tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2522523812102422292024-03-05T04:24:07.777-08:00SWIFTSWIFT Team http://www.blogger.com/profile/15344982961809453019noreply@blogger.comBlogger222125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-252252381210242229.post-60037779515639299282022-05-30T13:21:00.000-07:002022-05-30T13:21:04.566-07:00Burich - Closing Thoughts<p>Well, our 2022 SWIFT adventure has (sadly) come to a close, but we were fortunate to enjoy great success in the field--especially on our last two chase days in Texas! I hope that everyone has enjoyed reading of our exploits as we've traveled through the Plains and Midwest enjoying local food, local culture, beautiful scenery, and, most importantly, learning about and observing the wonders of our amazing atmosphere through storm chasing! This year marks my fifth and final time co-leading/leading SWIFT as I will be retiring from the Navy this summer and entering PhD study in severe storms this fall at North Carolina State University. I could not think of a more fitting or enjoyable way to conclude my time at USNA and 20 years of active duty than being on SWIFT!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7qbEt9CyKQ4uJAtDBgp6z89w-icfZyL2pVPQqt8SBOlsiSxUZN9lk5QDLFPdmFmoz_RgTu3LC1WdYJJC2FcAdWz2R58zwVZQ1HVxQ0fVIoMFeqJVCodLwFUBOWs_HzuoCGewODH2UW6OxorQlXQPcmh1qphb_OvzgpTJZ3eNzJ8GMTKIuJorMvNRj/s2274/KLBB.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2274" data-original-width="1080" height="409" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7qbEt9CyKQ4uJAtDBgp6z89w-icfZyL2pVPQqt8SBOlsiSxUZN9lk5QDLFPdmFmoz_RgTu3LC1WdYJJC2FcAdWz2R58zwVZQ1HVxQ0fVIoMFeqJVCodLwFUBOWs_HzuoCGewODH2UW6OxorQlXQPcmh1qphb_OvzgpTJZ3eNzJ8GMTKIuJorMvNRj/w194-h409/KLBB.png" width="194" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>The "dusty" tornadic supercell that SWIFT 2022 chased west of Lubbock, TX</i></div><p>As I reflect on the five years I've been privileged to be a part of this internship and "mobile classroom" experience, there are a number of individuals and groups that I would like to thank:</p><p>(1) The amazing students who have eagerly participated and engaged with SWIFT since my first trip in 2017. Their enthusiasm for severe weather and willingness to endure two weeks traveling thousands of miles in a van (with lack of personal space) has been the reason for the existence of SWIFT. I thank them for their constructive feedback on the training, helpful suggestions through the years, and (mostly) good taste in music!</p><p>(2) The staff, teachers, and students of the various Tulsa-area schools in Oklahoma who have invited us to outreach with them each year and share our passion for science with the next generation.</p><p>(3) The professionals at the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma--especially Mr. Bill Bunting--for graciously hosting our group each year for an in-depth brief of their mission/responsibilities and tour of the National Weather Center facility and University of Oklahoma School of Meteorology. The forecasts and products they produce not only help inform government entities, the private sector, and the general public of severe weather risk and safety, but also have been instrumental to our own situational awareness and decision-making in the field.</p><p>(4) The USNA STEM Center for their dependable financial support of SWIFT through the years and the training and supplies they have provided for our school outreach.</p><p>(5) The leadership of the Oceanography Department at USNA for their support of our training and trust in us to safely execute our trip each year.</p><p>(6) The support staff of the Oceanography Department at USNA for their expertise in setting up our van power supply each year.</p><p>(7) The other USNA entities who have provided support to us through the years (Prof. Joyce Shade for travel issues, IT for providing mobile mifi units for our van, transportation for accommodating our van request...and giving us their best!, and any others I have failed to mention).</p><p>(8) My co-lead from 2021 and 2022, Frank Carmody.</p><p>(9) My wife, Corinne, and son, Andrew, for putting up with my two-week absence every May.</p><p>And last, but perhaps most importantly...</p><p>(10) Dr. Brad Barrett whose vision and leadership first brought SWIFT to life in 2010 and who led/co-led the trip nine times--including three times with myself in 2017, 2018, and 2019. His enthusiasm for severe weather study in general and SWIFT in particular was instrumental in not only making SWIFT one of the most challenging/rewarding summer internships at USNA, but also in launching the now permanent USNA course SO242: Tornadoes and Severe Storms. </p><p>Again, a hearty 'thank you' to you all!</p><p>For all prior SWIFTers, please keep in touch (matthew.burich@gmail.com). I'm always happy to have a good chase partner (or partners) in the field...or just meet up for a drink! I look forward to hearing of your exploits and successes in the coming years.</p><p>Thanks for reading, and farewell to all!</p><p>Matt Burich</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrfrzxUrbl3MnwE9Q0rCyDS7_YFSfbhP0oK_gw6aGxVxSNL4rnt5VXPbd0835Cagq_EMbc3d3PbBEv9eWPbUdmfOcWACF6AlKgHuoiAXwb6ufn5AXmLMaNo0ZWSh5hSUmEt3zKdVjTs1RX6tt5wrCeSLRuHPZKmeyV5xyNSkkD6T8HsAD9HmSDIs9F/s2304/me.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1728" data-original-width="2304" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrfrzxUrbl3MnwE9Q0rCyDS7_YFSfbhP0oK_gw6aGxVxSNL4rnt5VXPbd0835Cagq_EMbc3d3PbBEv9eWPbUdmfOcWACF6AlKgHuoiAXwb6ufn5AXmLMaNo0ZWSh5hSUmEt3zKdVjTs1RX6tt5wrCeSLRuHPZKmeyV5xyNSkkD6T8HsAD9HmSDIs9F/s320/me.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>SWIFT Team http://www.blogger.com/profile/15344982961809453019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-252252381210242229.post-8444236417820594622022-05-30T11:43:00.000-07:002022-05-30T11:43:15.613-07:00Emily - Closing Thoughts<p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small; white-space: pre-wrap;">Being a part of the SWIFT team this year has been one of the most remarkable experiences of my Naval Academy career. Having the opportunity to travel and chase severe storms throughout the Midwest has been something truly special.</span></p><span id="m_-5688410242789855910gmail-docs-internal-guid-0b898cda-7fff-858c-cd1a-de0f829bff07" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I learned a lot about the formation (and lack thereof) of supercells and tornadogenesis, building on the material I learned in SO242 this previous semester. Having the opportunity to see firsthand how a lack of moisture, lifting, or insufficient insolation can affect storm initiation allowed me to better understand what I learned in the classroom through application.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My favorite moment on this trip was in west Texas, when we rode just southwest enough to evade the dusty inflow of the storm we were following. The sun hadn’t quite begun to set, but was low enough in the sky to provide a warm glow (almost golden hour!) for the dust-wrapped supercell. What we didn’t know at that moment, was that we were looking at a wedge tornado. As beautiful as it was, it’s really awesome to look back realizing that we observed something even cooler than we knew at the moment.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 220px; overflow: hidden; width: 624px;"><img class="CToWUd a6T" height="220" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/dwU1xovREO0aZhOIK9GhioymMXEbfb6ShNBG44JZRVTq8vG6cQR4sRJX5KOuR9O50bmS1VoQCAL2WuzTi4xL8CHPBuTAdaJ3jgjSSslyG_mGAQxTLy583OakLJun2GyUQW5v2cxXJIem4AJTSw" style="cursor: pointer; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline: 0px;" tabindex="0" width="624" /></span></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As we make our way back to Annapolis, I’ve taken a lot of time to think about all of the opportunities we’ve had to chase this year, and I don’t have any regrets. Even though there were a few occasions where we weren't able to observe tornadogenesis, I managed to learn more about what failure in initiation looks like in the field, and gain an appreciation for the special few moments of something amazing happening.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">I want to thank everyone who made this trip possible, especially LCDR Burich, the folks over at the SPC in Norman, as well as Caney Valley Elementary School, and the team of awesome individuals I was able to work with in the field.</span></span></p></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><div><br /></div>~Emily</span>SWIFT Team http://www.blogger.com/profile/15344982961809453019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-252252381210242229.post-29247914810005538662022-05-30T11:41:00.000-07:002022-05-30T11:41:09.988-07:00Siena - Closing Thoughts<p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">This internship was a really incredible experience and I am so grateful that I got to be a part of it. I learned a lot about severe weather, and I am very interested in studying it more in the future. I also gained a better appreciation for why studying these storms is important, since they can have such a big impact on people’s lives. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I think the supercell near Morton, Texas was the most incredible thing I have ever seen. I was amazed when the light started to fade and we could see the towering structure of the storm lit up by lightning. Another one of my favorite sights was the MCS on our final chase day that had a beautiful blue-green color. I can’t think of many other things on Earth that are as beautiful and impressive as these storms.</span></p><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Another experience that had a great impact on me was when we visited the tornado memorial in Joplin, Missouri. It was an important reminder that while these storms are impressive and fascinating, they can also be very destructive. This is another source of motivation to study storms because the more we know about them, the more we will be able to protect people from them. </span></p><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’m also really grateful that I got to spend time with everyone else on the internship. I enjoyed everyone’s company and we made some great memories together.</span></p><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 468px; overflow: hidden; width: 624px;"><img class="CToWUd a6T" height="468" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/Yn10WWn-2VRlBwbMNmoBhSAivtEOwR3JDBsfApYZCB-F7mrxCxLu_DaqG3fvjxAGzKrpFqhebDeHAKDQ-VOiq49AaIKk-OER6DJ9XsYcUuqJN227hsausYVN3Fm4qY8Q7qKRGnkOjjfctIFt6Q" style="cursor: pointer; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline: 0px;" tabindex="0" width="624" /></span></span></p>SWIFT Team http://www.blogger.com/profile/15344982961809453019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-252252381210242229.post-48212887662537923442022-05-30T11:39:00.002-07:002022-05-30T11:39:47.485-07:00Sam - Closing Thoughts<div style="text-align: left;">I cannot believe how fast the last two weeks went but how long ago our departure feels. It seems like just yesterday that we left the yard and set off to eventually travel through 24 states, see supercells I could never imagine, and take some of the coolest photos of my life. