The Storm Chasers [closed due to lack of interest]

[XR-7]

Introduction
Today is April 12. It's a wonderful windy day. You are sitting in your apartment trying to find something to do with yourself. You have two weeks of spring break on your hands before classes resume. You are studying to get a degree in meteorology from the University of Chicago. You hear that severe weather is possible somewhere in the central United States. Although you have never extensively traveled to find a good storm, you have hopes that one of these days could be a potluck. You have $8,000 in a savings account gathering dust, and need to use it on something.

You have a choice of vehicles. Which do you choose? Different factors must be taken into consideration. The cars are all free, are in perfect mechanical condition, and start out with a free full tank of gas.

1988 Ford Bronco
Storage room: Moderate [100 spaces]
Center of gravity: Substandard (Up to 80mph winds from side)
Replacement parts availability: Easy to find
Replacement parts average cost: Cheap
Fuel economy: Poor (14 city/17 highway)
Durability: Very Good (80 HP)
Swag: A lot

1999 Ford Taurus
Storage room: Low [50 spaces]
Center of gravity: Very good (130mph wind max)
Replacement parts availability: Easy to find
Replacement parts cost: Cheap
Fuel economy: Good (20 city/28 highway)
Durability: Moderate (50 HP)
Swag: Very little

2008 Chevrolet Suburban
Storage Room: Exceptional [200 spaces]
Center of gravity: Good (100mph winds)
Replacement parts availability: Difficult (going by junkyard, can't be mail ordering parts on a time limit)
Replacement parts cost: Expensive
Fuel economy: Substandard (14 city/20 highway)
Durability: Exceptional (100 HP)
Swag: A lot

2009 Toyota Prius
Storage room: Very low [25 spaces]
Center of gravity: Good (100mph winds)
Replacement parts availability: Difficult
Replacement parts cost: Moderate to extremely expensive
Fuel economy: Extreme (48 city/45 highway)
Durability: Very low (30 HP)
Swag: Not only none, but also embarrassing

Note that equipment must be chosen next, so keep storage space in mind. I'll be leaving this poll up for five hours.

LIST OF EDITS:

- fixed a typo, added when poll is closed/switched

[Ad Bot]

[Tudoreleu]

chevrolet suburban

we're doing this the RIGHT way

[XR-7]

You grab the keys to a black Suburban. You drive it around the front of your apartment building and park. You have a lot of storage room, especially if you fold down the back seats. You walk back into your apartment to assess the luggage needed.

We have some instruments that do not take up interior space, because they will be anchored to the roof. You install an anemometer (used for determining wind speeds, measured in miles per hour), a thermometer (temperature, measured in Fahrenheit), a barometer (air pressure, measured in millibars), and a portable radar antenna (used for your super cool radar paid for by your college).

You go back into the house to find the following items. Choose 200 or fewer storage spaces worth of space. Note that we may have to stop and buy some supplies along the way, and will need space if we have to).

- Laptop computers (2 available, used for radars, reading measurements, Internet, etc) - 3 spaces each
- Portable WiFi hotspot (Internet accessibility, depends on tower availability, 3G/4G compatible) - 1 space
- Computer equipment (fans, adapters, chargers for batteries, USB cables, HDMI cables, any etc; all stored in one bag)  - 5 spaces
- Interior instrument HD display (connects to the equipment on the roof, useful for quick glancing at wind, temperature, etc rather than using a laptop; does not save data however) - 1 space
- Suitcases (4) (holding our personal luggage/necessities; we are packing light for four people, so only one suitcase necessary per person) - 7 spaces each
- Food coolers (2) (packing food/drinks so we don't have to constantly stop and buy stuff, but needs to be refilled once every two days) - 5 spaces each
- 3 gal. Gas cans (2) (we don't want to run out of gas, having both can get us another 100 miles between stations) - 3 spaces each
- Car jacks (2) (changing flat tires or getting under the car easier) - 2 spaces each
- A second spare tire (in case we run over a tree and one spare isn't enough) - 9 spaces
- Wholesome entertainment bag (lots of driving; includes cards, magazines, etc, etc) - 4 spaces
- CB radio equipment (communicating with nearby chasers or relaying information to NWS) - 5 spaces
- Camera bag (regular cameras, video cameras, chargers, memory cards, etc; good for taking pictures of what we find) - 4 spaces
- Tripods (4) (setting up equipment on the field) - 2 spaces each
- Tool kit (fixing maladies on the car or equipment) - 7 spaces
- Blankets/pillows (saves motel costs) - 5 spaces
Bring everything, or leave some things behind?

