Spring Training 2024 has ended but you can purchase the complete event recording!

Welcome to the annual Spring Training 2024 event,
in partnership with COMET/MetEd!

Spring Training offers foundational, operational and accessible information and training material for storm chasers at all levels - from those who want to begin their chase education or brush up on the basics, to more advanced chasers wanting to learn more in-depth about specialized topics. Just like in baseball, we gather every spring to shake off the rust, refresh our skills, and get ready to hit a home run.

Spring Training speakers are experts within their fields, and the training is an opportunity to learn from them in-depth, in addition to offering interactive opportunities to ask questions and chat with chasing veterans.

WE LEARNED A LOT FROM OUR INAUGURAL EVENT IN 2023, AND HEARD YOUR FEEDBACK -- 2024 has been restructured a bit, tweaked, and poked and prodded to make it better than ever!

This event will always be held virtually and remain affordable; Girls Who Chase is a global community and we believe strongly in making science and learning accessible to everyone without the constraints of travel or financial hardship.

Schedule

Speakers

SESSIONS

We incorporate two different session types into our Spring Training event:

Presentations: You'll gain knowledge on a variety of topics relevant to developing skills in storm chasing and forecasting.
Interactive panels: You'll have the chance to connect with chasing and meteorology experts in a facilitated Q&A session.

SCHEDULE*

Detailed schedule (all times in CT):
Most sessions have 10-minute breaks in between, with optional panels over lunch
9:30am Event kickoff
10:00 Skip Talbot/Jennifer Brindley Ubl: Storm Structure/Storm Spotting Basics (entry-level)
11:20 Vanessa Vincente: How to Read Radar for Use During Thunderstorms (entry-level)
12:30pm Skip Talbot/Jennifer Brindley Ubl: Positioning For Safe & Successful Chasing (entry-level)
1:40 Meteorology Panel, Option 1 (including: Elizabeth Leitman, Kathryn Prociv, Dr. Jana Houser, & Andrea Smith)
1:40 Storm Chasing Panel, Option 2 (including: Jennifer Brindley Ubl, Lori Grace Bailey, Beth Allan & Rosie Kew)
3:00 Dr. Jason Persoff: Safely Responding to a Natural Disaster (entry-level)
4:00 Raychel Sanner: Pulling it All Together With a Chase Case Study (entry/intermediate-level)
5:40 Option 1 – Dr. Cameron Nixon: All About Soundings & Hodographs (intermediate-level)
5:40 Option 2 – Lori Grace Bailey: Intro to Chasing the Monsoon & Capturing Lightning (photography/specialty-level)
6:50 Event close/evaluations

*Please note all times/topics/speakers are subject to change

TO ACCESS THE EVENT

While the live event took place on March 2, all presentations were recorded and the recordings can now be purchased!

To access the recordings package, head on over to Vimeo or click "purchase," below.

PURCHASE

SPEAKERS & PANELISTS

*To read the full bio, click on a speaker's image

Speakers

Jennifer Brindley Ubl

Storm structure/Storm spotting basics
Positioning for safe & successful chasing
Storm Chasing Panelist

Jennifer Brindley Ubl is a professional studio portrait photographer and has been a well-known storm chaser since documenting her first tornado fifteen years ago.

Jennifer has acted as the documentary photographer on a small tornado research team led by Dr. Anton Seimon in field operations over the last seven years. She has over fourteen years' experience in documentary photography and is a twelve-year partner to Skip Talbot on storm chase pursuits. They have participated in many unique storm chasing related projects including working as IMAX film “Extreme Weather” support crew in the TIV and Doghouse chase vehicles. She also was a consultant and art contributor for the 2018 short film “STORMCHASER.”

Jennifer is also renowned for representing gender equality in storm chasing and is frequently sought out by media production companies accordingly. She and her work have been featured in a number of media features, including the recent NETFLIX Documentary Series EARTHSTORM, Cosmopolitan Magazine, Outside Magazine, NPR, Sierra Magazine, educational productions and international publications such as The Telegraph and The Observer Magazine, as well as production companies both nationally and internationally.

Skip Talbot

Storm structure/Storm spotting basics
Positioning for safe & successful chasing

Skip Talbot is a storm chaser based out of central Illinois, with a reputation for producing top-notch educational pieces about storm structure and chase safety. Skip has been documenting supercells and tornadoes across the Great Plains and Midwest since 2003. He has worked as crew and forecaster on a Tornado Intercept Vehicle (TIV) IMAX film, developed software for and co-authored publications for the El Reno Survey, and driven for the College of DuPage’s Thunderstorm Lab. Skip is currently working with atmospheric scientists Anton and Tracie Seimon, photographer Jennifer Brindley Ubl, and videographer Hank Schyma on a research mission to measure the near surface winds of tornadoes using photogrammetry.

