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2006 Tour Schedule

Notice: This page contains all the information required to book a tour on Silver Lining Tours, LLC (Please print this screen and save it for your perusal!)

NOTE: Tour 1 (May 4-13) is being co-led by partners Roger Hill and David Gold, the first tour on which both have chased together since 2003! Participation is being limited to one vanload (much like our Master Class Tour). Please see below for details!

Download an easy-to-print version of this page.

Are you ready for an atmospheric adventure of a lifetime, led by some of the finest storm chasers in the world? If so, then read on!

We at Silver Lining Tours are pleased to offer the 2006 Tours. The prices below are for a complete tour package that includes: arrival day lodging, lodging on each of the tour days, tour t-shirts, a professionally edited highlights tape and an end-of-tour meal. The only items excluded are airfare and/or other expenses that you incur in traveling to and from the meeting city, daily meals and incidentals (e.g., souvenirs).

HOW TO RESERVE A SPACE:

1. Email David to obtain the password necessary to access the relevant online tour agreement (6-day version, 10-day version, Master Class version or North Land Lecture version (see below for descriptions of the various offerings)). The same password will access our hot-off-the-press 2006 brochure. Both require the Adobe Acrobat reader, freely available here. Carefully read the tour agreement and call David with any questions. By signing this agreement you are completely indemnifying the tours and accepting responsibility for all of the risk that such an expedition entails.

2. Sign and complete the agreement, returning it to Silver Lining Tours along with your non-refundable $600.00 deposit ($500 deposit for the 6-day or specialty offerings). Alternatively, you may pay the deposit using a credit card (MasterCard and Visa only). Please see Item #5 under "Additional Information" below for the necessary details about how to do this.

3. Inform David (via email or phone) that you have mailed or are about to mail the tour agreement and deposit – at that point your spot is secure.

4. Make your flight arrangements to/from Oklahoma City (Tours 1 – 3), Kansas City (Master Class) or Denver (Tours 4-North Land Lecture Tour).

For the 10-day tours, room-sharing parties will receive a total discount of $300.00 ($150 per room-sharing participant). For the 6-day tours, the room-sharing discount is $200.00 ($100 per person). Larger discounts are available for groups of 6 or more (provided there are 2 people per room).

MULTI-TOUR DISCOUNT: We once again offer a multi-tour discount. Sign up for any TWO consecutive 6-day tours and receive a $150 discount off each trip. Sign up for any TWO 10-day tours and receive a $250 discount off each trip! If taking advantage of the multi-tour discount, neither the room-sharing discount or lifetime discount (if applicable) shall apply.

Our Different Offerings Explained

10-Day vs. 6-Day Tours

Here it is in plain English: the longer you're out in the Plains the better your odds of seeing tornadoes. However, we have long recognized the fact that many folks simply cannot take off enough time to do a 10-day tour. During the first half of the storm chasing season (i.e., roughly until the third week of May), a tour length much shorter than 10 days runs the risk of ending empty-handed (i.e., no storms) due to the fact that the atmosphere can take time to reload between storm systems. Offering shorter tours is acceptable later in the season when the low-level moisture takes up quasi-permanent residence in the Great Plains owing to less frequent cold front passages. It is our perception that severe storm frequency is high enough then to justify a tour of about one week in duration. Moreover, a couple of recent studies lend statistical support to the observation that the peak of tornado season (from roughly early May to mid-to-late June) is characterized by "runs" of tornado "days" - consecutive days on which tornadoes are observed. Thus, tours offered during this 5-6 week period stand a slightly better chance of experiencing series of active weather days. For the earlier tours, we have found that the 10-day tour length strikes a very nice balance between spending enough time in the field to increase your odds to acceptable levels and the amount of time people can take off from work without depleting their annual vacation time.

So, the 10-day tour is for you if you can take off the time and want to maximize your probability of seeing a tornado. It is also cheaper on a per day basis and occurs during the time of tornado season most likely to produce violent tornado outbreaks. The 6-day version is the optimal choice for those with more limited vacation time but still want an excellent chance of experiencing intense supercell storms and tornadoes, and who wish to spend time chasing in the northern and western portions of "Tornado Alley".

The 6-day tours, offered in the late spring and early summer, are for you if you can't take as much time off but still want to have a decent shot at seeing great storms with leading storm chaser and SLT Tour Director Roger Hill out of Denver. As the tornado season progresses into June, storm activity migrates northwestward into the region extending from the high plains of eastern Colorado, Wyoming and Montana eastward across Nebraska and the Dakotas into Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin.

