Forbidden Sacred Dance Of Chaser Merriment!!

Man, today is the first day of May. Everything is green everywhere in Texas (think evapotranspiration!). I took a stroll at lunch and all of the familiar smells and sensations of spring are in the air. All plant life is in bloom and all the trees now have leaves. For this stormchaser, these sensations are deeply rooted with memories going back even to when I was a small boy growing up in North Texas in the peak severe weather season.

Days like this takes me back to when I was younger. The same associated sensations today are the same I experienced while standing outside in the neighborhood watching a black sky to the west as the anvil would spread out overhead. Strong, humid southerly flow would add to the energy of anticipation in the air. Something big was about to happen.

NOAA weather radio would crackle with the coordinates of a tornado watch. I'd carefully plot those with pins and string on a Texas/Oklahoma road map affixed to the wall. I would track and plot severe weather warnings with colored pins according to the warning. There was no internet with live data feeds back then...all done through NOAA weather radio. My only live nowcaster was the late, great Harold Taft on Channel 5 with his trusty radar and expert, grandfatherly vigilence. That was the only radar I had.

Once I determined my neighborhood was in the path, I'd grab a ladder and scramble to the rooftop and watch the spectacle of mother nature unfold before me. Sometimes I'd ride my bike to the top of a hill to get a better view. It was the best show on earth. I'm also lucky to have not gotten zapped by a CG. :-)

2007 is the first time I've had the same sense of anticipation and giddiness as a severe weather enthusiast and stormchaser in many many years. Being stuck in North Texas for the past decade, I'd suffer through each chase season with plenty of disappointment and frustration as the ridge setup early deflecting the storm systems into the central plains. Too often we were left capped... high and dry.

So, now being in the middle of the great Texas Panhandle combined with a very active 2007 season, I feel like I've undergone a rebirth of sorts. But, I'll stop there before I get too transcendental, wearing beads, growing my hair long, going barefoot, voting Democrat and smoking tumbleweeds. ;-)

Today, instead of the black sky to the west, I watch model runs with the same sensation and level of giddy anticipation. Enter the 12z model runs this morning. :-) Everything is appearing to come together for some extended back-to-back severe weather events. It might even start as early as Thursday, but Friday-Monday look great each day...at least this far out. The dynamics, moisture forecast, everything looks like it will be there. It's what I wait for all winter long and endure the teasing early spring systems. May is here and I'm ready to chase like they do on the Discovery Channel! A happy dance indeed! The Forbidden Sacred Dance Of Chaser Merriment has ensued!!

Is it Thursday yet? ;-)