Storm Chasing Handbook

The Storm Chasing Handbook is the definitive bible on storm chasing, packed with nearly 300 pages of storm chase history, philosophy, technique, and travel information. Learn about tornadoes, hail, gustnadoes, lightning, thunderstorms, and much more. Using key findings from the past four decades of scientific literature, readers learn the inner workings of severe weather and dabble with the fundamentals of forecasting techniques, blended with wisdom from the author’s own experiences. Many skilled chasers contribute their own wisdom in the form of anecdotes, tales, and funny stories. From target area and storm type prediction to successful, safe navigation, the Storm Chasing Handbook has it covered. A large appendix features a Great Plains travel guide covering local history, culture, meteorology, and geology for nearly 100 chase routes, as well as broadcast radio and NOAA weather maps, a summary of past chase years, and much more!

Includes nearly a dozen illustrations and cartoons by pioneer and storm artist David Hoadley, some of which were commissioned especially for this book. Contains great photographs by Roger Hill, Gene Rhoden, Karen Leszke, Roger Edwards, and the author himself.

Perfect for new chasers looking for a good start, seasoned veterans looking for travel information, chase tour customers, weather hobbyists, and anyone who deals with severe weather on a regular basis.

Tim Vasquez is an experienced meteorologist and chaser whose skill at forecasting severe weather has become legendary. Tim’s interest in severe weather began at age seven in southwest Germany, where his small town was slammed by a European derecho storm that buried the town in hail. In 1984 he moved to Texas, and that clinched it: he had to start chasing! Mentoring by veterans Alan Moller and Tim Marshall put him on the right track. In 1989 he began a decade of service as an Air Force meteorologist, meanwhile doing on-air weathercasting in Abilene, Texas and in Korea. In 1992 Tim began writing weather analysis software tools, and by 1996 he gravitated to the severe weather hub of Norman, Oklahoma, where he currently lives. Since 2000, Tim has provided severe weather classes in the wintertime and forecasting services in the springtime for over 50 chasers annually. He also writes for Weatherwise magazine. Tim enjoys travelling, astronomy, flight simulators, smoking a good brisket, brewing beer, and reading just about anything related to geography and cartography.