The first outbreak

Tuesday. March 22. 3:00 PM

I will admit, it's a little early in the season to start looking (and feeling) like this could be the day but it was...the day!  I was fooling around with my models on F5 last night and it pointed me toward the usual place. But the best area was looking like just NE of Omaha.  Duh.  Where else?

Sure enough, it wasn't long before Radar Lab HD was starting to  flash. Since I couldn't go, I thought it might be a good time to try some of my other "trys" and see which one worked the best on my aging laptop. I recently doubled the ram and am running Vista. My goal, like every other chaser, was to get down to something easy to  tote around in the field and still get the best results for the lowest cost. Barons was not in the list because it is to expensive for me. I wanted to compare HD and Weather Defender.

Weather Defender is much prettier, I must admit. It also shows railroads. HD does not. But HD isn't as clunky. It takes WD longer to get up to speed than it does HD on my laptop. I am not a fan of the background choices of HD. They have several but I would like something a little more tan than what they offer. Anyway, when the tornado popped up on HD in Burt County, I got excited. HD had it instantly. WD not far behind. I animated HD and all was fine. (I like to watch things move.)  WD opens another window. I don't like that. The big window had the pretty stuff but you had to pull up the little window to get it to do something.

For $7 or so a month versus $20 or so a month, HD won the first battle of the first outbreak of the 2011 tornado season. Hooked up to Verizon Wireless, I am confident you will have great information in the field. (I like the Verizon mifi idea because it can connect five devices at once so it your laptop gets clunked by hail, you can whip out your iPod touch and still be on the chase.

It was a great afternoon for watchers like me and the 15 or so chasers HD tracks with GPS. That's helpful, too. With gas at almost $3.60 a gallon, it's nice to see where the other guys are betting will be the best supercell to follow. They were right! I'll bet Creston, Iowa hasn't see that many vehicles with dash mounted cams since the last state sheriff's convention. They are probably still wondering why "those people" suddenly pull off the road and run to the ditch with a tripod in one hand and a camera in the other.

But we know. It's exciting. Not like the weather that was behind this boiling mess of March Madness. The weather is back to normal right. Cold. Chance of snow. Gloomy. But it was fun while it lasted.