Here is an article explaining some of the trade-offs of chasing in the "early" versus "late" season storm chasing.

The Master Class Workshop:

Bill Gargan and Dr. David Gold are proud to once again offer the Master Class Storm Chasing Workshop, designed for those that want a comprehensive interactive educational experience combined with an opportunity to apply these skills in a real storm chasing setting. This ambitious tour is designed and structured to teach participants the subjects of severe storm forecasting, storm chasing strategy and storm observation. The material is covered much more comprehensively than is possible during any other tour. Each participant is taught concepts that can be used to make his/her own chase forecast, tactical decision making in the field (e.g., how to pick one storm versus another) and how to use and interpret the myriad observations and data available on the Internet. We have developed (and continually improve and add to) a unique colorful workbook, carefully and painstakingly designed to convey the necessary information to people who lack a significant science or math background. Our system for teaching the complex subject of severe convective forecasting has been refined through years of practice and revision. It is emphasized that this tour will be most beneficial to those who already have some kind of prior background knowledge in one or more of the following subjects: meteorology, engineering, thermodynamics, mathematics, physics or storm chasing  itself. But you need have no detailed knowledge of any of these subjects.

No other similarly-named offering provided by other outfits comes close to giving you the breadth of knowledge and the ability to apply it! That's because nobody is willing or able to work as hard and effectively as we do to make sure you grasp the material, attaining a level of confidence in your newly found abilities that many meteorology undergraduates lack upon graduating from college with a four-year degree! We have been amazed at our participants' absorption of the material; most of our participants have begun the workshop not being able to comprehend or analyze the most common and important meteorological charts and diagrams (e.g., the Skew-T Log-p diagram and hodograph) and have left the 10-day course interpreting and analyzing these tools with confidence, using them to make unsupervised severe thunderstorm forecasts. For this reason, this storm chasing workshop is particularly well-suited for meteorology students who want to develop a real "edge", storm chasers who want to improve their forecasting/chasing skills or folks who have some prior storm chasing experience but who wish to take the next step towards independence and learn a whole lot about meteorology in the process. We encourage you to contact us about the amazing educational opportunity that this workshop provides. Stay tuned for an entire webpage devoted to giving you greater insight into this course, including the course curriculum and personal experiences related by recent course "graduates".

We always limit the size of this tour to a maximum of 6 participants so that we can focus on each individual and better teach the concepts to the group. We ask that each participant bring his/her own notebook computer (if the participant doesn't own one, we will provide it). As mentioned above, we provide a full-color bound booklet of learning material and state-of-the-art software for analyzing weather observations (Digital Atmosphere and now RAOB, too).

NEW: The North Land Lecture Tour

Silver Lining Tours co-owner Roger Hill is proud to lead a newly introduced expedition, the "North Land Lecture Tour". Held in the latter part of June and beginning of July, this tour takes advantage of the active severe weather regime that is in place during this time across a vast region of the northern U.S. and southern Canada. Fueled by tropical moisture that has typically flooded inland from the Gulf of Mexico by late June, the tornado season is entering its prime from the Dakotas and southern Canada eastward into the upper-Midwest. On this adventure you are likely to encounter fewer storm chasers, enabling you to enjoy in relative privacy the serenity of the open prairie land and the severe thunderstorms that frequent this region. This tour is 8 days' in length, providing enough time to traverse this storm-rich region of the North American Plains while learning from one of the most intuitive and well-versed storm chasers in the world, our very own Roger Hill. Roger has a strong talent for distilling the essential physical principles from the complex science of meteorology and presenting them in a logical, easy-to-understand format, giving you practical knowledge that you can apply on your own. Learn storm chasing and forecasting skills from Roger while chasing down the monstrous storms of the northern prairies as spring becomes summer. If you want to chase the wide open northern prairies and learn from one of the most dynamic storm chasers in the world, put this tour at the top of your list.

More about the 6-day summer tours:

The tour package includes arrival day lodging and tour t-shirts. As always, the package still includes daily hotel
lodging during each of your evenings with us, bottled water, a professionally-edited highlights tape and lifetime discounts1 on all future tours.

THE LEAD VAN: In 2006, Tour Director Roger Hill will once again be conducting tours in his diesel power train Ford 12-passenger van outfitted with the latest technology, customized to withstand severe hail and completely outfitted with amazing electronics designed to make your travel experience even more interesting. No other tour will have a vehicle designed so intelligently and sturdily. Here is a description of some of the van's features. Pictures of the van's exterior are provided. When customization is complete interior images and descriptions will be included.

