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If you go storm chasing, there are some things that can be very helpful. Here are some of our favorites:

Tornadoes are RARE events.  I don't care what you see on The Weather Channel, they're rare. When you consider the number of thunderstorms in the US every year is in the tens of thousands, while the the number of tornadoes is in the low 1,000, your chances of seeing one before your gas and hotel budget runs out, is not all that great. And if one does pop out of that magical wall cloud, it will likely be the EF-1 and EF-2 variety and not that monster that ate up half of the movie Twister's running time. Plus, most are often only on the ground for seconds.

Clearly, with those kind of numbers, you need a little help to pick out the best places to go. The National Severe Storms Center in Norman, Oklahoma (A hard town for a Husker to type out) posts their best guess every day. They usually identify an area and that area may include several states.  That's a bit broad for most storm chasers with a limited gas budget. So where do you go to tighten things up a little?

One of our favorite places is f5 data. This is a top-notch site for the really weather nuts. But, if you follow some of the tutorials and do what Andy says, your maps with pop out an area of interest that can narrow the big states area down to a few counties. There is a small fee to use his predictive stuff but he also offers a free version if you just want to sniff around. With gas going through the clouds, f5 not a bad investment.

Once you are in the neighborhood, you may want to watch stuff on your computer. If you can't afford the several thousand dollar set up for your own radar system, you can get good radar using your laptop, a reliable connection like Verizon, and a good software program. We like a couple of them. Weather Tap is one of our favorites and it's not that expensive.  One of the newer entries is Weather Defender. It's a little pricey an requires a good bit of memory but it really is pretty slick and has all of the bells and whistles.

The big boys also use Barons. Very cool. Bring money.

You can also get good weather information from the locals.  In Nebraska, a good source is Lincoln's 10-11 television. Their radar is really pretty up to the minute. You will find similar good ones in every state. The National Weather Service Doppler site is also good but spend some time learning before your go.

You can have expensive pretty looking stuff in your mobile command center but nothing beats a good pair of eyes looking outside of the car. Remember, some of these beasts of nature are only on the ground for a few seconds so if you are glued to radar a couple of minute old, you are going to miss the show!

Good luck and stay safe and of course, stay out of the way!