Storm Chase Vehicle Technology

Cold weather expedition clothing provided by:

Satellite Communications provided by:

Vertical rescue & safety equipment provided by:

Microphones and other audio equipment provided by:

Trew Audio

Cellular data products provided by:

Custom lightning protection provided by:

Storm Chase Vehicle Technology

Tools can be an important part of stormchasing. Gathering every little piece of weather information you can while on a country road out in the middle of nowhere can make or break a successful chase. The technology I carry with me while chasing allows me to gather a vast assortment of data while out in the field.

Laptop Computer with Cellular Modem - Very useful for checking on weather data on the internet such as radar and satellite images.

GPS Navigation - Real time mapping of my location using Global Positioning Sattelites. A great tool for planning storm intercepts and also useful for making sure that there is a good escape route.

Radio Scanners - For listening to the local Skywarn/Canwarn storm spotter reports as well as NOAA weather radio.

Ham Radio - Great tool for reporting observations to the Skywarn/Canwarn net controllers.

C.B. Radio - For car to car communications when travelling with more than 1 vehicle.

T.V. Tuner - Excellent for picking up local television stations which often break into regular programming during severe weather. These stations sometimes will broadcast live radar images.

The list above is only a partial list of the equipment in my Honda CR-V There have been many modifications done to it and I will update the pictures when new changes are made.



	Here's the latest addition to the chase vehicle. Big thanks to my good friend Ron Gravelle (VA3TVS) for providing me with his years of welding experience. He went above and beyond the call of duty to help me out on this one.Basically it's a new roof rack that combines a Peet Brothers Ultimeter 2000 weather station and a series of side & rear emergency worklights. The roof rack's all steel, welded construction makes it incredibly strong.			The Peet Brothers Weather Station has 3 external sensors: temperature, humidity & wind speed/direction. The grey box contains the humidity sensor and the white pipe holds the temp sensor. Both of these sensor housings use 2 12 volt fans to move air around the actual sensors inside. One fan pushes air over the sensor and the other pulls the air out of the housing, thus keeping the sensors dry.

	Along each side and across the rear are a series of 55 watt halogen lights. These are aimed down slightly so as to make them useful in the event that we are first on the scene of an accident or if we come across storm damage at night. The lights are controlled from 3 switches in the center console. The steel mesh along the sides and top protect the lights from large hail and debris.			The mast for the anemometer is hinged so that I can fit into the garage etc. When locked in the upright position, the mast extends about 4 feet above the roof of the truck. It is well braced and should hold up to any wind load that I may encounter.

	The output of the sensors come to a junction box that is stashed inside the headliner. The actual display for the weather station is mounted above the rear view mirror with my ham radio.			There are a total of 16 of the 55 watt halogen lights. 6 across each side and 4 across the rear for a total of 880 watts! with all 16 turned on at the same time, the current draw is about 75 amps. I'm glad I added that extra battery. The switching system for the lights actually consists of the three switches and a bank of 5 30 amp relays.

	The entire rack was constructed in about a week. It was then primed, painted and coated with a layer of pickup truck bed liner spray.

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Some chasers rely on very few gadgets to help them find the best storms, relying solely on their forecast and what they can visually see. I prefer to have as much information available to me as I can. The equipment is just a set of tools that's there if I need them.