Cameron Nixon, PhD

All about soundings & hodographs

Cameron Nixon is a research scientist at the Cooperative Institute for Severe and High-Impact Weather Research and Operations (CIWRO), which provides support to operational meteorologists via new research and development. He also collaborates frequently with the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) and various National Weather Service forecast offices, where he brings his cutting-edge research to bear in joint collaborative modeling efforts to improve the short-term prediction of severe storms and the warning lead times of tornadoes and large hail. Dr. Nixon’s specialty is hodographs (visual representations of atmospheric wind shear profiles), and the development of new tools and concepts to assist forecasters. He is particularly well-known for his development of the Deviant Tornado Motion technique, which uses the hodograph to estimate the potential for tornadoes that suddenly change directions. He is a recent Ph.D. graduate of Central Michigan University, where he developed special expertise on the environmental conditions of severe storms (particularly hailstorms). In his spare time, Dr. Nixon is an avid storm chaser, and loves watching his research come to life in the field.

Raychel Sanner

Pulling it all together: A case study

Raychel Sanner is the co-founder of Tornado Titans and has been storm chasing for 20 years. Raychel is an Emmy Award winning storm chaser, award winning photographer, and manages many of the day-to-day operations for Tornado Titans. This includes creating content for Titan U, which is a resource for weather enthusiasts and storm spotters to learn how to forecast storms, as well as a comprehensive resource on storm structure and behavior.
Raychel was born and raised in rural Oklahoma before attending the University of Oklahoma, graduating with a Bachelor’s Degree in Broadcasting and Social Issues. Raychel started her first online media company as a teenager and has now worked in digital media for over 25 years. She is married to Sara and enjoys spending time with her fur babies and exploring the southwest outside of storm season.

Lori Grace Bailey

Intro to chasing the monsoon & capturing lightning
Storm Chasing Panelist

Lori Grace Bailey is a professional wedding and portrait photographer who also enjoys chasing extreme weather and extraordinary skies. Whether chasing supercells in the Midwest, haboobs and prolific lightning in the southwest, or elusive sprites and blue jets when conditions are right, Lori’s passionate dedication of pursuing extreme weather allows her to consistently capture vivid and evocative imagery unique to her craft. She is the director of Monsoon Con, an annual convention in Tucson, Arizona, that brings together photographers and weather enthusiasts alike with an emphasis on storm-chasing the monsoons with success.

Lori’s work has appeared in major publications and media outlets, as recently as being featured in a CBS Sunday Morning News broadcast that focused on the science of lightning. Lori has also been featured in the 2023 “Tempest” issue of Flaunt Magazine, Issue 3 2022 of Cosmopolitan Magazine, and June 2021 issue of Backpacker Magazine. She’s a brand ambassador for F-Stop Gear.

Lori’s work can be seen on YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter at @lorigraceaz or by visiting lorigraceaz.com.

Jason Persoff, MD

Safely responding to a natural disaster

Jason Persoff, MD, SFHM, is an internationally renowned storm chaser, father of three amazing forces of nature, husband to his soul mate, erstwhile stand-up comedian, and contemporaneous Associate Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Colorado.

Dr. Persoff was born and raised in, and eventually left, Denver, Colorado, but not without first completing his B.S. in Medical Science and M.D. at the University of Colorado. He completed his internship, residency, and Chief Resident at Mayo Clinic Florida. He was one of the inaugural hospitalists at Mayo Clinic Florida, where he worked for 10 years on staff and received myriad teaching awards, including the distinction of Teacher of the Year for the institution. In 2011, Dr. Persoff joined the Hospital Medicine Group at University of Colorado (now the Division of Hospital Medicine) where he is a nocturnist and educator.

Each May he spends two weeks scouring the Great Plains using many of the same skills he uses in internal medicine—analyzing and interpreting subtle and system-wide weather physiology—to pursue severe thunderstorms and tornadoes. He has appeared in many TV specials (The Weather Channel, Discovery Channel, and The Learning Channel), and has appeared in myriad magazines and books. Dramatic pictures and stories can be viewed at http://stormdoctor.com/.

After chasing a tornado through Joplin, MO, in May 2011, that resulted in mass destruction of that city, he responded to the disaster by going to the Freeman Health System emergency room and functioned as a hospitalist for the first day of the disaster. That experience fostered a lifelong research interest focusing on the role of hospitalists in responding to disaster. More recently, that role transformed into a leadership position at preparation, response, and recovery for the University of Colorado Hospital and UC Health System during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Several of those experiences have resulted in publications in peer-reviewed journals and numerous blog posts. He is also known nationally for research in advanced cardiac resuscitation.

Dr. Persoff also has a passion for weather photography from outer space weather (auroras) to the microscopic (snowflakes). His snowflake photography in particular has gained a national audience especially following features by PBS, The Weather Channel, and a layout in the Washington Post.

Vanessa Vincente

How to read radar for storm chasing

Vanessa Vincente is an Associate Scientist for the COMET Program at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) in Boulder, Colorado. In COMET, she works with a talented team of instructional designers, graphic artists, and multimedia developers to create customized learning experiences for the geoscience community. An important aspect of her work is collaborating with various professionals to understand the training needs in their workplace, and using that information to motivate the practical content and interactions that help the trainee achieve their learning goals. Vanessa has been involved in developing education and training resources in a variety of disciplines such as severe weather, tropical weather, winter weather, and satellite meteorology. Working in a variety of disciplines has given her the opportunity to work with professionals across the United States and from around the world such as Taiwan, Europe, and Africa.