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">I was always excited to wake up and look to see where we would be going. Who knew mother nature would take us to Michigan! Driving around and seeing our great country was a gift that I did not expect, but thoroughly enjoyed. </div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">On the other hand, I knew I would love taking pictures but I did not anticipate the pictures I got. I hope that they convey what we saw as well as I had hoped. </div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><div><img class="CToWUd a6T" data-image-whitelisted="" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ui=2&ik=0048e0380d&attid=0.1&permmsgid=msg-f:1733978662203353970&th=1810546800bceb72&view=fimg&fur=ip&sz=s0-l75-ft&attbid=ANGjdJ-278ommw6x1u0266BxBVk6vUcWn_ZmmOe-mYdobARWl_JXtfQspn8VyC-emdohPuxUmuYsEZ-izoRqH1ddbnkY0NdxN_jFbohOvIYTYwW8t0KX4MF0d_d_1Ts&disp=emb&realattid=181054268632e46ad911" style="cursor: pointer; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px;" tabindex="0" /></div><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">It has been a childhood dream of mine to chase storms on the plains and this has lived up to my dreams. I hope that through our experiences we can share a little of what it was like and inspire you to take a closer look at severe weather in the future. </div></div><div><br /></div>SWIFT Team http://www.blogger.com/profile/15344982961809453019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-252252381210242229.post-91475290142102973932022-05-30T11:37:00.001-07:002022-05-30T11:37:46.378-07:00Ryan - Closing Thoughts<p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hey everyone,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After nearly two weeks of storm chasing, our SWIFT journey is approaching its end. While we didn’t get much luck in terms of tornadogenesis in the first week, we still got to witness some great storms develop. It was amazing being able to see classroom topics unfold in person; the photos and diagrams don’t do justice to the awe-inspiring effect that the weather can leave on a person. Also, one can never fully appreciate the force and energy exerted by the atmosphere until they are standing in the 60 knot winds created by a storm outlow or they are witnessing clouds form before their eyes beneath a rotating mesocyclone.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span id="m_-6480331363940968338gmail-docs-internal-guid-294d78c0-7fff-7c99-f4eb-81caa7da3fc9"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 172px; overflow: hidden; width: 258px;"><img class="CToWUd a6T" height="172" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/tYFhLZZ5BgZHAoHo9blFzC_XYZjChHuOEL2ExQ7iPgwfwwR8jrdHlSOWUu1_f1uZijenwpcK0bZvwtDeSfURbIqHrgAEziw8pBty676Za3caNr6AGhHYbImD7tXQLJYGFuqUTPpz2VFGSQsWRA" style="cursor: pointer; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline: 0px;" tabindex="0" width="258" /></span></span></span><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Photo credit goes to Sam ‘NASCAR’ Ford-Dirks</span></p><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Despite the incredible atmospheric sights we witnessed on SWIFT, my favorite moment was visiting Caney Valley Elementary and talking to the students. Their excitement and enthusiasm was far greater than we could have expected and their knowledge on scientific concepts caught us completely off guard. Many of those kids have the potential to become great meteorologists or scientists in their own field and it was humbling to have the ability to teach them a little bit about the atmosphere and the Naval Academy in general.</span></p><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 240px; overflow: hidden; width: 320px;"><img class="CToWUd a6T" height="240" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/M4wK5PozFBxjooID_9IjZTjNTXMQpA_px9o8ENaSFAXklwTzbDHlUK0zPPbMI3rq6mbmMo5RwpDSCb4EiYSfxw_-2wqwTGVItNHtmNSydsq4HxD1nSv8Tsof2aHNxRgCBbP--UBtV7ZQP-ArTg" style="cursor: pointer; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline: 0px;" tabindex="0" width="320" /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Photo credit goes to LCDR Matt (rescinded) Burich</span></p><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">With thousands of miles under our tires, I would say SWIFT was one of the greatest opportunities I have been afforded while at USNA. Not only did we witness classroom concepts come to live in real-time, we also saw nearly half of the United States in the process. This trip has allowed me to greatly appreciate the awesome power of the weather, the hard-working NWS teams that strive to predict the weather, and the citizens of the Midwest and central U.S. who are subject to the weather. Not only did we learn a ton, but two weeks in a van made us grow extremely close to one another. I hope SWIFT will continue for many more years to come so others can be afforded the same opportunities that we had while on this training.</span></p><div><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"></span>SWIFT Team http://www.blogger.com/profile/15344982961809453019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-252252381210242229.post-59980426515719871052022-05-30T10:05:00.007-07:002022-05-30T10:05:50.150-07:00Jack - Closing Thoughts<p>Good day SWIFT blog post readers.</p><p>Without a doubt this has been the best summer training I have participated in. Hopping in a cramped van and driving 7,784 miles (and counting) all to watch severe weather has been an incredible experience. Each day there was a new forecast with new failure modes and a plethora of things to learn. Over the past two years I have been in the classroom learning the theories and mathematical applications of meteorology and atmospheric science. However, in this training I was able to directly apply and experience in real time the knowledge I have previously learned in these classes. Being able to see a forecast come to life, and understand its success or failure has been the most valuable part of this internship. My favorite weather moment was easily witnessing the supercell that formed west of Lubbock, Texas. As I stood in the inflow, I could feel the sheer power that formed the updraft of this storm while I watched it form, and I was in utter awe.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_f8W4dZJP-biSKFX6Wtnt-n5Z-wAXLGA96WfPYEjQc-NObzZ1I9B4uN7BU3Qlt25YMtN7zxLO51QCymB8mVsBei_4rmAVYlO2Oxv3NWNMGyrXsSQ2gbbD0yaqIaazrmMuNd751hRfXsFk2gALmshwvr6GfuJzSrZKjQEfl2qjKX-4rtJeAgZeLJ1k/s927/jack1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="687" data-original-width="927" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_f8W4dZJP-biSKFX6Wtnt-n5Z-wAXLGA96WfPYEjQc-NObzZ1I9B4uN7BU3Qlt25YMtN7zxLO51QCymB8mVsBei_4rmAVYlO2Oxv3NWNMGyrXsSQ2gbbD0yaqIaazrmMuNd751hRfXsFk2gALmshwvr6GfuJzSrZKjQEfl2qjKX-4rtJeAgZeLJ1k/s320/jack1.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Supercell west of Lubbock, TX</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I felt as though I grew more as a person as well, not just as a student. Being able to use technology and available meteorological resources to achieve a mission with this team helped me to become a future leader. It showed me how to communicate better, and how to make informed decisions based on scientific understanding. Additionally, It was incredibly fun to be in this van driving across the country with seven other like-minded people. I had never been to the Midwest before, and virtually every state was a first for me. One of my favorite moments was driving through Kansas and Nebraska through the flat plains and listening to old country music. We also had some amazing food, and some not so great food occasionally, but it was all for the experience.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFc8Y_yNmCYIaPOmxz90KG3TPGqDF_qWRQD7T_-b_j9M-IeAjfVvSvn-Oqv8IuVyoN9k9H8q6LZqVe1MY6T1XSWApMDllFhvlQJWVnhscoWOtefUGIbYPAjJvnWCylT9YRcf0mUs2hoi4WKwDwegmqWJr70yajGYNzQH_z0_anA6JyeDMpBODOe0jH/s1027/jack2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="637" data-original-width="1027" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFc8Y_yNmCYIaPOmxz90KG3TPGqDF_qWRQD7T_-b_j9M-IeAjfVvSvn-Oqv8IuVyoN9k9H8q6LZqVe1MY6T1XSWApMDllFhvlQJWVnhscoWOtefUGIbYPAjJvnWCylT9YRcf0mUs2hoi4WKwDwegmqWJr70yajGYNzQH_z0_anA6JyeDMpBODOe0jH/s320/jack2.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Cows in Kansas - taken by Samuel Ford-Dirks</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">While our officer in charge, LCDR Burich, is retiring, I hope that this experience can live on at</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">USNA and provide others with the same opportunity that I have had.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Thank you!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Jack Volinsky </div></div><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><br /><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br /><p></p><p> </p>SWIFT Team http://www.blogger.com/profile/15344982961809453019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-252252381210242229.post-24939716316746717392022-05-30T09:55:00.005-07:002022-05-30T09:55:41.856-07:00Thomas - Closing Thoughts<p><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Good morning SWIFT readers, </span></p><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">What an experience the last two weeks have been. Looking back, I've certainly gained a new appreciation for the beauty and power of supercells and tornadoes. The first couple days were a bit of a whirlwind. We were excited, almost giddy, to be starting the trip. Those first few meals together were filled with eager conversations about model products and SPC outlooks; where we should position ourselves the next day and what could end up failing. We focused hard on the weather briefs to give ourselves the most accurate information possible, and left the hotel with a spring in our steps and a sparkle in our eyes, ready to chase. </div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Those early days were a grind. We drove for long distances in the van, listening to music, playing games, and of course pouring over model products and incessantly refreshing the SPC website. I won't forget the feeling of that first chase on Day 4 - we were gunning pretty hard to the west when all of a sudden storms came up on radar to the north. I was driving, and I got such a rush when my navigator told me to turn right down the next country road I could find - it was on! That feeling stuck with me every time we got into a chase, no matter what role I had that day. I think that's one of the most interesting parts of chasing. We know that there is a low chance that we see a tornado, or even the beautiful structure of a supercell - but our hearts start racing nonetheless for the hope that we do get to witness such power and beauty in the environment. But what stands out to me even more is the juxtaposition of that beauty with the destruction that can come with it. From the Joplin memorial on Day 2, to the Gaylord tornado that we missed on Day 7, there was always the underlying threat of something terrible happening in the beauty that we were out there searching for. It underscores the need for more research in early warning systems and really diving into why a supercell becomes tornadic in order to warn people more effectively and ultimately save lives. </div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">I think the trip really started to come into fruition the moment we stepped outside the western wear store that Ryan bought his hat in. All of a sudden there were towering cumulus all around us, and once again the chase was on. That day and the next day of chasing were the cherries on top of an already awesome trip. We worked incredibly well as a team to put ourselves in position to perfectly see the storms and witness some pretty awesome displays from the atmosphere. That's what we came to see, and after a couple days of running hard, we were rewarded with great vistas. </div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><img alt="223.jpg" class="CToWUd a6T" data-image-whitelisted="" height="354" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ui=2&ik=0048e0380d&attid=0.1&permmsgid=msg-f:1733983130698316387&th=1810587867cafa63&view=fimg&fur=ip&sz=s0-l75-ft&attbid=ANGjdJ9KwcmPPD1uZEVVrJ3lUaB_I8jajCi_2QUvCLW7JHLTubopw7iXYOQhIpaN2xj0p4vXRgR3fiFZqca_bhI6bu3xsJPh-RCG9ZviS2M4l-ksKKBm2HkOl4NOVIc&disp=emb&realattid=ii_l3of5gyz0" style="cursor: pointer; outline: 0px;" tabindex="0" width="472" /><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">I'll be reflecting a lot about this trip in the next few weeks, thinking about the good times that we had together as a group and the awesome scenes that we were able to experience. The fr<span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">iendship, mentorship, and knowledge gained over the last two weeks has been so rewarding. A huge thank you to our two officer leads, the STEM department, and the other five mids that I got to experience the last two weeks with. </span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"><i>Well, I've been kicked by the wind, robbed by the sleet</i></span></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i><span style="color: black;">Had my head stoved in, but I'm still on my feet</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black;" /><span style="color: black;">And I'm still, willin'</span></i></span>SWIFT Team http://www.blogger.com/profile/15344982961809453019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-252252381210242229.post-475268266715279132022-05-30T09:48:00.001-07:002022-05-30T09:53:14.930-07:00Day 13/14: Carry me back to old Virginny...