Strong winds in Denver!

This is a street sign about to take off near Flat Iron Crossing mall. Its lierally hard to walk outside today! Verne Carlson

Severe thunderstorm watch for the Texas Panhandle

Michael's report is up now on his blog: report here where they got 1/2" hail and up to 60kts winds in eastern NM on what was the first chase day of 2009 in the plains. At this hour a severe warned squall line is hammering through the panhandle as seen on the radar grab above with some damage reported in Amarillo!

Tornadoes in Texas Tuesday!

Michael, Tony and Dann will be chasing Sunday's setup in west Texas and while I wish them luck I am more interested now in Tuesday's possibilities. The NAM model is showing CAPES to 1000 in northcentral TX around the Wichita Falls area. A strong broad 500h trough kicks in the afternoon and the NAM radar composite shows a big beast of a storm south of the Red River. I'm keeping an eye on this one!

First Chase of 2009 now on the 4 - 8 day outlook

SPC now has the Sunday Feb 8th system on the 4 - 8 day outlook. While moisture return will be limiting factor on this day the shear will be impressive. Although this setup is not ideal - I am leaning towards chasing it just to get out and brush the dust of all the equipment. I really like the chase terrain on Sunday making a saturday trip to Amarillo likely and then just a short drive east into OK on Sunday. After that the system moves off to eastern OK which I have no desire to chase.

SPC text:
...ACTIVE SEVERE WEATHER PATTERN FORECAST OVER AREAS OF THE SOUTHERN/CENTRAL U.S. NEXT WEEK...

...DAY5/SUNDAY TO MONDAY MORNING... MREF AND RECENT GFS RUNS CONTINUE TO EXHIBIT GOOD RUN-TO-RUN CONSISTENCY IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF A VIGOROUS SHORT WAVE TROUGH EJECTING NEWD FROM AZ TO THE SRN/CNTRL PLAINS SUNDAY INTO MONDAY. ECMWF CONTINUES TO BE TYPICALLY SLOWER THAN THE GFS WITH THE TROUGH POSITION THROUGH 120 HOURS/SUNDAY EVENING. BUT...RECENT ECMWF RUNS HAVE BEEN TRENDING TOWARD A MORE PROGRESSIVE/EWD H5 TROUGH POSITION NOW IN CLOSE AGREEMENT WITH THE MREF H5 MEAN. THIS LENDS CONFIDENCE IN THE SYNOPTIC PATTERN BEING FORECAST ACROSS THE SRN PLAINS BY SUNDAY EVENING.

GIVEN PRONOUNCED LARGE SCALE JET COUPLING AND STRENGTHENING ASCENT DEVELOPING ACROSS TX/OK/KS THROUGH SUNDAY...DYNAMIC AND KINEMATIC ENVIRONMENT SHOULD INCREASINGLY SUPPORT THE DEVELOPMENT OF SEVERE STORMS WITH HAIL AND HIGH WINDS. AIR MASS QUALITY WILL OBVIOUSLY PLAY A ROLE IN OVERALL SEVERE STORM COVERAGE AND MODE. NUMEROUS RECENT INTRUSIONS OF COLD/DRY AIR INTO THE NW GULF SUGGEST THAT MOISTURE RETURN AND RESULTANT CAPE WITH THIS UPCOMING SYSTEM WILL LIKELY BE LIMITED. HOWEVER...THIS LIMITING FACTOR SHOULD BE SOMEWHAT OFFSET BY THE MAGNITUDE OF FORCING AND SHEAR FORECAST TO ACCOMPANY THE UPPER TROUGH...SURFACE LOW...AND FRONT MOVING OVER THE REGION THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT/MONDAY MORNING.

First Chase of 2009?

It's a week away on the GFS model and ensembles but I've been looking for signs of the first chase of 2009 for Tornado Alley (not Dixie or Ohio Alley). A closed low ejects into TX on Sunday Feb 8th with marginal moisture and 1000 J capes. I know it's a long shot and still a little early in the year, but our McLean, TX tornado of 2007 was on Feb 23rd so it can happen. Keeping an eye on it.

Cloudy snowy day in Denver

All day we were hearing reports of snow in Denver but on this particular day it was sunny and nice up at our house. We get a few of these days a year where the plains are completely fogged out and we get a view of an ocean of clouds from our house.

Perigee Moon Pictures

Tonight when the moon rose at 4:30pm I was able to shoot a few shots off before it slipped beind the clouds. The moon's orbit around Earth is elliptical, not circular. The moon is closest to Earth at it's perigee (compare to apogee, which occurs when the moon is at its most distant point away from Earth). The moon was 50,000 km closer to Earth and was the largest visible size tonight for all of 2009. These were shot from my house at 9000' looking northeast over Boulder, CO.

Storms of 2008 DVD - Pre orders now available!

The Storms of 20XX DVD series is a compilation of the best tornadoes, storms, hail and lightning captured and produced by over 50 storm chasers into one DVD each year. 100% of the proceeds from this awesome DVD goes to charity to help storms victims. I produced the May 22nd Central Kansas Tornadoes chapter this year and I can tell you the footage provided will not disappoint! Preorders are available here: http://stormcharitydvd.org/

Pics of the Boulder Olde Stage Road Fire

The fire caused the evacuation of 800 homes including my father's at Lake View Estates. At this late hour the winds have let up, the fire has layed down and burned around the ridge to the northwest of Boulder to finally snuf it out!

