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Gravel & Grace

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It looked like a bomb had gone off.

The clouds bubbled over the top of themselves like boiling water in a way-too-small pot, signifying the intensity of what was really happening within them. Below the boiling clouds, the structure ebbed and flowed like a river, and even below that, it spun and rotated like a spinning top which was curling toward the ground like a tentacle.

It was a supercell, the most powerful type of thunderstorm on Earth, and it was alive.

The storm itself was massive, sprawling across the entire horizon, its updraft shooting some 60,000 feet straight above my head. Somewhere underneath the base of it, ravaging winds were producing widespread damage; very large hail stones were falling and pounding the ground, powerful wind gusts were ripping siding off homes, and somewhere within the mass of clouds a tornado was tearing up the dirt.

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Storm Chase 2018: You have to start somewhere

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In 2017, I drove my soft top convertible into Nebraska to storm chase for the first time in my life. I had moved to Minneapolis a few months before, so this was only a natural decision for me to make. Driving a soft top convertible around tornadic supercells isn’t exactly advice i’d be giving anyone else, but it was an amazing experience for me – and it is suffice to say that I have been itching to get back out there.

I don’t claim to be any sort of expert in chasing storms – 2017 was my first crack at this. Since my first chase, I have been lucky enough to meet and interact with many folks who are extremely knowledgeable, and I am working each day to apply my meteorological ability and to learn more about how to chase these storms. This year, I will be storm chasing for over a week. I am lucky enough to be bringing a DSLR camera with me, and recording video in 4k resolution. I’ll have the opportunity to produce video and photos that I hope will be extremely rewarding – and more importantly, I will have the opportunity to chase supercells for several days and document it all; a dream of mine since I was just a kid.

I’ll be chasing from May 25th to June 3rd , and in the next series of blog posts I’ll do my best to outline my research and thought process in determining where to set up “base camp” and how I think the week (and season) will progress.

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Storm Chase 2017 Day 1: Cap concerns, analysis and more

It’s hard to describe what the first day of storm chasing feels like. A rush of blood and a little bit of pain. We’re heading out on the road, with a pit stop in Minneapolis’ North Loop neighborhood for breakfast and a coffee. While we’re on the topic — can’t speak highly enough about this city. A true gem in the middle of the country. We’ve taken time this morning to dive into a more detailed analysis of what to expect over the next few days and have narrowed down our targeting.

Saturday (Today)

After much discussion and deliberation, we have decided to head into Northern/Northwestern Wisconsin this afternoon. Confidence in the development of severe convection is currently extremely low. Uncertainties stem from the presence of an elevated mixed layer and capping. Essentially, these are functions in the atmosphere that act as a lid to prevent air from rising to form thunderstorms.

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Storm Chase 2017: Second day model analysis and much more

When I was in the 10th grade, I bought my first cell phone. I mean I actually bought it, with my own money from my own work. It was a hell of an accomplishment for my teenaged self, and I was proud of it. I was more proud that it was a first edition iPhone, and I couldn’t believe the power of what I had in my pocket. It took some getting used to, but soon enough I could access the internet and send text messages with my thumb!

More than 10 years later, I’m preparing to use my 7th edition iPhone as a tool to enhance a localized internet connection in my car. What a time to be alive. The mobile hotspot has been the discussion point of the day, and we’re making sure that we have it properly set up to have access to the internet at all times during our chase. This is a critical part of our operations and so we’re being fairly hard-nosed with it. We want it to be exactly right.

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