(and Annapolis)<p> For our final full day, we steamed north from near Chattanooga, TN to Staunton, VA. Along the way, we briefly checked one more state (North Carolina) off our list to complete a motivating total of 24 states (for the Class of 2024) in just 13 days! (I believe a SWIFT record!). After so much driving, it was nice to enjoy a long hike to the top of McAfee's Knob on the Appalachian Trail near Roanoke, VA in the later afternoon. Unfortunately, the fog obscured what would have been a quite nice view from the top! </p><p>After the hike, we enjoyed our final full dinner together at Angelle's Diner before heading to final overnight.</p><p>On Friday (day 14), we headed back into Annapolis with just enough time to clean the van and finish our travel paperwork before a line of severe thunderstorms plowed across the Naval Academy (and nearly disrupted the Class of 2022 graduation)!! At one point, as we were finishing our last debriefs, the "giant voice" system on the Yard broadcasted a tornado warning (thankfully, this did not verify!). Nonetheless, a fitting end to SWIFT 2022 to have severe storms <i>from the same system</i> we began chasing in Texas on Monday chase <i>us</i> back home!</p><p>Thanks to all for following our adventures this year, and be sure to check out each of our six interns' final blog posts and reflections on a successful chase season!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6vFkleRCF2ACoZKuBbRh2xQZnYPtPuOne_4EhXCV4p2qPT_k5aS3674MSQmx397G6sJ1_4FTwHn__Ya6xzsSi5vy47IG1yHdZMwwJdssLVHvHtJYYuYumoqBw3eB9uHQukR8FoNEfJB-TqV9WOkvDrSPGeBwxKJL8pIZ23ZFx9FUwzXvv574bN1kT/s1280/Slide1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="495" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6vFkleRCF2ACoZKuBbRh2xQZnYPtPuOne_4EhXCV4p2qPT_k5aS3674MSQmx397G6sJ1_4FTwHn__Ya6xzsSi5vy47IG1yHdZMwwJdssLVHvHtJYYuYumoqBw3eB9uHQukR8FoNEfJB-TqV9WOkvDrSPGeBwxKJL8pIZ23ZFx9FUwzXvv574bN1kT/w879-h495/Slide1.JPG" width="879" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>SWIFT Team http://www.blogger.com/profile/15344982961809453019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-252252381210242229.post-56049052293589145672022-05-30T09:04:00.002-07:002022-05-30T09:04:18.374-07:00Day 12: The SWIFT Team went down to Georgia<p><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Today was a big day of driving. We woke up in Waco, TX and rolled our way east, ultimately ending up in Chattanooga, TN. That's over 830 miles in one day! </span></p><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">We stopped for lunch at Trapp's cajun restaurant in Monroe, LA, for a taste of the south. The catfish po-boy was popular, although LCDR Burich urged us to try a real New Orleans po-boy when we get the chance. After a quick bite we continued onward and drove through Mississippi, played some mountain music and ate Jim & Nicks BBQ in Alabama, and cut briefly into Georgia. We still had Georgia on our minds when we got to the hotel that night in Tennessee. </div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Today was a fun driving day. Many songs were sung and car trivia was played. </div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>We drove very far,</i></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>From Texas to Tennessee.</i></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>- Ryan Englehard.</i></div>SWIFT Team http://www.blogger.com/profile/15344982961809453019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-252252381210242229.post-66269803481161840062022-05-30T09:01:00.005-07:002022-05-30T09:01:51.370-07:00Day 11: Show Me the Way (to San Angelo)<p><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">We woke up in Lubbock, TX this morning to the MCS that developed over western Texas on Monday. In an effort to get ahead and outside of the heavy precipitation, we set course for San Angelo, where we ate a delicious lunch at Paisano Restaurant. From there, we stuck around the San Angelo area and just east in the hopes of observing discrete storms south of the MCS we had just seen.</span></p><p><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">We crossed an east-west oriented outflow boundary laid down from the morning MCS and observed a stark wind shift from due north to due south over less than 10 miles. Directly above the wind shift, we observed a line of growing cumulus clouds and some "attempts" at storm formation...however the early rising clouds were being diluted by dry air higher in the atmosphere. While moving back north across the boundary, however, we finally got a sustained storm to form about 30 miles west of San Angelo near where the surface dryline intersected our boundary providing an augmented source of lifting. We went full speed toward it and were rewarded with beautiful views of a rotating supercell (<i>not</i> obscured by blowing dust!). We followed the storm into San Angelo and then bailed east to another storm forming along the old boundary that developed strong rotation and prompted the issuance of a tornado warning. </span></span></p><p><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNsjkQenjU8hRa8-MQoimYf8TM1HNQQv3ly2nemyTnljHLPUzl4pOpetcj1_YfAifcMuJbC9tMkQMaDIS-OomjcEKngVyL3HlSLkFopIej2ppUspewuiLeqHqFKlZii2HJ6zK_0-ZO5im7kE3yZJ9quwgv2oM7j3qF1AK0sg7Jf2HJp8fqkXy6GXPa/s4000/226.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNsjkQenjU8hRa8-MQoimYf8TM1HNQQv3ly2nemyTnljHLPUzl4pOpetcj1_YfAifcMuJbC9tMkQMaDIS-OomjcEKngVyL3HlSLkFopIej2ppUspewuiLeqHqFKlZii2HJ6zK_0-ZO5im7kE3yZJ9quwgv2oM7j3qF1AK0sg7Jf2HJp8fqkXy6GXPa/s320/226.jpg" width="320" /></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6gW_cFFDGGl0ZQyZYUf99tWmGzh-PV39x1lH5JR7qlBeQcnTk3p0I48Fk9Z0aD-dQxNqdsIpcc7CkbaypRKICCvJbtNsNF7vpLpTB_-WJA0V_hcZ_3pq9AMUMetTRcxc2HTz_QiXUxK9WF8vKyOwIuEHZZP8Fh0FKd1xaoigjlLn7_LC35odbDk89/s4000/126.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6gW_cFFDGGl0ZQyZYUf99tWmGzh-PV39x1lH5JR7qlBeQcnTk3p0I48Fk9Z0aD-dQxNqdsIpcc7CkbaypRKICCvJbtNsNF7vpLpTB_-WJA0V_hcZ_3pq9AMUMetTRcxc2HTz_QiXUxK9WF8vKyOwIuEHZZP8Fh0FKd1xaoigjlLn7_LC35odbDk89/s320/126.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /></span></div><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span><p></p><p><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">As late afternoon transitioned into evening, the initially discrete storms forming along the boundary congealed into an eastward/southeastward moving line which offered some dramatic sky scenery to us as we made our way toward Waco, TX.</span></span></p><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Near Goldthwaite, TX, in the early evening, we made a few stops on the side of the road to watch the storm approach, just before saying "Gimme Shelter" when the winds became too much to bear outside the comfort of our van. There's something really amazing about watching an anvil grow and spread across the sky just as the sun is starting to set.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /><img alt="24MAY1.jpeg" class="CToWUd a6T" data-image-whitelisted="" height="155" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ui=2&ik=0048e0380d&attid=0.1&permmsgid=msg-f:1733809253553257949&th=180fba547a53bddd&view=fimg&fur=ip&sz=s0-l75-ft&attbid=ANGjdJ-bIFAXKarcOe0vQcO8DZlJMalcusfvC6qfEjQC8NzbLfVX7nlApxtbJbd5t0id7GsGvqYRW9FUO_vFluXpkE1C3ZxaWYm2TOWPGTOPxUNfVCppqA4tIt_Cbkk&disp=emb&realattid=ii_l3loklnm0" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; cursor: pointer; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; outline: 0px;" tabindex="0" width="452" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /><img alt="24MAY2.jpeg" class="CToWUd a6T" data-image-whitelisted="" height="157" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ui=2&ik=0048e0380d&attid=0.2&permmsgid=msg-f:1733809253553257949&th=180fba547a53bddd&view=fimg&fur=ip&sz=s0-l75-ft&attbid=ANGjdJ-xvD0FW3-9doMrkeuqW90ntOfRcrLPzJOftKQ3QyZJ5vK_x1rc7dSXOjAm8Usdd_feMLfw7n_wGNwIoFXvU0JtKU1AwAC6occAc9vq_VT7QNoPdFvfmMPgdTs&disp=emb&realattid=ii_l3loklpm1" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; cursor: pointer; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; outline: 0px;" tabindex="0" width="452" /><div><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEszxl8tdK8jB7wUN4n-2fX57rdj_A4utCXbtqQDM0aFSW42lwpaVrb9MwBCYKn1zLsapL_4yhDZXlLSK29zylLsN2NpIGJvLXU6tczxXtmbFLHtlsCTSA6bOlQrhBkuWvr5ULGyjv9o8YvLsDJkOu8UazkgCg5k1qwZqDQEIaw9iT244HtNFJMyBY/s11184/326.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1856" data-original-width="11184" height="82" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEszxl8tdK8jB7wUN4n-2fX57rdj_A4utCXbtqQDM0aFSW42lwpaVrb9MwBCYKn1zLsapL_4yhDZXlLSK29zylLsN2NpIGJvLXU6tczxXtmbFLHtlsCTSA6bOlQrhBkuWvr5ULGyjv9o8YvLsDJkOu8UazkgCg5k1qwZqDQEIaw9iT244HtNFJMyBY/w493-h82/326.jpg" width="493" /></a></div><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">We also, by the grace of LCDR Burich nearly losing his SWIFT ballcap, were able to feel the effects of a squall, as what had been rather calm conditions picked up to 60+ mph winds nearly instantaneously. This put us "Under Pressure" to get on the move!</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /><img alt="24MAY3.jpeg" class="CToWUd a6T" data-image-whitelisted="" height="339" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ui=2&ik=0048e0380d&attid=0.3&permmsgid=msg-f:1733809253553257949&th=180fba547a53bddd&view=fimg&fur=ip&sz=s0-l75-ft&attbid=ANGjdJ8ED2ZKGAFyp7bzK3gBeI_2Kr_l7TXr6rCALNFyCUkIKydqd37G4AbfXValEwI-8sj_F2gqrGmOnFvbJaYsBf8ybG9O6hYi1N2rsoX_4rIazzfzg4GhzbpKCH4&disp=emb&realattid=ii_l3loklql2" style="cursor: pointer; outline: 0px;" tabindex="0" width="452" /><br /><br />Allowing the storm to follow us on toward Waco, we made our way to In-N-Out (I had no idea Texas had these!) and further to our hotel for some much needed rest.<br clear="all" /><div><br /></div><div><img alt="INNOUT24MAY.jpeg" class="CToWUd a6T" data-image-whitelisted="" height="247" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ui=2&ik=0048e0380d&attid=0.4&permmsgid=msg-f:1733809253553257949&th=180fba547a53bddd&view=fimg&fur=ip&sz=s0-l75-ft&attbid=ANGjdJ-sxXtvVHHXluBBqAIgpbhzIPMKN2Ghq4XaBx4x4mPiT44SLcpMhrBk4xbLP5Vd0FH4JB7_-n4dph1hTJ8ZGZoYLXWpvd_TDrJgdUmhNUEmYkMfFjzlgU18-qQ&disp=emb&realattid=ii_l3lollln3" style="cursor: pointer; outline: 0px;" tabindex="0" width="452" /><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>This was our last chase day in Texas, and the SWIFT team could not be more grateful to have observed the beautiful sky we did this afternoon, as we reach the close of this adventure.