Chase On

One of the projects I'm working on right now involves rewriting a stormchasing novel I wrote a dozen years ago, titled Race the Sky. In preparation for the rewrite, I've spent the past several years reviewing online chaser journals, hours of documentaries, reading tons of articles, as well as chasing a storm or two. I also regularly read the technical discussions found over at the Storm Prediction Center, and today, of course, I read of a High Risk for severe weather in a portion of the country I just traveled through a couple weeks ago. Oddly enough, one of the places we passed through on our return trip was Xenia, Ohio, which was pummelled during the 1974 "Super Outbreak".

Of note in today's Day 1 Outlook wording was this line that followed a description of the atmospheric conditions in the region:

"THIS SHOULD FAVOR LONG LIVED AND FAST MOVING TORNADIC SUPERCELLS CAPABLE OF EXTENSIVE DAMAGE."

Not good.

I suspect this could be a memorable day in some parts of the region, and not in a good way. On a related note, I also came across this video streaming page with live video from various chasers in the region. It probably takes a broadband connection to watch, but it's interesting to see how many people are tracking a particular potential outbreak. It will be interesting, too, to see if I'll be able to update the essay I wrote last year about tornadoes after the day is done.