Not much doing... yet

If we weren't keen enough to get out and find an elusive tornado this tour, a dose of Twister has helped this enthusiast get pumped for some weather action in Minnesota tomorrow. But funnily enough for all of Twister's excitement and drama, the film shows how different that is to reality, especially in 2012. I guess chasing is a little more advanced than when the film was made and the approach to chasing appears far more sensible in reality. I guess you just have to come out here and chase to know what I mean. It was the first time I'd seen Twister in a while, so it was interesting to make comparisons based on personal observations.

Today provided a chance for us to get in position for some chasing in Minnesota. It was a good thing really considering several of the group had a rather big night in Eau Claire. I only had a few drinks with dinner so turned in early to catch up on some sleep. We're in St Cloud, Minnesota tonight (how ironic) so we shouldn't have to go too far to see storms flaring up. But it could be a bit of a grind with a far longer drive than to the south on the Sunday. Of course, it won't be a grind once we've seen a tornado. Sunday (Monday AM in Australia) looks like being our day. I hope. We kind of got a bit of a taste of a few storms yesterday, experiencing some 60-80mph winds, but the storms just appeared disorganised and unfavourable to tornadoes. One was reported near where we were in northwest Wisconsin, but the photos seemed unconvincing. Here's my only photo from the day.

Yesterday's storm

Today also gave us a chance to catch up with the TVN (TornadoVideos.net) crew, who have a hand in running the tours. Here's their tornado intercept vehicle, Dominator 2, below topped with their data recording equipment, cameras and data probe cannons:

Dominator 2. Yet to dominate much this season.

Reed Timmer, stormchaser and extreme meteorologist, runs the whole show. Fellow Dom 2 rider Chris Chittick, who knows how to hold a camera to put it lightly, actually celebrated his birthday today. It was one of three in the touring party. We also celebrated those of Kara and Shanda, who ironically is originally from St Cloud. She certainly earned the day off driving. She has been excellent at the wheel, which she has done every tour this year while also producing books for each one. Shanda is a machine, but even machines need a bit rest once in a while! While we were completing our group dinner and drinks, there were several reports of tornadoes in Kansas, but we were never a chance to get to them and light was poor.

Hopefully I don't sleep in this time and get up prepared for some potential exciting weather tomorrow afternoon. I'll probably ride in blue van, which houses the live stream (live.tvnweather.com). When you wake up in the morning, you never know, you might see the group pursuing a tornado. Hopefully I have an exciting tale to tell you all for my next blog.