Calling it a Season!

So, yes... I give in.  I'm calling it a season.

This year I have traveled more miles than I ever expected I would doing this.

On my own, I racked up over 150 miles...  :)  I know to many chasers that sounds weak, but as someone who can only go on weekends or right after work.  That's pretty good.  Not to mention, there weren't many chasing opportunities that didn't happen during my work day.  In fact, TWICE I didn't have to leave my job, because on 2/28/11 we were nailed by a squall line that produced a tornado in Red Bank, TN and on that dreaded April 27th we were hit by a small EF1 that became a wide EF2 after it crossed the mountain.

Then on April 26th.. I have no idea how many miles we traveled.  Probably just over 800 miles to Haynes, AR.  Probably much more than that really... but that was the day that made me smile so much. Seeing a supercell on the wide open like that was like nothing I've ever experienced.  I didn't even need a tornado.  :)

This year more than ever... I realized my dream of being a storm chaser is coming true.  I can forecast.  I can read radar.  I can read the skies.  It's going to happen... Next year, I'll be on the Plains for a week (at least..hopefully a little more).  :)

The future is bright!

Is My Chase Season Over???

Right now, the answer to that question seems to be yes.

I'm hoping for a miracle in the next few weeks for a chase on a Friday in OK or TX so that I can return home on Saturday without worrying about trying to make it back for work.

I'm not ready to write my season end blog just yet, but this year has been incredible although my chasing much more limited than what I had hoped it to be.

I'm not giving up hope for one more long distance chase! 

More Sappiness!

I just can't sit down here with my coffee lately without getting all sappy and emotional.

Today's shout out goes to...... R. Stacey, aka Hubby or Hubster. 

What can I say here?  Well.... I have been losing my mind this semester.  FDA Submissions is hands down the most difficult class I have ever taken.  The last few weeks have been nightmares, because I've been having an internal war with my weather nerdiness and my real life responsibilities.

Well, Stacey had done EVERYTHING for me, and you know.. This isn't new.  I don't even know why I even make like it is!  He is so supportive of me.  I don't even have to ask him to do dishes, and he offers to cook for me, while I'm slowly losing my mind trying to nail down the final points of my clinical protocol submission or going through the alphabet soup that is regulatory affairs, NDA, 510(k), APHIS, PMA.. AHHHH

Anyway, I love him so much.  He puts up with so much from me!  I get grumpy, sad... frustrated... on and on, but yet he's still just Stacey.  Smiling, making me laugh, and always willing to give me a giant hug when I need it!

I cannot wait to be on vacation and get some "just us" time together!!!

Let's Get It DONE

Two exams tonight and I am FINISHED!

And then... do you know what happens????

SAN FRANCISCO VACAY!  Me and my hubby and California!  I can't ask for more!

Stay tuned for details! :)

Friends I Couldn't Do Without

I can't say enough about the friends I have made this year, even before the tragic events that occurred one week ago.
I'm going to list them here....

Jo....  What can I say?  She's gone from friend to good friend to great to one of the best in a rapid pace!  In the last week, I don't know what I would have done without her.  She has been an amazing support to me, and just overall, she is an amazing person.  She is very kind......  She was the first person after my family I talked to when I found out Ringgold was destroyed, and I didn't say much, but she sat there with me.  Then the next few days... She was always there... always checking on me, and knowing from her experiences, I knew that she knew how I felt.  Even before this happened, she has been my personal cheerleader for achieving my dream of chasing.  I was in constant contact with her throughout my entire chase last week!  :)  I hope that I can be as good of a friend to her as she has been to me.

Spiker (although I found out his real name.. I will not post it here :) )....  Again... All the goofing around and fun times we've had, and turns out I have a really awesome friend in him as well.  For those who do not know, Spiker and Jo basically held my hand (virtually of course) throughout all of last week, especially last Wednesday.  A super fun and all around awesome guy... I'm always glad to see him in chat!  We're music buddies, Seinfeld quoters, and overall hi-jinks creators together!  Anyway... thanks so much for everything!

Dough...  :)  Another person who I've grown to care about so much!  Thank you for checking in on me, and also being an overall awesome person!  

Jenn from Cullman, AL....  ANOTHER TVN'er... Is this coincidence?  I think NOT!  Again, someone I met who I now have regular conversations with and who can talk almost as much as me!  We'll get our chase together, lady!  Now after going out with someone with experience, it was better we didn't go to Birmingham that day, but we'll get ours together!  Her town was also destroyed by the storm.  I saw that crazy tornado, and panicked immediately.  Luckily, she was not in Cullman at the time.  Being the amazing person she is, she immediately went down to help and put her nursing skills to work. Weather Jenns rule!  :)

Jesse and Jennifer Hines...... AWESOME people... I am so lucky to have "met" them and it won't be long until I meet them in real life!  Our chase-a-tunity together awaits us!!!  I was so excited for Jesse and Jenn to get their first chase on Wednesday, but then I got so distracted!  I'm so happy that they enjoyed themselves out there, and we'll get out there together someday soon! Yet another, weather Jenn!

John....  Amazing friend!  He's also been through the same thing that happened here in Ringgold.  He's been so very supportive through all of this.  We've shared stories about our situations, and he's just an all around good friend.

