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One Last Time

This year the National Storm Chaser Convention (affectionately dubbed CHASERCON) will return to Denver Colorado, where it all began. CHASERCON was started by legendary storm chasers Tim Samaras and Roger Hill.

Roger Hill in one of his epic tornado photos.

The National Storm Chaser Convention started in its original from as a meeting between Roger and Tim with a few friends. Every year they would meet in their living rooms, order pizza and discuss their storm chasing bouts from the past season. They would also share videos and experiences of fun chases, tornado intercepts and gorgeous severe storm structure.

Tim Samaras

The Legacy

Roger Hill has been chasing storms nearly as long as I've been alive. I recall watching his storm chase videos on the Weather Channel in the 1990's Him and Tim would roam the plains each spring and summer, chasing storms, finding tornadoes and investigating the science between what made these storms tick.

Roger runs a successful Storm Chase Tour Company today and is considered one of the "best in the biz," not only in terms of storm chasing but also in severe weather photography. Roger and his wife Caryn have run the National Storm Chaser Convention the past several years, donating a lot of their personal time and money to keep something they've loved so much alive.

Tim Samaras was featured on several TV shows including those on the Discovery Channel. He was a brilliant engineer building his own equipment to measure and record the weather he would chase. Tim was featured in several projects for the National Science Foundation and NOAA.

Unfortunately Tim, his son Paul and longtime friend Carl were killed while conducting research in 2013's tornado in El Reno, Oklahoma.

The crushed remains of the TWISTEX vehicle near the intersection of Reuter Road and S. Radio Road approximately 4.8 mi (7.7 km) southeast of El Reno, Oklahoma.

It was a tragic reminder of how weather can still be unpredictable to even those with the most well trained eyes. Tim and his team were hit by the El Reno tornado while they were trying to deploy pods to study the wind intensity. If any of you recall the El Reno Tornado in May 2013, you will know it was one of the largest and most destructive and unpredictable storms in recent history. Not only did Tim and his team get caught, several storm chasers were injured and a crew from The Weather Channel also miraculously survived when their vehicle was tossed and rolled several times.

Roger and his wife Caryn, along with Tim's wife Kathy vowed that the Storm Chaser Convention that Tim and Roger started would live on. For the past several years it has!

Want to Go? Who's it For?

If you've had an interest in severe weather or storm chasing in general this year presents your final opportunity to go (at least in its current form.) Here's the details:

Dates: Jan 31 - Feb 2
Where: Denver Doubletree Stapleton North (I-70 and Quebec, 4040 Quebec street)
Cost: $130 includes Ice Breaker snacks Friday evening, pm snacks on Saturday and banquet dinner on Saturday.
What: 22nd Annual Chasercon and the FINAL Chasercon ever to be held. 2.5 days of storms, storms and more storms!
Speakers: Dr Greg Forbes (TWC), Dr Josh Wurman/Dr Karen Kosiba (researchers), Dr Jason Persoff (MD from U of Colo hospital), Tim Marshall (world renowned damage assessment engineer), Jon Davies (researcher), Patrick Kerrin (Canadian storm chaser), George Kourounis (world known adventurer), Brandon Sullivan (well known storm chaser)
Should You Go? Is it too scientific/technical?
You don't have to be a meteorologist or even an actual storm chaser to go and enjoy this event. I've seen a wide variety of people attend; everyone from backyard weather enthusiasts, first responders, TV/News personalities, hobbyists, engineers, scientists and of course Storm Chasers and severe weather experts.
Keep in mind, the format is lectures/presentations and while they aren't super technical a passing knowledge/interest in weather is recommended. I do see younger kids go, but most of them are very interested in weather to the point where they will sit through these and watch them.

The National Storm Chaser Convention is an amazing event where I've been able to nerd out on weather with others just as passionate about it as I am. I've made a ton of amazing friends (many of whom I keep in touch with or run into out on the plains storm chasing) and can't recommend it enough. If it sounds like something you'd like to do or have always wanted to attend I highly recommend it.

As of this post it is currently 70% full so you may want to act soon!

If there's an interest I'll be happy to share more of my CHASERCON experiences on this site, simply leave a message on Facebook or here on the site! As always, feel free to ask any questions as well! If you do end up going let me know, I'll be there and would love to meet anyone from this group!

 

Here's the website if you want more information: http://chasercon.com/