The excitement of the chase is really building now, with only 5 weeks until I depart for Heathrow Airport and undertake the 3rd trip to the American Mid-West to seek all things storm. The chase excitement has been the forefront of my attention in recent weeks and I think I am beginning to drive friends, family and colleagues crazy by just talking about it.
This week I have been putting the final preparations together to ensure that I have everything I need to enjoy the countdown stress-free. It was only this week that I took out my travel insurance for the trip. Travel insurance is the one thing I regularly get asked about - "it must cost you a bomb" many say, "how on Earth do you get someone to insure you when you are doing THAT!?" say others. Luckily, this is where the company DogTag come in and I have used them over the last 2 chases. They provide affordable sports travel insurance that includes storm chasing cover (I'm sure you're as puzzled as me when storm chasing is considered a sport...2 weeks of sitting in a car and eating junk food doesn't sound sporty to me...)
My dog tag from the 2015 storm chase
Now, I am still awaiting the delivery of the policy documents, but above shows you the kind of thing they deliver to you... an actual dog tag! This dog tag has your name and policy number attached, so should we be obliterated by an EF5 tornado or pummeled by hail (sorry family for that lovely image in your head!), the relevant healthcare/emergency authorities can easily identify me and access my insurance details. The team I go with are very safe and put chaser safety at the top of their list, so I am sure I won't need to claim anything from it and the most likely thing I would have to claim is from lost/damage of possessions. It's always good to be safe though!
Further enhancing my excitement in to storms, I have been submitting a few of my photos to Mr Twister on the Weather Snapshot-Mr Twister Facebook Group. Each day you have a chance to submit one storm picture to the Facebook group and the ones that get the most likes feature in his blog. I have submitted a few and won enough likes to be featured, but I guess the real challenge is to have the most likes and win the coveted gold! Below are some of the entries that have scored me a rank in the top 10:
10th Place on April 8th 2017 (with 108 likes)
Mammatus Sunset following an eventful day chasing the Dodge City Storm
9th Place on April 3rd 2017 (with 81 likes)
A low precipitation (LP) supercell in Orlando, Oklahoma
...and so far my highest scoring photograph...
6th Place on March 29th 2017 (168 likes)
The Leoti Mesocyclone - My all time favourite photo
It is really good fun taking part and even if you don't have any photographs to share, the superb photographs that get shared on the group (and on the Mr Twister Blog) are nothing short of incredible. It is definitely worth checking out.
Not long to go, so I shall catch you all in my next blog post...
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