salvageable for another week, until a structural engineer evaluates the scene. Unknown to them, I am asking anyone who wishes to contribute to their devastating loss, to send funds to my paypal address: midwesternmeso@hotmail.com You may also email myself at the same address to give Darin and Lexi any support or encouragement, and I will pass it along to them. If you wish to donate anything else, please PM me or email me and I will send you an address to where you can send something.If you can not do this, I fully understand (as would Darin and Lexi). Thank you so much to everyone who have already given their sympathies to Darin and Lexi; they are both thankful for all of those who have been so kind to them and have given them the support they need.Dick "

10/8 and 10/9 flooding

2009-10-09T06:20:00.000-07:00

What a nasty few days we have had with all the rain!! Looks like the Tulsa area received between 3 and 6 inches of rain, with a few local higher amounts I am sure.

Could see some major river flooding at some locations through Sat. and with the passage of the cold front it looks like temps will get pretty chilly for this time of year especially this weekend!

Low temps for my CWA look to get down in the 30 degree range and we could see a pretty good frost!

The colder temps will certainly help with deer season (I hope!) and with the fall colors.

So far I have only see a few trees with any kind of real color change, most of them are still pretty green at least around here. This time of the year I always carry my camera with me just in case, so hopefully we actually have a good color change unlike last year.

Jon - Kate Plus 8 = no show = douchebag

2009-10-06T15:50:00.001-07:00

First of all, Yes, real men do watch these kinds of shows.

Second, for those that are interested and watch this show as I do, It looks like there are some major changes that have happened just recently. One of those changes is that the show "Jon And Kate Plus Ei8ht" is no longer on air.

There are many issues first off...the very day that TLC announced that the name of the show would be changing to "Kate Plus Eight" and would focus more on Kate raising the kids as a single mother, Jon's attorney sent a notice to cease filming of the kids. In it he said that Jon felt that the show was detrimental to his children. Funny it wasn't so detrimental on Fri. when they were filming WITH Jon. Sounds a little fishy huh? Second douchebag act is to clear out the joint checking account to the tune of $230,000!!!! Leaving the mother of his children no means to make money and no nest egg to take care of them with. All of this on the heels of running around like a horny teenager banging every 20-something woman that comes across his path. All I can say is it's men like Jon Gosselin that give ALL men a bad name. It's my opinion that he should grow up, shut up and help his wife raise the eight children that they brought into this world.

THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF STORMTRACK

2009-10-02T06:25:00.000-07:00

After taking much heat about my last blog and my recent post on ST, I decided I would explain myself and the reasons I feel the way I do.
First of all, in my opinion, Stormtrack has officially gone to hell. What used to be a forum that I enjoyed reading and even participating in some, has turned into nothing more than a socialist forum run by the very people that some of us used to look up to.
Back in the day, I enjoyed reading the new posts, seeing various pics and following the day to day happenings from various chasers during any given chase season.
For me, it was pure enlightenment and helped to curb my "itch" when I could not get out there and chase....I could always read the mag or, after the "online version" stop by ST online and get my fix so to speak. Not anymore.

The latest debacle caused such an uproar that the "mods" tried cleaning house a little and decided to ban/suspend 7 or 8 people. Some of those people are named chasers and have no doubt given much contributions to the storm chasing world. There were also many infractions handed out and as is usual the basic threats of banning were sent out by the "mods" as well as Mr. Tim V. himself.

Of course as is usual for my part, I questioned the "authority" and blatant ignorance of those who handed out said punishments. Not surprising, my thoughts were met with heat, some of which came from a select few of newbies as well as a few veteran chasers. with that said,
I am reminded that true ignorance does not discriminate against even those who may be educated!!!

As of date, I have not been back on ST and certainly do not plan on going back for some time.
This is not a hard decision for me right now due to the fact that deer season has begun and I will no doubt be spending more and more time in the woods with my slow annual retreat from the weather world.
Hopefully it will give me a little break from the day to day stupid stuff like ST. In the meantime, I have joined another weather forum and will be posting and sharing my thoughts there as opposed to ST.

"Tornado Hunters" and Tim V what the hell is wrong with you?

2009-09-29T09:35:00.000-07:00

Thought that some of my readers might enjoy the trailer for the show Tornado Hunters and Part 1 & 2...stay tuned for part 3 and more!!!!!
I expected to post here last night regarding the situation that happened on ST but I was simply way to tired and did not have a chance. So I thought I would at least address one thing that I am itching to ask: First of all to Mr. Tim V.
what the hell kind of "forum" are you running over there anyways?
As someone who still has a little respect for you, I am asking you to grow some balls and pull the trigger and fire some of those pricks! What I am refering to is the forward and blatant bullies you have listed as your "Mods" I have no respect for people like that and as I said in in the forum last night, unlike driving, for me, it is not a privilage to be a memebr of ST. It is a privilage that ST has me for a member.
Your forum is not the be all end all that you and your "mods" think or want it to be. The only difference between your forum and the likes of others is the fact that you, Tim V, and your mods have turned into a SOCIALIST FORUM.
What a joke! What the hell is wrong with you Tim?
Care for a rebuttle Tim?

Below is my video, enjoy what real chasers do!

Deer Season!!!

2009-09-24T03:20:00.000-07:00

Next Thursday October 1, is the start to my annual retreat from the weather world for awhile. It is the start to deer season, particularly bow season. For those that do not know, I am an avid bow hunter and have been since I was a child.
Deer season is not only a time for me to possibly put meat in the freezer (yes we do eat deer meat) but it also a time that I get to reflect somewhat on the past year. This reflection includes weather and chasing not to mention life in general. To me, there is no better time to really think about "things" than while sitting in a tree stand waiting on the sunrise....overlooking a lush field of green clover and watching the deer eat, play and do what deer do. The serenity of being out in the "wild" is one that I do enjoy and am glad that I can take part in on a year to year basis. It's just one of those things I love. Plus, it gets me out of the weather world for awhile and I get to spend more time with my family.
This year I have elected to take my son, so that hopefully, I can start the whole teaching process while he is young. I don't think I have ever been as excited about deer season as I am about this year.
I have already scouted, glassed, hung the stands and sighted my bow in....I am ready for deer season!!!

First REAL severe weather of fall?

2009-09-17T22:01:00.000-07:00

Got a chance to sit down tonight and go over a few models for the rest of this week and the first part of next week....interesting weather set up for Monday/Tuesday time frame.
To be honest, I have not looked at any weather data in about a month due to work, kids, school and everything else going on.
Right now it looks to me like we have a shot at severe from MO back down into OK, with the best chance IMO from central to western OK. However, per the GFS it does not look like the upper level winds will be close enough to the best instability (2500j/kg plus) in parts of western Oklahoma. Of course, we are still 3 days out and this may be another wait and see type thing but......if we can get some of the upper level support closer to the decent CAPE we might see some good supercells. Obviously this also depends on how much moisture we can get before the low closes and the front pushes through. Again, wait and see type thing.
At the very least we will likey see some type of severe probably in the form of squall as the front makes its move south.
Either way, I will likely chase this event and maybe score some structure or lightning pics.
Who knows????

Tips For Starting A Tour Business?? And Doswell Again?

2009-09-16T12:42:00.000-07:00

TIPS FOR STARTING A TOUR BUSINESS??

Yes....I have been asked that question, and while I usually do not respond to such a question....who would? Thats like asking a millionaire to give you all their secrets!
I was somewhat taken back by that same question asked on ST. In short, here is my answer:

Do your own homework.

Also, Jeremy, do me a favor...come talk to me when you have really paid your dues and when you have really been in "our" little world for 15 years.
The one thing I can not stand is a fake and you sir are a fake.

Moving forward, it seems as though Uncle Chuck took offense to the direction my post was going regarding his age.
Please note Chuck: I was not criticizing your age necessarily, I was merely questioning some of the decisions you have made as of late. I mentioned your age as a possible indication of some of the stupid shit you do and say. But, least I forget that you know more than anyone about everything and being omnipotent certainly has it's responsibilities. I do understand the fact that you need to "teach" the whole world that your views are the only that matter and everybody needs to follow them, oh wait....that sounds like someone who we all should recognize....Saddam Hussein

But instead of beer it should read wine.

Yes....I am talking bad about all of you, including you SMOK!!!!

