The Augmented Scale: A New Pattern to Whet Your Fingers On

Here is an augmented scale pattern that I started tinkering with yesterday. It’s similar to one I’ve practiced fairly often, but inserting an extra note into each four-note grouping–resulting in quintuplets–adds both harmonic and rhythmic color.

The exercise uses the Bb augmented scale. Since it is a symmetrical scale, it also functions as D and F# augmented scales. For the theory behind it, see my first post on the augmented scale and view my page on jazz theory, technique, and solo transcriptions for a number of other articles.

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The image to your right (click on it to enlarge) contains three rhythmic variations of the pattern. The topmost is the pattern as I originally conceived it in five-note groupings. The line below it shows how the pattern lays out in a standard eighth-note flow. Last of all you’ll find the pattern set to triplets. These latter two exercises introduce a polymetric element, displacing accents in ways that pack added interest.

During the last few months my focus has shifted to pentatonic scales, and my augmented scale work has consequently suffered. The simple truth is, I just don’t have time to cover all the bases. (I wish I did, but no one is paying me to practice eight hours a day!) Lately, though, now that I’ve gotten the preliminary muscle-memory curve behind me with my pentatonic work, I’ve begun to return to the augmented scale. It is a fascinating, hauntingly colorful scale at which I want to become increasingly adept. The augmented and pentatonic scales both now fit into my practice regimen, along with the diminished whole tone scale. By the time I’m finished working all these weird scales into my fingers, I just hope I’ll remember how to play my major scales.

It goes without saying–it does, doesn’t it?–that you’ll practice this pattern in all four of its tonal iterations (I don’t know how else to say it; you can’t rightly call them “keys”). Remember to keep application in mind. It’s not enough to get this pattern under your fingers; how are you going to use it? Again, see my initial post on the augmented scale.

Other than that, there’s nothing left to say except, as always, practice diligently and enjoy the journey.

June 17, 2011 by
Filed Under: Jazz, Jazz Improvisation and Technique, Music, Saxophone Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

A Walk in the Middleville Fen

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Yes, I do have a life outside of jazz saxophone and storm chasing, and from time to time I like to let it leak out. While Stormhorn.com focuses on the above two interests, it’s good to break away now and then. So join me on a leisurely stroll through one of my favorite nearby natural areas: the Middleville Fen. Orchids are in the forecast, along with golden evening light filtering through tamaracks, dancing on a dimpled stream, and stretching long rays across meadows of rippling marsh grass.

Early June is the time when the showy ladyslipper, Cypripedium reginae, unfolds its creamy pink-and-white blossoms. Also known as the queen ladyslipper–hence the Latin name reginae–this plant is indeed a regal beauty, presiding in stately splendor over the Michigan wetlands.

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Like most wild orchids, it is selective about its haunts–but then, finickiness is the privilege of royalty. Remember the story of “The Princess and the Pea.” You can’t expect a queen to rest her roots just anywhere. However, six miles down the road from me she has found a satisfactory place of repose among the red osier dogwood, shrubby cinquefoil, and marsh asters.

The trail into the Middleville Fen begins at the north edge of a park on the south end of town. Walk in 100 feet or so, look to your right, and you’ll see the queen ladyslipper holding court among the shrubs. Look, admire, but don’t

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pick. Like every wild orchid, C. reginae is uncommon and protected in the state of Michigan. For that matter, you’re smart to not even touch her. The hairy leaves and stems are known to cause a nasty rash similar to poison ivy.

The showy ladyslipper is unquestionably the drawing card of the fen in early to mid June. But other, subtler attractions abound: tiny, insectivorous roundleaf sundew plants crowding the stream banks. Feathery tamaracks arching across the trail. In the autumn, fringed gentians nestled pointillistically among the cinquefoil like fragments of September sky.

