Paul Churchley

LOL!

Cool or what. Thanks Nick.

My other half tried to get live streaming on her iPad but it just hangs... it is fine on my Windows laptop... any ideas?

wow!I didn't realise any vehicles could do that. thanks

That is just insanely stupid IMO. Stunning footage for sure but to be honest not very clever. Couldn't they have driven away from the risk area or did they do it deliberately?

Yup... packing tomorrow and train on Wednesday to Heathrow and fly Thursday morning. I did wonder if you lot were going to leave some storms there for me to see but it looks like the risk further south is picking up again.

I am never enthusiastic about any hotel coffee so thanks for that.

Do you mean take a jar of instant for when in the hotels or do you mean for on the road?

The biggest hail I have seen is about pea sized!!! Doesn't hail that size dent cars?

Thanks guys and gals. I have a soft holdall and no smart stuff... tbh, smart stuff is not really me anyway. I am getting quite excited now. I have been to the USA quite a lot... lived and worked in New York, New Jersey and Florida... spent 6 weeks driving across the USA, been to Disney loads of times... yet this is the trip I have always wanted to do. I just hope I get some good stuff to see. Obviously a tornado or two would be great (not an EF5 please!) but just to see some supercells up close and to get some pics would be fantastic. Can't wait.

Thanks for that Jo. Great suggestions. I wouldn't have thought that US bug spray would work better than UK. I suppose they are US bugs!!! The Bounce sheets suggestion is simply genius ! Can't say I am a washing kinda guy when on holiday but it has been known. ta again

OK... this is the thing... I guess that my Storm Watching holiday will be a one-off. May be it won't be but I suspect that it will given my circumstances. There may be somethings that aren't so obvious to bring and and so now that you have done it... in hindsight... what might I take with me that I might not think off?

You bunch of loonies! What fun

I'll be there with my other half, Sally. Sounds Great!

I really don't know if this is allowed to be posted here and if not then I apologise and please remove... but I am on Tour 4 starting on 30th May and I am going to document as much of my experience as I possibly can on a blog and I thought others on the forum might be interested. So, if you fancy following along with me on Tour 4 why not take a look at... http://stormchasingusa.blogspot.co.uk/ Also, if anyone has a good tornado pic that you would be happy for me to use at the top then please let me know... I could just use one from the web but I don't like to do that without the copyright holders permission. In fact, I could do with a few so if anyone is happy for me to add their pic to the site just say... proper credit will of course be given if you include that too.

Just to add to the information on insurance... I tried a couple of the normal travel insurance companies and I got refused when I disclosed that I was going on a Storm Chasing tour. I tried Go Walkabout and they no longer offer cover either. It seems that Dog Tag are an excellent choice but do seem a bit pricey but I have gone with them anyway. Storm Chasing is included in their Sport+ activity group. There are 3 levels of cover... Base, Pro and Max. and they work out for me (might be different for you) at £63, £78 and £95 respectively for £3M, £5M and £10M medical cover respectively. Cover for all other sections also increase. Personally, I don't think the Base level is appropriate for the USA but that is up to you. So it was between the Pro and Max and as the premium is just a few quid extra I opted for the much better cover of the Max. I hadn't heard of Dog Tag before and they are interesting in that they actually send you a "dog tag" which you wear while on holiday. If you are injured medical personnel can use the info on the tag to determine that you have insurance and also determine the level of cover. This is a great benefit for activity holidays. So, I now await the receipt of my tag in the post... they send it 1st class so I hope it arrives in time for my departure next week.

I hope they rebuild with brick.