2009-09-14T17:25:00.000-07:00

I know, I know...the catchy title made you look didn't it? And Uncle Chuck calls me a Yahoo??? lol
While I would love to give my opinions on a few matters and people, one of which just happens to call himself "The President"....that's not the reason for this blog post.

Todays post has to do with a guy named Steve Miller Oklahoma and his new blog site. Steve and I have known each other since the early to mid 90's and have even "chased together" in the early days a few times. Steve has recently moved his blog site with a complete rebuild. You can find Steve's new blog here:

http://www.hamwx.com/

This may be one of the most informative blogs out there!

Greensburg Revisited

2009-09-11T15:37:00.000-07:00

This is video of me reporting for KAKE the evening of 5-4-07, the night of Greensburg. I was going through some of my old tapes and found this and quite a bit of other video from that infamous night. I plan on posting some more video from that night sometime in the future.
Please note: ALL VIDEO IS COPYRIGHT KAKE TV OR LANNY DEAN.

ECT, and meet the new assclown Scott Para

2009-09-10T07:09:00.000-07:00

For those that are interested, I have been working on a couple new ideas for the tours and the website. I say I, and in all actuality it has been a team effort between everybody on the team including Mr. Shane Adams, Chad Berryhill, Bridget, Laura, Jim S. myself and JD. Some of the new concepts will be posted soon on the website or at the very least, when we really get into the dead season. Of course some of the new ideas have already been posted such as the "Remote Tours"

The "Remote Tours" is an idea I came up with out of nothing more than necessity. I basically had been turning potential customers away due to issues with their needs/wants of their possible tours. By happen stance, I had a dream one night and the idea of doing remote tours was born. I had been basically doing this for many years while guiding my own tours from home so while it is a fresh idea, it's not all that new. I say fresh idea as in regards to other chase tour companies, at this point no other tour company is or has tried to follow in my footsteps, and I am proud to say that I, Lanny Dean, brought "Remote Chase Tours" to the game. Hopefully it pans out like we want!?!?

On a different subject, I would like to give a big kuddo's to Shane Adams for his handling of the latest debacle with good ol' Uncle Chuck Doswell. For those that know Chuck, there really is no need to explain the situation but FWIW, and to those that don't here is the deal.....as is normal with Chuck, he decided to extend his "highly educated" opinion on a public network site with regards to a post Shane made, labeling it spam. To me, it was nothing more that Chuck trying to throw his weight around as is usual about once every few months. Shane certainly handled the situation very well considering and to be honest handled it better than most would....certainly better than I would have. Kuddo's Mr. Adams. On that note, I would like to thank 2 guys over at Spotterchat for "tolerating" my latest shortcomings from last week. You know who you are so there is no need for names. I will define a true friend as someone who knows your shortcomings, accepts them and is still willing to help you/be there for you......still willing to give or offer that friendship in spite of the stupid shit you do. I can pretty much count on both hands the people I would call my true good friends not inlcuding my wife: Chad Berryhill, Jeff Smith, Shane Adams, The guru, Bridget, JD, Morrie, Steve Miller, Scott B. , Jay Prayter, Jake W. Kevin R.......hope I have not forgotten anyone.

Now on to the stupid shit......For the most part I voice my opinion on here...it's my blog and I get to do that. Simply put, if you do not like what you are reading please feel free to make a trip over to Chucks Chatter and see if that does not suit you better, or feel free to look me up next time you see me out and about. Around here, I call stuff how I see it. I call stuff through my eyes. This could include everything from calling someone an ass clown (yes Dustin, I still think your an ass clown) to handing out kuddo's to those I respect (Mike Scantlin) And it just so happens that I feel the need to address an issue that took place last night on another "chat forum" Scott Para....I don't even know your name, nor do I want to after I heard what you did last night. While it is true that I think your an ass clown who has no shot at doing anything with the weather including real chasing, I also think that you have put a big black eye on the entire "chase community" with your antics and open remarks about your sexuality. To my knowledge, no one thought twice about your sexual preference. In our little world, its not about wood....its about the weather. Please allow me to make it very clear right now, sexual preference has no bearing with me. I either like you or I do not. I don't give a shit if you like midget porn and masturbate 3 times daily to it...makes no difference to me. But the one thing I will not tolerate is someone making sexual jokes about people that I know, respect, chased with, worked with or the like. I do not need or want to hear about how a named chaser gets you excited. It is not only wrong, it is degrading and even if no one else will stand up and say it.... I will.

HEY OBAMA...LEAVE THOSE KIDS ALONE!!

2009-09-07T20:38:00.000-07:00

For those that do not know, our infamous president (please refer to above picture) is to give a speech tomorrow to our nations children and teens. Here is my take on it.....

If you have ever wondered just how Hitler got his start and political backing in his early days, I believe we have just found out. The latest debacle with our "Hitler" (Obama) is due to his speech that he will give tomorrow/later today. This speech is to be aired in public schools around the nation and is geared to all students, K-12.

The real problem with the speech is the fact that our children need education not indoctrination! I am sure that I will probably take some heat from this and there will be those that will believe that this speech is all about how important it is to stay in school.

"Sheep In Wolves Clothing is all I can say.....remember the Warren Comissions report???

After his speech, students will be asked questions such as; WHAT DID OBAMA'S SPEECH MEAN TO ME? WHAT IS THE PRESIDENT ASKING ME TO DO? WHAT DID I TAKE AWAY FROM OBAMA'S SPEECH?

Of course, the questions asked are not to be understood as a debate, actually per our wonderful department of education , there are to be no debates.

What? No debates? And some people actually think socialism and communism does not exsist in this country? LMAO!!!!

If you have children, it is my sincere hope that you either keep them home from school tomorrow or at the very least keep them from attending during and just after the speech.

Personally I am very concerned that our nation is allowing this kind of crap to happen.

Folks, this is not a poltical party issue, this is a problem we all should face head on instead of turning the other way.

Here is the problem.....taking the questions that will be asked after the speech into consideration, I wonder (hypothetically speaking) if what would be understood from our nations youth if Obama came back in 2 months and gave another speech informing them that the Jews were bad people. Now, ask those same questions such as WHAT IS THE PRESIDENT ASKING ME TO DO? I wonder what kind of a response one would see then?

How far is this going to go?

Education not indoctrination Obama!!!!

My thoughts on a few matters!

2009-09-01T23:54:00.000-07:00

Here it comes boys and girls and it probably won't be real pretty....my thoughts on a few matters and ongoings.

First for all you people out there bitching about the economy here is a a news flash....its not like we have not been here before! Anybody remember the 70s? Carter? $2.50 gas?
20% interest rate no matter what your credit score was??? Yes, we have been here before.
SO STOP BITCHING! I DIDN'T VOTE FOR OBAMA...YOU DID.

Now on to the smart ass from StormTrack who thinks he is God's gift to the weather world.
Yes, I am refering to you Dustin Wilcox. Do us all a favor including yourself and redirect all that energy into something useful instead of acting like an assclown. I do not have the time nor energy to discuss your substandard education.
BTW, to the guy who thinks he may have taken a shot of ball lightning....you certainly may have, but for the rest of us who can not make heads or tails out of the picture you took, it is not all that clear.

To all my facebook friends......STOP SENDING ME THOSE STUPID GAMES, DRINKS, TESTS, QUIZZES AND ALL THE OTHER STUPID BULLSHIT.
If I wanted to participate in that kind of stuff I would pull the old monopoly game out of the closet. Get my point?

Now, to the few of you who have/were questioning my idea/decision in bringing Shane Adams on board with the tours (this one is for you Scott N.) I do not owe anyone anything, certainly not any kind of an explanation. Shane's resume speaks for itself and he is my friend. He has paid his dues and has seen more weather than any one of you who questioned.
He is that good. End of story.

It's late, Im tired.

