Hi Everyone

[duruisso]

My name is Dominique and I just wanted to introduce myself. I am originally from Montreal but now live in Kingston. I follow storms in Ontario and also go to the Midwest USA once a year with College of DuPage. I would love to met people that share a similar passion and might be interested in getting together to chase in Ontario this summer. Looking forward to meet all of you.

[DarkSky]

Great do have you on board Dom!! Can't wait for the storm season to begin. I'm headed to Cuba in 2 day so hopefully mine will start early!

[duruisso]

Thanks for the welcome and hope you have a blast in Cuba. Well I won't lie I'm a bit jealous so I will have to seek comfort in my countdown to storm chasing in Tornado Alley; 1 month and 22 days remaining to be exact (not counting at all)...

[Derecho]

Originally Posted by duruisso

My name is Dominique and I just wanted to introduce myself. I am originally from Montreal but now live in Kingston. I follow storms in Ontario and also go to the Midwest USA once a year with College of DuPage. I would love to met people that share a similar passion and might be interested in getting together to chase in Ontario this summer. Looking forward to meet all of you.

Welcome Dominique, It'd be great to organize a chase sometime, but Kingston is a fair distance from KW, and I'm moving even farther away . Good luck on the chase in the USA, I've been trying to organize a May chase three years in a row now, but it's so difficult to get people to budge- especially when they don't have an interest in severe weather (and think spending a couple grand is a waste of money). Will be spending my chase time in southwest Ontario this year.

The College of DuPage? Are you educated in the field of meteorology?

[duruisso]

Thank you for the welcome Derecho! Kingston is a bit far away but I am willing to drive to Kitchener Waterloo (that is what I assume KW stands for) or to Western Ontario provided we are anticipating a good weather system. Fortunately for you, systems are primarily on your side of Ontario. So where are you moving to? I am a Social Worker by profession but did start my meteorology degree online with Mississippi State University. It was quite intense with full-time work, very expensive, and frankly felt quite irrelevant and not practical enough for my taste, so I dropped out after 2 semesters. I will be going on my 2nd storm trip with College of DuPage (their trips are open to the public provided one is willing to treat it as course lab). It is an awesome way to storm chase in the mid-west as a beginner. So where were you hoping to organized your chase for? What is your chasing background?

[davefootball123]

Welcome duruisso, i bet you will enjoy this site very much

[Derecho]

Originally Posted by duruisso

Thank you for the welcome Derecho! Kingston is a bit far away but I am willing to drive to Kitchener Waterloo (that is what I assume KW stands for) or to Western Ontario provided we are anticipating a good weather system. Fortunately for you, systems are primarily on your side of Ontario. So where are you moving to? I am a Social Worker by profession but did start my meteorology degree online with Mississippi State University. It was quite intense with full-time work, very expensive, and frankly felt quite irrelevant and not practical enough for my taste, so I dropped out after 2 semesters. I will be going on my 2nd storm trip with College of DuPage (their trips are open to the public provided one is willing to treat it as course lab). It is an awesome way to storm chase in the mid-west as a beginner. So where were you hoping to organized your chase for? What is your chasing background?

My chasing background is minimal, only the odd local chase, they yielded few results because I had no wireless internet connection to monitor radar. But, I finally have mobile internet and plan to hit the roads in full force this year. I use a wide array of software, most notably StormLab, Gibson Ridge, and Allisonhouse- of which I'm a veteran user, so I have good knowledge of storm development and utmost faith in myself to easily track storms anywhere south of Barrie, or west of Algonquin, depending on which NWS radar I am polling. So, this year will be my first chase year. Other than that, in 2009 there was a failed chase trip from Midland, Texas and I was unable to get refunded on my airfare, and the last two years I've been trying to work out a chase from Arkansas and Kansas, but those have continued to run dry.

And no set city yet to move to. It'll be either Sarnia or Elmira(which is about fifteen minutes north of here). There is about a 200km difference right now . We'll see.

I myself considered pursuing meteorology or a related field in earth sciences, but I settled with emergency management. I couldn't care less about climatological trends and forecasting, my only interest lies in severe weather, so I emergency management was more practical. Remains to be seen where it will take me.

For the DuPage trip, do you tag along with researches and work with them? Or, do you just tag along?

[nachos_666]

i have never storm chased...cause i dont drive. but have forever had a high interest in storms..and love it. I take pictures and take buses ( i guess i'm a slow chaser lol) when i can.. but I am Highly interested in joining a chase sometime this season.

[Slacker]

Welcome to the site, hope you stick around!

[duruisso]

My local chases are also minimal. I work with some good radar (mostly tools offered through COD, NWS, and Intellicast) but no wireless stick so I mostly depend on free Wi-Fi areas which make chasing difficult. The other challenge in Ontario (at least around Kingston) is that systems are or quickly become rain rap so there is little visual to go by. Sounds like you know a fair bit about systems and can predict them quite well. My analytical skills still left much to be desired so let’s just say that my success rate is quite seldom.

Sorry to hear about your failed chase from Midland. Should you ever decide to join a chase trip again do consider COD. I have never heard of any cancellations, if anything signed up early since they tend to fill up quickly. Plus, the cost is much lower than those other trips since they only charge you for in-state college credits and lodging. You chase with a teacher from college or university, and a teacher’s assistant (usually from COD, NOAA, or Environment Canada). You work with them on prediction models everyday but they mostly gather data that is to be analysed through their chasing program. The down side is that you have to share a room with 3 strangers but if you are up to that it can also be blast.

So where do you intend to chase this year? Mostly local or US? Let me know if you organised something local, I would love to join and share the cost if you are interested.