The inaugural Mid-Atlantic ChaserCon occurred Saturday October 27th at the Science Museum of Virginia in Richmond, the capitol city of the Old Dominion. The overall intent of conducting such an event was to foster a community spirit among those interested in severe weather in a part of the nation that doesn’t always get recognized for experiencing such conditions. The hope is that building these relationships will benefit the public by enhancing communications between the field (storm chasers and spotters) and operational forecasters (National Weather Service and broadcast meteorologists) during times of severe weather. Both sides of the community were present in the meeting room Saturday.
To that end our speakers included an opening keynote address by Zach Daniel, chief meteorologist of a local Richmond television station who has established a storm chase team to support his coverage of severe weather, the first such team on the East Coast. Zach also brought his station’s new storm chase vehicle for display outside the front doors of the Science Museum. This address was followed by a fascinating presentation on recent local severe events from Mike Montefusco, a NWS Wakefield (VA) forecaster. The morning’s agenda ended with an awesome talk by David Hoadley, the dean of U.S. storm chasing, who has been pursuing storms since the 1950s. He captivated the audience with photos, videos, and physical props from his vast experience.