2009 National Storm Chaser Convention

Hey! Did you know that the past weekend was the National Storm Chaser Convention? This, the 11th annual event was my fourth one to attend. Over this past year, I've conversed with many chasers online that I had never had the opportunity to put a face to. This year was much more fruitful from that aspect than years previous. While I met many chasers from across the country (and world!), I was able to connect with a few local chasers I had never met before.

After Friday night's mixer which was nice for networking, I arrived early (but late) for the beginning of the talks on Saturday. Jon Davies spoke about nighttime and rain-wrapped tornadoes, Dr. Jack Beven about chasing the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season. Dr. Howie Bluestein spoke about VORTEX 2 and Rich Thompson discussed SPC high risk cases and verification. Later in the day, Dr. Greg Forbes of the Weather Channel took a broad look at the 2008 severe weather season, Dr. Josh Wurman also talked about VORTEX 2, and Tim Marshall entertained everyone with "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly". Tim's talks are always good for a laugh.

They keynote speaker for the evening was Dr. Steve Lyons of the Weather Channel. He also talked about chasing tropical cyclones.

Saturday night was "the famous video night", which was fun as always.

Sunday's talks were great too! Shawna Davies started things off by talking about something I have really felt important in the storm chasing world and that is first response. Dr. Forbes was up again and did a few case studies in forecasting. Jon Davies did another talk on forecasting and Rich Thompson talked in details about some forecasting parameters.

As it has been the past few years, the experience was very rewarding for me. I'd like to publicly thank Roger Hill and Tim Samaras for putting all the hard work into making this convention happen year after year.

Me and Haave hoping to win prizes!

I think Wurman was speaking some place in the back ground ...

Dann.
PS: There is one current tropical cyclone, but it's a weak one. I'll get back to more frequent updates soon!