NO TORNADOES, NO SUPERCELLS, NOTHING BUT LIGHTNING

2009-08-20T06:06:00.000-07:00

What a day mother nature just threw away yesterday! With all the meteorological conditions we had almost 6000j/kg, LIs -12, 350M2/S2 helecity values, 82% SARS Tornado, a tornado watch, the list goes on and on.....and NO TORNADOES! The worst part....only one real supercell.
I still have no real idea what exactly happened yesterday. With all the conditions it would have been and should have been easy for tornadoes to develop.
In fact, the 0z LMN sounding showed one hell of a hodo. The only problem I saw was weakness nearing 700mb but I have seen that before so I do not think that was the issue.
Whatever the reason does not really mater all it means is...no tornadoes yesterday, but Chad Berryhill and I still had much fun. We took quite a bit of lightning photos/video with some of the most intense lightning I have ever seen. I will try to post some pics as soon as I can but right now I am tired and to busy.......
thanks to Mike Scantlin for giving us the heads up on the cell just south of Stillwater....we were not paying attention so thanks Mike. As always, thanks to Big Daddy for helping yesterday.
Im out for now

TORNADOES LATER TODAY?

2009-08-19T06:44:00.000-07:00

I know, I know....here it is Aug. 19 and I am sitting here looking over forecast models for later today.....guess someone forgot to tell Mother nature what month it is!

Above are a few parameters that I usually look at when we have a possible severe set up, included are: wind speeds at low levels, helecity values from 0-1km and 0-3km and temp and dewpoint spread with the Lifted Index overlay.

Today actually looks very good for severe weather and even the chance of a few strong tornadoes. The best energy (the best place for severe weather) will of course be hung through central Missouri and back into eastern Kansas. Conditions here could get pretty rough later today with all modes of severe possible including tornadoes.

The second area of interest to me is southern/southeastern Kansas into Oklahoma. This area will not see the same "good energy" as up north but it looks to have a some pretty decent shear and good instability and with a cold front to the north, we could see some severe down there.

Today could get interesting.....

TORNADO!!! Trailer for ECT

2009-07-29T06:39:00.000-07:00

After putting in a butt ton of overtime at work, I finally a break and got the video digitized and edited and uploaded to the website and youtube. Enjoy!!!

Extreme Chase Tours

2009-07-23T12:17:00.000-07:00

http://www.extremechasetours.com/

For those that do not know already....I have finally got the 2010 stormchasing tour dates up and on the webpage. It took quite a bit of time but thanks to Chad Berryhill and Shane Admas it is finally done and I thank them for all the help!
We have set up more tours for 2010 than I have ever done before so it has been a bit crazy at times but I am very excited, and with the kind of help I have got for next year, it should be great!
We (Extreme Chase Tours) are also trying to roll out some new and fresh ideas to help people learn more about the weather. We will be slowly rolling those out early next year, so stay tuned!

Not much going on in the weather world right now...basic summer time set-up. Looks like late this week into early next week could have some potential and certainly has my attention right now....but so does fishing and the upcoming deer season (bow season anyways!)

For those that might be interested ina stormchasing tour, please feel free to check out the website at:
http://www.extremechasetours.com/

A look at the 7-15-09 NE Oklahoma supercell

2009-07-19T21:28:00.000-07:00

Copyright Lanny Dean 2009 watermarked!

7-15-09 supercell

Back on the 15th and the morning of the 16th we had a few rounds of severe weather here in the Tulsa and surrounding areas. I decided to go out on it to see if I could get a few lightning pics. Not only did I get some lightning pics, I was also able to shoot and film a very large rotating wall cloud and funnel near Cleveland, OK to near Jennings OK. I have posted those photos on my facebook as well as stormtrack but I feel there is a need to go a little further.
Below is a radar shot around 9:39pm (cdt) This cell had a 70dbz core with 3.5 in hail and reported winds above 60 mph. The NWS in Tulsa did had a severe thunderstorm warning on this storm but did not have any tornado warnings or the like. Interestingly enough, the above picture shows a classic wall cloud and small funnel. I took the picture looking west northwest towards the Cleveland OK area.

With a southeast movement, (as with most storms that move southeast) the wall cloud and any interesting features are usually on the west/southwest or northwest side of the storm. Generally the best viewing on a storm like this is usually from the south or southwest side which is exactly where I was located when I took the pictures. I am not sure why Tulsa NWS did not have a Tornado warning on this storm. Although not posted (because I did not save the SRV file to my hard drive) this storm had a a very strong couplet with nearly 100kts gate to gate! Clearly this storm, in my opinion, should have been tornado warned!!!
The rotating wall cloud was present for well over 30 minutes and I personally viewed it cycle 3-4 times. Using my ham radio, I did report the first wall cloud and funnel to the NWS.....
So why was a tornado warning not issued? That's a very good question and one that I don't have any kind of an answer for.
I have seen storms that clearly were not as severe as this that have and were tornado warned. Was someone asleep? Did someone not look at the velocity returns?
Chances are we will never know but, this is a perfect example of how a storm can be a possible tornado producer and not be tornado warned.
Not long after I took the picture, the storm moved a little to the south and reports of very large hail started coming in from north of Jennings. That's the direction I shot the picture below:

As you can see the storm still had a very large wall cloud and from the radar shot below you can even see a TVS ( Tornado Vortex Signature)

A tornado vortex signature, or tornadic vortex signature, (TVS), is a Doppler weather radar detected rotation algorithm that indicates the likely presence of a strong mesocyclone that is in some stage of the process of tornadogenesis. It gives meteorologists the ability to pinpoint and track the exact location of a tornadic rotation within a larger storm, and is an important feature in the National Weather Service's switch from county-sized tornado warning boxes to more focused fan-shaped warning zones.
It is often visible on the Doppler radar storm relative velocity product as side by side inbound and outbound velocities, a condition known as a velocity couplet or "gate-to-gate" shear. In most cases, the TVS is a strong mesocyclone aloft, not an actual tornado, although the presence of an actual tornado on the ground can occasionally be inferred based on a strong couplet in concert with a debris cloud signature. When the algorithm is tripped, a TVS icon and pertinent information appear. Radar analysis of the velocity couplet as well as the automated TVS are very significant to issuing tornado warnings and can suggest the strength and location of possible tornadoes. Although many tornadoes, especially the stronger ones, coincide with a TVS, many weak EF0-1 tornadoes can and do occur without a TVS, especially if they are not produced from an identified mesocyclone.

In my opinion and for what it's worth, a tornado warning should have been issued.
Where were you Tulsa?

July 4th pics and random stuff

2009-07-13T08:34:00.001-07:00

These are not the best quality because I had to re size them, but you get the idea. Have not really updated the blog in a while because we have been so busy with the website and tours.

Spent the holiday weekend camping with Chad Berryhill and his wife as well as Shane Adams and Bridget and had a lot of fun.

Not much going on in the weather world so to speak...basic summertime pattern with most severe weather being well to the north in the Dakotas and Nebraska.

Later today and again tomorrow looks interesting, but not something I would jump on and chase. I'll leave that to the other guys!

Got an interesting e-mail the other day from someone who also owns/runs a "tour company".......looks like another candidate for my monthly awards!!!

That's about all that is going on in my world right now. Been spending some quality time with my wife and children at the lake and expect to do much more of it!!!

A few pics from the season

2009-06-27T10:57:00.000-07:00

NEW FACES AT EXTREME CHASE TOURS

2009-06-22T09:40:00.000-07:00

As most people who read my blog already know, I own and run Extreme Chase Tours and have since its inception years ago.

Much like any other small business owner you start small but at some point you start grow and realize that expanding is the only option. With this growth also comes excitement as well as a new bit of responsibility, unless of course you are lucky enough to find a few people who know much about the field you are in or the product you are selling. Lucky for me I have found a few people that certainly need no introduction into the crazy world of weather.

The last 2 weeks have been pretty crazy and as most of the people who frequent my blog already know, I hired Shane Adams and Bridget to run a "last chance" tour due to us being overbooked. The tour was 6 days and probably could not have come at a better time as far as the weather. The month of May sucked but June was so much better and offered some decent up-slope flow in eastern Colorado and some surprises in Kansas.

Shane and Bridget did a wonderful job and in fact I could have asked for anything more! Shane did a great job forecasting basic target areas which allowed me to not "have to hold his hand" and was very very nice....not to mention I was able to finally focus on other things that I needed to get done. It was great!

Bridget did wonderful with guiding and dealing with the customer and basically helping with everything that goes along with guiding a tour. It was really a great feeling knowing that the tour was being run as I would run it.

Long story short, I have asked Shane & Bridget and Chad Berryhill to join Extreme Chase Tours full time. I was very excited when they said yes and have no doubts that 2010 will be a wonderful year!

Each person brings something special to the table and I am so Excited.

