Friday 2/18/11
- 5pm- My mom and I had just completed a near 13 hour journey from airport to airport and had finally landed in Denver, CO. A shuttle bus picked us up, courtesy of the Red Lion Hotel. When we walked through the front doors of our hotel, I couldn't believe my eyes! It was a storm chaser's wonderland! We checked in and went up into our rooms to freshen up.
- 6pm- The first stop was the vendor booths! There I met Roger Hill and organizations such as Baron, weathertap.com, SKYWARN, photographers, chaserTV, Unpredictable Weather Guys, SevereStudios.com, Find the tornado.com, Tornadovideos.net, and SilverliningTours.com. I met a number of amazing people, and I started introducing myself as the "backyard Storm Chaser".
- 8pm to 12am- Jon Davies was offering a Severe Forecasting Class, so of course I took up the opportunity. It was probably the most intense class I had ever been in! I f I had not been such a weather nerd for the past 3 years, I would have been lost in the first five minutes. At the end of the night, I had taken 20+ pages of notes. The class was amazing and I enjoyed every second of it.Saturday 2/19/11
- 8am- Breakfast consisted of two coffees and adrenaline for the upcoming day. As we were walking down to the Conference room to start the day's long list of presentations, we passed by many people all of them enjoying themselves (this includes me saying "Hi." ever so casually to Reed Timmer!), and then there was my mom. She brought along two books and her computer, spotted a couch and stayed there for the remainder of the day. She did not appreciate me forcing her to stay up and complete the forecasting class with me. (At one point my mom started to say that the pattern on the rug looked like wind barbs!)
- 8am to 9am- Dr. Karen Kosiba was the first presenter. She talked about the amazing Goshen County Tornado of 2009. VORTEX2 (Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment 2) was on this particular twister and was able to document its entire life cycle. Dr. Kosiba also discussed the 2010 season of VORTEX2's adventures and intercepts.
- 9am to 10am- Jon Davies' presentation talked about how outflow boundaries in storms and it's effect on tornadoes. It was very informative and it cleared many questions in my head.
- 10:15am to 10:30am- We had a short break in which I checked on my mom, had some more coffee, and recharged my camera. During this break I also won an Accu Rite Weather Station!
- 10:30am to 11:30am- Mike Bettes gave a wonderful presentation on TWC's (The Weather Channel) great tornado hunt and scored the Goshen County Tornado (same as VORTEX2). He also discussed the ratings of TWC when there was a "normal" day and when disaster strikes.
- 11:30am to 1:30pm- There was a three hour intermission to do whatever we pleased. My mom and I headed down to the Cafe where we had lunch. I met Tiffany, Curt, Terry, and Reed there and struck up a great conversation with them. I then wandered off to the vendor booths and talked to the amazing hosts; Roger Hill and Tim Samaras some more. I have to say it was overwhelming meeting some of the best chasers in the world!
- 1:30pm to 2:30pm- The amazing Dr. Greg Forbes of TWC gave a enlightening presentation on the severe weather of 2010.
- 2:30pm to 3:30pm- Reed Timmer gave a funny and fantastic presentation on TVN's (TornadoVideos.Net) chase season. It included great media, Discovery's Stormchasers, and their research on tornadoes including graphs from the Horizontal RADAR.
- 3:30pm to 3:45pm- Another short break where Tiffany introduced me to Justin!
- 3:45 to 4:45 pm- Dr. Yvette Richardson gave a presentation on her belonging to VORTEX2. I thought it was very well put and I hope to be one of her students when I finally reach college!
- 4:45pm to 6:30pm- My mom and I went up to our room to recharge (both ourselves and cameras). I got ready for the Banquet dinner and quickly changed into a new outfit. I soon discovered I was way overdressed. I spent the remainder of my time talking to (and meeting) Brian P., Scott, Kevin, Colt, Isaac, Justin, Curt,Tiffany, Reed, and may others.
- 6:30pm to 9:00pm- My mom and I sat down and enjoyed delicious food and , of course, more coffee! The lights slowly began to fade as we awaited the infamous Tim Marshall presentation! It lived up to my expectations and much higher! It involved many cartoons, media, puns, and jokes only storm chasers would get and yet it left everyone (including hotel staff) laughing. It was ingenious. I am counting down until next years!
- 9:00pm to 12:00 am- The rest of the night was dedicated to videos of fellow storm chasers.I met up with Scott again and he introduced me to Tim Marshall. We soon found a table and sat down. As I looked around my new table I saw Angie, and Justin and THE Dr. Greg Forbes was sitting across from me. As I was about to introduce myself the first video began. I couldn't find the time in between, but that is alright since I had Scott explaining to me more advanced storm structure than I knew of before. After a while we parted ways and I ran into Brian and his Grandma and we watched videos until it was time to depart to our rooms.
Sunday 2/20/11
- 8:00am to 9:00am- Presentations started off with two cups of coffee. Steve Hamilton gave an informative presentation on Orographics, in which I learned quite a bit. It helped explain yet more questions I had!
- 9:00am to 10:00am- The vendor booths seemed like the place to go and I met Paul S. there and walked around to every booth double checking I had had my mom buy everything I wanted.
- 10:15am to 11:00am- Tom Magnuson, a NWS employee, setup a wonderful presentation on the collaboration between the local NWS offices and storm chasers.
- 11:00am to 12:00pm- Dr.Greg Forbes gave another amazing presentation on how he made the TOR:CON index and his severe weather forecasting methods.
- 12:00 to 1pm- Chasercon is wrapping up with only a NWS SKYWARN program to complete the day. My mom and I headed off to the Cafe for one last lunch, and we see Dr. Greg Forbes there! There I formally introduced myself, as I had done many times that weekend. He was extremely kind and seemed to take interest in our conversation. We wished each other the best of luck and went our separate ways. Justin stuck around with me for the SKYWARN program. It was a bit different than the one back at home, but none the less fun!
In conclusion Chasercon let me meet so many new friends, more than discussed here, and help me see the world of chasing from the inside looking out. A chance not many people get and one I am extremely thankful for! I can't wait until next year!
