Ian's 2018 Storm Chasing Trip

It is not terribly often that you get to experience nature's fury and beauty in the same instance. It is most, if not every, meteorologist's dream to witness a tornado in real life. And there are those who are crazy enough to chase and record them!

I am one of those crazy meteorologists :).

It is not cheap to do this, however. Chase-cations, guided tornado chasing tours, typically mark these experiences at $4000. Which is not a reachable goal for most college students. Fortunately, through Ohio University and my advisor Dr. Jana Houser, such an expensive trip can become a reality.

I had the great opportunity to go on the Storm Chasing Trip last year, as there was funding to send the graduate students, with only money for food as out-of-pocket expenses. This year unfortunately, the department did not allocate funds for meteorology graduate students. And as such I need to pay to go on the trip.

So I am starting this gofundme to raise the $2000 I need to go on the trip! I will get to further my skills as an operational weather forecaster and gain real life field experience in tornado analysis and forecasting! It is not likely I will get more opportunities like this in my life (depending on my future career), and it would mean the world to me if I could do it one more time!

For the trip, in terms of cost, I need an initial $350 down payment by March 1 to save my seat on the trip. After that, I need an additional $1300 for the tuition cost (as the trip is technically a college course with 2 credit hours of work) and travel expenses (hotels, gas, etc.) by the start of the trip in May. Finally, it costs about $300 for food over the course of 8 days (gas station, fast food (Subway), and 1 or 2 restaurant dinners if we have time). So I have set the goal of this gofundme to $2000 to make sure I have everything covered.

Again, it would mean the world to me if you could donate a little and help me get on this trip one more time. Not only is storm chasing a life-changing experience, it also builds my skills in forecasting severe weather. I will also assist in collecting atmospheric data via radiosondes to be sent to the Storm Prediction Center and local National Weather Service offices to add to/improve their databases and forecast models. So there are many parties other than myself that stand to benefit from this!

If you could spare a couple dollars to send my way for this trip, I would be forever grateful to you. And if you wish, I can send you pictures, video, and data from the storms we chase for donating! Just let me know! It's all great information.

Thank you all in advance! Let's work together to meet this goal!