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A few years ago, purple loosestrife threatened to take over this magnificent little jewel of a wetland. But thanks to a tiny beetle with an appetite for loosestrife, released into the fen by a wetland conservation group, the invader appears to have been repelled and the Middleville Fen remains a diverse and beautiful haven for unusual plants and wildlife.

The trail is little more than a quarter-mile long and easy to hike, with a picturesque wooden boardwalk and bridges to keep your feet from getting wet. Bring your camera, a half-hour or so of your time, and an eye for nature. Your sense of wonder will be awakened and rewarded. Especially now, when the queen is in her royal robes.

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June 15, 2011 by
Filed Under: Life, Michigan, Outdoors, Photography Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Buttermilk Jamboree and Ed Englerth’s Latest CD, Hope. Dream. Sigh.

Saturday I played with the Ed Englerth Band at the Buttermilk Jamboree near Delton, Michigan. This was the first of what is likely to become an annual all-weekend event at the Circle Pines Camp in the heart of rural Barry County. It was a fun and interesting festival that combined music and arts with the cooperatively owned camp’s longstanding values of ecology and sustainable living. As you might expect, the festival drew an eclectic crowd of every age, from old hippies to young musicians and everything between and beyond. Picture Woodstock in the woods and you’ve got the idea.

In the midst of this colorful hodgepodge, Ed, Alan, Don, and I did an evening performance on the Sugar Bush Stage. Oddly, while we appeared in the online schedule, the paper printout didn’t include us. We drew a decent group of listeners regardless, and Ed sold a few CDs from his newly minted album, Hope. Dream. Sigh. The CD is in fact so new that Ed paid extra for an early shipment, which arrived at his door mere hours before showtime.

I want to talk a little about Hope. Dream. Sigh. I’m hesitant to say that it’s Ed’s best effort yet because his last CD, Restless Ghost, is so bloody good. But this CD is at least of that same caliber, and some of the arrangements are easily the most ambitious yet. This is largely due to the way that Ed utilized me on the saxophones. This is the first of his albums on which we…

  • multi-tracked my horn parts to create an entire sax section. The apogee of this approach is the tune “Sad Stories,” with its ironic Calypso beat and wacky, humorous slant on relational woes.
  • created faux baritone sax tracks. Since I don’t own a bari, and since “Empty Pockets” seemed to flat-out demand the incorporation of a bari, we made one electronically by laying down an alto track and then dropping it an octave digitally. It worked great! “Empty Pockets” cooks, an irresistibly driving, hardcore rocker.
  • made unprecedented use of my soprano sax. I’ve been reluctant to play the soprano on previous albums because, well, my intonation sucks. Or so I’ve always thought. But that problem doesn’t crop up on this CD. Two songs feature the soprano in a big way, and in both of them the horn sounds fabulous. “I Do, I Don’t” klezmerizes Ed’s tongue-in-cheek commentary on fantasy living for the not-so-rich and delusional. On the serious side, “When Words Fail” is a minor, blues-drenched look at love that goes the distance when communication breaks down. I got a lot of room to stretch out on this tune as a soloist, and I’m delighted with the results.

    • .
    Ed is a fantastic songwriter and lyricist who steadfastly resists categorization. That’s one reason why I respect him as an artist and love him as a friend. The man has integrity as well as soul. Moreover, in Alan Dunst on drums, Don Cheeseman playing bass, and, I trust, me on the saxophones, Ed has found a small, steady core of fellow musicians and brothers in Christ who grasp and believe in his music. Each album displays growth, new directions, fresh creative expressions.

    Yes I’m biased. Of course I am–what would you expect? But not so biased that I’d speak this glowingly of Hope. Dream. Sigh. unless I believed it was really just that good. It is. Check it out and see for yourself. I might add that, with 17 tracks, you’ll get more than your money’s worth.

    And with that, I’m signing off. Early morning has turned into mid morning and the rest of this Monday stretches before me, with work to do and necessities to attend to. Ciao.