Watch Issued at 1025 CDT URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 201 NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK 1025 AM CDT TUE MAY 21 2013 THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN OKLAHOMA NORTHERN AND CENTRAL TEXAS * EFFECTIVE THIS TUESDAY MORNING AND EVENING FROM 1025 AM UNTIL 700 PM CDT. * PRIMARY THREATS INCLUDE... SEVERAL TORNADOES WITH A FEW INTENSE TORNADOES POSSIBLE NUMEROUS DAMAGING WIND GUSTS LIKELY WITH A FEW SIGNIFICANT GUSTS TO 80 MPH POSSIBLE SEVERAL LARGE HAIL EVENTS WITH A FEW VERY LARGE HAIL EVENTS TO 3 INCHES IN DIAMETER POSSIBLE THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS APPROXIMATELY ALONG AND 95 STATUTE MILES NORTH AND SOUTH OF A LINE FROM 50 MILES SOUTH SOUTHWEST OF ABILENE TEXAS TO 35 MILES SOUTH SOUTHEAST OF PARIS TEXAS. FOR A COMPLETE DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE THE ASSOCIATED WATCH OUTLINE UPDATE (WOUS64 KWNS WOU1). PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA. PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS. && DISCUSSION...AIDED BY FORCING ASSOCIATED WITH A SHORT WAVE IMPULSE TURNING EAST OF THE SOUTHERN HIGH PLAINS...INCREASING THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT IS EXPECTED DURING THE NEXT FEW HOURS ALONG A SURFACE COLD FRONT AND REMNANT OUTFLOW BOUNDARY ACROSS THE WW AREA. THE OUTFLOW BOUNDARY...SITUATED NEAR OR JUST SOUTH OF THE RED RIVER MAY BECOME THE FOCUS FOR AN INCREASINGLY ORGANIZED MESOSCALE CONVECTIVE SYSTEM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING DAMAGING WINDS...LARGE HAIL AND ISOLATED TORNADOES. DISCRETE SUPERCELLS ARE POSSIBLE ALONG THE TRAILING SOUTHERN FLANK OF THE DEVELOPING SYSTEM...SOUTHWARD THROUGH CENTRAL TEXAS BY THIS AFTERNOON...AS WELL AS AHEAD OF THE SQUALL LINE ACROSS NORTHERN TEXAS. ONE OR TWO STRONG TORNADOES MAY NOT BE OUT OF THE QUESTION. AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 3 INCHES. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND GUSTS TO 70 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 550. MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 27035.

I too think chasing today is the right decision for several reasons... firstly, the people on the tour have spent a lot of money getting there and so the tour should go ahead if at all possible and if the tour members wish it to. The second reason is that the more people out there that know about storms and tornadoes the better the warnings that can be given to help keep others safe. Paul and his crew are experienced and having experienced eyes and ears out there can only help in my opinion. I am feeling now that providing that the chasing is done with safety in mind and with respect for the emergency services needs and the victims privacy then the chase is better happening than not happening... it seems to me from everything I have seen that Paul and his crew are doing precisely that and I have absolutely no worries now about joining tour 4 now. Stay safe guys and gals.

It is certainly shocking isn't it. I am booked on tour 4 and it is a very sobering and scary thought that I will be there in 9 days. I have a huge mix of feelings right now... firstly shock, horror and sorrow for those affected. I would never wish this or anything like it on anyone. Yet the scientist in me is conflicting those feelings because I want to see and experience this awesome natural phenomena and I know that me being there won't make a jot of difference. I have to say that if I were totally honest... I am not particularly looking forward to going now. When I booked the chase holiday I hadn't really figured on it being like this. Of course, I know these storms are dangerous and that they can kill but when it actually happens it puts everything in a totally different perspective.

Heard on Ch9 that all the kids are now accounted for at the elementary school in Moore. That is great news if it is true.

What have people done previously regarding tripods? I read somewhere that some people were planning on buying one from Walmart instead of carrying one on the flight. Has anyone done this? How much did you spend? If anyone on the current tour has done this and doesn't want to carry it back to Blighty perhaps I could buy it from you as I am on tour 4. You could just leave it with Paul and I could pay you electronically. Just a thought...

I am on tour 4. Just dropping in and saying hi as I will be following you all on tour 3 from my home in Cornwall. Good luck on the chase today

Hi Everyone, Yesterday I bought a Davis Vantage Vue weather station. Although I have been interested in weather for many years it is my first station. I was waiting until I could afford a Vantage Pro2 but got fed up waiting!!! It was dead easy to set up and just to get it working I have mounted it on a 7ft pole, cable tied to my garden fence. I know that is not a secure enough for a permanent mounting but there is no strong winds in the next few days so it will do for now. It is not a good position for wind. It is surrounded by houses and ideally I would mount it on my roof but being an integrated ISS I want to have easy access to it. Sticking on a chimney mount on the roof would be great for the data but when I need access to it (battery replacement, clearing blocked rain cup etc) I would need to pay someone to get it down. Not good. Anyone have any ideas? I don't have sufficient space (not cash really) for a proper guideline secured pole of sufficient height and mounting anywhere in the garden will render the wind readings pretty useless. OK, I accept that my situation is not the best for owning a weather station but it is better than nothing and I would prefer to have dodgy wind reading than nothing at all. Perhaps I could add a Vantage Pro2 wind sensor with WiFi sender if I can find one at a reasonable price used but there isn't much chance of that! Any advice would be very welcome. Paul