Storm chasing is expensive
Unless you’re lucky enough to have a cable network paying your way, then chasing is usually funded out of our own pockets. His DVD’s are inexpensive and a great value in my opinion.

He chases Illinois
Like myself, Andrew mainly chases Illinois. He gets away to the plains when he can, but most of his chases are right here in Illinois. There’s a gazillion chasers in Oklahoma, but a much smaller percentage in Illinois. It’s nice to see video from my home state especially on days that I am unable to chase.

Limited narration
I have seen a lot of chase videos over the years and a lot of them are degraded by the excessive talking, yelling, and cussing in the audio. (I’ve unfortunately been guilty of this a few times) You don’t get that with Andrew’s video. There may be a few occasions where there will be other chasers near him being picked up, but for the most part he lets the storm do all the talking.

As for my thoughts on the PWX 2010 DVD… I think it is probably his best one yet. Sure his 2010 stuff might not have been as intense or numerous as other chaser videos, but he made the most of what he did have. Throughout the video he provides numerous time lapse videos with a wonderful soundtrack to fit the scene. I was a little apprehensive about him including non-2010 chases in this video that were covered in previous videos. For chasers who compile annual DVD’s, it’s nice to only see stuff from those years. However, Andrew didn’t just include the same video from previous years. He re-edited them to provide more details, contrast enhancement, as well as time lapses of the storms. He concludes the DVD with impressive still photos which really demonstrates his photography skills.

Stan’s recommendation: Buy PWX 2010! It’s only $15 with free shipping. Support Andrew’s chasing passion and buy the DVD!

For more details and ordering information, visit his website: PrairieStorm Media

Video Preview

There are a variety of weather apps for the iPhone, but being able to see radar relative to your location is probably the most important app to have. RadarScope from Base Velocity, LLC is currently my favorite radar app for the iPhone. While the $9.99 price tag might push some away, I think it is well worth the money for what you get. Rather than downloading a radar image, RadarScope actually downloads raw level 3 radar data and renders it into an image. This gives you much better resolution and accuracy than downloading a simple image. It also uses the iPhone’s built-in GPS to plot your location relative to the radar.

While the name of the program may imply a sweeping radar scan feature, it is only there for looks and can be disabled in the settings if you find it annoying. When you zoom in on the radar, numerous city names reveal themselves which is very handy if you’re in an unfamiliar area. The app offers base reflectivity, base velocity, and storm relative velocity radar products. Finally, there is a recently added animation feature which downloads and loops the last 6 radar scans.

Pros:

Cons:

The app is lacking a few things like road overlays and watches/warnings. I’d also like to see the ability to either create your own custom overlays and/or use feeds from providers like AllisonHouse. This would let you add things like METAR, APRS, spotter network integration, lightning, etc. I have mentioned this to the author of the program and they are looking into this but could not guarantee anything. Overall it is the most useful radar app out there right now for the iPhone and worth the $10 in my opinion. I used it on a short chase last year and it worked pretty well. I look forward to future updates from the author of RadarScope.