Back in Starkville....

Well I got back a couple of days ago from Vidor, TX...  I was planning to stay out for a few weeks but the pattern looks SO bad that I decided to come home early...  I always say you win some and lose most when it comes to storm chasing...  That's just the game of storm chasing so honestly I'm used to it by now...  The good news is I got to see some of my best friends for a few days which is always a great thing!

This year is quickly starting to remind me of 2006...  Maybe not that bad but close...  Also as of now I not seeing much of a hurricane season either....  The SOI is going strongly negative (El Nino Signature) so that should lead to a LOT of enhanced wind shear this year in the tropics....  We all know that wind shear is not a friend of hurricanes so again I'm not seeing a lot of tropical activity this year...  Of course there will be storms out there and there may even be a few landfalling hurricanes but overall I think the numbers will be way down...  Remember though just look at a year like 1992...  There was only 6 named storms with only one hurricane that made US landfall...  Unfortunately that one hurricane was Category-5 Andrew....  So again all it takes is one strong hurricane to make it a BAD year...  Hopefully that won't happen!!!

On a side note Galveston Island is slowly starting to get back to normal...  I was very impressed with the clean up efforts...  However, Bolivar Peninsula is a completely different story...  There really isn't much left and what is left is in bad shape...  You do see things starting to be built back but again the damage really is horrible still....  Not at Katrina level but it ranks right up there with some of the worst damage I have ever seen in my life...  I love to study/learn about hurricanes but I HATE what they can do sometimes...  All I can say is if you live near the coast when a hurricane is coming, PLEASE LEAVE!!!  It will probably save your life!

I'M BACK!!!

I know its been a LONG TIME since my last post, but I'm finally back...  Things have been very crazy for me personally the last 4 months...  However I'm not big on excuses and I'm going to try to get back into posting a lot more often like I once did...  I really do enjoy posting about the weather so it will be good to get back into it...  On a good note I'm actually closing on my first house June 19th, so I'm pretty excited about that!  I know that's a little random but it's one of those personal things I been dealing with the last couple of months...

Currently I'm writing from Vidor, TX in my good friend Chris Bell's house...  Chris and I have been friends for years but I haven't seen him in awhile since he moved to England...  Its been great to see him and his family which have been very gracious in letting me stay here...  My buddy Dave rode with me and later on a couple of my other friends are going to meet up with us...  Were actually all out here to storm chase, but unfortunately things don't look so good weather wise...  I've seen the pattern look worse but my main concern over the next week is tropical activity which could makes its way into the Gulf of Mexico...  If this does happen (which unfortunately looks likely) this will cut off the moisture from the Gulf which will only make the pattern worse in an already pitiful situation weather wise...  

In the mean time where going to relax and enjoy catching up with each other...  It's also good to hang out with old friends!!!  Tomorrow were heading to NASA and also Galveston Island...  It will be interesting to see how things have progressed in Galveston Island since I rode out Ike in the UT Medical Branch parking garage...  I hope progress has been made but it's always tough coming back to difficult situations like this...  I remember returning to the Mississippi Gulf Coast after Katrina, and that was still tough even a year later...  The power of a hurricane is truly unmatched in my eyes...  For a chase account on Hurricane Ike click on the link below!

Hurricane Ike Chase Account