    June 13, 2011 by
    Filed Under: Band, Christian Music, Life, Michigan, Music, Reviews, Saxophone Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

    Here Comes the Summer Pattern

    Sumer is icumen in,
    Loudly sing, cuckoo!
    Grows the seed and blows the mead,
    And springs the wood anew;
    Sing, cuckoo!
    Ewe bleats harshly after lamb,
    Cows after calves make moo;
    Bullock stamps and deer champs,
    Now shrilly sing, cuckoo!
    Cuckoo, cuckoo
    Wild bird are you;
    Be never still, cuckoo!

    Right. It looks like we’re about to have our hands full, what with bleating ewes, cows making moo, and so on. There are, however, some things that the old folk song fails to mention. The polar jet lifting north, for instance. Weakening mid-level winds. Temperatures at 700 mb heating up, with the 12 degree centigrade threshold expanding across the southern and central plains and ushering in the era of capping. I don’t know why the ancient songwriter didn’t address these matters. They’re as much a part of sumer–that is to say, summer–as stamping bullocks.

    Here in Caledonia, yesterday was hot and today promises to be even hotter, around 95 degrees, before a cold front blows through tonight and brings relief. After that, we look to be in for a bout of unsettled weather. I’ll take it, even though it may inconvenience at least one outdoor gig I’ll be playing this weekend.

    The summer weather pattern is on the way, putting the damper on storm chasing in the southern and central plains. Considering how devastatingly active this spring has been, that’s probably a good thing. I doubt that the people in towns such as Joplin, Missouri, will lament this season’s passing. As for those who chased storms in Dixie Alley and the southern plains–and there were more chasers than ever this year–you certainly got your fill of action, and some of you saw far more than you cared to. There are some amazing stories that have come out of the storm chasing community, and my hat is off to those of you who stepped in to help in tornado-stricken areas.

    This was the worst of all seasons to be sidelined due to financial constraints, but that’s how it has been with me and with others who have taken a hit in the pocketbook from this rotten economy. I’m frankly happy to see the crest of storm season 2011 passing; I much prefer to occupy my mind with more productive thoughts than fretting over what I’m missing.

    In any event, the playground is shifting northward. It’s not there quite yet, but it’s on the way. Troughs that had been digging deep into the southern plains are now beginning to ripple across the northern tier and Canada, and lately, mesoscale convective systems have been cropping up regularly in the SPC discussions. Those are the specialty of the state where I live.

    If there’s any advantage to living in the Great Lakes, it’s that we’re close enough to the summer jet stream that it can still dip down out of Canada into our neck of the woods. And while northwest flow isn’t exactly your classic chase scenario, it can deliver some occasional surprises. Illinois in particular has gotten some whopping summer tornadoes–and for those of you who don’t chase east of the Mississippi, I don’t mind telling you that central and northern Illinois is fabulous chase territory. Also, closer to home, even garden variety arcus clouds are sublime to watch sweeping in at the Lake Michigan shoreline.

    For better or worse, sumer is icumen in and storm season is winding down. Most people aren’t sorry for the change. But most people don’t view storms the way that storm chasers do. I guess we’re a bit cuckoo.

    June 8, 2011 by
    Filed Under: Nature, Storm Chasing, Weather Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

    The Giant Steps Scratch Pad: As Crass a Plug as You’ll Ever Encounter Anywhere

    BUY MY BOOK! BUY MY BOOK! BUY MY BOOK! BUY MY BOOK! BUY MY BOOK!

    Never mind the rest of the gobbledegook on this page–just go to the bottom and start clicking on shopping carts.

    As for you less impulsive types: Gosh, I hope I’m not being too forward. In real life, I’m the retiring, wallflower type who would never think of grabbing you by the lapels and shaking you wildly about while protruding my eyeballs at you and screaming, “BUY MY BOOK!” Never. The marketing methods I use to get you to buy The Giant Steps Scratch Pad–available in C, Bb, Eb, and bass clef editions–are far more subtle. I prefer to drop discrete hints, such as sending out glossy, full-color mailers that say things like, “This Father’s Day, give Dad the gift that says ‘I love you!’ Give him The Giant Steps Scratch Pad.” Low-key is best, that’s what I say.

