After 1 failed attempt near Glenwood, IA around midnight, I headed to Ashland, NE at around 3AM. There was tons of lightning to be found but the fog was too dense.
To the left is the best image I could get. Very minimal light to the right and some purple hue to the left. Got a little bit of video that I will consider uploading later.
Got my e-mail from Brian Smith of the National Weather Service Omaha/Valley, NE this morning showing that I have been approved for access to eSpotter. Hooray!
It wasn’t really what I expected, but, then again, I didn’t know what to expect. Maybe some extra info that the public doesn’t have access to? I dunno. Discovered (Columbus-like) that it’s a place to submit your storm reports to the National Weather Service wherever you are. It’s still pretty cool, though.
You get this really big pop-up message with a big WARNING written all over it that makes you feel special that you’re about to access a government computer system.
Brian E. Smith from the Omaha/Valley, NE National Weather Service office directed the 2009 Spotter Training at Boystown on Monday night.
This was my first time actually attending a spotter training, believe it or not. Every year I would start thinking about chasing in late April when the National Weather Service had already been around everywhere and already done all of their training. So this was an exciting experience for me.
The class was very informative, not to mention the (minimal) freebies. Got my SKYWARN sticker for my car and some paperwork. Signed up for spotter activation between 7pm and 3am (oh, why did I pick 3am?) but today I quickly changed my work schedule to get off at 5:30pm.