Vanessa received her B.S. in Meteorology from Valparaiso University, and M.S. in Atmospheric Science from Colorado State University. She is married to another meteorologist Matthew, and enjoys spending time hiking the mountains of Colorado, playing softball, and going on storm chase adventures!

Liz Leitman

Meteorology Panelist

Liz Leitman is a Mesoscale/Outlook forecaster at the NWS Storm Prediction Center (SPC), where she forecasts severe thunderstorm hazards (tornadoes, damaging gusts, and hail) for the nation. She has been a National Weather Service meteorologist for over 17 years and is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma. Previously, she worked as a meteorologist at local NWS offices in Billings, MT and Louisville, KY. Liz’s research interests include science communication, topics in tornado forecasting and applied meteorology, as well as fire weather. In her spare time, you’ll likely find Liz reading, hiking the Wichita Mountains, and photographing landscapes and skies.

Kathryn Prociv

Meteorology Panelist

Kathryn is an Emmy Award-winning Senior Meteorologist and Producer for NBC News in New York where she is responsible for all weather content that airs nationally across all platforms, including The Today Show and Nightly News. Before NBC, Kathryn spent five years as a meteorologist and weather producer at The Weather Channel.

In addition to working at NBC News, Kathryn is co-founder and EVP of Monarch Weather & Climate Intelligence. At Monarch, she identifies emerging markets in need of weather and climate insights, seeks out strategic partnerships, provides expert analysis, and supports the team in account and project management.

Kathryn is also proud to be one of the few active female Certified Consulting Meteorologists (CCM) in the world. Kathryn is a member of the American Meteorological Society (AMS) and serves on the Board of Directors for Certified Consulting Meteorologists (CCM). She’s also a member of the Association of Certified Meteorologists (ACM) and National Weather Association (NWA). Kathryn holds a bachelor’s and a master’s from Virginia Tech.

Jana Houser, PhD

Meteorology Panelist

Dr. Houser is an associate professor of meteorology in the Department of Geography at
The Ohio State University in Columbus, OH, where she teaches forecasting, mesoscale, and synoptic meteorology. She grew up in eastern Pennsylvania, and received a Bachelor of Science degree in meteorology from Penn State University in 2004. She went on to pursue her Master of Science degree and Ph.D. in meteorology at The University of Oklahoma where she studied under the mentorship of Dr. Howard Bluestein from 2005-2013. After graduating with her PhD in 2013, she was a professor of meteorology at Ohio University in Athens, OH until making an institutional change in summer 2022.

Dr. Houser specializes in radar analysis of tornadoes and the supercell thunderstorms that commonly produce them by using state of the art mobile radar observations. She is currently funded by the National Science Foundation to study the interaction of tornadoes with the ground
beneath, addressing the problem of how topography and land cover impact tornado intensity and path. She has authored or co-authored 19 peer reviewed journal articles related to tornadoes and supercells, most of which have been published by the American Meteorological Society. Dr. Houser is the recipient of the Ohio University Jeanette Graselli Brown Faculty Teaching Award from the College of Arts and Sciences, the University Professor award, the College of Arts and Sciences Award for Outstanding Research in the Physical Sciences, and the Ohio University Honors Tutorial College Outstanding Mentor of the Year award.

She is the mother of three daughters ages 10, 6, and 3. She enjoys gardening, outdoor
sports, running, fitness, cooking, and breeding her two Cavalier King Charles Spaniels on the
side. She also spends her free time singing, playing the piano, and serving in various capacities
at her church.

Rosie Kew

Storm Chasing Panelist

Rosie Kew is a storm chaser from Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. From an early age, she was obsessed with all kinds of weather, especially the severe thunderstorms that tracked across her hometown of Sydney every summer - and she spent many years with her head tilted toward the sky. The purchase of her first DSLR in 2014 and a move to Australia’s “Thunderstorm Alley” (NE New South Wales and SE Queensland), allowed her to start capturing the beauty that had entranced her for years. Rosie now takes every opportunity to chase storms, snow, extreme heat and more after teaching herself to chase, supported by her close-knit tribe of chasing friends.

Beth Allan

Storm Chasing Panelist

Beth Allan is a weather and sky photographer based in Calgary, Alberta. She has been storm chasing the wild weather of the North American prairies and plains for more than a decade and loves nothing more than to capture that special light that only a stormy day can provide.

Beth’s storm and weather photography has been included in many local and national media outlets, as well as in print and online magazines around the globe. She was named one of Canada’s Top Instagrammers by Canadian Geographic magazine, one of Alberta’s photographers of the month by the Huffington Post, has been featured by The Weather Network and the Weather Channel, and more. Beth’s timelapse work has been featured by CBC’s Wild Canadian Year five-part documentary series, and she also worked for two summer seasons on the CBC/River Road Productions documentary called “Wild Canadian Weather.” She chases as part of the Prairie Storm Chasers team.

Beth is also a high school counselor, avid reader, secret writer, and incredibly skilled road tripper.