{"id":279,"date":"2002-12-27T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2002-12-27T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/2002\/12\/27\/storm-chasing\/"},"modified":"2002-12-27T23:00:00","modified_gmt":"2002-12-27T23:00:00","slug":"storm-chasing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/storm-chasing.html","title":{"rendered":"Storm Chasing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Believe it or not, storm chasing has become something of a hobby. So<br \/>\n when the weather is bad, throw away that jigsaw, that book, that piece<br \/>\n of embroidery or the TV guide, get your waterproofs on, grab a map and<br \/>\n jump into your car! Oh, and don&#8217;t forget your camera or camcorder<br \/>\n and mobile (cell) phone! The real storm &#8220;techies&#8221; fit thermometers,<br \/>\n barometers, hygrometers and even anemometers in their cars.<\/p>\n<p>Why do this? It&#8217;s a lot of fun &#8211; generated heart churning<br \/>\n adrenaline levels and can involve you in some of the most beautiful sky<br \/>\n scenes. According to the UK storm chasers club, people who actively chase<br \/>\n tend to have &#8220;a sound meteorological knowledge of the atmosphere<br \/>\n and storms including their behaviour and dynamics. It is this knowledge<br \/>\n that keeps them safe: storm chasing can be dangerous if undertaken by<br \/>\n inexperienced individuals both for themselves and others. In the UK the<br \/>\n danger is even greater due to our busy and congested road networks. When<br \/>\n you encounter a local storm these already bad road conditions will rapidly<br \/>\n deteriorate with copious amounts of standing rain water, flash flooding<br \/>\n and sometimes even a hail covering.<\/p>\n<p>So how do you do it? Again, according to the British club, the trick<br \/>\n is to attempt to forecast where thunderstorms may develop and then head<br \/>\n to a favourable area. There are hundreds and hundreds of people including<br \/>\n storm chasers who attempt their own forecasts using internet data. There<br \/>\n are lots of websites with information including <a HREF=\"http:\/\/www.westwind.ch\/\">Westwind.ch<\/a> they make surface pressure charts and<br \/>\n upper air charts freely available. You can also get various lightning<br \/>\n detection products (often called sferics products) and you can now get<br \/>\n free hourly radar images on the <a HREF=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/weather\">BBC Weather pages<\/a>. If you wish there is also<br \/>\n data available on line but at cost. For example there is a better radar<br \/>\n picture now offered by <a HREF=\"http:\/\/www.avbrief.com\">Avbrief<\/a> but<br \/>\n there is a fee. &#8220;The majority of us are <b><a HREF=\"http:\/\/www.torro.org.uk\">TORRO<\/a><\/b> members which means images we capture<br \/>\n and information we gather is gratefully received and put to good use,&#8221;<br \/>\n says a storm chaser from Holland.<\/p>\n<p>There are storm chasing groups in the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, all<br \/>\n over the United States and Australia. The Dutch Storm Chase Team formed<br \/>\n last year when the guys got together for a one-off chase that ended up<br \/>\n so much fun they decided to make a regular thing of it. &#8220;We started<br \/>\n that afternoon,&#8221; says Bernard Hulshof, a meteorologist with Holland<br \/>\n Weather Services, &#8220;and drove to the west near Schiphol Airport where<br \/>\n we saw numerous showers, beautiful showers, large rainbows and deep blue<br \/>\n skies. It was heaven for us and later on we followed the storm to the<br \/>\n province of Flevoland, in the centre of The Netherlands. By then it had<br \/>\n become dark, the sun was setting and the storm was producing lightning.<br \/>\n It was all very exciting and very successful for us.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In the US, there is a region known as Tornado Alley that stretches from<br \/>\n Texas northward to the Dakotas. More tornados occur there than anywhere<br \/>\n else on earth, so this is naturally something of a mecca for storm chasers.<br \/>\n &#8220;I can&#039;t think of any other place on earth which would be more<br \/>\n exciting for storms than Tornado Alley,&#8221; says Harald of the Netherlands&#8217;<br \/>\n club. &#8220;The situation in America is perfect for storm development,<br \/>\n it&#039;s unique in the world. You can get any type of storm if you have<br \/>\n time for it. But of course,&#8221; he adds, without even a hint of irony,<br \/>\n &#8220;it all depends on the weather.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Beetle found a couple of companies that specialise in storm chasing<br \/>\n &#8220;tours&#8221; &#8211; if this interests you, you might want to check<br \/>\n out <b><a HREF=\"http:\/\/silverliningtours.com\/\">Silver Lining Tours<\/a>,<\/b> owned by David Gold,<br \/>\n a meteorologist and self proclaimed outstanding storm chaser. He says<br \/>\n he will take customers to watch incredible super cells, awesome tornadoes,<br \/>\n huge hail and wild lightning.<\/p>\n<p>Texas-based <a HREF=\"http:\/\/www.tempesttours.com\" TARGET=\"_blank\"><b>Tempest Tours<\/b><\/a> are taking bookings now for Storm Chasing<br \/>\n Expeditions in the 2003 spring season. The company, headed by three veteran<br \/>\n storm chasers (with more than 50 years of storm chasing experience), will<br \/>\n lead six tours into Tornado Alley in search of nature&#039;s most spectacular<br \/>\n weather. The tours take place in May and June, the peak of tornado activity<br \/>\n in the United States. Tours will depart from Oklahoma City and in minivans.<br \/>\n Veteran storm chasers typically drive 100-400 miles a day to reach their<br \/>\n targets.<\/p>\n<p><b><u><a HREF=\"http:\/\/www.stormchasing.com\/\">Stormchasing.com say<\/a><\/u><\/b>&#8220;if you&#039;re<br \/>\n looking for adventure, you&#039;ll love this thrilling storm chasing holiday<br \/>\n in America. We offer &#8220;10-Day&#8221; and &#8220;5-Day&#8221; tours where<br \/>\n you&#039;ll travel across a number of states. One of our vans is the most<br \/>\n highly equipped chase van in Tornado Alley &#8212; unlike any other storm chasing<br \/>\n van on the road.&#8221; They go on to say that they are the only storm<br \/>\n chasing company that has &#8220;real-time&#8221; weather information 100%<br \/>\n of the time, delivered by satellite technology to our storm chasing van.<br \/>\n You will get to ride in that van and be part of the action as we chase<br \/>\n down severe storms and tornados in America&#039;s Tornado Alley!!<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Believe it or not, storm chasing has become something of a hobby. So when the weather is bad, throw away that jigsaw, that book, that piece of embroidery or the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","css_class_manager_body_classes":"","css_class_manager_use_in_post_loop":false},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[25],"class_list":["post-279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive","category-main-article","tag-december-2002"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Storm Chasing - eNewsletter<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/storm-chasing.