2013!!!!!

Well, it is that time of year again!  Time to set goals and see what we can get accomplished this year!  My primary goals are kind of boring.. haha.. to most people, anyway.

Last year, I did pretty good (more hiking, less time online, saw a tornado.. Did I mention I saw a tornado??), but not as good as years past.  Well.. here goes nothing! Let's see what we can accomplish!

1: Become debt free.  I don't believe we can completely become debt free by the end of the year, but I want to make HUGE steps in that direction!  If we can't afford to pay cash, we don't BUY it!  I am even going to strive to do that with vehicles, but we'll see!  I'm planning on making a budget this weekend, and we are going to stick to it!

2:  Sell the house and buy a new one.  We have been dreaming about this one for sometime, but I truly believe that we are finally financially able to buy our dream/forever home!  We want land and lots of it, and to live a bit further out!  Even if it means having to drive a little further to work everyday.  I cannot wait to find our forever home!  This makes me the most excited of all!

3:  Finish school.  This has to happen in 2013.  If it doesn't.. I don't think I'll ever finish.  I have to really push myself to finish!

4:  Get better at photography....  I mean really.  I want to be a good photographer.  I need to practice practice practice!  I've decided to take my camera with me most everywhere I go.

5:  MORE hiking!  I want to do Cloudland Canyon again and not feel like death!  I want to do longer and many more hikes!!!  I can't wait! I love the woods!

6:  More confidence in forecasting for my chasing.  No driving in circles this year.  Pick a target and stick to it.  If storms happen, YAY.. if not, it is all good! 

7:  Double my tornado count this year (2 instead of 1 :P), and get just a smidge closer.. haha.. :D 

8:  Take a real live culinary course! :D  I want to branch out and learn new techniques.. especially FISH!

9:  Exercise no less than 3 days per week.

10:  Keep a positive outlook and learn to accept criticism.  I have a fatal flaw.  I don't like criticism, and I don't respond well to it.  I need to learn to keep an open mind when someone is critical of my actions or work.  Learn from my mistakes....  I'm a big advocate of that, but I'm not as good at it as I should be.

I think that's a pretty good list! I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful New Year and here is to 2013!!!

End of the Year Update!!!

First of all, yesterday was a record breaking severe weather event for the southeast US.  34 reports of tornadoes, including one wedge that rolled through downtown Mobile!  For anyone who is still somehow clinging to that myth that tornadoes don't hit big cities, I think the last few years have been evidence that it can and WILL happen!!!  Luckily for us in the Chattanooga area, the air remained very stable and the warm front kept to our south.  This morning it is quite windy and cold.. We might even get a couple of flurries!

SPC storm reports for yesterday (12/25/12):

So anyway!  2012 wasn't all that spectacular.  YES I am still in school and probably will be for at least another year.. blah.  The thesis fell to the wayside in the fall semester because I was on the road so much!  It has been a really busy year.

We lost my uncle who was an amazing man.  Uncle Johnny was kind and caring.. he had a HUGE heart.  The connection between my mother and him was far greater than typical brother/sister love, because they lost their mother (my grandmother) when they were both very young.  My mom became his mother.  I will never forget the day he died. I drove my mom up to their house in Farragut, TN.  Uncle Johnny had been sick for sometime and just a few days before they had brought in Hospice.  He didn't want to go in a hospital room.  He wanted to be home.. Home with my aunt and surrounded by family and friends.  And that's just how it happened.  We drove up, and knew the time was getting close.  Everyone was in the room with him when it happened, and even though it was so incredibly sad to lose such an amazing man, I couldn't imagine a better way to go.  We love and miss you, Uncle Johnny, but we are so glad you aren't suffering anymore.

On the brighter side, I did a LOT of unexpected traveling this year.  We went to NYC for a mini-vacation after I spent a few days there working.  And we also took a few extra days in Seattle!  We even visited Vancouver, BC!  Pretty amazing.

I guess the BIGGEST news of all was the accomplishment of a life long dream. April 12-15th, my dream came true!  I finally got to chase storms in the Great Plains of the USA!  I absolutely fell in love with Kansas.  It is a gorgeous state!  So much more than just a giant flat field, which is what I thought it would be.  In those few days, we drove well over 3000 miles.  This pushed my storm chasing miles this year to around 4000!!!! 

I also FINALLY saw my very first tornado!!! :D  Unfortunately it was quite far away.. We may have seen a few more but it is hard to count things you just get a quick glimpse of during lightning flashes here and there.  Another reason why (in my opinion) chasing in the dark is useless..

So this year was relatively lackluster, but you know....  I'm always excited about things to come!  Tomorrow I will make my yearly list of goals (NOT resolutions).. :D

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and a great year!  What will 2013 bring?

Significant Severe Weather Possible on Christmas Day!

In a few days, I will do my year end wrap up and make new goals for the upcoming new year, but for now.. there is real WEATHER to talk about!

Christmas day is shaping up to be a significant severe weather event.

I am also not ruling out tornadoes and severe weather for our area, and here is why.

We will be in the warm sector. Initially, the models had us just slightly north of the warm, moist air, meaning we would mostly be experiencing heavy rain changing over to snow showers on Wednesday.  But from what I'm seeing on the NAM, we are going to be warm and moist enough that we could also experience some nasty weather.  CAPE is very low, but as we have seen with many other southeastern US severe weather events, we don't need a lot of instability if everything else is in place.  Right now, it appears most everything is in place.

The most significant weather, in my opinion, is going to start Christmas day in Southern LA and MS, then move over into central to southern AL.  But as the day progresses, a huge squall line is going to form, bringing with it the threat of damaging winds and isolated tornadoes. This squall line looks like it will remain a threat through the overnight hours.

This is the EHI for the afternoon on the 25th...

Everyone has their favorite weather maps to look at, and for tornadoes, I tend to look at EHI. I don't know why it is my favorite, but it is.. haha...  It is just a good way to see where rotating thunderstorms can occur.

Anyway.. I'm out of forecasting practice, so this storm will let me brush up a little bit hopefully.  This storm makes me nervous, because people are going to be distracted with Christmas day activities and probably not paying attention to the weather.

On the bright side, the flip side of this storm gives us a chance of snow showers Wednesday-Thursday!!