Its Almost Go Time!

 Its February, and in less than a month March will be here! Now is when the thoughts of active chasing begin creeping into my mind. A time of the year friends and family hate because now every time they ask me to do something I have to say "weather pending" as I make ZERO commitments from March 1st through June 30th.

Although I have been locally chasing since I could drive in 1998 I consider 2007 to be my first full time chase season. So what were the dates of my first chase in the years since then.

2007: March 1st

2008: January 7th

2009: March 8th

2010: March 10th

So you can see why one gets excited once February rolls around. Winter 10-11 was a pretty amazing winter for SDS as I experienced none. Between the crazy thundersnow blizzard a few days ago and some whacky off season chases on Dec 31st and Nov 22nd coupled with more local storms I had enough to keep my sanity.

Big changes for 2011? None really. I still HOPE to get my hail guards built by driving down to KY and seeking assistance from my brother...but a constant snow threat around here has left me with little time to take a multi day trip down there...and now the second half of February is pretty booked with conventions so I am not sure when I can get down there. I will probably have to squeeze it in during March. Even though March is chase season there aren't typically too many chases to be had in the month itself, just a few random insane-o shear setups that have yet to yield me a tornado for the month.

My stream is up and running again. Last year in June it just stopped...it turns out my theory was correct and my camera simply stopped outputting via USB because as soon as I plugged in my easyCAP through the A/V out everything fired right up.

I plan to focus less on taking pictures while filming. After watching some of my 2010 video I realize when I fumble with my still camera while filming that is often times when my video becomes the shakiest, and since I stand zero chance at making money off of still photography it will be much less a priority in 2011 as I focus more on video.

I took some major financial hits over the winter, so it is going to be a tougher year to fund than any in the past but where there is a will there is a way. Plus my 2 most common chase partners in the area either have started new jobs or are about to start a new job so I have a feeling I will be largely chasing solo this year. No worries though.

It is crunch time people...the 2011 chase season is almost here.

Mother Nature, BRING IT ON!!!!!