</div></div></div>SWIFT Team http://www.blogger.com/profile/15344982961809453019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-252252381210242229.post-64462878860053974712022-05-24T18:25:00.000-07:002022-05-24T18:25:55.584-07:00Day 10: Nothing Grows Near Morton, Except Friendships… and Supercells <p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yesterday we woke up in Weatherford, Texas. We got on the road quickly to get over to our target area, which was towards the bottom of the Texas panhandle near Midland. The SPC had predicted a slight risk for severe storms extending into that region. We determined that this would be the best area for potential storms because the wind shear looked promising, and models were showing moist air flowing up towards that region. We knew that success or failure would depend largely on whether the moisture actually moved up into the region; moisture is necessary for both increasing the instability in the atmosphere and keeping the clouds low enough to the ground.</span></p><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On our way we stopped in Big Spring, Texas for some lunch at Woodshack Burrito (Burritos and More!). We had a little time before we needed to keep moving, so we also stopped in Ward’s Western Wear so that Ryan could get a cowboy hat. A 200 dollar investment, but hey, he looks pretty snazzy. The second he walked out of the store with his hat, a storm popped up on the radar right near Big Spring. Coincidence? I think not. The hat is now dubbed “Stormbringer”. Then Ryan dropped it in the dirt at the park. It’s alright though, it still brought on the storms!</span></p><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 460px; overflow: hidden; width: 624px;"><img class="CToWUd a6T" height="460" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/VnuJid52B_xSPbItNIPokzfe9x_azZa8k_flQYtuSBrz9Z9iFPu1N_zCwhSRCMc0MN7d1O19WbIm_THw7k8sUQVkW-yZKLrEP3fVM6Zwd87qrv3V8BWaL5QU7pJkZJYHwqEgzoQybkRDXI0Dcw" style="cursor: pointer; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline: 0px;" tabindex="0" width="624" /></span></span></p><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We tracked the storm out of Big Spring for a few minutes, but we were really hoping for some storms to initiate to our north in better air. Soon we left the Big Spring storm behind when we started to see storms initiating on satellite. We headed north towards Lubbock, and cut a little over to the west to get closer to the storms as they moved eastward. </span></p><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As the storms came upon us, we saw two supercells that had formed and were slowly moving east. Making a decision on which storm to follow was difficult because the northern one began to display a classic supercell shape on radar. However, as soon as we started to move, our southern storm began to take on a beautiful shape. Our somewhat due east position to the updraft put us in the inflow, and we got caught in a massive dust storm. We got a real taste of those red dirt roads. Everything was dust in the wind. At one point when we were watching the storm, we saw a sharp vertical edge to a wide, dark column. We thought it was a precipitation shaft. LCDR Burich agreed that it was probably precipitation, but half-jokingly remarked, “Unless it’s a giant wedge tornado!”. We later learned that it was, in fact, a giant wedge tornado, but in the moment it was too hard to tell because of the dust.</span></p><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 468px; overflow: hidden; width: 624px;"><img class="CToWUd a6T" height="468" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/vhMT1aDhgDy8EGPuUAN_x9t82PysGYgk4YuOTZH3sVOX3IhFkS6obk4s2J6AwaN9_p_2BBGGkw-oGp2EkbjEzlMXpgv6fYBXHoGbRRYZCa_8wly_3pG_J_rWJoYrAiec-fbUlIYWPxVHVwYPeg" style="cursor: pointer; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline: 0px;" tabindex="0" width="624" /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 288px; overflow: hidden; width: 624px;"><img class="CToWUd a6T" height="288" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/NRNbQnGjcDBp7APqDh1qgUdSx4aK-sMUSFo4TEiSJrE78tl7HMkq8Kpk-XZBpo5a3MOs1RQAPFSAvFPvT1QYPTV-qnOXJHpkZTmt8tLkGYSjbrshypkhB5Aj0haUXLUMiCdSsXtUDBfCXwkSeQ" style="cursor: pointer; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline: 0px;" tabindex="0" width="624" /></span></span></p><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We moved back south to get out of the dust bowl and into a better position to see. From here we had an amazing view of the structure of the storm. As the light started to fade, the storm was illuminated by its own lightning. This massive storm was powerful enough to produce softball sized hail, which we could see on radar. Seeing the beauty and power of this storm with our own eyes was an incredible experience, and one we won’t soon forget.</span></p><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 416px; overflow: hidden; width: 624px;"><img class="CToWUd a6T" height="416" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/63s9KgsjpB08Z3mEkTdLaiv7mcf535onrOiobmUrZwNULR6Guwzsj_qPTGo8wsn9BzlVA_m7FWubG-6ZdjiWxNZbpg2z2JNjQBwTFeGvxml-jCXuqQU6fxR7Ev78nIGG60VxewMaqgTxDPL38A" style="cursor: pointer; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline: 0px;" tabindex="0" width="624" /></span></span></p><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">By 2230, the storm had finally started to weaken. We drove into Lubbock, where our hotel for the night was, and got one final look at the storm before calling it a night, making a quick stop at Raising Cane’s for a late night meal before heading to our hotel.</span></p>SWIFT Team http://www.blogger.com/profile/15344982961809453019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-252252381210242229.post-2897033990034413312022-05-24T07:21:00.000-07:002022-05-24T07:21:08.266-07:00Day 9: Driving that van through west Tennessee, Sam Ford-Dirks you better watch your speed<p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">We woke up this Sunday morning with a spring in our step, ready to push eastward towards where the Storm Prediction Center said that there would be a chance for severe weather on Monday. We knew that today would be a dedicated repositioning day, so we quickly left our hotel and got on the road heading west.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Our first stop of the day was in Jackson, TN, famous for being the city where the legendary train engineer Casey Jones lived at the time of his death. The legend has it that Jones volunteered to fill in for another engineer who was sick and couldn’t make his trip. Jones was known for being punctual, so when he saw that the train would be late, he knew he had to speed up to make up the time. Unfortunately, as he got closer to the station, there was a train broken down on the tracks that he was not warned about. Jones used his expertise in conducting to slow the train and prevent the death or injury of anyone on the train - except for himself. They say that he was still clutching the train’s whistle and its brake when he died. (Title of this blog post is a reference to the Grateful Dead song about Casey Jones).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Jackson was also our stop for breakfast, where we patronized a local Waffle House. It was the first time at this establishment for many of the crew, and we all left feeling satisfied. As Sam said, “There’s nowhere that you can get this good of food for five dollars.”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After fueling up on bacon, eggs, and of course, waffles, we headed westbound and down to Little Rock, AR. Little Rock was a cool town with a great little food joint called The Root, which offered healthy options for lunch from local farms. Jack Volinsky h</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ad a chicken salad sandwich which he claims he could have had 37 more of, but the jury’s still out. Just east of Little Rock was a great trail called Pinnacle Mountain, which provided vistas of the Arkansas backcountry. </span></p><p><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 468px; overflow: hidden; width: 624px;"><img class="CToWUd a6T" height="468" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/pCKUi6ygiFTeMPNrycAK8Qkt-1WwNoCv_iMs2GLH8NHlFOVXWPlGPNfH5O4Pczu1kQNM9pBpPu1umLckl2kIwRNZRPRyPVv5pRuV2YDrOvfMjhMyG5tUM1Om5AcykYNnpTZdEskAFqwLjEjhfg" style="cursor: pointer; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline: 0px;" tabindex="0" width="624" /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you look real close, you’ll see that Jack’s eyes are closed. The gnats were abundant on the peak. </span></p><p><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 468px; overflow: hidden; width: 624px;"><img class="CToWUd a6T" height="468" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/AT_KoKxiWYTK1auUqRlAwU6j5sghHlOiEZ4yehZsuOQHivh7RzsfCV6FIk5ZOXBS6sqUPWprqrh32EzVaBnloJxTM8RtVKiSrz3MtaSrOCCrTMtlHp31cFcp3b5ZyLDWM5GxFYM-hjiOUcCW-A" style="cursor: pointer; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline: 0px;" tabindex="0" width="624" /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">The views were absolutely stunning, and worth the pretty vertical rock scrambling that we had to do to get to the peak. </span></p><p><img class="CToWUd a6T" height="468" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/ErOD3Wjdsj46Sj6TJYRaK-7LBkEGmVijFva6LDQqmr8MbL9HU6F2XBSs91nrIViDg_mMjja6oYYLkjjUbHN15ARErivGKagOAIKZLRGULx4utHbPcKKjXz48qTwCJEelSLS_HPhvO66CSQjfVg" style="cursor: pointer; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;" tabindex="0" width="624" /></p><p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">The climb took it out of us, so after a quick stop for water and snacks, we pressed onward towards Dallas/Fort Worth, TX. On the way there we stopped at a cute family owned restaurant called the Red Barn where we got some down-home Texas cooking. Chocolate pie was the appetizer for a few of the team, which Ryan devoured at breakneck speed. We had another two and a half hours to our hotel, so we settled in for a long drive though some wide open spaces to get to our destination in hopes for Monday’s events. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Today didn’t bring much by way of weather, which goes to show the importance of being flexible and keeping morale high throughout the entire trip. Today wasn’t a waste of a day by any means - we simply looked ahead to greater opportunities further west. We are motivated and ready for our last few days out on the plains and hoping to see some severe weather and continue to share our journey with you all!