Tom Lynch

Might throw what have in my case and leave my Des O'Connor cd behind Tom

Paul you will have to let me know if you need splitters or power inverters bringing. TOM

Hi Ian i think that answers Paul question TOM

This might prove to a surprise to all those people who know me I HAVE NOT PACKED A THING ,yet. I normally start packing 1st June, when I get home from the chase tip. Will buy my train ticket on the 25th when I am setting off. I try to travel light. Last year because I had expected to chase alone for a week I packed lots of equipment e.g. Garmin GPS, power invertors, two way radio, CB radio, lots of cables and connectors, two storm alert radios, lightning detector, two digital cameras, lots of spare batteries , lap top and Sony camcorder etc etc. In addition I throw in two repair kits, small screw driver set (a new one because I mistakingly left imy old one in my camera case and security relieved me of it at the airport) I also always take asprin, Imodium, travel sickness tablets, hay fever medicine , bite cream and plasters, you have to be prepared. Oh and suncream which I hopefully never have to use. I need to do myself a check list. Tom

Good news Paul I will bring my Des O'Connors greatest hits Tom

Yes Paul, I remember Wakeeney well. A spectacular piece of driving was required by Dave Ewoldt , a bit of a white knuckle ride for me in the passenger seat. That was just shortly after Chris tried to dive off and take the pump from the gas station.with him -} Tom .

I certainly wiil Tom

Pretty place but slow chases. Shap Fell is also a favourite of mine. Tebay has had a couple of tornadoes

Sky here in Kendal went dark around 7.30pm trees started to be blown around and thunderstorm arrived. It stayed around a while with some classy CGs and like Morecambe Bay we had torrential rain. My wife said she got it me for my birthday! (the thunder , not the rain) It was too wet to go chase so I have stuck in some photos from last chase in the lakes. Above photos taken chasing at various local locations Brothers Water, Scouts Scar Kendal and Kirkstone Pass. I wouldn't try opening them they are far too large.

Three photos for the June competition. Near Norfolk Nebraska. Storm wasn't severe but it was pretty. Taken in Texas, best photogenic storm of the trip Oklahoma old timer (an old dust devil)

How good is that, heck you sound like a pro. Tom

Dreams are strange without doubt, whatever your passion. Whilst out on the plains chasing I get so intense, it is easy to understand why sleep dont come easy. Tom

It does seem a while but you know every more is a day less, to next chase season. Okie sounds tempting in November but I am in France for two weeks in September. I will get some highlights to you. Do you have a video if I can't get it on DVD? Tom

Ian , that was not a dream it was nearly true. How the heck are you and how is your mum. Happy to have you home. Tom

Well the storms I am chasing in my sleep look severe but I can never catch them. Chasing the Devil's heard across these endless skies. Tom

No, it is a restless slumber and we are close to storms but never ever reach them. You even know that at times you are home in your own bed but that dont work. I supose for those weeks out there you are focused on one thing and one thing alone. Eat drink sleep storms. Coming down isnt easy I guess. It is hard to describe and I think I can't be the only person to experience it. I might be the first person to mention it though. Ohers now might say bloody hell yes, I know what he means. Tom

This might sound a strange question but I wonder if anyone else suffers a post chase phenomena where you are still chasing in your sleep. It happens every year after I get home. Tied in with jet lag it makes getting up for work harder. I usually have to endure it for a couple of weeks. The thing is that this year I did less organising target areas, yet still I suffer. Oh well, they say no pain no gain. Are we counting down to next year already. Tom

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Paul, Ian, Andy & Nick for making the chase trip one to remember. Each chase trip always brings new and interesting happenings. This trip was not an exception and we saw enough tornadoes to last until next year (well, maybe not that long) It was a pleasure chasing with you all. At one point I did think that I would break my promise to Ian's mum, about keeping him safe. We were stuck in a car in the ditch with a tornadic storm heading towards us. Julie, I will send it to Ian. Car stuck in dtich Car now out of dtich. Thanks to Dave Ewoldt and Kansas farmer. God bless John Deere tractors. Thanks again Tom

Ok trip nearly over bags packed getting ready to move shortly. Glad the rest of the team got away safely Tom

Well I made it Dodge and then down to intercept some cells moving in to the west of Liberal they bugged out on me. However I fly home today with many fond memories of my trip. The tornado has always got to be the cherry on top, storms the icing and the cake the package. If I had have gone with you I would have seen some amazing stuff but would have certainly not made my plane. See you in Blighty Tom

Paul & the team set off from Okarche last night about 6.30pm they were due to arrive in Concordia , Kansas about 12.00 midnight. Their target area is N/E Nebrask. They have Dave Ewoldt, Gavin & Lorraine with them Plus Chris from the ITV. Lucky lot. I am setting off shortly for Dodge City it is a small chance of seeing something today. I fly home in the morning so did not head north with them Tom

Tomorrow is my last chase day. I fly home Friday and so I have had to wave off all the team. They are off to catch some Manchester type tornadoes in Nebraska. As tempting as it was I had to resist the urge. Boy it was a hard call but I remember well being late to check in last year and being put on stand-by, very stressful indeed. It has been a good trip and a trip which saw three different types of chase. One, the first 6 days with wall to wall sunshine. It allowed us to take in Rockies BBQ. Two, chasing with Dave Ewoldt which I have to say was trully amazing. Three, chasing with Paul, Nick, Ian and Andy a nice bunch of lads. Also met Chris from the ITV , who I hope took away some humerous episodes. Yesterday we saw some pretty storms, even the local people in Texas thought so too. Anvil coming in from Altus storm West of Wichita Falls , Texas Closing in What storm I do believe there is still chance for me to chase in southern Kansas tomorrow and still be back in Oklahoma for my flight on Friday. I will take what I can get tomorrow. 3 hours and I could be in the bottom end of the slight area. Wouldn't that be sweet? I have to say normally size doesn't matter. However these are far to big so enjoy them small. Tom Lynch

Had a really good chase day, it had a little bit of everything. We found an elevated view point on the plains near Kimball, Colorado. We then just sat and waited for storms to initiate. One of two developed north of us in Wyoming, we let them go but shortly after that they started to develop south of us. We set off to intercept them. They were huges storms and were putting out golf ball size hail and strong winds. At one point the dust being blown reached 100s feet into the air. We had some hairy moments on the dirt tracks and with the tumble weeds, some of the large tumble weeds traveling at 30-40 mph towards you can damage your car so we had to swerved constanly to prevent being hit. We saw the funniset thing ever two large dogs out in the fields chasing the tumbleweeds. We then arrived a point where we could get look at the storm structure. It at that time had a good structure and was putting out some regular lightning bolts. Above you can inflow into rear (left hand side) of storm. As we sat there a bolt hit so close it made the power cables next to me sizzle and my window was open. We could see then that this cell was started to fade out and we moved south to intecept some more cells moving northwards. Within an hour we were sat watching three or four strong storms, which were closing in on us. Just after I took the last photo above Dave spotted a lowering in the place where you would expect a tornado. We watched and followed and sure enough there was rotation in the storm and I shot video of what is being reported as a tornado. Dave is still pondering what we saw. He says that there was a meso and it was in the right place wants to look at more data. However it was tube like and at one point touched the ground. Whilst watching it we got cut off by another cell and had to core punch to get south into clear air. Boy was the lightning pounding around it left imprints on my eyes. We ended the night in Goodland , Kansas. Tom Lynch

Hi Paul Between a rock and a hard place at the moment. Have the models changed significantly over night? Dave was still looking at his original target area. Somewhere around Chyenne. That is about a two hours drive north west of our location. Will keep you posted when I get an update. Tom