• True severe weather experts with years of storm chasing and forecasting experience!

• A customized 12-passenger van. Pictures of this van, hereafter labeled SLT for convenience, and descriptions of some of its features are found here.

• Portable computers with state-of-the-art GPS navigation and wireless data capability.

• Large, clear LCD screens for video playback and display of weather info being analyzed on our laptops.

• High-quality non-interfering microwave antennae for sharing video/TV/data signals between vans.

• A unique video switching box that allows us to show on the LCD screens video signals from several devices.

• Cell phones and digital data cards for frequent high-speed data downloads on the go; with the current cellular network and an external antenna we enjoy connectivity about 85-90% of the time. During the past two years, we have averaged over 2 hours of cell phone usage per chase day!

• Private channel commercial CB radios for van-to-van communications.

• Custom-built gear boxes with entertainment module (DVD player, on-board sound, etc...).

• TWO Baron XM Mobile ThreatNet satellite systems for viewing continuous high-resolution radar data.

Finally, remember that only people 18 years of age or older may attend the tours solo. However, minors can join the tours if accompanied by a parent or legal guardian. Said parent must be willing to indemnify the tours. Each year we have one or two parent/child teams joining us and it is always lots of fun!

Smoking inside the vans is forbidden.

1. TOUR MEETING LOCATIONS: Tours one through Three will begin and end at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The Master Class Tour will now meet and depart from Kansas City near the airport. Tours 5 through North Land Lecture will begin and end at Denver, Colorado. Upon arrival at the airport, a complimentary hotel shuttle will transport you to your hotel in Oklahoma City, Kansas City and Denver. We always book each tour's block of rooms for both the arrival and departure evenings months in advance. You will be transported from the airport to this designated hotel via the hotel's free and reliable hotel shuttle bus. Additional details will be mailed to you two months prior to the start of your tour. This information always includes details such as: suggested packing list, typical tour daily itinerary and arrival day logistics (the "arrival day" will be described in the next item below). Try making online travel reservations. A note about our host hotels: all of our host hotels now feature free high-speed internet. Our Oklahoma City hotel has installed a new wireless high-speed system that is very fast and convenient!

2. WHEN TO ARRIVE AND DEPART:  Each trip is bracketed by so-called "arrival" and "departure" days. These dates are established for the purpose of allowing people sufficient time to travel to and from the base city. For each of the dates listed in the schedule table above, you must arrange to travel to the base city on your tour's designated arrival day and you must arrange to depart (unless, of course, you plan to stay in that city afterwards) on your tour's designated departure day. Example: If you are scheduled for Tour 2 (May 15 to May 24), you would arrive at Will Rogers International Airport (OKC) on May 14 sometime during the day several hours prior to 7 pm local time. You would leave OKC on May 25 after 10 a.m. local time. The Tour 3 participants should arrive during the late afternoon or very early evening of May 25. Due to the fact that we give a comprehensive orientation on the evening of your arrival, we require that all attendees arrive at the meeting city prior to 5 pm (if at all possible) on your arrival day. We also strongly suggest that you schedule your return flight to leave after 10 a.m. on your tour's designated departure date so that we can maximize our driving range on the last day of your tour.

3. ORIENTATION MEETING: We will have a very important orientation meeting at 7:00 pm local time of your arrival day. We will give you a presentation designed to help you get the most out of the tour. Most importantly, we will discuss very important safety practices that are put in place to ensure that these tours are a safe and enjoyable experience for you. Afterwards, we will go to dinner together!

4. COST AND PAYMENT DETAILS: Tours 2 and 3 cost $2800/person (but only $2650 per person if sharing a hotel room). Tour 1 is being offered at $2700 (room-sharing discount is reduced to $100 per person). Due to the more personal and educationally intense experience created on this tour, the Master Class Tour costs $3300/person (but only $3150 per person if sharing a hotel room). All six-day tours cost $2000/person ( but only $1900 if sharing a hotel room). The North Land Lecture Tour is $2500 per person. If you're taking two or more tours, please see the multi-tour discount described at the top of the page. This includes all expenses EXCEPT airfare, food and incidentals. It also includes bottled water. It includes, of course, ground transportation and lodging during the tour. We require a non-refundable deposit of $600.00 to reserve your slot payable by personal check, cashier's check, or money order. The deposit amount for all 6-day tours is $500. The balance of the tour fee is due 60 days prior to arrival. You may now pay your tour deposit using either MasterCard or Visa, subject to a 2.5% (U.S. residents) or 3.0% (participants from abroad) processing fee. This fee is necessary to offset our transaction costs, which will really add up in a hurry. Unfortunately, the fee is higher for credit cards with a non-U.S. billing address because these are considered by the big bad merchant service providers as being "non-AVS" cards and therefore not qualified for the lower rates.