    Ummm…did you get the mailer?

    Well, no matter, because here is your reminder that now is the perfect time to get Dad, or Mom, or your Aunt Bronte who plays the crumpophone, or maybe even your little old self, a copy of the Scratch Pad. Why is now so perfect a time? Because now is such a totally in-the-moment time, and jazz improvisation is such an in-the-moment art form, and Coltrane changes typically fly by at such an in-the-moment, near-light speed, that, overlooking the utter pointlessness of everything I’ve just written, you really should cough up $9.50 and BUY MY BOOK.

    Do it. Not only will you be keeping a starving artist in Ramen for a week, but–seriously now–you will also be getting a truly unique and valuable practice companion for jazz improvisers. If you’ve ever wanted to master Coltrane changes, this book will do the trick. To the best of my knowledge, it’s the first practical, hands-on resource for jazz instrumentalists of every kind that helps you develop the technique to play Giant Steps changes. You can find plenty of material on Coltrane’s theory, but very little that you can actually wrap your fingers around in the woodshed.* The Giant Steps Scratch Pad fills that gap, taking you beyond theory to application.

    gssp-sample-page1
    Here’s what you get:

    • * A brief overview of “Giant Steps” theory
    • * Insights and tips for using this book as a practice companion
    • * 155 licks and patterns divided into two parts to help you cultivate facility in both the A and B sections of “Giant Steps”
    • * 2 pages of licks using the augmented scale–the “universal scale” for Coltrane changes

    Click on the image to your left to view a printable page sample from the Bb edition (for tenor sax, soprano sax, trumpet, and clarinet). Print it out, take it with you to your next practice session, and get a feel for what the Scratch Pad has to offer. Each line takes you through the first four bars of Giant Steps changes. Transpose the pattern down a major third for the second four bars.

    giant-steps-eb-cover_1
    AVAILABLE IN C, Bb, Eb, AND BASS CLEF EDITIONS, AND BOTH IN PRINT AND AS A PDF DOWNLOAD. 32 PAGES.

    Instant PDF download, $9.50
    C edition Add to Cart
    Bb edition Add to Cart
    Eb edition Add to Cart
    Bass clef edition Add to Cart
    View Cart

    Print editions–retail quality with full-color cover, $10.95 plus shipping: order here.

    PRAISE FOR THE GIANT STEPS SCRATCH PAD

    “Ever since John Coltrane recorded ‘Giant Steps,’ its chord progression has been a rite of passage for aspiring improvisers. Bob’s book The Giant Steps Scratch Pad presents a practical approach to Coltrane changes that will challenge advanced players and provide fundamental material for those just beginning to tackle the challenge of Giant Steps.’” —Ric Troll, composer, multi-instrumentalist, owner of Tallmadge Mill Studios

    “In this volume, Bob has created an excellent new tool for learning how to navigate the harmonies of ‘Giant Steps.’ This is a hands-on, practical approach with a wealth of great material that will be of assistance to students of jazz at all levels of development.” —Kurt Ellenberger, composer, pianist, jazz educator and author of Materials and Concepts in Jazz Improvisation

    ——————————-
    * Unless you’re a guitarist. For some reason, I’ve found a modest offering of good, practical material available for guitar players. You’d think that tenor sax players would be the prime audience for lit on Coltrane changes, but not so. Guitarists are the torch bearers. Sheesh. You string pickers have all the luck.

    June 7, 2011 by
    Filed Under: Band, Humor, Jazz, Jazz Improvisation and Technique, Saxophone Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

    Uh-oh! Time for Sax Maintenance AGAIN?!