</span></p>SWIFT Team http://www.blogger.com/profile/15344982961809453019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-252252381210242229.post-27975271062544629652022-05-22T08:15:00.003-07:002022-05-22T08:15:35.815-07:00Day 8: Got a Little Jingle on a Tennessee Saturday Night… <p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Good evening readers! </span></p><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This morning started earlier than expected in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The models and SPC convective outlooks for the oncoming day were looking somewhat promising. Upon this realization, the SWIFT team shot southward with a target area of Southeast IL/Northwest AR. This consisted of the best atmosphere for supercell and possible tornado formation in the nearly country-wide swath of the slight convective risk area. Of note, there were high values of instability in the area and minimal convective inhibition (suppression). Additionally, converse to yesterday, there was sufficient moisture in the atmosphere. However, the failure mode for today was a lack of strong vertical wind shear in the area. This lack of shear gave local wind profiles a less-than-ideal shape, although tornadoes still existed as a possible hazard type. </span></p><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As we shot through Indiana, we witnessed a line of thunderstorms form along the Mississippi River and Ohio River Valley. While booking down the Midwest, these storms caught up to the trusty steed that is our Chevrolet Express. During this, the team encountered a storm with hail exceeding two inches in diameter. Luckily, our driver LCDR Burich slowed so the majority of the hail passed in front of us. While attempting to get ahead of the approaching line of thunderstorms, we ducked into a Pilot gas station while tornado sirens were going off. While this got the team perky, it was without much evidence and no tornado was close to forming in the area. </span></p><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The weather and logistics team reconvened at this stop, and ultimately decided that the original goal location was no longer in reach. Model runs were increasingly doubtful of tornado formation. This was partly due to storms that formed to the East which organized into a large line and eroded away much of the available instability originally in the area. Additionally, higher values of wind shear were becoming less and less likely due to surface winds that were in the same direction as the upper level winds. Accordingly, there was an increasingly small chance that the original location would have an atmosphere conducive to isolated, discrete supercells. Instead, the team decided to chase along the line of thunderstorms that had formed along the Mississippi River and were traveling North-eastward. This provided the team with great views of the leading outflow boundary, its 50+ mph winds, and difficult driving conditions for our fearless driver Thomas Pearson. After stopping to experience the oncoming outflow boundary, the team decided there had been enough chasing for the day as we nestled into Western Tennessee.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Photos of the outflow boundary and the ensuing storm taken by Samuel “Wise Gamgee” FordDirks.</span><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 404px; overflow: hidden; width: 624px;"><img class="CToWUd a6T" height="467.99999999999994" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/1KncfiyxCvqRsCKqMAeKo7ozPTLnFlhD0eZgLMLdkX8gtSA3lEvTxBX7elYetgTm75ErVT7yDlz0qNa_Qq_9Bz8_OKKrsM7yTJDG4FmkUCrtFj72HdezHyxwi5D83UXEUuGJm8TaahwNQx_e_Q" style="cursor: pointer; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline: 0px;" tabindex="0" width="624" /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 468px; overflow: hidden; width: 624px;"><img class="CToWUd a6T" height="468" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/xR06p-A6OttjB3abO2pzcJNaLPw0vVAp3-z-vnNRk2XycbvGgbQ27TLAj_NRF4Rp8SwYI295in4OU9D8t6mBNzB4BAVIBm51F65c2yivSH1VQfDYE67PLdT23bBgcIlFtEsaMhqGsHOuSQxnVQ" style="cursor: pointer; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline: 0px;" tabindex="0" width="624" /></span></p><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We were rolling down a backwood, Tennessee byway,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">one arm on the wheel, </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">holding our kestrel handheld anemometer with the other, </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">a sweet soft southern thrill</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chased hard all week,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Got a little jingle (but no tornadoes)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On a Tennessee Saturday night</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’m together, with my SWIFTieland delight</span></p><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Goodnight moon, goodnight stars, goodnight Ryan Engelhard, and goodnight to this delicious burger and loaded fries from LBOE in Dickson, Tennessee.</span></p><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /><span style="background-color: white; border: none; color: #222222; display: inline-block; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; height: 590px; overflow: hidden; width: 442px;"><img class="CToWUd a6T" height="590" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/DHsqNCtLnyHpRqPMoIrv0O4UznAYhxTq9rfKmCYplHomXsb5p-NJsrFaBAd1XJPwfVHSBoGbw1q91gf75PmJd9cJxEK17refPRfcsKAvTNbMm_qrxEHCCmxmHIJaXMUr1qczs5Sr9C_Mn0tc6w" style="cursor: pointer; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline: 0px;" tabindex="0" width="442" /></span>SWIFT Team http://www.blogger.com/profile/15344982961809453019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-252252381210242229.post-55215513865125615842022-05-21T08:08:00.000-07:002022-05-21T08:08:21.791-07:00Day 7: It was Summertime in South-Central Michigan… (Kid Rock Reference)<p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">The team woke up, and moseyed down to the hotel lobby on a dreary morning in Mauston, Wisconsin. After fueling up on a Cuppa Mudd (cup of coffee), we started on our long journey into Michigan. </span></p><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 676px; overflow: hidden; width: 486px;"><img class="CToWUd a6T" height="676" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/na-N0Vbrc5SInxamC3Q_5H8XUbAKZedPHO4BXbXAgSRzuQE_WHcUmfmbe1PgLXnRr8tEv-W4HDx3pn74kOd0fswGIFUYefQ7ymSld4VBeI7dbDvg5co_F0mMTUCw-ngO7tgia5lz-XXUwtcDSw" style="cursor: pointer; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline: 0px;" tabindex="0" width="486" /></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"Just find me coffee within 20 minutes of the hotel" - CDR Carmody</span></p><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To LCDR Burich’s knowledge, this was the first time that SWIFT has been brought to either of these states, and it was the first time for many of our members. After a long drive the night before, our now-caffeinated crew kept truckin’ like the do-dah man around Lake Michigan and arrived in Grand Rapids. After a short lunch break, the team planned on intercepting a series of storms that initiated over Lake Michigan and worked to the northeast across Michigan where they made landfall in the Muskegon area. </span></p><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 414px; overflow: hidden; width: 385px;"><img class="CToWUd a6T" height="414" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/4Kq3oP_8sLgsAvhePXnh7kqPtBohGm8FyL09AuW-3Jva8gre4C-uku0c9TbzlJQoiPkAff9Yo169TimdWKCCR0KG3jIbb6ULTDlyUF5y97kqZjQ_OKIOPOMDVcz3fLpEFerMmxc7AnLeunyqfg" style="cursor: pointer; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline: 0px;" tabindex="0" width="385" /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Radar capture of the cells that we were tracking</span></p><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Although they did exhibit some rotation at a point, the environment over Michigan had too much inhibition due to cirrus cloud cover overhead that kept the sun from heating the ground. After a couple hours of tracking these storms, the team decided to bail on today's objective in order to set ourselves up for the upcoming days. We headed back through Grand Rapids, stopped for some great bar food, and made the 45 minute trek south to Kalamazoo. We just couldn’t get what we wanted, but our heads are held high as we go into the next section of our trip.</span></p><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It is important to note that we were too far away from the more promising storms in the far northeast corner of Michigan which ended up becoming tornadic. Tragically, the storm left in its wake numerous injuries and a fatality. This underscores the importance of gaining more knowledge about severe weather in order to help our local disaster response teams more adequately warn their communities and prepare for storms like this, even when they are coming without much time to react. Our hearts go out to those affected by the storm today. </span></p>SWIFT Team http://www.blogger.com/profile/15344982961809453019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-252252381210242229.post-51323186861399521012022-05-20T13:36:00.000-07:002022-05-20T13:36:50.776-07:00Day 6: Hey where did we go, days when the rains came? Minnesota! We went to Minnesota!<p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">We have climbed the highest hills, and we ran through the fields, but we still haven't found what we’re looking for. But yes we're still running. While it may have been a day lacking in tornadoes, we still found some good views of some powerful storms. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 936px; overflow: hidden; width: 624px;"><img class="CToWUd a6T" height="936" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/xo7rQsE-ReAIwmJlepfZCTuyspnwvQj5Wo3iZZN4JrHUPPwhzoqXDZtn3Al7l2Y16ffA8OaLrxy-n1rmoRy6Xwb6_-XPef5tgH_y_TNbQ5mJWJ-DFPCnTzXlx8SOeWhNZtsQpvAPXu69gCZG8g" style="cursor: pointer; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline: 0px;" tabindex="0" width="624" /></span></span></p><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We began our day in Omaha, Nebraska, where we had driven the night before to put ourselves in a good position for potential storms the next day. When we woke up, we were optimistic about our chances to see some tornado producing storms, especially since the SPC had drawn a 10% hatched risk of tornadoes extending from southeastern Minnesota into northwestern Iowa. Unfortunately, the SPC quickly downgraded the risk to 5% in light of the fact that the moisture necessary for producing the storms was being used up by a mesoscale convective vortex to the south. Nonetheless, we were still hoping to see some action in the region and initially decided to drive to Howard County, IA. While driving in the van, we adjusted our target area to south central MN because we decided it would be a good idea to stay south of the warm front that was going to move through the region. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 936px; overflow: hidden; width: 624px;"><img class="CToWUd a6T" height="936" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/Jwgs68RsgxTjbZjwO01qIiaUQN3llEmwpNrIGPa71uioVRLPnP6pL21GtZFGZSPHwLXkY0Nu2aoKVmqdAojhyu-P35OBkGwi0_LNVPZ3iizikm1MrTb_KR3FDpBIerY8zR-B-NUKtjGB3LjpoQ" style="cursor: pointer; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline: 0px;" tabindex="0" width="624" /></span></span></p><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As we were driving towards our destination, storms were already firing on the warm front, meaning the northward progress of the warm front would be slowed as the storms put down cold air. This made it possible for us to get to the warm front in time before it moved through, which was ideal for chasing. However, we were concerned that a lack of moisture in the air would prevent any impressive storms from forming. Moisture is key in creating instability in the atmosphere so that air rises, and it also is important for tornadogenesis by helping the bases of clouds stay lower to the ground. We continued to assess this parameter but had hopes that if we stayed south of the front, there would be enough pooled moisture.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 936px; overflow: hidden; width: 624px;"><img class="CToWUd a6T" height="936" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/AMGuzqR3L5_rBLzjqVWtyQ_0Ff1NoOPpbdN0ojN0PiK5rDSpUlNkWFbWPYN_X5CED5HAciExuiX8mvCrz9ZFP1xOE-5ZbgTvXs6c2lhqxk8hn-dT0U9LCdJtboGX3PC41EXspTFKeg0vtyjQDw" style="cursor: pointer; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline: 0px;" tabindex="0" width="624" /></span></span></p><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After a morning full of making forecasts and trying to keep Thomas and his bad jokes in check, we were ready for some lunch! We stopped at a barbeque place called Cornbred, located in Ames, Iowa (Go Cyclones, Beat Army!). The food was fantastic. There was something in everything about it. Fueled up and ready to go, we blasted over to our target area.