Chad Berryhill is basically a new chaser but has learned so much this season and I have spent much time with him and think he will be one heck of an addition to the team as well.

Look for more exciting news from Extreme Chase Tours coming soon!!!!

Shane Adams, Bridget & Extreme Chase Tours day 3

2009-06-11T02:58:00.000-07:00

Just now getting a chance to sit down and finally update the blog. The last few days have been very very busy in the weather world as well as in my little world. We have tours ongoing right now and it has been very stressfull for all of us but it has been good.

Kuddos to Mr. Shane Adams and Bridget for taking on such an "on the fly task"!!!!
For those that do not know, Shane and Bridget are currently guiding a tour for me and are in Hays Kansas right now with a Colorado target later today.
Today will be day 3 of the tour and although they have not seen a tornado yet (they have seen some great structure) I have a good feeling that they may see some action in northeast Colorado, northwest Kansas and southwest Nebraska as the upslope flow digs in. For those that might be interested, you can follow Shane and Bridget on the spotter network....they are listed under my name. I believe Shane has a target area around Fort Morgan and then east from there....hope they get some tubes tomorrow!

A big shout out to Mr. Chad Berryhill for bagging his first tornado in Missouri the other day and for helping me last night! BTW, thanks to Mr. Steve Miller OK and Hans for all the help the other day while I was "blind"...hope I didnt bother you guys too much.
Also thanks to the "Guru" for all the help....I had originally targeted northeast Colorado for later today but also saw the potential along the red river, I was pulled somewhat as to the best tornado potential for the day but I think I made the right call ....4 eyes are better than two!
And finally thanks to Mr. Jeff Smith...without your friedship none of this would have been possible!

On the home front... I hade to go back to the doc today for an issue I have been having with my eyes. As it stands, I have an infection in both my eyes and the doc had to put drops in my eyes and put me on antibiotics. Hopefully I will be better in a few days and back to work!

Thats it for now....I will try to update later today!

A look at our fantastic Oklahoma Highway Patrol

2009-05-31T04:17:00.000-07:00

I don't know what to say....seems like OHP will have quite a bit of explaining to do, but as we all know politics will no doubt come to bat. Stopping an ambulance for speeding????

!!May 29th 2004 tornadofest video!!

2009-05-29T09:35:00.000-07:00

For those that may have a severe case of SDS or who may just simply be interested in seeing some crazy EXTREME tornado video-now is your chance!!!!
My video from the 5-29-04 event will be played tonight at 8pm central on CTV(ChaserTV)

The video includes 17 tornadoes, some of which are EXTREMELY CLOSE!!!! and even one which hits me directly!
Today marks the 5 year anniversary of the tornadic event and what better way to remember than by getting to watch video of it!

You can watch the video by going to www.ChaserTV.com

Start time is 8pm central...you can see a sample clip below:

End of May surprise? June 5 - June 9?, Shane Adams?....too many questions!

2009-05-27T06:12:00.000-07:00

Looking at the GFS 200hr plus it appears we have got a decent chance of severe coming the first week of June. Posted below are last nights/yesterdays instability (LCL, CAPE and LIs) runs via the folks over at Twister Data. Just like everybody else, with each run I am getting more excited about the weather possibilty with the breakdown of this death ridge. Right now it looks like June 4 through June 9 with the greatest risk from the 5th through the 8th.... of course this is if the models verify and the trough and low stay on current track. Looks interesting!
This weekend also has some potential if things set up correctly, IMO Saturday could be one of those sleeper days from southern KS through MO. Certainly something to keep an eye on although I am not real excited about it just yet.

Just wanted to give a big shout out to Mr. Shane Adams and Bridge....on Monday Laura and I decided to take a little trip to Norman for the holiday to visit Bridget and Shane and what a great time we had!! This was Laura's first time to meet Bridget and I know she had a wonderful time! We took a few pictures which are posted below. Now if we could only get pics of chad and Erin!!

Double trouble!!!!!!!!

MAYmorial weekend chase???

2009-05-18T09:28:00.000-07:00

Interesting picture the GFS model is painting for this upcoming weekend, of course we are still 6 days out and as we all know things can change but at this point it looks like we could see a shot at severe from sw Kansas through western Oklahoma and into Texas....long ways out but does look really interesting!

By the way, because so much has happened this last week my next blog post may be a little long and might in fact it very well may tick a few people off.....Randy Hicks - your one of em!

But thats next time.

Massive derecho and classic bookend vorticity (radar shots)

2009-05-08T12:50:00.000-07:00

A massive derecho that started in north central KS very early this morning is currently hammering the TN valley area and points east. The radar grab above was taken this morning when the Springfield Missouri area was getting hit. You can clearly see the "bow echo" and near the top or north end on the echo there is a very interesting area that we call bookend vorticity.
In its most basic form, it is when the top end, bottom end or both ends of the "bow echo" fold in on its self.
Under the right conditions this folding can and generally does cause that part of the storm to rotate and can help lead to tornadogenesis.

Bookend Vorticity with tornado warning shows classic hook echo via StormLab Supercharged

Also of real interest is the "hole" that is clearly seen in the composite mode as well as the SRV mode!
Radar shot below is from GRLevel3 and also shows the couplet and inflow notch created by the wrap around vorticity. At one point this particular couplet had almost 110 kts gate gate!

Damage has been pretty much been reported with this system since it first began and tornado reports are also still ongoing.
For those not familure with a derecho, A derecho (from Spanish: "derecho" meaning "straight") is a widespread and long-lived, violent convectively induced straight-line windstorm that is associated with a fast-moving band of severe thunderstorms in the form of a squall line usually taking the form of a bow echo. Derechos blow in the direction of movement of their associated storms, similar to a gust front, except that the wind is sustained and generally increases in strength behind the "gust" front. A warm weather phenomenon, derechos occur mostly in summer, especially June and July in the Northern Hemisphere. They can occur at any time of the year and occur as frequently at night as in the daylight hours.
The traditional criteria that distinguish a derecho from a severe thunderstorm are sustained winds of 58 mph (93 km/h) during the storm (as opposed to gusts), high or rapidly increasing forward speed, and geographic extent (typically 250 nmi (460 km) in length).^[1] In addition, they have a distinctive appearance on radar (bow echo); several unique features, such as the rear inflow notch and bookend vortex, and usually manifest two or more downbursts

TORNADO WARNING?...OUN where are you?

2009-04-28T21:12:00.000-07:00

I am going to start this post with one question.....OUN where are you?

So here goes......I have noticed the last few years (while chasing in Norman's CWA) that they have become somewhat relaxed in issuing tornado warnings on storms that clearly needed it.

The 4-25-09 Clinton supercell was no exception and in my opinion could have been a very bad situation with an outcome similar to that of the deadly 4-21-96 Fort Smith tornado.

For those not familiar with that event, the link to that report is here:

http://www.weather.gov/os/assessments/pdfs/ftsmith.pdf

Just for the record, the above picture was taken by me 2 miles south of Clinton OK on 4-25. There was/is clearly a tornado on the ground as we noted "possible" ground circulation but I was not sure and most other chasers around were not sure either. Our exact location as I noted above was 2 miles south Clinton in a gas station parking lot and our view at the time was due east north east. Before going too far in detail I feel that a partial description of the chase leading up to the event may help explain the situation and might help the other chasers who were on the event.

After leaving the Hammon, OK supercell (as it appeared to weaken) we decided to dive south and catch the next supercell south of Clinton. Driving south on HWY 183 we punched the east side of the core and got right up under the updraft base. We decided to stop to film and shoot pics so we pulled into a gas station parking lot where it appeared we were the only chasers there at the time. The UDI area was pinched together and was still west of HWY 183, it was rotating very hard and quickly produced a full rotating wall cloud with rapid rising scud pulling into it.

I noticed that winds had shifted and were now pulling in from the southwest......from that point on we just let the it roll over us as it produced a small funnel on the outer rings of the collar cloud.

By this time there were quite a few chasers in the parking lot one of which asked me if it was a tornado. I replyed that I was not sure and informed him that NWS had not issued a tornado warning on it yet. At this point, I ran around to the east side of the gas station and snapped a few pics and noticed what I thought was debris under the funnel but I was not exactly sure due to a big wooden fence in my field of view. After looking at the pictures and video it is VERY CLEAR that this WAS A TORNADO.