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Storm Chasing - eNewsletter\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Believe it or not, storm chasing has become something of a hobby. So when the weather is bad, throw away that jigsaw, that book, that piece of embroidery or the...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/storm-chasing.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"eNewsletter\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2002-12-27T23:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"The Beetle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"The Beetle\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/globetrotters.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/storm-chasing.html#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/globetrotters.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/storm-chasing.html\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"The Beetle\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/globetrotters.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d88d8d26b7a5eee19d4a82efb44decf5\"},\"headline\":\"Storm Chasing\",\"datePublished\":\"2002-12-27T23:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/globetrotters.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/storm-chasing.html\"},\"wordCount\":849,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/globetrotters.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"December 2002\"],\"articleSection\":[\"archive\",\"Main article\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/globetrotters.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/storm-chasing.html\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/globetrotters.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/storm-chasing.html\",\"name\":\"Storm Chasing - eNewsletter\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/globetrotters.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2002-12-27T23:00:00+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/globetrotters.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/storm-chasing.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/globetrotters.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/storm-chasing.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/globetrotters.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/storm-chasing.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/globetrotters.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Storm Chasing\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/globetrotters.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/globetrotters.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/\",\"name\":\"eNewsletter\",\"description\":\"The travel club for independent travellers. \",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/globetrotters.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/globetrotters.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/globetrotters.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"eNewsletter\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/globetrotters.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/globetrotters.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/globetrotters.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/Globe_Logo_2025_200px-150x150-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/globetrotters.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/Globe_Logo_2025_200px-150x150-1.png\",\"width\":150,\"height\":150,\"caption\":\"eNewsletter\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/globetrotters.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/globetrotters.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d88d8d26b7a5eee19d4a82efb44decf5\",\"name\":\"The Beetle\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/fcc9c018d69f9b5b9f188b5dff92e2f854ea7ab0be06ebd6105cf5db4b26c937?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/fcc9c018d69f9b5b9f188b5dff92e2f854ea7ab0be06ebd6105cf5db4b26c937?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/fcc9c018d69f9b5b9f188b5dff92e2f854ea7ab0be06ebd6105cf5db4b26c937?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"The Beetle\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/globetrotters.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/author\\\/the-beetle-2\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Storm Chasing - eNewsletter","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/storm-chasing.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Storm Chasing - eNewsletter","og_description":"Believe it or not, storm chasing has become something of a hobby. So when the weather is bad, throw away that jigsaw, that book, that piece of embroidery or the...","og_url":"https:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/storm-chasing.html","og_site_name":"eNewsletter","article_published_time":"2002-12-27T23:00:00+00:00","author":"The Beetle","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"The Beetle","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/storm-chasing.html#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/storm-chasing.html"},"author":{"name":"The Beetle","@id":"https:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/#\/schema\/person\/d88d8d26b7a5eee19d4a82efb44decf5"},"headline":"Storm Chasing","datePublished":"2002-12-27T23:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/storm-chasing.html"},"wordCount":849,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/#organization"},"keywords":["December 2002"],"articleSection":["archive","Main article"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/storm-chasing.html","url":"https:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/storm-chasing.html","name":"Storm Chasing - eNewsletter","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/#website"},"datePublished":"2002-12-27T23:00:00+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/storm-chasing.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/storm-chasing.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/storm-chasing.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Storm Chasing"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/#website","url":"https:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/","name":"eNewsletter","description":"The travel club for independent travellers. ","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/#organization","name":"eNewsletter","url":"https:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/01\/Globe_Logo_2025_200px-150x150-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/01\/Globe_Logo_2025_200px-150x150-1.png","width":150,"height":150,"caption":"eNewsletter"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/#\/schema\/person\/d88d8d26b7a5eee19d4a82efb44decf5","name":"The Beetle","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fcc9c018d69f9b5b9f188b5dff92e2f854ea7ab0be06ebd6105cf5db4b26c937?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fcc9c018d69f9b5b9f188b5dff92e2f854ea7ab0be06ebd6105cf5db4b26c937?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fcc9c018d69f9b5b9f188b5dff92e2f854ea7ab0be06ebd6105cf5db4b26c937?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"The Beetle"},"url":"https:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/author\/the-beetle-2"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/ph9Zru-4v","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}