Here it comes...

(click on picture to open in new window)

Here is the latest digital mix of several different models from the NWS showing the predicted snowfall for Northern Indiana. The NWS for Northern Indiana has issued the following:

A WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 10 PM THIS EVENING
TO 7 PM EST FRIDAY.

SNOW WILL OVERSPREAD THE AREA FROM SOUTHWEST TO NORTHEAST LATER THIS
EVENING...BECOMING HEAVY BY LATE EVENING AND CONTINUE THROUGH FRIDAY
AFTERNOON. INCREASING EAST TO NORTHEAST WINDS WILL LEAD TO
WIDESPREAD BLOWING AND DRIFTING AFTER MIDNIGHT AND HAMPER TRAVEL.
SNOW ACCUMULATIONS OF 6 TO 10 INCHES IS EXPECTED BY FRIDAY
EVENING.

A WINTER STORM WARNING MEANS SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF SNOW...
SLEET...AND ICE ARE EXPECTED. STRONG WINDS ARE ALSO EXPECTED. THIS
WILL MAKE TRAVEL VERY HAZARDOUS OR IMPOSSIBLE.

Here is the latest national Radar showing the moisture pull...

(click on map to open in new window)

Images and warning information drawn from NOAA's National Weather Service-Northern Indiana Weather Forecast Office

My backyard in January

Here is my backyard in January, not a good sight...Actually I have a number of bird feeders that help keep the little birdies happy all winter.

Jbrouwer

Mobile Blogging

Well, here is my first mobile blog post! I am working on this so that I can get images from the chase posted onto my blog. My son Gareth took this of me in my office. Using the mobile service from blogger seems easy...I'll be posting a number of test shot over the next few days.

Wish me luck

Central Plains Weather Symposium

March 29, 2008

This years theme will focus on the severe weather climatology of the central plains. A family-friendly educational event, there will be chances for the public to interact with the featured speakers, video, hands-on experiments for kids and much more. Come and learn about the science around Severe Weather.

The event will run all day from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the newly renovated Hardin Hall, home to the School of Natural Resources, University of Nebraska - Lincoln.

I am planning this as a trip for spring break for my kids. Check out the link for more details.

Central Plains Weather Syposium

Pay Attention, the NWS has issued a wind chill advisory for INDIANA! 


"WIND CHILL TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED TO FALL TO BETWEEN 20 BELOW
TO 25 BELOW ZERO TONIGHT INTO SUNDAY MORNING.

A WIND CHILL ADVISORY MEANS THAT VERY COLD AIR AND STRONG WINDS
WILL COMBINE TO GENERATE LOW WIND CHILLS. THIS WILL RESULT IN
FROST BITE AND LEAD TO HYPOTHERMIA IF PRECAUTIONS ARE NOT TAKEN.
IF YOU MUST VENTURE OUTDOORS...MAKE SURE YOU WEAR A HAT AND
GLOVES AND COVER EXPOSED SKIN."

1040 AM EST SAT JAN 19 2008

...WIND CHILL ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 7 PM THIS EVENING TO 10 AM EST
SUNDAY...

REST OF TODAY...SUNNY LATE IN THE MORNING THEN BECOMING PARTLY
SUNNY. A 40 PERCENT CHANCE OF SNOW SHOWERS IN THE AFTERNOON. COLDER.
HIGHS 10 TO 15. TEMPERATURE STEADY OR SLOWLY FALLING IN THE
AFTERNOON. WEST WINDS 15 TO 20 MPH WITH GUSTS UP TO 30 MPH. WIND
CHILLS 4 BELOW TO 14 BELOW ZERO.

TONIGHT...MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH SCATTERED SNOW SHOWERS. COLDER. LOWS
NEAR ZERO. WEST WINDS 10 TO 15 MPH. CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION
30 PERCENT. WIND CHILLS 10 BELOW TO 20 BELOW ZERO.