The fact that we filmed a tornado is certainly not the big deal nor the issue at hand. The issue is the fact that this storm should have been tornado warned long before we intercepted it.

After looking at data that is why we targeted this storm to begin with. Although I did not post it (I closed out my SRV fields) there was a great couplet on the backside with nearly 90kts gate to gate before the storm was even severe warned with 3 inch hail being reported south west of Clinton. On that note, some may argue that since the storm was severe warned the general public should have already taken actions. Again, please see the link I have posted above.

The fact of the matter is that this was could have been a very bad situation.

WHERE WERE YOU OUN?

Big thanks to Chad Berryhill for going with us on such short notice. Also, thanks to Jeff Smith who made chasing on the 26th a blast....thanks for the radio Jeff! And to Mr. Shane Adams and Brid as well as Mick....I enjoyed breakfeast!

For the record (for what its worth) after looking at video and pics I filmed 3 tornadoes in two days....certainly not close up and picture perfect ones down in Roger Mills County but we got some good stuff and had a blast.

Interesting??

2009-04-22T07:50:00.001-07:00

Very interesting model runs for late this week and weekend. After looking over the latest, it looks as though we should see our "first" real shot at a classic severe weather set up. By classic I mean a pattern that we all know and expect with full moisture return. This is what we have basically been lacking so far this year.
There obviously has been much talk about the lack of moisture to work with and quite a few people bitching about how this year is panning out compared to other years. I have never really been one to predict that a year is going to be a "non severe" weather year simply because we do not have good moisture return this early in the year.
2006 was a pretty dry year but severe weather still happened and we, like many others, were still able to get some pretty good stuff.

Been quite a bit of talk in the forums as well as web pages about the "new breed" of chasers.
I really do not have much to say about that either.....seems like every year it is the same stuff over and over.
While it is true that each year more and more chasers pop into the game, some with no real education or interest in gaining knowledge, it is also true that those of us who have been around a while still make it out doing the same old same old....personally, it makes no difference to me as long as the those people stay out of my way.
I have been lucky enough to run into and get to know some of those "new guys" and to be honest some of them are just as hungry as I was when I was new.
Here is a new idea....how about focusing on the weather and not so much on what the new guys are doing, who they are or how many tornadoes that have seen.
Might be a good idea to finally put old uncle Chucks ideas and thoughts out to rest once and for all?!?!?

EXTREME CHASE TOURS FILMS TORNADO!!

2009-04-16T15:06:00.000-07:00

Just got off the phone with Eric and they got a tornado just west of Kress....he said it was a brief tornado and on the ground for about 2-3 minutes or so. This is the second day of Tour #1 and I am so glad our guests were able to get a tornado!!!

Right now Eric is still on a tornado warned cell just south of there so stay tuned! Below is a radar grab of the cell that produced the tornado

Tornado Hunters in the UK, chase tours

2009-04-16T06:49:00.000-07:00

For my friends across the pond FYI... Tornado Hunters has been airing on discovery UK since Monday and is set to air at various times through this week. Thanks to Mark for letting me know!
From what I understand Tru-tv has sold the production to Discovery and although I am pretty happy about it, you would think that Tru could have at least told us. After calling "The Outlaw"
to inform him, we both agreed that it might prove to get interesting!

It is official....the chase tours have started!! Our first tour of the season has just started and hopefully this week mother nature will show us a little something. I had my morning call with Eric and our tour guest's this morning and let them all know what my forecast area was(I have other obligations and will not be on the tour). At this point the target is Pampa/Dumas TX. Models are painting decent instability and shear and this should promote supercells in the above area. I do not like the tornado potential due to what has generally been our problem so far this year and that is the lack of true mositure. We will have to wait and see what happens but hopefully!!!

Change of pace.....Mikey Gribble and another Vortex?

2009-04-11T22:39:00.000-07:00

First of all for those that read my blog this may be somewhat of a long post but with quite a bit going on I thought I would touch on a few issues all at once just to get them out of the way

Decided on a little change of pace from the day to day drama with the weather world today and so I decided to go fishing. As you can see above I had some decent luck and had much fun.

Before I left the house to go fishing I decided to grab an old rod and reel that my mother gave me years ago just to see how it would do (you can see the reel above)....the reel was actually my Grandpa's that he had given to my Mom and then she handed down to me. It is an old Eagle Claw open face and when you reel it it makes that old clicking sound much like something straight from the past which it basically is. I have no idea how old it is but it worked well today and I enjoyed it very much. It brought many memories back as I clicked the bail and threw my arm back to cast.....was so much fun just basically forgetting everything for a while.

But now that I am sitting back in the real world...there are a few things on my mind that I am going to discuss and as usual if you do not like it please move on.

Mr. Mikey Gribble, I say that name and in some circles it is no doubt just as infamous as mine is and most of people who know me know that Mikey has never been a friend of mine. In fact most know that I actually could not stand the guy, The reasons were not many and being honest, I could probably only give just a few as to why I did not care for the guy.

Much of the dislike centered around issues that did or did not take place during and after the Nickerson event. Without going too far in detail, there is no doubt in my mind that a KWCH SAT/ENG truck followed me around for almost the entire event. I do have video of this and so does KAKE. In the truck were two people, one of which had longer hair and was a "lady" which I assumed was a certain on air met/weather reporter that I had seen earlier in the day in Kingman with Mikey Gribble.....this is where Mikey and I have issues and probably will always have issues however; call it my age or chalk it up to me getting somewhat soft..... either way,

the last few weeks I have certainly paid attention to the guy and to be honest, what I thought was just some mouthy kid who didn't know a damn thing about weather, has in my eyes not only proven himself a great forecaster but also a good chaser as well.

I know this probably comes as a shock to some and those of you who do not like him may even feel the need to be-little me. For those that do....feel free.

Without sounding like any kind of an ass kisser (which many of you know I am not) I just call things as I see them, right wrong or indifferent it's just the way I am so,

for those still reading this post, I would like to encourage you and everyone else to visit Mikey's blog and look over his weather and tornado forecasts. You can view his blog here:

http://loadedgunchasing.com/blog1/

Now on to other chase related news......My thoughts on Vortex 2.

Last Thursday I was asked by TWC via NBC Uni. to follow Vortex 2 around for the entire season. Of course this was a media role, one in which I would not only be chasing but also "live" reporting and shooting.

As entertaining as the thought was, I simply had to refuse due to the fact that Eric and I had just signed with KPI productions. But with an offer on the table like that it got me to thinking about Project Vortex and the recently funded and green lighted Vortex 2.

We all know that Project Vortex was supposed to be the be-all end-all tornado projects, one in which we were supposed to learn more than anything we had ever known about tornadoes and tornadogenisis.

I am sure that all of us can and do remember or have at least seen video of one storm in particular (Dimmit TX) that was totally surrounded by not only DOW units but also many mobile mesonets some of which recorded much useful data. But there were also many many other "productive" intercepts that did not make Tornado Video Classics or any other productions in the "name of science.

All of the data collected through Project Vortex was supposed to give us more knowledge than ever before albeit, years in study. It truly was to be the study that would give us true insight into how tornadoes happen and why.

Over the years there have also been other field studies such as STEPS and many others and of course we have all seen Dr. Wurman do his thing time after time on Discovery, again all in the name of science.

I for one have big issues with this latest "project"

My main questions are: what happened to the data that was to give us such good insights into tornadoes? We have spent God only knows how much money on these projects and what have we received in return? What have we really learned in the last 25 years of tornado research?

After millions of dollars what have we really learned and how much more can we learn about how strong or which way the winds are blowing in a supercell?

Anyway you cut it in reality the answer is still the same, NOTHING!

And what a great time to undergo a project such as this.....we have a failing economy, many are out of work, more are getting laid off everyday, people are loosing everything they have and the value of our dollar goes down everyday. But still, we find a way to fund a project, the likes of which we (chasers) even some veterans do not remember and call all good in the name of science. Were is the logic?

We have not come any further in understanding tornadoes than we were 25 years ago.

Many will argue this but think about just where we were 25 years ago and where we are today.....we still have 11 basic hypothesis about how tornadoes form with many of the big names in the weather world not being able to agree as to which one is correct.