    So there I am in Ed Englerth’s basement tonight, getting set to rehearse for our set this coming weekend at the Buttermilk Jamboree near Delton, Michigan.  I pick up my alto sax, clamp my lips around the mouthpiece and blow, and what happens? FWEEEEEFFFF, that’s what happens. My horn goes FWEEEEEFFFF.

    That’s not a promising sign. Hoping it’s just the reed, I substitute a different one, but once again, anything from low D down balks like crazy, and the higher notes aren’t all that cooperative either.

    So I take my leak light out of my case and run it down the horn, and what’s really frustrating is, I can’t see any sign of a leaky pad anywhere. Maybe that’s due to my strictly neophyte abilities when it comes to troubleshooting saxophone ailments, but still…not even a pinprick of light shining from one of the palm key pads? Nothing?

    Next step: remove the mouthpiece and check to make sure it’s sealing properly. It is–no problems there. And here’s the interesting part: when I put it back on the saxophone neck, my horn plays just fine–for about fifteen seconds. After that, HHAAARRRRNNKKK!!!

    Nutz. This sucks.

    So I set the alto aside and do the rehearsal using my soprano. I’m not crazy about that option since my intonation on the soprano sax leaves something to be desired, but I don’t have much choice. My alto is unplayable.

    I’m wondering whether a loose cork or something may have lodged somewhere in the horn and is impeding the air stream. Better that than have to take my horn to the shop for repair work that I just don’t have the money for right now. It has only been a few months, after all, since I slapped down $160 to have the sax repadded and ministered unto by my repairman.

    Whatever the problem is, I’ve got to get it fixed by this weekend, because I have two gigs, and one of them is a big band gig that doesn’t give me the liberty of simply swapping the alto for the soprano.

    Ugh. Saxual problems. But they can wait till tomorrow to figure out. I’m done thinking about the matter for today.

    June 5, 2011 by
    Filed Under: Jazz, Music, Saxophone Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

    May 29, 2011, Battle Creek Straight-Line Winds

    battle-creek-5292011_1
    The summary follow-up to  my previous post is, I busted with L. B. LaForce during last Wednesday’s high-risk day in Illinois. Tornadoes occurred that day, but overall the scenario was a disappointing one for us. If anything, it was a lesson to trust my initial gut instinct, which told me to stick close to Indiana, where a moisture plume and 500 mb jet were moving in. Nice, discrete supercells eventually fired up south of Indianapolis while L. B. and I putzed around fruitlessly with the crapvection northeast of Saint Louis. And that’s all I’ll say about that–not that I couldn’t say more, but I want to talk about yesterday’s far more potent event in southern Michigan.

    You don’t need a tornado in order to make a neighborhood look like one went through it. That axiom was amply demonstrated yesterday in Calhoun County, where straight-line winds wrought havoc the likes of which I don’t recall having ever seen here in Michigan. We’ve had a couple doozey derechoes over the past few decades, but I don’t think they created such intense damage on as widespread a scale as what I witnessed yesterday. Northeast of Helmer Brook Road and Columbia Avenue in Battle Creek, across from the airport, the neighborhood looked like it had been fed through a massive shredder. We’re talking hundreds of large trees uprooted or simply snapped, roofs ripped off of buildings, walls caved in, road signs blown down, trees festooned with pink insulation and pieces of sheet metal, yards littered with debris, power lines down everywhere…it was just unbelievable. Not in the EF-3 or EF -4 league, maybe, but nothing to make light of.

    Yesterday was the first decent setup to visit Michigan so far this year. Of course I went chasing, not expecting to see tornadoes–although that possibility did exist–but hoping to catch whatever kind of action evolved out of the storms as they forged eastward. It being my first time doing live-streaming video and phone-ins for WOOD TV 8 made things all the more interesting. As it turns out, I was in the right place at the right time.