Sean.....  :)  My photography buddy!!! SO smart!  You are going to go far!  I know it!  We are also "weather bad luck" buddies, but for both of us after this year, I think we should just forget we ever said that!

James...  Keeps me laughing, and also super smart!  I really needed to laugh at random stuff the last few days and you've helped!

I feel like I'm leaving people out, but I want you to know.. ALL OF THESE PEOPLE!  Every last one of them are from TVN!  Now, do you know why I love this site?  We are such a tight knit group.  :)

If there was a way to repay them all, I would!  :)  I just love you guys!!!  You have been amazing in the past week, and even beyond that!  Thank you thank you thank you!

God Bless Ringgold

My hometown....

Where you grow up...

Where you go to school.... hang out...  play softball, swim on the swim team.  A rival's stadium...  My niece's senior night and her graduation on the football field. 

I have been devastated.  Words don't even express the way I have felt over the last few days.  My brother's home was damaged by the storm, but thank GOD that it wasn't as bad as I imagined.  They were very lucky.  I hate to say things like "God was with them" because that is to say God wasn't with the other people who weren't as lucky, and we know.. that just isn't true.

What I am doing tomorrow is going to church and counting EVERY single one of my blessings, because there are so many!

I have AMAZING friends and family.... Everyone has been hugely supportive.  I can't begin to explain to you all the help that I have recieved.

A friend from TVN has put me in touch with some other storm chasers who are coming down to help with the relief effort.  I can't wait to get my hands dirty and help out!!!

As we speak, I'm trying to get everything finished so that I may help even as soon as tomorrow!!!!

And all I can say is.. God Bless Ringgold!  We are a great community and WE WILL BE BACK!!!

One of the Best Days of My Life and One of the WORST Days of My Life

This isn't going to be an easy post for me, but I need to write it.  I think it will help me heal a bit.

I'm first going to start with my Chase Log for April 26, 2011.

Wes C. and I met up at 7am CDT and headed towards our initial target of Corinth, MS.  We examined the models, and saw we should move just a bit further west for our best potential before dark.  We got to Holly Springs, MS, and saw some creepy abandoned buildings and took a few photos, because honestly.. we were beginning to think we were going to blue sky bust.  The cap was strong above us.  We headed a bit further west to Tunica, and an outlook upgrade was issued.  We were in a HIGH risk!  But after reading the text of the outlook, again...  everything was supposed to start happening overnight. 

We sat at a gas station in Tunica, trying to decide our strategy.  The atmosphere was pretty volatile.. It just needed one little thing to make everything go boom.

Then suddenly we saw a few discrete supercells pop up.  The decision was made to cross the Mississippi and head over into Arkansas for our intercept.  Just south of Haynes, AR, we approached a beautiful supercell.  Classic with a beavertail...  and we were rewarded with a wall cloud.  :)  We took some photos, and we were starting to think it was going to produce, so we repositioned and paralleled the storm on an East/West road for awhile...  The the storm went HP and we lost sight of the wall cloud because every thing got all wrapped up in rain.  That's when things got a bit hairy.  The road kept winding in and out taking is close to the rotation.  We were getting cored, thanks to a slow truck in front of us, but honestly, we both said later, if it hadn't been for that truck, things could have gotten ugly.  Not long after that we found damage outside of West Memphis, AR.  From that point, the entire way home, we kept struggling to stay out of the rotation.  But finally, at 2:30 am... I made it back home to Ringgold.

I woke up at 6am for work, and saw the High Risk for our area.  On my way in to work, I saw the tornado warnings in Alabama were already heading that way, so I hurried to beat the weather to work.  Approximately 8:30, Chattanooga was placed under a tornado warning.  I pulled up the radar on my phone and we were sitting RIGHT in the hook.  I'm certain Chattem took a direct hit from a tornado.  We lost power and the HUGE beautiful tree went down in front of our entrance.

Then, to put it bluntly, all hell broke loose.  From 2pm-10pm, one supercell right after another made a bee line for our area.  We basically spent it in the basement. These supercells were like mini low pressure systems.  You could FEEL the drop in pressure as they approached.  I can't describe it.  I thought I was imagining it at first...  but then I realized that's exactly what was happening.  You could feel the pressure bearing down on you.  The last one.... Stacey and I both felt.  An area of STRONG rotation went very near our home and produced an EF4 (preliminary) tornado about 3 miles away.  I didn't know what happened, until my phone started blowing up after it was over.  My sister and niece kept asking if we were okay.  They mentioned my ROAD on the news.  Thank GOD that we were spared.  I can't tell you how much I have THANKED him for that.  My brother, Chuck... his house sustained damage.  They are living in it with a generator that someone gave them as we speak. 

But Ringgold..........  Ringgold is my hometown.  I've lived here since I was 5 years old.  And even though I attended Lakeview-Ft Oglethorpe high school.......  I still have many memories of football games.  How many times have I eaten at that Pizza Hut???  I can hardly speak of it.  I look at the footage and feel like memories were just swept away.  Many homes are obliterated.  So many lost lives, including 5 alone from the Cherokee Valley Road community.  There you can see homes completely swept off their foundation.

Tornado video from Ringgold



Aerial footage of MY city.... WE WILL REBUILD!  God bless Ringgold!



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