[Storm Chasing 2008]

A word of warning to folk wanting to go chasing for the first time in the States. If you've watched various tv programmes about stormchasing in the states showing exciting chase footage & spectacular video of rampant tornado's & big hail & monster lightning,or maybe you've watched twister several times & found the subject very appealing & you're now desperate to get out there & have a go yourself for an adrenaline filled trip, be prepared for a reality shock!!

Yes the trip can be very much like things you've seen on the t.v once you're chasing a storm, but what you see on telly is just a fraction of what is involved. If you're easily bored or frustrated & get dissapointed easily my advice is don't go, it's really not something you'd enjoy. You spend most of the tour travelling hundreds of miles each day & no i'm not exagerating. You'll be living out of a holdall & moving from one motel to another. Sometimes...no in fact i can guarantee that you will be spending at least one day of a seven day trip couped up in a van just travelling to another part of the States in anticipation for the following day. You're not guaranteed to see storms for your week that you've chosen maybe if you're really unlucky & a "ridge" moves in like we had in 2006 & is a tour killer, 2 weeks no severe weather i kid you not. The tour companies will try to take you to places that will use up time & show you things just to occupy you but you just can't book severe weather.

I've been to the Great Plains every year since 2001 & had to wait untill 2005 to see my first "decent" tornado. 2001 & 2002 i went with cloud9tours excellent tour company but if storms wont produce tornado's you wont see any.

What i will guarantee you is this:-

Hours & hours of sitting on your backside in a truck

Lack of personal space in the tour van

At least one day out of seven with no storms maybe whole trip draws a blank for such a short stay/ 10 day tours will probably be more like 3 down days or more

Frustration at hours of travelling & still no development of severe storms

Some really bad food

On the positive side, the only thing i can guarantee you is this:-

THE BEST STORMCHASING EXPERIENCE YOU WILL EVER HAVE

I hope this gives you a little insight & what the reality of a stormchaisng trip is really like

Regards

Pete

[Chase 07 Vid Highlights]

Waa-hoo!! glad y'all enjoyed the teaser Potty i know how ya feel, i had to get infront of a very strong bright light to see the frames but a word of advice , dont stand there for to long as your face gets sunburnt (colour of a baboons rear end)& you strain your eyes 5hours to make for 4 & half minutes rofl thats not a good rate of exchange considering i've got close to 20 hours of tapes to get reduced lol.

re Feb bbq, what better time to have one just when there's a glimer of the days starting to get longer after a long dull winter & May just round the corner. Hmmm or maybe it's just an excuse to eat fat pills drink beer with friends & watch dvd's lol.

Anyway, if anyone has questions or needs advice on editing i'm happy to help but i'm no expert.

Regards

Pete

[Vote - May Photo Competition]

ok, here's my five votes , in no particular order...

SteveS2

SD4 1

PS2

AM1

SteveS1

Sorry i could only vote for 5, some great photo's & would have voted for more but had to trim back to only 5

Cheers

Pete.

[May Photo Competition]

.........................& for next months project both Steven Speilberg & George Lucas have invited both myself & SteveStorms on their historic dual venture into their latest multi billion dollar special effects movie *the day following the day that went yesterday* for a photo shoot psst... Steve keep this one under your hat at all cost's, We can have June July & August wrapped up between us if we play our cards right;)

Is there any point in entering wot with all these silly stormer chaser persons cheating by entering pictures of things from some hollywood sci fi film ...... ? :lol:

Anyway, here's some good ol' home grown British convection - none of your namby pampy American stuff from me

And a bit of boring ol' British mamma (wot doesn't look very spectacular )

(both those pictures were taken yesterday)

And a halo round the church sorta thingie taken on the 22nd

[Virtual Storm Chase 2]

Hey if i could get the leave & the money spare i'd jump at it myself with you. Ideal for some more photo's for June's competition aswell, maybe even do some RAW imagery masterclasses for those who still dont know about or don't shoot in RAW :unsure:

Regards

Pete

[May Photo Competition]

*grumbles* blinkng last minute players *frowns* now yer both gonna make it hard for me this month aint ya only kidding. Joking aside, there's some nice images this month submitted though. I was soo confident when i posted mine but then everyone's aces came out lol. Best of luck.

Regards

Pete

[May Photo Competition]

Nice one potty, lighting effect on the fence is pretty outstanding ,ive tried a few night long exposures, but i need more practice, still a tad to much exposure but at least with digital technology i can keep practising without spending a fortune on film!!

Absolutely amazing, dont think i'll enter this month...how can i compete with those incredible photos!!

So where did u spot that storm just west of Chelmsford..!! lol

Now you mention it, that shower cloud did just pass over the field next door to where i live. It's amazing the wizardy you can do with photoshop & a puffy white cloud over Essex, & you all thought i'd really gone to the States ;)lol

[May Photo Competition]

Hey hey, well i dont post much on here as you can but here's 3 from me that were shot within the last week. Hope you like. Regards Pete the Britt.

[Want to learn more about weather?]

Evening all, i know i dont usually post much but on Jan 27th the Science museums's Dana Centre in South Kensington,London is holding a talk on weather. They have some established names who will be attending & speaking at this venue including me but i wont be speaking just proping the bar up somewhere. Tickets are free. Will see if i can get anyone else from the ukstorm.net team to come along.

Here's some details & a link to the site where further details can be found & tickets can be booked.

See you there hopefully.

Regards

Pete.

Meteorological Magic

Quintessentially English - be it freezing fog, gale-force winds or mizzling rain - the weather never fails as a talking point. Discover how the science of prediction makes weather-forecasters modern magicians, how forecasts are made and what climate patterns hold in store.

http://www.danacentre.org.uk/events/2007/01/25/223