SPRING 2008


SPRING 2008

Updated APRIL 17, 2008
by Tim Vasquez

Service this year will be offered as follows:

VIP SERVICES - $49.95 per chase day
* May 1 through June 15
* A 25% discount is available for booking a week or more of service (service commitment cannot be changed once the period begins; you will get a prorated refund for closure days)
* Full forecast services 9 am to 6 pm daily -- includes morning outlook -- includes calls to your cell phone to inform you of important developments
* Available to the general public - no advance reservation required
* Payable by Visa, Mastercard, or by check. If you pay by check, you can cash out your unused balance anytime.
* I don't take your payment unless I can commit to forecast services (I will be taking the day off on certain general/slight risk days and for certain family obligations)


Effective 2008 I am operating out of Norman, Oklahoma again.

To get started, simply call 1-888-840-7452 (May 1 through June 15) on or before any chase day, or pay here (use this instead if you are ordering 7 or more days of service). Under "quantity" put the number of days of service you want. In the order form comments please indicate what days you are requesting service.

Thanks for your interest!


-- Tim Vasquez
Chase Hotline

How the forecasting is done
The photos below show where all of the forecasting for the Chase Hotline is done. The two key foundations of my forecasting methods are:

* Very high forecast independence. Believe it or not, I rarely look at SPC outlooks except to crosscheck the results. This is not out of some sense of pride, but rather because I believe in starting from scratch to avoid making assumptions and to avoid tainting my forecast with other forecaster's biases. I don't even look at AFDs or discussions on bulletin boards. Some crosschecking is done when I'm finished to see if there's some element I may have overlooked. I don't expect coherence, because SPC concerns itself with all damaging storms, which includes embedded and unchaseable activity. There are sometimes discrepancies, yet both of us are right.

* Strong reliance on mesonet data. I make use of DoT and MADIS networks to drill down to the county level to see what's going on. This is absolutely essential because by the time weather appears on satellite and radar, it's often too late. I analyze with some of my own software packages that I have written over the past 15 years. And of course hand analysis is crucial for turning an analysis into a diagnosis. See an example here.

- Tim Vasquez









Actual subscriber comments!

Last year we used the Chase Hotline for our storm chasing tours in Tornado Alley. We found it way more useful than getting online with a laptop and cell phone to get information, and that adds up to lots of $$$ and is very slow for data. Our tour guests and CBS 48 Hours could not believe how many times the Chase Hotline was right on target, time after time. This is the best money we spent on any type of forecasting service. We got all the information we needed in less than 2 minutes over our cell phone. It's like having your own forecaster at SPC.
When I found out Tim was opening the Storm Chaser Hotline, I quickly signed up. It did not take long for it to pay off!!! Tim's expert skills helped me to the Ft Worth tornado in March, on a day that was a difficult one to forecast. Next in line was the Caddo county, Oklahoma cyclic tornadic supercell on May 26 that was an awesome sight. Thanks to Tim for getting me there!!! In June, my son and I took a chase vacation to the northern plains, and The Storm Chaser Hotline was there too, even though my data connections for my cell phone weren't!!! On June 11, multiple severe storms fired in North Dakota, and Tim's expertise helped me to catch tornado #27 for the year near Washburn, North Dakota. I will be first to sign up for another season!!!
I especially like the Chase Hotline when I am chasing by myself. I don't have access to all the fancy gadgets then. I have found the Hotline useful the past two years, and when going visual and sitting on the dryline, it sure is nice to know I can get an update on what is beyond the horizon from Tim V. One tornado pays for it.
The Chase Hotline is a terrific service for storm chasers. Tim not only has access to data, he knows how to interpret it. Tim is a veteran chaser. He knows exactly what chasers are looking for when they need data in the field. There's little need for weather data gathering devices in your vehicle when you've got instant access to the Chase Hotline. All you need is a cell phone and you're in business!
The Chase Hotline sure beats dealing with low-throughput cellular data connections that cost big $$$$.
-- Stephanie Koles
Your service was superb and I recommended it to many chasers who I met during my chases. In the actual 29 days I was actually chasing storms, I was fortunate enough to see 11 tornadoes and actually be within 20 miles of a tornado warning on 19 of those days. I plan to chase next season and I certainly hope that you offer your service next year.
-- Carl Young
Since I have a background in meteorology and climatology, I enjoyed your analyses very much, and appreciated your interjection of occasional subtle humor! I've seen a lot of stressed-out chasers, and although it's important to catch storms, I also think it's important to remember to have a good time, have a plan B if A doesn't work, and enjoy seeing your friends out in the field. As I followed the season and chased, it appeared to me that you had a particularly strong commitment to the services you offered. I did like it when you felt strongly about day 2 and wrote about it. Good job, thanks again, and I hope you can swing it again next year!
-- William Monfredo
While some of you might think [the Chase Hotline] is a little pricey, perhaps you've never seen a $600 cellular telephone bill, replete with roaming charges! Personally, I think it's a bargain. I've known Tim for several years and have a lot of confidence in his forecasting ability. Tim really enjoys mesoanalysis, which shows in the quality of his forecasts.
I found your Chase Hotline useful and it helped at times to call you for recommended locations when the timing in getting a target area was critical and we couldn't afford the time to take data stops. I appreciate your hard work over the last several months. Hope you do it again next year!
-- Anonymous
[Your forecasting] was right on and when storms started popping, I was within earshot of the action. Awesome analysis and forecasting.
-- Eric Treece
The Hotline fills in so many gaps in my education that I can plan like the veterans. I'll be rooting for your return next year!
-- Dave Gallaher