    When I first intercepted the storms by the Martin exit on US 131, I wasn’t sure they would amount to much.  Huh, no worries there. As I drove east and south to reposition myself after my initial encounter, the storms intensified and a tornado warning went up for Kalamazoo County just to my south.

    battle-creek-52920114_1
    Dropping down into Richland, I got slammed with heavy, driving rain. The leading edge of the storm had caught up with me. I wanted to get ahead of it and then proceed south toward the direction of the rotation that had been reported in Kalamazoo. Fortunately, M-89 was right at hand, and I belted east on it toward Battle Creek.

    On the west side of Battle Creek, I turned south on M-37, known locally as Helmer Brook Road. GR3 radar indicated that I was just grazing the northern edge of a couplet of intense winds. It didn’t look to me like rotation; more likely divergence, a downburst. As I continued south down Helmer Brook toward the airport, the west winds intensified suddenly and dramatically, lashing a Niagara of rain and mist in front of me and rendering visibility near-zero. I wasn’t frightened, but I probably should have been. Glancing at my laptop, I noticed that a TVS and meso marker had popped up on the radar–smack on top of my GPS marker.

    Great, just great. So that couplet I thought was a downburst had rotation in it of some kind. Well, there was nothing I could do but proceed slowly and cautiously and hope that the wind didn’t suddenly shift. It didn’t, and as I drew closer to the airport, it started to ease up, visibility improved and the storm moved off to the east.

    That was when I began to see damage. In the cemetery across from the airport, trees were down. Big trees, and lots of them. Blown down. Snapped off. I grabbed my camcorder and started videotaping. But the full effects of the wind didn’t become apparent until I turned east onto Columbia Avenue near the Meijer store.

    My first thought was that a tornado had indeed gone through the area. But with most of the trees pointing consistently in a northeasterly direction, the most logical culprit was powerful straight-line winds. Parking near a newly roofless oil change business, I proceeded to shoot video and snap photos. I’ll let the following images tell the rest of the story.

    [Show as slideshow]
    May 30, 2011 by
    Filed Under: Michigan, Photography, Storm Chasing, Weather Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

    Storm Chasing in Illinois on Wednesday

    The formidable system that ground out large, violent tornadoes in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas on Tuesday will move east on Wednesday to bring another round of severe weather to southeast

    6z-nam-il-00z-5252011
    Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana. And finally–finally!–I’m in a position to do some storm chasing. Financial constraints have majorly crimped my expeditions so far this season, but no way am I missing tomorrow.

    Based on Tuesday morning’s NAM run, I’d been eyeballing Effingham, Illinois, as a preliminary target for trolling the I-70 corridor. The sounding for that area looked mighty pretty, as you can plainly see.

    00z-nam-oblong-il-21z-5252011
    Now, however, with the 00Z runs in, I’m inclined to shift farther east near Terre Haute. Here’s another model sounding, courtesy of TwisterData, for near Oblong, Illinois. Maybe not quite as sexily backed at the surface as the Effingham sounding, but with stronger low-level winds and definitely quite functional. Maps of 500 mb winds and SBCAPE (see below) paint in a little more detail and suggest that near the Illinois/Indiana border is a good choice.

    Tomorrow morning’s data will tell all. Meanwhile, it’s time for me to get my ugly-rest. I am so excited about the prospect of finally getting out and feeling the moisture, watching cumulus towers erupt and organize into glowering supercells, and hopefully videotaping some tornadoes out on the flat, wide-open Illinois prairie! A good night’s sleep and then I’m off in the morning.

    00z-nam-h5-21z-5252011
    00z-nam-sbcape-21z-5252011
    May 25, 2011 by
    Filed Under: Storm Chasing, Tornadoes, Weather, Weather Maps Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

    Tornado Disaster in Joplin

    Anything else I could write about today is overshadowed by yesterday’s horrible tragedy in Joplin, Missouri. A large, violent tornado carved a path through the heart of the city, throwing semis off of I-44, utterly destroying the hospital, and completely leveling the business section and surrounding neighborhoods.