SUNDAY...MOSTLY CLOUDY. HIGHS AROUND 10. WEST WINDS 5 TO 10 MPH.
WIND CHILLS 11 BELOW TO 21 BELOW ZERO IN THE MORNING.

June 2007 Camp Chief Little Turtle, Ashley, Indiana

Above are a few sweet shots of a storm passing just to the North of camp. My boys are in the Scouts, they noticed the front development and hunted me down. I really like the waves in the second shot. Nature is awsome!

I promised a brief explanation of what INCHASE is/was is going to become...

Indiana Chasers of Adverse and Severe wEather was started a number of years ago in Indianapolis by a number of weather enthusiasts was were disillusioned with the rising amount of reckless chasing. They wanted to chase severe wx but in a responsible way. The early days saw a lot of activity, meetings, group chases and even other groups such as: ILCHASE, MICHASE and OHCHASE...

Jump forward a couple of years, the group got less active, people moved on, so in stepped my current chase partner and myself. We liked the concept, and so we adopted it with the blessing of the past group and are currently working at resurrected it. Unfortunately, the URL has lapsed, and has been acquired (not by us) and so another group is reborn!

Clay Stahlka and myself have been working the last few seasons to get ourselves experienced and able to chase with confidence. We have a new site in the works and have been working on getting people involved again. We are doing this because we love weather, we love to chase and in doing so we if we can help the NWS and the public with our efforts, then we have accomplished what we wanted to.

I will give more details about our chase strategy, the tools and our chase vehicle.

Keep stopping by, as I will be adding more material each day.

Regards, Johnathan Brouwer

The National Storm Chaser Convention

I have updated the blog with the The National Storm Chaser Convention link to the right... The gathering allows chasers the opportunity to gather, listen, learn and to network. Many well known speakers will be presenting, including:

-Dr Greg Forbes from The Weather Channel
-Dr Josh Wurman and Sean Casey as the keynote. (Rumor has it that the New TIVII will be there too!)
-Dr Howie Bluestein
-David Hoadley
-Tim Marshall
-Tim Samaras
-Jon Davies
-Mike Umscheid

I think there are others that have not officially committed, so this list could grow. Please check out the link to the right to go directly to the Convention site.

Hope to see ya there!

More on me

I am not a well known chaser.

I have preferred up to this point to lay low and bring myself up slowly. I know that sounds stupid, but why rush things right? Each season, myself and the others at INCHASE (more on them later) have set specific goals and milestones to achieve. "Working the weather" and using the data to drive your chase is extremely difficult and even if the data tells you one thing, sometimes the other thing happens. I have the highest level of respect for our NWS meteorologists, my fellow highly experienced chasers and enthusiasts. As I said, each season since 2004, we have set goals. One was to better understand the the predictors and initiators for storms. In doing this, we busted a lot for our target areas. We learned and have refined that skill. Another goal was to get better at removing our faces from our laptops and using the signs around us once we are close. Not doing that can get you in trouble. Overall, my personal goal was to experiment and use the technology from my professional life and bring it to the storm chasing table. In my Real life, I am a media producer. I get paid to come up with ideas and figure out the best way to implement them. Sound like fun? It is. I have produced commercials, feature films, corporate video and for the last 8 years I have worked on long-form documentaries. I have brought most of my cameras with me on chases. I got some great footage and some really bad footage too! I also brought my technology along. My wife calls our chase van the rolling geekmobile...I call it my home for many hours of driving and spotting. We use the spotter network, GPS, Skype, Yahoo IM and live video to report our position. We feel we have a fairly good system put together. We really look forward to 2008 as we have blocked our schedule for a number of days out on the plains. I will do my best to post more on myself and my geekdom. Stay tune!

Up next: The National Storm Chaser Convention is fast approaching.
After That: The INCHASE Group

Testing 1-2-3

Hello everyone. I'm calling you from my cellphone, using it to make entries in to my StormCam blog. I will be using this in the 2008 storm chasing season. I hope it works out and I thank you for coming to StormCam. listen

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