It makes no sense to me and my honest opinion is that this is going to be nothing but a cluster that will not only put many many many more vehicles filled with weather weenies who have never really experienced weather on the road. We all know what it is like to get caught up in a chaser convergence and I for one hate this idea.

Let's just hope this time, they get what they are after and we really learn something.

Just my thoughts.....

KPI

2009-04-04T21:18:00.000-07:00

After a quick and easy negotiation (thanks Bill!) It is finally official, Extreme Chase Tours has signed with KPI productions!
I say Extreme Chase Tours because I am including Eric but actually the tours will not be involved in the productions in anyway. Of course I can not talk about the production yet but I am asking that KPI allow me to at least post the trailer on the website or here on the blog. Hopefully in the next week or two I will have the trailer posted.
We are very happy to be working with KPI as they are a top notch productions company and this year is sure to be exciting so stay tuned!
I am sorry to those that have called or e-mailed and asked what was going on...I just could not give any details until we knew for sure what was going to happen. Hopefully I didn't upset anybody!
I will post more info when I can.

Tornado: "In The Line Of Duty"

2009-03-29T11:00:00.000-07:00

For those that have been asking and interested, tonight is the airing of the the Storm Stories in which I participated in called: Tornado In The Line Of Duty. Most of you know that the story is about the deadly Greensburg EF-5 tornado that happened on May 4, 2007.

At the time I was working for KAKE as their severe weather reporter and photographer(stormchaser)

For all that know me, you know Greensburg means so very much to me for many reasons and I hope this show will reflect that. I have not been able to see the rough cut so I do know know how they "edited" the story or content but from the teasers I have seen, it should prove interesting.

The show is to air tonight at 7:00pm central time on TWC.

For those that are interested, I will be on SpotterChat before the show and then again after the show to do a Q&A session. Please feel free to join us at www.Spotterchat.org and sign up if your not already a memeber.

Nothing left to say!

2009-03-07T01:22:00.000-08:00

GREAT TIMES.....FOR THOSE WHO WERE THERE, NOTHING LEFT TO SAY!

"The Old Beast" and Extreme Chase Tours

2009-03-02T09:28:00.001-08:00

After many years of service and many tornadoes, "the old beast" as in my chase truck, has finally broken down.
It happened while I was coming back from Mission Of Compassion with Jeff Smith. I was just about back into OKC when I started smelling something "burning" well that burning smell just happened to be oil. After a close inspection, well it really was not close....I opened the hood and oil was everywhere! I decided to drive back closer to home and found a car wash in Bristow and after a good washing of the engine, I found that my lower front seal had blown on me.
After spending all day Sunday working on it, I finally got the nut off the crankshaft and plan on replacing it tonight.
Hopefully I get it all done before this weekend because it looks as though we may have a decent shot at some severe weather locally and it would be nice to have the "old beast" up and running again.
For those that keep up with my blog or website, just a quick note to let you know that I have finally got the video posted on the website like I want it. I have tried to use the WMV players and to me they just do not look as good as the YouTube players so I decided to keep they YouTube players and just change the layout a bit. I plan on just using those for promoting and selling my video. For those interested, the link is:
http://www.extremechasetours.com/Stock_video.html

Pictures of Lone Grove & MOC #6

2009-02-23T23:10:00.000-08:00

Spent the day on Sunday down in Lone Grove with Jeff Smith, I was able to participate in Mission Of Compassion and although I had some reservations about going down there, I had a wonderful time. It is not often that we as chasers are able to help in the recovery process after a tornado, we basically focus on the forecast, the nowcast and the chase so this was a little different for me. It was difficult to go in and view the damage in Lone Grove and at times it felt like I was back at Greensburg. This was a killer tornado and the damage was reflective of that

especially south of town in the mobile home park. What were once trailers were basically nothing more that splinters now. Of course there was stuff everywhere and while my sister and I walked around and took pictures and video we realized that the "stuff" was once some ones life. It is something that most people just simply do not understand.

To me, it was very clear why and how so many people died in this tornado. Most of the deaths came from the mobile home park and in driving through the local area it was very apparent that these people had basically no where to go. The park was located to the east side of a north/south road and had only one way in and one way out. There were not any tornado shelters nor were there any low areas that provided any real protection. With the tornado moving from southwest to northeast, driving away or escaping in a vehicle was not an option once the tornado was south of the trailer park. I spoke with a survivor who told me that they waited to see just where the tornado was going to go and when they thought about leaving, they did not have time.

Had any of those people tried to escape via driving out of the park they basically had only two options, drive north into town and go east or west on hwy 70 or drive south to the next county road and go east or west. Both options would no doubt have been costly as the tornado appeared to grow to its strongest and widest width through this area. It looked to me like the maximum tornado width in this area was 1/4 to 1/2 of a mile wide.

While we noted some massive damage some of which did appear to be in the EF-4 range,

WE DID NOT SEE ANY SIGN OF SCOURING OF THE ROAD, STREET OR CONCRETE ANYWHERE NEAR LONE GROVE! This includes 7-8 miles south of town where we picked up the damage path all the way through town and back north of town 4-5 miles.

The pictures and reports of what was referred to as "peeling off of the pavement" was simply bogus. The road had a small washout and had been unimproved for over 3 years per one of the locals who lived just down the road. It is a shame that some felt the need to sensationalize this tragedy and terrible destruction for self promotion.

I plan on posting video and some more pictures as I get time. A big shout out to Jeff Smith for putting MOC 6 together and for allowing me to go. Thanks Jeff!

On a different note, some of my video from Greensburg has been shown on the promo for The Weather Channels "Tornado Week" Tonight more of my video will be shown as the latest show tells the story through the eyes of the locals in Greensburg. And then on March 29Th my story including my interviews and video will air, some of the video has not been seen before and should prove to be interesting. If you have had any interest in Greensburg this may be something to see.

MONSTER SUPERCELLS!!!

2009-02-18T17:06:00.001-08:00

Monster supercells have broken out in the southeast this afternoon and evening with MANY tornado warnings and reports of very very large hail.

The radar signature above shows a classic hook echo and very high reflectivity return which basically means which the way the winds are blowing. The red and bright reds are moving away from the radar and the greens and blue are moving towards the radar.

This is a classic signature of a possible tornado, hence the tornado warning and I would not be suprised to see quite a bit of damage reports come out of these areas.

Below is another radar grab from a supercell that went directly through the small town of Selma Alabama. 4 inch hail was reported with this storm and there has been damage reported in the area as well.

People in these areas could be in for a long night!

Greensburg on Dateline NBC plus TWC TORNADO WEEK!

2009-02-15T02:14:00.000-08:00

Dateline NBC will air some of my Greensburg video tonight during a show called "10 DEATH DEFYING MOMENTS CAPTURED ON CAMERA" from 6pm - 8pm

I am not real sure of the in's and out's of the show but I suspect with a title like that it may be somewhat lame given the circumstance, but I am excited to see what and how they portray the tragidy. As most of you know I have been extremly busy with trying to complete the shows for The Weather Channel regarding Greensburg. The series consists of 2 shows and although I am not exactly sure of the air date, after finally completing it as of today, I am being told that it will air later this month (Feb. 22-27?) I have not been told the name of the shows other than "Storm Stories" but again, I am pretty excited about it. The series will air during TORNADO WEEK and should prove to be pretty interesting. My only issue is that I do not know how they plan on portraying the tragidy that took place.

I think that is one of my biggest fears in dealing with any production company now days and it does not help that Greensburg has been such a big part of my life for the last 2 years. The last thing I would want is for some sort of misrepresentation about the events and what really happened that night. I have done a few other Storm Stories and I suspect they will represent the situation as it was.....at least I hope they do.