    The present death toll stands at 89. I am sure that the number of fatalities will continue to grow as rescue workers sift through the wreckage. Honor and appreciation to the numerous storm chasers who ended their chases yesterday and assisted in rescue operations and emergency medical care.

    What a horrible event. Last month’s devastating outbreak across the southeast was more than enough, and now this–another large town hit by a violent wedge. It is just beyond belief, and sickening, and heartbreaking. The year 2011 will go down in weather history as the year of urban tornado disasters. My heart goes out to the people of Joplin, Missouri.

    May 23, 2011 by
    Filed Under: Life, Storm Chasing, Tornadoes, Weather Tagged With: , , , ,

    How It Feels to Not Be Chasing

    Right now my buddies are out west chasing this latest storm system. I’m not with them because I can’t afford it. Money has been extremely tight and what I take in has got to go toward paying the bills and putting food on the table for Lisa and me. That’s the reality of life. I’ve been on a couple of unproductive chases so far this year, and now that a decent system is finally in play out west, I’ve got to pass it up. I can’t even chase what promises to be a fabulous day today in Illinois. Once again I’ll be picking over the scraps later on here in Michigan. It’ll be nice to get some lightning, but it just isn’t the same.

    Armchair chasers are typically regarded as off on the sidelines of storm chasing. But there’s a difference when you’ve been in the game and find yourself benched. You know what you’re missing. You’ve been looking forward to it all year with intense eagerness, like a kid looks forward to Christmas. So when you can’t do a thing about it unless it lands right in your lap–which in Michigan, land of cold fronts and veered surface winds, doesn’t happen often–it is extremely frustrating. SDS is one thing, but this is something else.

    Armchair chasing? Nuts. I get to where I don’t even want to go near a radar. But I do anyway. I can’t seem to help myself. I want to see what’s happening with my friends, what storms they’re on. I look at the forecast models, too, hoping against hope that they’ll stop sticking their stupid tongues out at me and smile at me for once.

    ruc_kgrr-23z
    Today the RUC actually seems to do so. Here’s the 10Z KGRR sounding for 23Z this evening. Not bad. I just wish I believed that those surface winds and helicities were accurate, but I don’t, not with other models (NAM, GFS, and SREF) shouting them down. Besides, the HRRR composite reflectivity hates me. I can’t stand looking at it. Again, though, as with the radar, I do anyway. Storms progged to fire in northern Illinois and even south along the Michigan border…all I’d have to do is hop in my car, head west along I-80 and maybe down toward Peoria, or even just 80 miles south down US 131 toward the state line as a compensation prize, and I’d be in the sweet zone. But it ain’t gonna happen.

    Rant, rant, rant. On this date last year I was on the most unforgettable chase of my life in northern South Dakota. Today, I wish this present system would just get on with it and get it over with so I can forget about weather, forget about the fact that I call myself a storm chaser when I’m not chasing storms. What a laugh. True, I’ll be chasing this evening locally for the first time for WOOD TV8. That I can at least afford, and it’s a nice way to work with the storms that we do get and possibly provide a bit of public service. But I don’t have high expectations. That’s a good thing here in populous West Michigan, but it doesn’t satisfy a convective jones. I just hope this season doesn’t drift into the summer pattern before I can get out and see at least one good tornadic supercell.

    Okay, enough of this self-indulgent, babyish whining. I just had to get it out of my system, because in all seriousness, missing out on the action bothers me a lot, an awful lot, more than I can describe. It’s an absolutely miserable feeling. But it’s how things are, and life goes on.

    Good luck out there in the Plains, Bill, Tom, and Mike–and Ben and Nick, though I know you guys are chasing separately. I hope you bag some great tornadoes today and over the next few days. As for me, it’s time to shower up, head to church, and remind myself that there’s more to life than this.

    May 22, 2011 by
    Filed Under: Life, Storm Chasing, Tornadoes, Weather Maps Tagged With: , , , , , ,
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