Heading East-Southeast towards Limon, CO
I was looking through some older posts and remembered my very first storm chase, and what a chase it was! Didn't actually get to see any real severe weather but still came across nice cloud formations and ran into some rain. You can read the post here from April 16, 2009. It was a blast. Spent the day with Kim Insana and Tony Laubach as we drove all over Southeastern Colorado. Since that chase over a year ago, I've chased a few other times and actually bagged my very first tornado last year on June 5, 2009 in La Grange, WY. What an adrenaline rush! Since then I've been hooked, actually before then but after that first chase I knew I wanted to find that rush again.
Kim and I :)
Kim and Tony checking out the radar
Being a meteorologist has its ups and downs. When you forcast for rain or snow and it doesn't happen or the amounts are way off, you get that gut feeling that you busted and people can doubt you. After all, so many people rely on the weather! But those moments when you can forecast for a storm to initiate and drop rain or even hail and when you know exactly where it will track, and better yet why it will move that direction and it actually verifys, those are the moments we all hope for. Those are the moments we as meteorologist strive for. It is what we study and why we look at those crazy maps all day long for. It is why we get excited about 55 dBz and 78 degrees over 55 degree dewpoints, moisture advection and converging low-level wind shear and wall clouds. Meteorology is not a perfect science. It is just that, a science. Those of us that study it are studying it so we gain a better understanding of it and can better forecast conditions.
Kim walking back towards the van, after we played speed bumps on the road :)
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