I also thought I would post some info for my good friend Jeff Smith. Jeff and company plan on doing another Mission Of Compassion for the folks down in the Lone Grove OK area. For those that do not know, Lone Grove was struck by an EF4 tornado last week and sadly 9 lives were lost. I will post more info and contacts about this within the next few days. If you think you might be willing or wanting to help please feel free to contact Jeff at: stormrider1970@gmail.com

Cuth, Couth...the "cuth" of some people on Stormtrack

2009-02-12T06:33:00.000-08:00

Lone Grove radar signature

First of all some of you who read my blog already know how I feel about a few people who frequent ST. The majority of which are good people who have some knowledge about weather and stormchasing, however, some are nothing more than armchair chasers who, while they may be very well educated, have never chased much less really understand the big picture.
I think it would be safe to say that some do not even have an understanding of life in general except outside of "their world".
Because of this, I often post here on my blog about the stupidity of those people if for no other reason than to exploit their ignorance.
For me, there is nothing that makes me more upset than someone who tries to be-little a person because of their so called ignorance.
Such was the case with a couple of individuals on who posted on ST regarding the deaths from the tornado down in Lone Grove. The concept that somehow people are at fault because they died in a tornado is true ignorance to me. I believe in fate, God and the thought that when its your time, it's your time. To me, that's why the people died in Lone Grove.
As most people know, I struggled with why so many people died in Greensburg. How could people die with warning times in excess of 2o minutes? The fact is that it was their time to go.

After a tornado has done major damage and lives are lost, it seems that people jump on the band wagon and start screaming about how there should have been more shelters, how people should have taken the warning seriously......
And then the so called "educated" ones will even go so far as to place blame for the deaths with some even trying to use education and or way of life as a reason. Yes this included you Rdale.
And on that note, I have taken much heat from some for "getting way personal" in my blogs by naming names or by my "lack of caring" and "lack of professionalism" by calling it how I see it, and of course because of the "douche bag of the month ward"
Here is a news flash for those of you who have not already figured it out yet, I have nothing to prove to anybody and I don't owe anyone anything most particularly in the chasing/weather world. I have paid my dues and whether you like me or not, this is who I am.
I call things as I see them.....if this upsets you, don't read my blog, it's really very simple actually.
If you do not like or care for my opinion and do not want to hear what I think, don't listen to me.
I am not asking for acceptance, I do not feel as though I need any. Again, for those that truly know me, know the person I am, if you like me great, if you don't that's great as well, but don't be-little me because you hold a degree in meteorology all the while not having chased a day in your life.
This all goes back to the situation on ST where someone plainly stated that education/ignorance was the reason the people died in Lone Grove....and you received your degree from what institution????
Ignorance is the lack of knowledge, stupidity is the mentality that your better than everyone else.
From the Urban dictionary:
1.)
cuth
To have class, manners, or be polite.
I can't believe you just laughed at a retard, you have no cuth.

2.)
cuth

You eith have cuth or u dont, you cannot attain cuth.
You got no cuth. You got alotta cuth comin at me like that. I admire your cuth.

3.)
Cuth
You either have cuth or you dont, you cannot attain cuth.
You got no cuth. You got alotta cuth comin at me like that. I like your cuth.

Just so we are clear on the matter, I know it was/is not the correct way to spell the word, hence, using the Urban dictionary. For the few that actually took the time to tell me my grammar was not correct, next time please read the entire post before you get trigger happy and go on a witch hunt for bad spellers! I was simply trying to exploit Mr. Rdales thought process about educated people here in Southern Oklahoma. There has still not been a winner of the DB OF THE MONTH AWARD.....ARE YOU INTERESTED?

Big Thanks, and possible Tornadoes!

2009-02-07T22:08:00.000-08:00

Big thanks to everyone who came out to the advanced spotter get together in Pryor, It was a great success and I had a great time. I also want to give a big shout out to George Flickinger and Kevin Bruce...I could not have done the "show" without you guys.

Looks like there might be a chance of severe weather starting tomorrow and lasting through Wednesday/Thursday. Could see some severe stuff down on the caprock of TX tomorrow but it looks like the best days for severe are going to be Monday and Tuesday with a chance for a possible cold core tornado event From Northen Kansas into Nebraska. I have had quite a bit of success chasing cold core events including the Russell Kansas event where we bagged 5 tornadoes back in 2005. At this time it looks like Tuesdays severe would likely shape up from Oklahoma down through Texas where all modes of severe would be possible including tornadoes.
I will try to update later as conditions unfold.

Greensburg Tragedy and Advanced Storm Spotter Class

2009-02-05T16:50:00.000-08:00

This Saturday, February 7 2009, I'll team up with famous KJRH Channel 2 meteorologist and storm chaser George Flickinger to present an advanced weather program in Mayes county Oklahoma. You are welcome to attend if you are a storm spotter, emergency or law enforcement. This program isn't for kids-- it's not a "family" or a "fun" show, but instead deals with advanced spotting techniques, survival and mental anguish.
My part of the program regards the tragedy of Greensburg and how we prepare. I will be showing some video that has never been seen before from that night.
Mr. George Flickinger will be doing an Advanced Spotter training class for all who attend and will also have some great tornado video from last year! I have seen his video and it is some really good stuff!!!!
If you are interested in attending, please contact Kevin Bruce via e-mail at:
kevincbruce@sbcglobal.net

Look forward to seeing everyone out there!

"Advanced Spotter Training/Greensburg review with George Flickinger and Lanny Dean. Sat Feb 7 at 7pm. NE Vo-Tech Center 5 and 1/2 mi west of Pryor on Hwy 20."

A SUCCESS and Live in 2009!!!

2009-02-01T14:35:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to post a quick thanks to everyone who came out to the Tulsa Chaser-fest, it was great meeting everyone and I had a wonderful time!
A big shout out to Jeff Smith for getting everything set up, the gathering would not have been possible without all his hard work!

I would also like to personally thank Justin Teague, Greg McLoughlin and company for coming out...it was a great meet and visit with you guys.

I would also like to announce the coming of ChaserTV.com
For those of you who do not already know about ChaserTV....it is a brand new way to manage your video live! Please take a look at their website for more info: http://www.chasertv.com/
I have decided that Extreme Chase Tours will be transmitting live on our website as well as to media outlets via ChaserTV this severe weather season and I am very excited about the possibilities.
I encourage everybody who might be interested in selling your video to check these guys out, the product is great and I have no problem in saying that THIS PRODUCT WILL BLOW AWAY THE COMPETITION!

"Storm Stories" Greensburg and Chaser-fest

2009-01-26T17:32:00.000-08:00

(C) Lanny Dean 2007 watermarked
Greensburg tornado at 9:48pm just as it was hitting the south side of town

For those who have been keeping up with The Weather Channel since the NBC buy out, good news.... they are bringing back "Storm Stories" These 30 minute shows touch on human nature in relation to severe weather events of all kinds.

I have been fortunate to have done a few of these shows with most notably the Mulvane event coming to mind. I have enjoyed doing them and so far, the production people have been a blast to work with. I will be taking part in another one regarding the Greensburg event and its after effects. We are set to do the interviews tomorrow evening (weather permitting) and various b-roll stuff. Anyone who knows me or got a chance to see our show Tornado Hunters, knows that the whole Greensburg deal was pretty tough for me to deal with. I am not ashamed to say that I had to go see a psychologist due in part, to what I saw, and had to deal with that night. In looking back, I sometimes wish that I had not driven into what was left of Greesnburg. I know that sounds selfish and it is.....but I wonder where I would be today (as a chaser) both mentally and physically if I had bypassed the whole situation? After many deadly weather events through the years, including 5-3-99 and 5-4-03, I have seen my share of and death destruction so why was this event any different than all the others?

I suspect, after many hours on the old leather couch, that the base reason and difference was that I became a part of the story....and in some crazy way, I saw my own mortality.
At the time, I was working for KAKE in Wichita as their severe weather reporter and in house photographer and I loved the job. It was a dream job that most chasers could only wish for....getting paid a real salary to chase severe weather, and when there was no weather, I "became" an in house photographer, I loved it. In the 3 years I spent at KAKE, I filmed more than 60 tornadoes with almost half of them "live" I was even lucky enough to receive two Gold awards from the Society Of Professional Journalist (SPJ), one Bronze award and was nominated for an Emmy regarding my weather reporting. I was in heaven until Greensburg. That's when things really changed for me
Some of you may read this post and wonder why I am bragging about my accomplishments, for those who may be curious.....I am not bragging, that's the last thing I want to do. I guess I am just trying to set the stage to show what was and what is now.
Of course its my blog, I write what I want and I am focused on myself but there were other people who were affected in much the same way if not more so. At this point I do not feel the need to name names but I do feel I would be remiss if I did not openly show respect for those directly involved with Greensburg including those who were first on scene that fateful night...
Those guys are the true heros.
For obvious reasons, I left KAKE about 3 months after Greensburg.......I left Kansas soon after and for those that do not know, I basically took a year away from chasing, if for nothing more than self preservation, I had to. After leaving KAKE, I went to work down here in Tulsa at KJRH as their weather reporter and photographer, but again, I just could not do it. I had basically lost my edge, no questions, no exceptions.
So here I am almost two years later with a tour company and getting ready to do another show regarding Greensburg, and of course speaking at public forums and get togethers, anywhere I can get the word out, anywhere I can send the message to be prepared because you never know whats going to happen.

