Blackie

Hi guys Sending this from Wichita where wse just arrived for tonight's stop. Tried to post while en route in the Chevy, but the Verizon signal has been very patchy, so it was difficult to stay online for long. The wind was really blowing as well, so it was hard to type while on the road. Greensburg was very moving indeed. I was photographing the devastation and stopped to talk to a couple of ladies. One of them sat on the steps of what was a large church and told me she came from not far away and tht it was her favourite place to visit. It had been converted into an antique store. She bent down and picked up some smashed porcelain and helf them in her hand, and just broke down crying - saying how sad it was. I choked up and started blubbing with her. Not been able to post any photos for the past day or so because of the poor internet signals. Should be able to post a few tonight. No weather ones yet, of course, but hopefully tomorrow we may get our first supercell. And it will be our first real day of chasing storms that might flare up. So far we have just been positioning ourselves. If we get any decent storms I will try and post them online from the road. That would be a first for me. Still trying to sort out the GPS tracking and geotagging the photos. I have only just got both programmes and the GPS tracker, and nothing seems to be doing what I want it to. But we have our resident IT whizzkid, John, who should be able toget it sorted. Then I can upload a Google Earth track of our daily journeys, with some photos plotted in along it. Should be neat...if it works! Cheers for now

Hi all - this is the storm chase team, broadcasting live from Higway 287 en route from DFW to Decatur for tonight's stop. We picked up Stuart (Stu_London) and Martyn (bristolwx) from the airport, so the Fellowship is now complete! Not certain where we will head tomorrow. We will see how the systems develop. For those who asked about the dinner group, from the left they are: Ian Pickering (Anyweather) Paul Sherman Ian Cameron John Hanrahan (Nicorette) Paul Michaelwaite (iethe big cheese ) Michael Fish Nick Finnis (Nick F) Plus out host for dinner, Margaret, from Irving Convention and Visitors Bureau and her husband I am taking the picture, so am obviously not in it! Hopefully over the next few days we can upload some live chase info and photos, and maybe a track of our journey on Google Earth - if I can work out how to use the new GPS tracker I bought last week. Signing off for tonight. Cheers everyone

OK, we are just about to hit the road now, then later on once we pick up the two remaining chasers we set off for Wichita Falls for tonight. I thought I would quickly post some photos from yesterday's meal, DFW Airport and one of the two Chevy chase vehicles - the one Paul Sherman is drooling over, and which of course he is driving! Just 60 miles on the clock, leather interior. A real boys' toy!! More to come later...

Looking forward to meeting up with you tomorrow, Martyn. I guess you must be landing around 2-2.30pm if you have an early flight. I had an unused Virgin ticket that I bought last year, so had to come the one-stop route. it is a bit of a pain, but security was very good here in Chicago. It only took 10-15 minutes to get through and get my luggage. Sorry you will miss tonight's meal. It should be good. But we will have the odd drink for you as well. See you in Dallas. Peter

Well, I'm here in the good old USA now. I am flying via Chicago and waiting for my connecting flight, which leaves in just over an hour. I guess the rest of the guys must be in Dallas now and en route to the hotel if not already there. I will catch up with them for dinner at the Cool River Cafe. Looking forward to having a few bevvies tonight, then getting ready for the chase. I've brought three cameras and three tripods with me, plus a few assorted lenses - just in case we get lucky with the weather! Bring it on... B) I am testing a GPS tracking device I bought last week, and used it on the plane, after forgetting to switch it on until an hour into the flight. Hopefully it should be able to provide a daily track of our journey on Google Earth, and if I can sync it with the cameras it should show where the photos have been taken. This is going to be a bit of a learning curve, so it could take a few days to get the hang of. But it will be fascinating to be able to see where we go, and hopefully it will be of interest to all of you following our progress. Cheers for now.

Glad to see a fellow Shoeburyness snow-watcher online, Michelle Yes, very unusual for us to get much with a set-up like this. We usually need to have the winds coming in from the east or south-east off the Continent to pick up the moisture off the North Sea. It isn't settling as we are too low, but still nice to see.

50p-sized flakes now...and still not settling, of course.

Been snowing here since before 8am and still snowing lightly now, but not settling. Now if this had been a couple of months ago...it probably wouldn't have settled either!