[XR-7]

Unrelated note, but let's hope a Suburban wasn't a poor choice, cause this could be us.


This Suburban funded by The Weather Channel was literally picked up and trashed by a tornado with the occupants still inside.

[Mr Queeba]

Bring everything you can carry.

[XR-7]

You load the car with 103 spaces worth of stuff, leaving 97 space available. Just one thing left to do: bring three friends.

Who is coming with you?

[Mr Queeba]

You load the car with 103 spaces worth of stuff, leaving 97 space available. Just one thing left to do: bring three friends.

Who is coming with you?

Can I go on as a friend?
2 other friends can be Rotondo and mocheeze.

[-Paint-]

hodot because hes awesome, XR7 to be our guide, and me because why the hell not

[XR-7]

Alright. I'll start narrating in first person and assume the leadership position. Our group will consist of me, Mr Queeba, Paint, and Hodot.
It is planning time! Our operation and success heavily depends on our location.

This is our workspace. All the states within the red outline are our recommended viewpoints for the trip. The green dot is where we are starting.


If we take a look at a weather map labeled with pressure systems and fronts, we find this. The yellow arrows that I've drawn show our interest area.


That low pressure system will be dropping across the United States in a southeast direction, eventually turning east as it gets toward the midwestern states, and finally turning northeast as it approaches the east coast. However, it is difficult to track right now other than by speculation and projections.

If we turn our eyes back to the top map, we have a box with locations in it. We must choose a city/location for our first station. Where do you guys think we should drive towards first?
Extra notes:

Since we will be doing mostly highway driving, we will average at 18mpg in our car. With a 26 gallon fuel tank plus our canisters, we should be able to make about 500 miles per full tank.

The average gas price is for the country is $2.19 (this is not a real average), so let's say we'll pay around $65.00 to refill our gas.

Our average speed will be 55mph, or about 9 hours per gas tank.

We will start out driving 12 hours per day, but we can go slower or faster depending on what we need to accomplish.

[Mr Queeba]

Kansas City.

[Maxxi]

on the topic of tornadoes, im working on a map edit for a tornado highway map
the creator gave me permission and i also made this cool F0.
edited the F0 into the map and made the map night like with lamp poles.

(map lighting didnt render properly, should look night like but im re rendering now.)
Kansas City as queeba said.

[XR-7]

We all spend the night in my apartment. The car is fully prepared and ready to go. The light is still dim when we leave at 6:00am. We put Kansas City, MO in the GPS and begin driving.



Our route takes us from I-94 to I-55. We take I-55 to Springfield, IL and change to I-72. That is taken to Hannibal, MO where we get on MO-36 towards Cameron, MO. From Cameron, we take I-35 and I-29 to Kansas City. The trip takes 8 hours. It is now 2:00pm, so we pull out the radar again.

We see that the low pressure system is over northern Idaho and is southeast of yesterday's position. The green circle is us.



What should we do? We can move approximately four hours or less in any direction (~240 miles max), or we can stay put for today.

on the topic of tornadoes, im working on a map edit for a tornado highway map
the creator gave me permission and i also made this cool F0.
edited the F0 into the map and made the map night like with lamp poles.
-snip-
(map lighting didnt render properly, should look night like but im re rendering now.)

Awesome. I just downloaded the tornado maps and content a few days ago. I don't have Half Life 2 or Counter Strike though, so I'm missing tons of textures/items and only the highway map and the flat map are decently playable.

[-Paint-]

Id say keep going, same direction

[Mr Queeba]

Id say keep going, same direction

[Crispy_]

keep going southwest along that blue line (i know what it is i just forgot what its called)