By Chief Meteorologist, Mark Hoekzema

The Storm Chase 2005 is over but the ripples can still be seen. Make sure you watch the CBS Morning Show on Monday, May 16. The storm team participants will be outside the CBS studios between 7:30 and 8:30 for the morning weather segments to talk about the trip with CBS Meteorologist, Dave Price before he does his national weather segments.

Look for Chief Chirp, Stephanie Blozy, Meteorologist, Mark Lee, WeatherBug Achieve Teacher, Megan O’Leary and myself, along with about a hundred local students from a New York City WeatherBug Achieve school.

By Storm Chase Teacher, Megan O’Leary

I arrived back at school today to a dwindling nor’easter, and twelve smiling faces with many questions. "What was it like?”, “Did you have a good time?”, “Did you miss us?”, “Did you see any storms?”, of course my answer was yes to all of them.  It is wonderful to come back and share with my students the information I learned last week. 

My experience on Storm Chase 2005 was phenomenal.  I learned more in one week that I would have thought possible.  From finding the dry line, to watching a super cell die out.  It reminds me that we can acquire so much more knowledge from experience than we can from reading about it, or listening to an expert talk about it.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved in making Storm Chase 2005 such a fantastic event for me.  Stephanie, Mark, Mark, JR, and Michelle, thank you for making it an amazing week!  I envy the teacher who gets chosen next year! 

By Storm Chase Winner, Michelle Bright

We’ve dissipated.

Sunday morning, oh so early, we flew out of Oklahoma City. 

We’re elsewhere again. 

I flew into O’Hare, had my Concourse G Starbucks.  I’ve seen celebrities there, so I always go back for more.  Nothing this time.  Unless of course, you count me.  Ha.  Then back to Madison.  And it was only ten a.m.  My beloved friend Liz was there to meet me, to take me to breakfast and then home.  In baggage claim, we found out my American Tourister had chosen to go to Dallas.  Not to worry, it was delivered to my front porch that afternoon.

I’m still thinking and writing about the week that was.  Everything that happened wasn’t blogg’d.  Obviously.  Some was written on lined paper late at night.  I’ve a file with brochures, guides from The National Weather Service, hand drawn maps, hotel key cards, receipts.  Some of it is still replaying in my head.

I so want to thank everyone who followed us on-line.  Know your comments were read aloud, and shared, the moment they posted! And thank you to everyone we actually met on the Chase: kids on BMX bikes, servers at restaurants, guests at hotels, fellow chasers.  Your stories, your answers, what you wanted to share, all made this week extraordinary. 

And to the group of strangers who met up in Midland, TX only last Sunday, thank you for becoming my Team.

By Chief Meteorologist, Mark Hoekzema

It was a long drive to Oklahoma City, OK from our storm chase Saturday evening.  We definitely got in late, and hoped to gain as much sleep as possible.  Our flights back are early Sunday morning and we are now on our way home. 

We all shared a wonderful time with each other.  Everyone contributed in his and her own way and provided experiences that surely, we will never forget!  Working together and intercepting storms, we consider our adventure a great success!

By WeatherBug Chief Chirp, Stephanie Blozy

The WeatherBug Storm Chase of 2005 ended this morning at 6am as we all boarded our flights home.  And while we didn’t see a tornado, everyone agreed that the trip was a huge success. 

Megan, our teacher, squeezed an entire year of meteorology into one week.  She soaked-up every morsel of meteorology knowledge that the Marks, JR or I shared like a sponge.  She asked great questions and became quite proficient with spotting the stages of thunderstorm and tornado development.  I envy her students who will be the beneficiaries of this knowledge in the form of fun, interactive lessons.  With the video that Megan shot, her 5th graders will create a custom DVD of our chase.  I look forward to watching it!

Michelle, our “WeatherBug Winner” and goodwill ambassador, taught us to look beyond the storms.  We were reminded to experience the chase with our other senses as we listened to wind howl, felt it rush past us as if we were as insignificant as the sage bush, and smelled the increasing moisture.  Whenever we stopped, Michelle connected with a WeatherBug user who had their own stories to tell. 

The meteorologist in me became even more fascinated by the power of Mother Nature.  Even though I’ve been a meteorologist for nearly 12 years, much of my knowledge has come from books.  To see the storm on Thursday form from a puffy, little cumulus cloud into a full-blown, rotating mesocyclone was breathtaking.  I used to claim blizzards as my favorite type of storm.  Now, thunderstorm development on the open plains is top on my list. 

As I return home, I know that I won’t miss the late nights and early mornings, sleeping in a different town every night, lunch at gas stations and the long hours in the car.  After driving over 3,000 miles, I figure that we spent over 50 hours in the truck in seven days.  That’s a little extreme!

I will miss the open spaces and beautiful changing landscapes of our country.  I’ll also miss the constant banter and ribbing between travel mates.  It was great to laugh ALL day long.  We had become a well oiled machine that lost no time during pit stops.  In seven and a half minutes, we could gas-up the two trucks, use the facilities, and pick-up our order at the McDonalds down the street.  Dale Earnheart Jr.’s pit crew would have been impressed. 

Most of all, I look forward to doing it all again next year.  Chief Chirp, signing off…

Chief Meteorologist, Mark Hoekzema

Darkness has decended on the Chase Team. We ended up on a storm near Memphis, TX, but it was already weakening. Still managed to catch some amazing lightning shots. Despite a favorable environment for supercell thunderstorms, nothing could just seem to get going, in this part of the country. We really believe the cirrus clouds hurt us today in this regard.

So ends the week of Storm Chase 2005! We will be travelling back to Oklahoma City tonight and headed home tomorrow. Check back, though, for final thoughts, pictures, etc!