Pack list for your storm chasing trip

Storm chasing trips is a different type of vacation and calls for a different type of packing list. This articles is aimed to help you determine what to pack and bring on your tour.

Clothes

• You may be able to wash your clothes during a long tour (10+ days) but expect not to, so bring enough underwear etc.
• You are going to spend many hours in the car driving so bring comfortable clothes.
• The weather conditions where you wait for the storms usually varies from very hot to a bit cold. If you experience strong winds it could get quite cold. All in all, you are best off with long pants and a t-shirt but bring a sweater that you can easily take on and off.
• Sunlotion, sunhats etc – Even when you chase you could end up spending hours in the sun. On down days you may be out all day exposed to strong sunshine.
• An inflatable pillow will be very handy to sleep away a few hours while on the road.

Gadgets

• Camera – Bring your best camera for exceptional photo opportunities
• Wide-angle camera lens– for your storm structure photos.
• Telephoto camera lens – useful for close-up photos of tornadoes. Not as useful as the wide camera lens though.
• Video camera – Some features needs to be filmed. If you have a video camera, bring it!
• Extra memory cards – If you have a great chase day you will shoot tons of photos and hours of video, so make sure you bring enough memory for your cameras.
• Tripod – Good lightning shots and time-lapse videos are impossible without a tripod.
• Smartphone – If you have a smart phone you are probably going to bring it. The panorama shot function on smart phones are very useful to get images on entire storms and storm structures.
• A prepaid sim-card with data
• Books, iPad, games etc. – Make sure you bring something to keep you busy during the long hours in the van.

Things that would be cool to have

• Suction cup mount that attaches your camera to the window – This tiny camera has a fixture that you attach to the window of the car. It is a great way of filming without having to attend the camera.
• With a fish eye lens for your Iphone you can turn your iPhone into a wide lense camera, perfect for storm structure photos.
• The photo book Adventures in Tornado Alley: The Storm Chasers – An absolutely a m a z i n g photo book of storms and tornadoes. It provides great inspiration before the trip and has a few good chapters that teach you how storms are created.

Storm chasing apps

• Radar Scope – The weather radar app to use if you want to see the weather radar for yourself during the chase (requires an active internet connection in the vehicle).

Your suggestions?

Do you have any suggestions on good things to pack, useful gadgets or cool apps to bring on a storm chasing tour? Please share your best ideas in the comment field below.