I have been storm chasing since mid-2009. Though thoroughly fascinated with weather from the age of 3, my interest in storm chasing came from the Good Friday tornado outbreak on April 10th, 2009. An EF-4 tornado had ripped through the town of Murfreesboro, TN, and leveled houses. Some big things stuck with me that day… 1) I had no idea there was severe weather forecast and 2) it revived that passion I had from the age of 3. And so Tempest Chasing was born!
I am 17 years old, in my Junior year of high school and taking a couple of college classes at Lipscomb University. I am going to study Meteorology (preferably mesoscale) at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, OK, but until then I occupy my time with learning the art of hand weather analysis, building my own WRF model, and playing around with UNIX scripts.
My first chasing expedition to the Great Plains was May 11th, 2011, which was a pretty big bust. However, I had a great time and
learned a lot from the experience. In the summer of 2011, I attended the NOAA Center for Atmospheric Science Weather Camp held at Jackson State University, headed by Dr. Loren White. We were taught by several Doctors of Meteorology, and they spoke about hurricanes, macroscale weather, weather modeling using the WRF, and more. Since then, one of the counselors, a graduate student from the University of Oklahoma, has been mentoring me in the way of atmospheric analysis.
This blog is meant to serve many purposes. It serves as forecast information for Middle Tennessee, and on occasion, surrounding areas. It serves as a place to share photos, videos, and chasing experience with readers. Lastly, it serves as a place to voice my thoughts and questions on all things weather. This is not meant to be your one-stop shop for all weather information.. I don’t have time to do that! However, when hazardous weather occurs, for the most part it gets covered here. I hope you enjoy what you read, and feel free to comment and leave your opinions. I always enjoy feedback. Weather questions, concerns, opinions, or more can be asked in the”Contact” tab.
Lastly, photos and videos are available for licensing. Contact me in the “Contact” tab underneath “About Us” and I’ll do my best to respond in a timely manner.
Disclaimer
Kelton Halbert and other future members of Tempest Chasing are NOT experienced in the field of storm chasing or spotting! Also, we have no official affiliation with the National Weather Service other than Kelton being a SKYWARN spotter. In no way is the information from this website to be used to make life or death decisions! Instead, use this information in conjunction with official National Weather Service statements. We are in no way responsible for injuries due to action upon information on this site. Storm chasing/spotting can be very dangerous, and can be harmful with many deadly hazards. Please be educated before deciding to go after storms, and the best way to start that education is with your local National Weather Service and SKYWARN.
Thank you for visiting our site, and I hope you enjoy all we have to offer!
tempest |?tempist|
noun
a violent windy storm.
ORIGIN Middle English : from Old French tempeste, from Latin tempestas ‘season, weather, storm,’ from tempus ‘time, season.’