Wildfire north of Boulder!

The wildfire north of Boulder as seen from my road in Coal Creek Canyon. The smoke plume goes out east past DIA at this point.

Trampoline climbing the fence!

Its about to go over into the neighbors yard!

Insane Chinook winds in Denver!

Gusts to atleast cat 1 hurricane force here! 80mph!

Sand storm along Simms street

Visibility down to a few feet in Westminster due to high winds!

Nat Geo Master of Disaster Special Coming Soon!

Now showing in the UK, Australia and Asia - the National Geographic show featuring Tim Samaras will certainly be coming to US television soon. The Carlsons were part of TWISTEX for 2008 which will be featured in Episode 4 Tornadoes and Hail. Here is the episode list from Australia: http://natgeotv.com.au/Programmes/EpisodeGuide.aspx?Id=1413

Carlson Chasers Blog selected as one of the 100 Best Blogs for Earth Science Scholars

The Carlson Chasers Blog has been selected in the top spot for Meteorology Blogs in this list of 100 Best Blogs for Earth Science Scholars! Check out the whole list here: 100 Best Blogs

Chinook aftermath

Sand drifts on the side of Simms St in Westminster!

Chinook Wind Damage

Gusts to 80 mph last night toppled fences, removed shingles and downed weak trees in west Denver.

Birthday Chase 12-27-08

My Brother and I decided to chase down in Northern Texas today and last night. We basically pulled an all nighter, well I did for the most part because I drove from Denver all the way to the target in Gainesville Tex. I will total up the mileage latter but I know I managed to get over 1000 miles so far and we are heading back to Amarillo, Tex. This late December chase was amazing and probably the best Bday present I could receive!

Michael C.

Early AM Chase in OK/TX

Michael and Eric went after the line of storms approaching from the west early this morning. You can see them where the white arrow is above. This setup netted no tornadoes but some severe hail and high wind reports. Still a very spring like system for Christmas week and Michael's birthday today!

Michael and Eric chasing tornadoes across eastern Oklahoma today!

Michael and Eric made the trip last night to our Amarillo chase base and today they will be in good position to chase the 10% hatched risk of tornadoes in eastern Oklahoma today!

...SRN AND CNTRL PLNS/OZARKS...
AHEAD OF APPROACHING UPR TROUGH...50-60 KT SSWLY LLJ FROM E TX INTO
MO/IL WILL SUPPORT CONTINUED STRONG BOUNDARY LAYER MOISTURE
RETURN ACROSS ERN PARTS OF THE SRN PLNS AND OZARKS...WITH 60 DEG F
SFC DEWPOINTS EXPECTED AS FAR N AS CNTRL MO BY EARLY SATURDAY.
ALOFT...STRONG SWLY MID AND UPR LVL FLOW EXPECTED TO FURTHER
STRENGTHEN AND SLIGHTLY BACK DURING THE PERIOD. 500 MB SPEEDS AOA
60 KT ARE EXPECTED THIS EVENING OVER CNTRL/ERN OK AND MO...WITH
WINDS INCREASING TO AROUND 80 KTS EARLY SATURDAY.

POSITIVE TILT OF UPR TROUGH WILL KEEP MID LVL LAPSE RATES
COMPARATIVELY WEAK. NEVERTHELESS...COMBINATION OF SUSTAINED
WARM/MOIST ADVECTION...WEAKLY CONFLUENT LOW LVL FLOW...AND WEAK
HEIGHT FALLS AHEAD OF APPROACHING UPR TROUGH EXPECTED TO SUPPORT
DEVELOPMENT OF A CONCENTRATED BAND OF TSTMS EARLY TONIGHT ALONG WRN
EDGE OF LLJ/MOIST AXIS FROM CNTRL MO SW ACROSS FAR NW AR INTO ERN
OK.

WITH THE INITIAL ACTIVITY OCCURRING IN A HIGHLY-SHEARED ENVIRONMENT
AWAY FROM STRONG LOW LVL LINEAR FORCING...SETUP SHOULD SUPPORT A FEW
ELONGATED...QUASI-DISCRETE SUPERCELLS. QUALITY OF MOISTURE INFLOW
AND 25-30 KT 0-1 KM SHEAR SUGGEST POTENTIAL FOR A FEW TORNADOES...IN
ADDITION TO BOWING SEGMENTS WITH HIGH WIND...DESPITE WEAK MID LVL
LAPSE RATES. WITH TIME...STORM MODE MAY BECOME MORE COMPLEX AS
ASSOCIATED COLD POOLS ELONGATE AND MERGE. BUT A CONTINUED THREAT
FOR SVR WEATHER...INCLUDING POSSIBLE TORNADOES...LIKELY WILL
CONTINUE THROUGH DAYBREAK SATURDAY.

FARTHER W...ANOTHER BAND OF STORMS MAY FORM AFTER 06Z FROM SE KS SSW
THROUGH CNTRL OK INTO N CNTRL TX AS AFOREMENTIONED COLD FRONT
ACCELERATES SEWD. THIS ACTIVITY MAY POSE A THREAT FOR SVR HAIL...IN
ADDITION TO HIGH WIND AND PERHAPS A TORNADO...AS IMPULSE NOW OVER NV
EDGES E TOWARD REGION.