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 936px; overflow: hidden; width: 624px;"><img class="CToWUd a6T" height="936" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/s486nT9vi4wbTgTBIbEJTEJdVG8Era7Xj_J08rR21To63_ccD577N7AsneSYbLPDoG7IBl_HU43jMlG_1Ff4p1XNpcoyNxw9Nm9NkzUTQLYhqTtcTki9ggIzt2yswO_ovEViFFCbXdQVt4qKGA" style="cursor: pointer; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline: 0px;" tabindex="0" width="624" /></span></span></p><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As we approached the first two counties in MN near Albert Lea, we got out to look at the cumulus field now growing to our southwest. We noticed a few storms developing and quickly got in the van to go northeast to follow them. The storms were strong enough to form large hail, but they quickly moved into an area of cold air and out of the good environment, so we moved back south to look for more promising storms. At this point, lots of storms were forming, but they were so close that they started interfering with each other instead of forming discrete supercells like we were hoping for. However, they still produced lots of impressive lightning and were incredible to behold.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 416px; overflow: hidden; width: 624px;"><img class="CToWUd a6T" height="416" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/3tBbxHSxxnJu4q-Cu9Mo1VYjxXYTvo9ZcAnp3vn-Zps3At87RTrQqp9YAvylRWsFAJIA-xcqi31Cpd1L9_qsmyC4ELQUdECln_cf_TSap6lxgWaGtD7ZgBWDG2c32IlyBmi9Dx3Sq05ZXjGFEQ" style="cursor: pointer; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline: 0px;" tabindex="0" width="624" /></span></span></p><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A little later in the evening, the tail end of the cluster of storms broke off and formed a more promising supercell. We stayed with this storm and got to see some great clouds. At one point we were right under the base of the updraft and had a great view of the clouds rising all around us. There were a couple of moments where we could actually see some of the rotation in the atmosphere through the movement of the clouds! We stayed with the storm until we realized that it was becoming a bow echo and not something with tornado potential. After this we finally called it a day and decided to wrap up the evening with burgers and great custard at Culvers. </span></p>SWIFT Team http://www.blogger.com/profile/15344982961809453019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-252252381210242229.post-9216746548022868712022-05-20T13:33:00.002-07:002022-05-20T13:33:16.645-07:00Day 5: Back to OK<p> Wednesday brought us back to Oklahoma for a visit with the students of Caney Valley Elementary School. Our six Midshipmen had a chance to teach several fun STEM-related (Science, Tech, Engineering, and Math) modules to the third, fourth, and fifth grade including basics of electric circuits and conductivity, applications of air pressure, and building/testing straw rockets. To say the students impressed us would be an understatement! They were super excited for us to be there, and we thank them greatly for their hospitality! Enjoy the pictures below!</p><p>Afterwards, we headed to Pawhuska, OK for a big lunch at Ree Drummond's Mercantile (the Pioneer Woman). </p><p>We then headed north through Kansas toward our overnight destination of Omaha, NE which set us up for our chase target in northern IA/southern MN on Thursday. More pictures from that day next!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh93083UUoq6uJ3m_sFqM9HxxexDFLdwNOipLg8K5By-HFZhQ-1CyPqZKyjNJ9cqiBcBEO0-yRAyC7LEBWit9Rhu-XeBwKC3_iU37_Becf1CmcVkMIScpj3psWlnn-jhW9PnSJEdzIWQO6W4mncPFbxnBcun-1sF4E3tAPYlZEERN80mSxt6kxpqNf5/s4000/118.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh93083UUoq6uJ3m_sFqM9HxxexDFLdwNOipLg8K5By-HFZhQ-1CyPqZKyjNJ9cqiBcBEO0-yRAyC7LEBWit9Rhu-XeBwKC3_iU37_Becf1CmcVkMIScpj3psWlnn-jhW9PnSJEdzIWQO6W4mncPFbxnBcun-1sF4E3tAPYlZEERN80mSxt6kxpqNf5/s320/118.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Making a human electric circuit</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKA3skFfkPUBgIVXWSejzm7cFj705N-4sgh9E4YycGCmtxP-78ix9tXxPbuNZM2ecgRm-WXQkh38MfwYM0w7yb_yqstEYT4CtgKmkXFPfOxXMpZwdsomGsDEqrcTx_TuImCVtf_osZW6XbItRJsF3s7Y1BFX-RJOKq8zCSrL8VvqYmnR7n8V7E0n9s/s4000/218.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKA3skFfkPUBgIVXWSejzm7cFj705N-4sgh9E4YycGCmtxP-78ix9tXxPbuNZM2ecgRm-WXQkh38MfwYM0w7yb_yqstEYT4CtgKmkXFPfOxXMpZwdsomGsDEqrcTx_TuImCVtf_osZW6XbItRJsF3s7Y1BFX-RJOKq8zCSrL8VvqYmnR7n8V7E0n9s/s320/218.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIap3iuOOJO6gRyruSarQ_TrRRNAG30A5XNLYreyhO2emeTC-UhEYFgk0C6Z-nkW_plUyQq7iu2YwxZn1d5PnBPtOG7qP0NAuPDfjzPaYN39whnc1Et2DLHftVAYpEHHyb0qGReqlScfhpkFwOoXz9ogMkrlXdNEvhh7uKvWIMfSaB4zuFRTmZAF42/s4000/318.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIap3iuOOJO6gRyruSarQ_TrRRNAG30A5XNLYreyhO2emeTC-UhEYFgk0C6Z-nkW_plUyQq7iu2YwxZn1d5PnBPtOG7qP0NAuPDfjzPaYN39whnc1Et2DLHftVAYpEHHyb0qGReqlScfhpkFwOoXz9ogMkrlXdNEvhh7uKvWIMfSaB4zuFRTmZAF42/s320/318.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Teaching the straw rockets</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxeyI2V7rhYEuGtrDNUIgTvmNgphPAiR13AIuMiN_yqzquARMA6E-IeXuQDnDKlK2Dl-XImCUGMryqU45t_ZD14QBdd_2DT6ifC1r3qCXdoEkYknEAtFFoiuJpA8xGp2-K2P52PslzyBgKijN_oeJn81Gr2FvnJYdwBg83pHpG8djm8jPiHvciTOVh/s4000/418.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxeyI2V7rhYEuGtrDNUIgTvmNgphPAiR13AIuMiN_yqzquARMA6E-IeXuQDnDKlK2Dl-XImCUGMryqU45t_ZD14QBdd_2DT6ifC1r3qCXdoEkYknEAtFFoiuJpA8xGp2-K2P52PslzyBgKijN_oeJn81Gr2FvnJYdwBg83pHpG8djm8jPiHvciTOVh/s320/418.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Air pressure demonstration</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6FVFLwxBQmnle60kP_ubR7aDK3aOLssinAKJAL3TxvFKL1DPm_UhxY3GhFgYCYEpgvqPInNEAy11fnNP4h4x5ppaJ8ipj2wiFpOYEWsBaB1YaZ0jST3kE5ApUPCE9HgB_qbkCAMcO5yjck5DX-WxqKyCulqeXUfFp2rfuc_EHWXFo5h03tOqGkxm_/s4000/618.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6FVFLwxBQmnle60kP_ubR7aDK3aOLssinAKJAL3TxvFKL1DPm_UhxY3GhFgYCYEpgvqPInNEAy11fnNP4h4x5ppaJ8ipj2wiFpOYEWsBaB1YaZ0jST3kE5ApUPCE9HgB_qbkCAMcO5yjck5DX-WxqKyCulqeXUfFp2rfuc_EHWXFo5h03tOqGkxm_/s320/618.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Testing rockets</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZGJ6oqvfEWQk19RmDROytMmD7NkQR8xEz02ud8tPO68KxYLfrPve2DV8SyUKq3n6B_9Fjvxj2dobFaE2qhtouCHIqlJqY6vNkwAqhPBF8V63CPeF2qYMMAtm3xCmY_jgha3pJw-NQdkLmH5XNVz4koBtdm5DbGZ29dSFMyKGgx9tnkcFDdf8RqQx3/s4000/718.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZGJ6oqvfEWQk19RmDROytMmD7NkQR8xEz02ud8tPO68KxYLfrPve2DV8SyUKq3n6B_9Fjvxj2dobFaE2qhtouCHIqlJqY6vNkwAqhPBF8V63CPeF2qYMMAtm3xCmY_jgha3pJw-NQdkLmH5XNVz4koBtdm5DbGZ29dSFMyKGgx9tnkcFDdf8RqQx3/s320/718.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ30S-pxT6t9fhm-qLDWX0CmZiNlTgjWGhzhJtgLR8c-Q3oikwGfmRdZyf1tZ3ICx_1LLo59Ch9wAO496Yz-jBJP_S7SNNNg9S9LRy0lYVUhvlrU5TxvUarLXVJ8dmOD-KjOg77xnHpwHqFPaT5r9vVQUtIaO32ltN3QdiyCVYNuA9prLo-Rm4d-mk/s4000/818.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; 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text-align: center;">The Mercantile</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwS37e5gSySAOb3EYdMaGpsQQRgBWmoVfPR8na-UENnEBrxjW7Xt8sqiHRROk1SZf0NSWlj7vRtY5LmaTIvgqvDR5q1c7a-kYTrbqQneqWMXOWDPnPeywx3BlSubKGpwuzHKdOn_sEddfllDCTME3aDt8rPibkDpRrgqNQiYdqj3CVITXflretLI1y/s1026/kansas.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="684" data-original-width="1026" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwS37e5gSySAOb3EYdMaGpsQQRgBWmoVfPR8na-UENnEBrxjW7Xt8sqiHRROk1SZf0NSWlj7vRtY5LmaTIvgqvDR5q1c7a-kYTrbqQneqWMXOWDPnPeywx3BlSubKGpwuzHKdOn_sEddfllDCTME3aDt8rPibkDpRrgqNQiYdqj3CVITXflretLI1y/s320/kansas.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Kansas!</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br /></div><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p><br /></p>SWIFT Team http://www.blogger.com/profile/15344982961809453019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-252252381210242229.post-82096363893259342482022-05-18T15:42:00.001-07:002022-05-18T15:42:21.532-07:00Day 4: All roads lead to Wichita<p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small; white-space: pre-wrap;">Today was highly eventful! We started off with a tour of the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) in Norman, OK where we learned about their founding, their mission, and the challenges they continue to face every day. With large gaps in the initial conditions and limitations to our current understanding and technology, forecasting weather can be an extremely difficult job. Not to mention the human aspect, where people want warnings days in advance and get extremely frustrated when warnings are underwhelming or wrong. According to their Operations Director, Bill Bunting, thick skin is needed in the meteorology field, and it’s pronounced “KILLometer” not “kilOMeter.”</span></p><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 236px; overflow: hidden; width: 318px;"><img class="CToWUd a6T" height="236" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/naJ6MFX3K53tMvFjzXFUYg9xQMOgFZ7IYPXfS_KlqAs23XutmcCkGm2V1Frw0BofT49t_labVdKkGjR_wZC06BZoZ5kkwzvy-TBrCC0W25YzBYXATf3DExTpHLXl8EgbWPDeTgGybFB9-r36wg" style="cursor: pointer; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline: 0px;" tabindex="0" width="318" /></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtqxkF4pkpyQNvBbAc9101jlx1ip6smS8uuW0Y2aZ-1zfOcnCvp_JeT9RRF8C_SFnaqflpZ61thEjdbaboF0SApltduMvPNEAgfhnfXtqo31t3wSXgk-5XpIgFvDZnTHNVe2xZ6gLi9XPQKy8b2oaUc8ilYnzaEFfyhyA1W1cdw7O0jBR46DpofrWy/s4000/217.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtqxkF4pkpyQNvBbAc9101jlx1ip6smS8uuW0Y2aZ-1zfOcnCvp_JeT9RRF8C_SFnaqflpZ61thEjdbaboF0SApltduMvPNEAgfhnfXtqo31t3wSXgk-5XpIgFvDZnTHNVe2xZ6gLi9XPQKy8b2oaUc8ilYnzaEFfyhyA1W1cdw7O0jBR46DpofrWy/s320/217.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Afterwards, we grabbed some lunch from Canes and carried on like wayward sons to Kansas. We were hoping to witness some supercell development in south-central Kansas, near Wichita, but nothing came of it. With some great views and great tunes, we decided to move north on our two-lane country road toward Salina to follow some development along the Kansas-Nebraska border. Organized thunderstorms began to crop up just north of Salina and move east-southeast. Thus began our first chase!</span></p><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Things were looking promising, the SPC had considered our area of interest to have an enhanced risk for severe thunderstorms and a 5% chance for a tornadic event (this is a really high probability by the way). The storm was there, the conditions looked favorable, now we just had to see the outcome.</span></p><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 210px; overflow: hidden; width: 314px;"><img class="CToWUd a6T" height="210" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/wN-SDXNGIlR8GMjUD52foTiYA2sKAahP3bdgRx4ZherSBvmO2uPRPlAXdj-w50PTviOubBXhhO18K5TWE71-lj0Id9_xCQAamvdfWFbtbsAAr-hiqXk3ewEJBX945yJNDfrXfn4JK0qoEmuVVg" style="cursor: pointer; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline: 0px;" tabindex="0" width="314" /></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN0Aa6rQke5OcJhk1UUVKe4cvO1ZSPqJVo6HLYHsnjtPKU3z_G5b6bpsbUtMTtmAm1AOScz_p7tj9twXf3F0Z5dikMqpLck60MQBwMgNKdOMnQMOAxOuG39AAyAlHPuJhUTvfurJqUHelY1sKUK71xvCnsai7ny7G8BfLrpYmhN3XX1vZzx7M83_Qx/s4000/317.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN0Aa6rQke5OcJhk1UUVKe4cvO1ZSPqJVo6HLYHsnjtPKU3z_G5b6bpsbUtMTtmAm1AOScz_p7tj9twXf3F0Z5dikMqpLck60MQBwMgNKdOMnQMOAxOuG39AAyAlHPuJhUTvfurJqUHelY1sKUK71xvCnsai7ny7G8BfLrpYmhN3XX1vZzx7M83_Qx/s320/317.