On to other things......The Tulsa area Chaser-fest is still on for Jan. 31 in Catoosa, OK

I am excited to be a part of it and although I am somewhat reluctant to speak about Greensburg, in doing so, I can only hope that the message gets out as it is intended. I will be showing some video from that horrible night that has not been seen before as I beleive it may help to show what it was really like. Everyone is welcome and I would encourage all to come by.
Jeff Smith is also going to present his "mission of compassion" and there is even a "car show" to boot!
For directions or info, feel free to send me a message here or through my e-mail at:
lannydean@extremechasetours.com

!Chaser Get Together!

2009-01-12T13:33:00.000-08:00

BIG CHASER GET TOGEHTER IN CATOOSA OK, SAT. JAN.31!!!!
Everybody is welcome from chasers to spotters.
All chasers are invited! The meeting will be in the Catoosa Community Center. Catoosa is a suburb just northeast of Tulsa, along Highway 66. The address is 105 E Oak, Catoosa OK. Info on the Community Center can be found here. I have been asked to give a presentation called "Greensburg Tragedy, How do Chasers Prepare?" and will talk about the psychological aspects of being first on scene of a disaster, and also will speak about night chasing/spotting and the inherent dangers. Channel 2 Storm Chasers Jeff Smith will introduce Mission of Compassion, a ministry that goes into an affected area after a natural disaster and delivers relief supplies, water, food, and a little love. We will have a projector complete with a sound system, so please bring your chaser video to share! If anyone has a topic that they would like to talk about, please PM me. (I hear rumors of a chaser car show)...We will order pizza in the afternoon. Everyone will just pitch in on the pizza costs. I estimate no more than $10.00 per person should buy food. The cost of the Community Center has been provided graciously by the Catoosa Emergency Management.This meeting will be informative for all and also FUN!! We all need a little SDS relief about this time of year, so everyone c'mon out & have a little fun.

Would love to see everyone out there!!!!!!!!

New Sigma lens and "Stacked Plates"

2008-12-30T21:20:00.000-08:00

After painfully doing a lot of "homework" and speaking to some who have some great experience(thanks Dick M.) on various telephoto lenses for DSLRs including all of the "third party" glasses like Tamron, Sigma and Tokina, as well as most of the Nikons I have made my mind up and will soon be getting the Sigma APO 70-300mm for my D80.

Shooting mostly with the Nikkor 18-135mm f/3.5 - 5.6 kit that came with my camera and I am very happy with it for the most part excluding with the wider end (18mm) in which it does get a little "dirty" but again, it does a great job for a kit.

Dick McGowan also shoots some with a Sigma and you can see some of his pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stackedplates/

He has taken some incredible pictures including some great stormscape shots like the one below of the Hill City "Mothership" also shot with a Sigma lens!

Copyright Dick McGowan (please contact him for copyright usage at: http://www.tornadolive.com/)

For the price and quality, (as you can see from above) Sigma seems to have great products that produce great results. This is why I am going to choose the Sigma brand in the future.
I plan on posting some new pics as soon as I can which include a few HDR shots.

Some new/old pics

2008-12-12T01:30:00.001-08:00

Just got done batch processing a few photos....some are "new" and some go all the way back to 2005. Most of these were shot while I was still using the Nikon D50 of course I have upgraded since then to the D80 and I am looking at possibly upgrading to the D300 or even the D3.

PLEASE NOTE: ALL PICTURES ARE COPYRIGHT PROTECTED AND WATERMARKED.
PLEASE DO NOT STEAL MY PHOTOS! IF YOU WOULD LIKE ONE JUST SEND MEAN E-MAIL!

More Money???

2008-12-11T09:04:00.000-08:00

More and more money?

As has been the case with this nasty thing we call "our" government and the nasty stupid people we choose to call our leaders with all their wisdom, they have decided to support the $215 billion dollar bailout for the big three auto makers.

I for one am appauled at the mere thought of another "bailout" It makes me sick to think that our "government" is allowing or even trying to push this bailout through. For you common people like me, remember that we just basically shelled out $700 billion to bail out a few lenders and their bad habits, ballon payments and all that crap. One question for you......... WHAT HAPPENED TO THE $700BILLION? It did not help the economy like they thought it would and some of those same lenders who were begging to be saved are now in worse shape than they were before the big bailout. There was no real control over that money to start with, no one keeping an eye on where it was spent or going to excluding some half ass educated people on the oversight commitee who are due to release an update and info on where the money is actually going. Click on the link to read the report:

http://cop.senate.gov/documents/cop-121008-report.pdf

And now the 3 big auto makers have got their hands out much like the homeless guy standing on the corner this morning on my way to work begging for money, he held a sign saying, "why lie, I really want a beer"....so I gave him a few bucks. I mean at least the poor bastard was honest enough to tell the truth which is more than I can say for anyone of the big shots of the auto world, not to mention our own government and addminastration.

Speaking of elected and appointed officials, this pic tells it all.......

I am almost ashamed of any party affiliation right now, as most of you know I am a democrate but at this point even the Dem's are screwing up. The House Of Rep. voted in favor of the bailout.

I believe the bill is to be put to the Senate later today or tomorrow and we can only hope that this will not pass. And don't bitch that this is the fault of the Dems. or the Rep. The fault should be passed on to those greedy little bastards who received big balloon payments, all the while ripping off their own workers by paying them shit wages and stealing their hard invested money, the people who got rich off of $4.00 per gallon gas, the people who were and are in bed with the oil industry (Bush included) Not to mention all the stupid people in congress taking mega vacations and paying $700.00 for a toilet seat.

WTF is this world coming to?

Unemployment is at an all time high.....the old saying "the rich get richer and the poor get poorer" has never been more true than it is today, and people wonder why things are they way they are.

Just like the first bailout did not work, this proposed bailout is not going to work either.

The big lenders and auto makers as well as our own government are going to keep asking for more and more money until the value of our dollar is nill. Robbing Peter to pay Paul is not the solution.

We need something much like "The New Deal" to help out our economy and we need it now not tomorrow because it appears that even Obama is not going to help with this situation!

More HDR Photography info!

2008-12-09T09:47:00.001-08:00

Well here it is....some of the readers of my blog might have seen some of my last posts regarding HDR photography. I have to admit, I love it! I have been playing around with it for quite some time now and for me it is another angle to help me along as a photographer...another way for me to express myself visually, or at least hope to express what I am seeing with the hopes it might help others to see the world the way I see it.

Ryan Mcginnis has a GREAT post on his blog about HDR. It is a full explanation of HDR and how to go about doing it right, from taking the shot to processing. I urge anyone who may be interested in HDR to give it a look.
HDR does not take much as far as equipment....a camera with a way to set manual exposure and someway to process it. Hell, you could do it with a point and shoot in jpeg mode if you could control your camera manual.
As I said, I urge all who might be interested in this to visit Ryan's page as he can fully explain it much better than I can. You can see his blog and post on HDR at: http://backingwinds.blogspot.com/2006/10/how-to-create-professional-hdr-images.htmln

Severe Weather and Snow Storm?

2008-12-08T06:56:00.001-08:00

Looking at the latest model runs, it appears that there is a chance of severe weather today from Northern Texas in Oklahoma. Posted above is the sounding from this mornings run as well as the helecity values and moisture return. The WRF model is probably overdoing the mositure a bit and the sounding is not all that impressive but the shear is more than decent for this time of year. Right not it looks like the best shot of severe is going to be in Northern Texas along the I35 corridore and then back East and North into Oklahoma. There is a slight chance for a tornado or two if a storm can get isolated enough or rooted but right now it looks like the main threat will be the normal: large hail, strong winds and blah blah blah.....Then my concern is for the chance of a possible snow/ice storm from Kansas into Oklahoma. Temps behind the front drop like crazy and we could be looking a major winter storm by late Tuesday.

I will try to post more with later outlooks.