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Unfortunately, the storm did not remain discrete and gradually formed a large Mesoscale Convective System. This is a line of storms that is not ideal for tornado development. Needless to say, we were able to witness an amazing natural phenomenon. The sky was illuminated with endless flashes of bright lighting and the wind force of the downdraft cold pool literally almost blew us away. Despite no tornado formation, it was still an incredible sight to see!</span></p><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 208px; overflow: hidden; width: 313px;"><img class="CToWUd a6T" height="208" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/qOTBsH4lCv1jAqWTKS0hi3-Emk40inoI6vFAib05yFcIP-fByR24dd-dW7FsHA8Alo5HjMaxWrzb54iHMoPXAJ_D_n_afPKA_nnSlk1ozJndpMhJIyvgkOt6SeXNINQqJECiRESScTwlcpBjXA" style="cursor: pointer; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline: 0px;" tabindex="0" width="313" /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Storm photo credits go to Sam ‘Uncle’ Ford-Dirks.</span></p><div><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"></span>SWIFT Team http://www.blogger.com/profile/15344982961809453019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-252252381210242229.post-44571302399026714822022-05-17T21:31:00.001-07:002022-05-17T21:31:52.831-07:00Day 3: Tulsa is OK (get it?)<p><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">We woke up in Joplin this morning after a wild night of broken down vans and attempted Waffle House excursions. After a quick breakfast, we made our trek down to Tulsa, where we ate lunch at Sisserou's, a Caribbean eatery. We quickly found that you CAN get good Caribbean food in a place like Tulsa.</span></p><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /><img alt="SISSEROUS.jpg" class="CToWUd a6T" data-image-whitelisted="" height="341" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ui=2&ik=0048e0380d&attid=0.1&permmsgid=msg-f:1733048241692005854&th=180d063198aad5de&view=fimg&fur=ip&sz=s0-l75-ft&attbid=ANGjdJ-7A4mOg1V4DK4jvOio0ofoMppWgpaOudq-gL4ex9vMsMTi3CHYyPclub9txeQCHT6E7XptAtVth0D74wDmd_IRhP4bbM93SpHzHrwK2i4d11poX_YpmQekRno&disp=emb&realattid=ii_l39ogf9n0" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; cursor: pointer; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; margin-right: 0px; outline: 0px;" tabindex="0" width="255" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">We made a quick stop at the corner of Easton and Main for a quick picture before moving on to Oklahoma City, and further, Norman. </span><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><img alt="CAINS.jpeg" class="CToWUd a6T" data-image-whitelisted="" height="335" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ui=2&ik=0048e0380d&attid=0.4&permmsgid=msg-f:1733048241692005854&th=180d063198aad5de&view=fimg&fur=ip&sz=s0-l75-ft&attbid=ANGjdJ_yOMMCKr7ikCEuR8sPDJ2wuDTQy0d8oXX3dLlp3fxxT1NQtgE7Wq2OEd2G51bBSpRjdkxGbbfn3I2hxcRNT0HWfm-K4Mx_LCSBIh533cSle9hypvcZkMiknrE&disp=emb&realattid=ii_l39oq9qp3" style="cursor: pointer; margin-right: 0px; outline: 0px;" tabindex="0" width="251" /><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Along the way, we dropped by one of Black Rifle Coffee Company's brick and mortar locations, where most of us found joy in mocha cold brew and Tacti-rooster t-shirts.<br /><br /><img alt="BRCC.jpg" class="CToWUd a6T" data-image-whitelisted="" height="286" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ui=2&ik=0048e0380d&attid=0.2&permmsgid=msg-f:1733048241692005854&th=180d063198aad5de&view=fimg&fur=ip&sz=s0-l75-ft&attbid=ANGjdJ9hO_lFRMLma6TnIZsUEdG-4idgz6oQq47MylSj9Xe3RVWtXtG4JuDEaBV_3i2bUasnXoyH8ZvpHJ0gyIhrtb2eGt4zKGee5c8bkrw27TN-2rO1uKvJtg1_rVY&disp=emb&realattid=ii_l39ojpw61" style="cursor: pointer; margin-right: 0px; outline: 0px;" tabindex="0" width="215" /><br /><br />After checking out the sweet digs at the Norman Embassy Suites, we made our way to Thunderbird State Park, where many of us went our own way and *truly* encountered nature in the form of ticks.<br /><br />We finished out our day at Benvenuti, a neat little Italian restaurant in Norman, before heading back to our hotel. Overall, we had a very low-risk weather day, but we look forward to more convectively exciting days as the week proceeds.<br /><div><br /></div><div><img alt="Toadsworth.jpg" class="CToWUd a6T" data-image-whitelisted="" height="338" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ui=2&ik=0048e0380d&attid=0.3&permmsgid=msg-f:1733048241692005854&th=180d063198aad5de&view=fimg&fur=ip&sz=s0-l75-ft&attbid=ANGjdJ-v51ZQ4-hoN6CYm-2Xkda-ii1TMmv6ANfst243oWjlZFbFap6c5XVdwuNhqdfSuNFilR74gKQ1gFh6W11AcwdBKFpT9ALP-hxvoZWJBav-gd2XcovJrsFskUE&disp=emb&realattid=ii_l39ok9472" style="cursor: pointer; margin-right: 0px; outline: 0px;" tabindex="0" width="254" /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div>SWIFT Team http://www.blogger.com/profile/15344982961809453019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-252252381210242229.post-59784823663680685812022-05-16T13:09:00.000-07:002022-05-16T13:09:17.427-07:00Day 2: Cloudy...with a chance of ribs<p> Yesterday was full of adventure! There was not a lot of severe weather, but we still had some incredible experiences. In the morning we journeyed to St. Louis, MO, where we saw the famous Gateway Arch. We also stopped by the museum at the Gateway Arch and learned a little about the history of St. Louis.</p><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="IMG_1688.JPG" class="CToWUd a6T" data-image-whitelisted="" height="452" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ui=2&ik=0048e0380d&attid=0.1&permmsgid=msg-f:1733010303151473202&th=180ce3b0576f8232&view=fimg&fur=ip&sz=s0-l75-ft&attbid=ANGjdJ9qq64oJZ-gfaUzZTOwuSIhNkoeMjyoXWZSqUZYops4YIN2W0MXwU46IYI09x6BIVwpDt6x7Jm1jNUex_fWbFq4_uYVLE5n0IoWeT7KfJ73fc3puZb2pa9ECTI&disp=emb&realattid=ii_l38wwzio0" style="cursor: pointer; outline: 0px;" tabindex="0" width="247" /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg-K4wFCVInVx0lWUshCx2nBkFdqpEVFt6An6vsLgQkWZqBhuzDUcYUxjPgiZNmpTOHlRAYwanmb-OhAIPn_jDovjQZu_Q_sBee6XCAUhvlSS9dlINE_46-nt4w5x9hfZnd7ZsEbWaZkdAikxWHFRsaBrf3UhGBP1aU5rJYiwoUcBWHDEl1GNNQ3Cv/s4000/815.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg-K4wFCVInVx0lWUshCx2nBkFdqpEVFt6An6vsLgQkWZqBhuzDUcYUxjPgiZNmpTOHlRAYwanmb-OhAIPn_jDovjQZu_Q_sBee6XCAUhvlSS9dlINE_46-nt4w5x9hfZnd7ZsEbWaZkdAikxWHFRsaBrf3UhGBP1aU5rJYiwoUcBWHDEl1GNNQ3Cv/s320/815.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>After that we went to lunch at Pappy's Smokehouse for some outstanding barbeque (and the best ribs in the USA!). To quote Emily, "I always wondered why people wanted to live in Missouri, but after eating here I understand".</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="615.jpg" class="CToWUd a6T" data-image-whitelisted="" height="274" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ui=2&ik=0048e0380d&attid=0.2&permmsgid=msg-f:1733010303151473202&th=180ce3b0576f8232&view=fimg&fur=ip&sz=s0-l75-ft&attbid=ANGjdJ-927om2ST3SENyLC6rGO2SFDQ7AilU8KM_ElXdm00zYreK09MClOQis03D51jf_g4WdVxnR4-M4K_M7hhx7Yx65w7D25KJqCB4gLGV987phkviZ3rIM_XC_OU&disp=emb&realattid=ii_l38yly881" style="cursor: pointer; margin-right: 0px; outline: 0px;" tabindex="0" width="365" /><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Following lunch, we began our journey towards Tulsa. At this point we were looking closely at some storms developing in northeast Oklahoma, trying to assess whether there was a good enough chance of interesting weather for us to rush there. There was a chance for a tornado, but it was not very promising since the storms developing were joining together instead of forming discrete supercells.</div><div><br /></div><div>Since the chance for seeing interesting weather was poor, we instead found a beautiful spot to hike, driving over the hills and far away to get there. We went to Ha Ha Tonka State Park in the Ozarks where we saw castle ruins, a spring, a few turtles, and a natural bridge. Along with the castle ruins there was a watchtower, and we went all along it. Thomas was particularly excited to see some fish. We had to pull him away.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="515.jpg" class="CToWUd a6T" data-image-whitelisted="" height="315" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ui=2&ik=0048e0380d&attid=0.3&permmsgid=msg-f:1733010303151473202&th=180ce3b0576f8232&view=fimg&fur=ip&sz=s0-l75-ft&attbid=ANGjdJ9gkYuJJvtTj2_fwY-ZlV0yE5ijt_kdAqIWhGRtWuOkaCQAthMRXSATnFLagmo-hyu7W6o7Wxv4ZuIrGr0PCGIhnFoa0nHV9e7WADWJflS1Cc95dhATU6a_pOY&disp=emb&realattid=ii_l38z24ae2" style="cursor: pointer; margin-right: 0px; outline: 0px;" tabindex="0" width="420" /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRo4VP8Fr-JR1bbj3pcns4VBz0qxbICD3Er9t9lSaQPKnEKtEAlq60mk6kK0LMWL7OZXWFWlTSC0HAJHPGt3RTf0gFfsNrV_n3B9-UR3zzlD8ajFkwW0CY9nkOwJ9dr5qy5AfbifCS6qGcTsHDitmNS9rEfh7EaMWMhwUaOBpjsN0psynPP5he8lfj/s4000/415.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRo4VP8Fr-JR1bbj3pcns4VBz0qxbICD3Er9t9lSaQPKnEKtEAlq60mk6kK0LMWL7OZXWFWlTSC0HAJHPGt3RTf0gFfsNrV_n3B9-UR3zzlD8ajFkwW0CY9nkOwJ9dr5qy5AfbifCS6qGcTsHDitmNS9rEfh7EaMWMhwUaOBpjsN0psynPP5he8lfj/s320/415.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>Our final stop was at the Tornado Memorial in Joplin, MO, where a devastating and deadly EF-5 tornado struck in 2011. The memorial impressed upon us feelings of sadness and loss, but also of hope. It is terrible that there was such destruction and loss of life, but the people of Joplin were able to band together, rebuild, and become even stronger because of it. Walking through the memorial, we were all feeling a sense of hope that our love of science and our desire to understand these powerful storms will help to prevent loss of life in the future.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTWZekpAbcy-PSIZszZKcICpNnSBnVDn9mY24d_6bN4KDF114Hvgo9Zq3rJRdy0i-bna1H-g3ppSii9ySxIQ5P4WPKGbIkMPDRsMeGp0QzRCVP78XU1VOaV4kog5yKANezCcjB9MllOBJn5Ds6n9-cDJfEIUgauD3q0doImvtOLK7wu4K9vOcdf0Dc/s4000/315.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTWZekpAbcy-PSIZszZKcICpNnSBnVDn9mY24d_6bN4KDF114Hvgo9Zq3rJRdy0i-bna1H-g3ppSii9ySxIQ5P4WPKGbIkMPDRsMeGp0QzRCVP78XU1VOaV4kog5yKANezCcjB9MllOBJn5Ds6n9-cDJfEIUgauD3q0doImvtOLK7wu4K9vOcdf0Dc/s320/315.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>At this point we were all feeling ready to eat a nice dinner and get to sleep, but fate had other plans in store for us. For our final adventure of the evening, we had to deal with the van breaking down! Personally, I think this bad luck will be balanced out by some really good luck in the coming days (hopefully in the form of interesting storms!). We already got the van fixed and are on our way to our next adventure!</div><span style="color: #888888;"><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /></span>SWIFT Team http://www.blogger.com/profile/15344982961809453019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-252252381210242229.post-17829959926771568032022-05-14T20:32:00.001-07:002022-05-14T20:32:43.664-07:00Day 1: Fog, Skyline Chili, hailstorms, and the world's largest mailbox, etc.!<p> <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hello everyone,</span></p><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Day 1 has been a great success! We started our trip at 0630 this morning, leaving the foggy Annapolis region to find clear skies in northern Maryland. We then pushed through the Allegheny Mountains of Maryland and West Virginia, where we saw cloud formation at its finest. After crossing the Eastern Continental Divide at over 2800 feet, we received clearer skies with a few cirrus clouds overhead. A brief trek through Pennsylvania and West Virginia’s chimney brought us to Ohio, with miles of endless cumulus clouds. Weather didn’t start to pick up until we reached Indiana and Illinois, where brief but intense thunderstorms brought down heavy precipitation and hail on our humble duty van. When the ice wasn’t falling on us, we had a moment to view some of the world’s largest objects in Casey, IL. After pushing through another hail storm we found dinner at the wonderful Niemerg’s Steakhouse in Effingham, IL, where we debated how to properly pronounce ‘pecan’ and discussed our plan for tomorrow. Stay tuned for more weather updates throughout the week!</span></p><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span id="m_-9128949284628013367gmail-docs-internal-guid-7673281a-7fff-20c0-1aa4-e4cfe5a57462"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 254px; overflow: hidden; width: 338px;"><img class="CToWUd a6T" height="254" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/bv8kE30fTiNl2TbljhsNnjPuCL56UUb5pWGkLeEdzZda3jtkR-GZgHJh_FMpsfCIKXehXAZEVskrP5vhiqx1fqhQ1IJ7n4LwaiaRty3uQKjgmT7IIT2QFgOjwimHUdYMLevoQAnl_xBWw3BZoQ" style="cursor: pointer; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline: 0px;" tabindex="0" width="338" /></span></span></span><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 254px; overflow: hidden; width: 338px;">SWIFT and the world's largest rocking chair.</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span id="m_-9128949284628013367gmail-docs-internal-guid-6bc5c4bc-7fff-f6d8-9cee-5ca3ab6b651d"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 314px; overflow: hidden; width: 236px;"><img class="CToWUd a6T" height="314" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/yEHw6Y-wHpo7VXoZHvCYAxdOg1v8A09QAIIYbH7xMtb1InDwACUDeam_4mkmq-CvN-2oGzTHaxnJ6Cif4d64cWD1U-YvRGPnz2xPxpKY5O7V8TstfRk6ZfkfSrXqHzrzPy2rVcNHNENTu2O2vw" style="cursor: pointer; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline: 0px;" tabindex="0" width="236" /></span></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 254px; overflow: hidden; width: 338px;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 314px; overflow: hidden; width: 236px;">The world's largest wind chimes.</span></span></p>SWIFT Team http://www.blogger.com/profile/15344982961809453019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-252252381210242229.post-60980030731544008492022-05-14T19:59:00.001-07:002022-05-14T19:59:20.252-07:00Jack - Introduction<p> <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Hey everybody!</span></p><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">My name is Jack Volinsky. I'm a rising 1/C, an oceanography major, and absolutely stoked to be a part of this SWIFT team! I'm from Winchester, Virginia, and I love road trips and gas station snacks.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"> Currently we are driving through Illinois in the vast and flat fields. Having never been to the midwest before, I adopted the mindset that it might be a little boring. Boy, was I wrong. In the small town of Carey, Illinois, we were able to see the world's largest wind chimes, mailbox, rocking chair, and truck key. While this has been a once in a lifetime experience already, I'm looking forward to the coming weeks of storm chasing and witnessing awe-inspiring extreme weather events. </div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><div data-smartmail="gmail_signature" dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><img alt="IMG-1665.jpg" class="CToWUd a6T" data-image-whitelisted="" height="452" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ui=2&ik=0048e0380d&attid=0.1&permmsgid=msg-f:1732848074117055112&th=180c502473778288&view=fimg&fur=ip&sz=s0-l75-ft&attbid=ANGjdJ8r9D8vNJHV5OZ7QUB9QWsPx1nEdCREFr8GJ6FlYtc5Ovh9mlIZUw0nw-x9FKePprqF2hoT92-vzgqPWucWjxel274-UIhRPQCaT2_nqjhnDkHuD5_OTmkZhjc&disp=emb&realattid=ii_l36j2n6y0" style="cursor: pointer; outline: 0px;" tabindex="0" width="339" /><br /></div><img alt="IMG-1667.jpg" class="CToWUd a6T" data-image-whitelisted="" height="452" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ui=2&ik=0048e0380d&attid=0.2&permmsgid=msg-f:1732848074117055112&th=180c502473778288&view=fimg&fur=ip&sz=s0-l75-ft&attbid=ANGjdJ_6ushe5R-HHK4VaVEBFZ4PKMImERxjNkNXhlU5MeBqIkktHWjw7F2O2M_NOIEQyfevZ9yu-8dv9EubEoNH1H24lRUemuRRNUTtC3MldpXCgUIOfN7CqS9NHbE&disp=emb&realattid=ii_l36j32sb1" style="cursor: pointer; outline: 0px;" tabindex="0" width="339" /><br /><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div>^Me with the world's largest rocking chair and wind chimes.</div></div></div>SWIFT Team http://www.blogger.com/profile/15344982961809453019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-252252381210242229.post-60529703765908092372022-05-14T15:27:00.003-07:002022-05-14T15:27:46.986-07:00Ryan - Introduction<p> <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small; white-space: pre-wrap;">Storm enjoyers,</span></p><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My name is Ryan Engelhard, I’m a rising 2/C and Oceanography major from Knotts Island, NC. After class, I enjoy spending my afternoons in Mitscher with the Drum & Bugle Corps and my evenings at Nimitz with a Red Bull in hand. This past week has been full of head cramming and brain dumping as we took on exams. Then, with less than 24 hours to pack and move out, I am now on the road with my fellow weather enthusiasts.</span></p><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’ve anticipated this trip all semester and within the first day we’ve already seen the beauty of the Allegheny Mountains, tasted the warmth of Ohio’s Skyline Chili, and rediscovered our love for road-trip country music. Although no tornadoes were spotted on this first leg (does a dust devil count?), our new meteorological knowledge has allowed us to understand the cumulus fields and rolling clouds in a way we may never have before. I’m excited for these next two weeks and the adventures that lie ahead with the SWIFT team!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span id="m_-2133323587411209401gmail-docs-internal-guid-d02e094d-7fff-04ac-e207-6514155130fc"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 292px; overflow: hidden; width: 219px;"><img class="CToWUd a6T" height="292" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/49D1XYEddyQnm0azfrCQL7vijMoaVKICtHby9NWrwT8P6-pv21J2Lq781crexUjC8I_Icywum0T19kgTQXvCWNs0zvoGJQcUAY9yeIstILilSPModoMDaN3MgfZAkR1PKu5R89geX6lZ9w1-PA" style="cursor: pointer; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline: 0px;" tabindex="0" width="219" /></span></span></span></span></p>SWIFT Team http://www.blogger.com/profile/15344982961809453019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-252252381210242229.post-23986457551366008772022-05-14T15:19:00.002-07:002022-05-14T15:19:20.919-07:00Thomas - Introduction<p> <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Hello everyone!</span></p><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">My name is Thomas Pearson. I'm a rising 1/C Oceanography major at USNA. I'm on the Varsity Soccer team and involved in the fishing and surfing clubs at the Academy. I grew up between New Jersey and Illinois, and now my family resides in Jupiter, FL. A lot of my life revolves around being outside, whether that's spending time on the water, hiking a local trail, or running and biking. </div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><img alt="image.png" class="CToWUd a6T" data-image-whitelisted="" height="255" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ui=2&ik=0048e0380d&attid=0.1&permmsgid=msg-f:1732830780150320099&th=180c4069e2b90be3&view=fimg&fur=ip&sz=s0-l75-ft&attbid=ANGjdJ8XplaZdjMmvHc35WOVP0JoenXhmOirz5YqWqcWuGVdFjWH7v9KfCZPeGg2Ua3SAmzLK8TZQzrFZv162OAUXniRngUlmmnZkbFrA84iXDJr_G502abEKC3b01c&disp=emb&realattid=ii_l3698wtc0" style="cursor: pointer; margin-right: 0px; outline: 0px;" tabindex="0" width="188" /><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">My interest in severe weather comes from growing up around Nor'easters in New Jersey and tornadoes in Illinois, and always being fascinated by the awesome power that these storms possess. I've tried my best to take classes that are all about weather while in the Oceanography curriculum at USNA. Most recently I took Synoptic Meteorology taught by LCDR Burich, which was a super challenging but rewarding experience that I hope will help me out in the field these next two weeks. </div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">So far today we've had an early start, getting on the road around 0615 and stopping at Dunkin Donuts for some energy, and Hill Top Fruit Market for some homemade sweets. We also stopped at Skyline Chili for good midwest eats and are currently hurtling west on I-70 towards southern Illinois. </div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">I sincerely hope everyone reading this blog the next couple weeks enjoys what we have to offer! </div>SWIFT Team http://www.blogger.com/profile/15344982961809453019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-252252381210242229.post-73979051043920470472022-05-14T15:11:00.002-07:002022-05-14T15:17:00.828-07:00Sam - Introduction<p> <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Hello Everyone,</span></p><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">My name is Samuel Ford-Dirks and I am a rising 2/C Oceanography major and a member of 3rd Company. Ever since I was little I have been interested in storms and photography. The opportunity to combine both for the next two weeks will be amazing. These weeks are starting to look interesting so hopefully we will position ourselves well. I also love seeing the US and it's varying landscapes so todays drive has been nice. </div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">We left and it was in the 60s and now its near 84 where we are now in Indiana. After the past cold few weeks in Annapolis it will finally feel like summer. I'm looking forward to a great two weeks. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOng5hPcKl3pHdzDjBiXuV06nlcxex1xn9pLgPZbUtLTG2h-3PKFZOF5_DaHhbW6NKxEm02HF_87-XZ2c-7koeBb0PkT_dUjJ6dRILaGwtrdHP6Mr5JQKwmoQyhz0w4r6N3-VXRX-HQuaPmCQpwoqLSiRhFQJmt4jnxPhH9iRyAFt2ziQzKT9kSJVX/s4032/forddirks.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOng5hPcKl3pHdzDjBiXuV06nlcxex1xn9pLgPZbUtLTG2h-3PKFZOF5_DaHhbW6NKxEm02HF_87-XZ2c-7koeBb0PkT_dUjJ6dRILaGwtrdHP6Mr5JQKwmoQyhz0w4r6N3-VXRX-HQuaPmCQpwoqLSiRhFQJmt4jnxPhH9iRyAFt2ziQzKT9kSJVX/s320/forddirks.png" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div>SWIFT Team http://www.blogger.com/profile/15344982961809453019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-252252381210242229.post-51001840713838743202022-05-14T15:08:00.002-07:002022-05-14T15:16:42.647-07:00Siena - Introduction<p><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Hello! My name is Siena Hall and I am a rising 2/C oceanography major. I am from Reno, Nevada and some of my favorite things are rugby, rhinoceroses, and the weather! I get super excited about regular weather, (I'm from the desert so rain is pretty exciting) so I am beyond thrilled to be doing SWIFT this year. We do not get any severe weather in Nevada so I am looking forward to seeing some over the next couple of weeks.</span></p><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">So far my time in the van has been spent fending off mild bullying from Thomas. He says that I am "easily makefunable," but I think he is just jealous of my super rugby skills and endless rhino facts. I am looking forward to the rest of the trip, and I am hoping that we will listen to some Boz Scaggs songs in the van soon.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwRrtB6R-Xa82cAR_7VavaJ87G-BUawkliNvpZo4LRe53Z3SeAkeQ3E21TK2naHpOXHIdaNC7uChTRKF-oY4geNmpeDfnPo22wDbD5iUYcAVgATu0R40aq5J7_mM3uHjtmE-gbK8WO-cNPFMAhBt-OrZbozlpC9E-t21Jm2iIJXZ0PDIUfov6qAXh0/s1800/hall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1800" data-original-width="1440" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwRrtB6R-Xa82cAR_7VavaJ87G-BUawkliNvpZo4LRe53Z3SeAkeQ3E21TK2naHpOXHIdaNC7uChTRKF-oY4geNmpeDfnPo22wDbD5iUYcAVgATu0R40aq5J7_mM3uHjtmE-gbK8WO-cNPFMAhBt-OrZbozlpC9E-t21Jm2iIJXZ0PDIUfov6qAXh0/s320/hall.jpg" width="256" /></a></div><br /></div>SWIFT Team http://www.blogger.com/profile/15344982961809453019noreply@blogger.com0