5. CREDIT CARD PAYMENT DETAILS: We are very pleased to offer our participants the convenience of paying their tour deposit with a credit card. The transaction is totally secure and very fast. This is the "real deal" - no PayPal here! However, there are two conditions that apply. They are as follows: (1) All credit card transactions will be subject to a processing fee (2.5% for U.S. residents and 3.0% for everybody else) that will be reflected on your first invoice; thus for a credit card with a U.S. billing address, you will only be charged a $12.50 transaction fee to pay the deposit; for our friends from abroad, the fee is $15.00; and (2) you must be willing and able to accept an emailed invoice. This invoice will contain a secure link to a secure website where you will enter your credit card information and choose the amount to be billed (i.e., the deposit amount). Our accounting system will automatically and immediately notify us that payment has been received and your reservation will be consummated immediately. To pay using credit card: you must first sign, complete and mail the agreement. Once we have received the tour agreement, you will be invoiced electronically as described above. Unfortunately, due to credit card association rules we cannot accept credit card payments for the full tour fee at this time.
   

6. TOUR TRANSPORTATION: We will travel in the following combination of highly-equipped vehicles: The 12-passenger van, with AT MOST 6-7 participants. For 2-van tours, we customize a second 15-passenger van. The 12-passenger van will have a driver and tour guide up front, with a rugged, experienced driver and meteorology expert in the second. All drivers are pulled from our seasoned line-up of grizzled SLT veterans.  Both vans are equipped with the following set-up: computer navigation systems; cell phone-laptop computer combinations for mobile data downloading; LCD screens located in the front of the vans to allow you to watch videos during some of the long drives, as well as data transmissions from the laptop; our proprietary system for clearly audible van-to-van communications. An XM-satellite internet module and mobile DirecTV provides entertainment and live weather data to all participants in all vehicles.  The Master Class edition tour will be limited to a maximum of 6 people in one 15-passenger van.

7. TOUR LODGING: The tour pays your lodging on each of the ten tour days as well as the arrival night. We are going to do our best to ensure that you not spend any time in a roach-infested fleabag motel! You will get a clean, comfortable room each night that you're with us. Although we do not have an unlimited hotel budget, we always do our best to ensure a reasonably high caliber of lodging on your tour. During the past few years, here are the motel/hotel chains we have used most often: Comfort Inns and Suites, selected Best Westerns, Americinn, Holiday Inn Express, Quality Inns/Suites, Red Roof Inn, Fairfield Inn, Hampton Inn, Hilton, Super 8 (chaser favorite), Amerisuites, Wingate, Country Inn and Suites, Baymont Inn and Candlewood Suites. Also, Accor Hotels, a well-respected and wealthy European corporation, has bought Motel 6 and some other "budget" chains and is doing an amazing job at completely renovating these properties. We will look for and use these places wherever they exist.

8. WHAT TO BRING WITH YOU: You should plan on bringing a medium to large soft suitcase or duffel travel bag as well as a camcorder, camera or laptop computer. We strongly discourage you from bringing hard-shell suitcases or overly large daypacks! Make your best attempt at packing ten days' worth of clothing (again, these types of details are expounded in the additional tour information that every participant receives two months prior to the start of her or his tour).

9. WHAT WE DO DURING "SEVERE CLEAR": Much of the success of your tour (i.e., the number of tornadoes and/or storms that we witness) depends on the atmosphere. Although we offer our tours during the very peak of the climatological tornado season, the large-scale weather pattern does occasionally become unfavorable for frequent severe thunderstorm episodes. We have not yet had a tour during which there were no severe storms encountered, but during these occasional inactive severe weather regimes, we can go 2-3 days with no significant thunderstorms. On days when there are no storms expected (of course, we hope those are very few!), we will offer a few tried-and-true recreational options. These activities are weather-related whenever possible. Examples from last year: we toured the Storm Prediction Center/National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, OK; we toured three National Weather Service Forecast offices; viewed tornado damage; the famous Big Texan steakhouse in Amarillo, Texas; we even throw cookouts and barbeques on dud days! We often find ourselves in the vicinity of beautiful state and national parks. We have visited Devil's Tower, Mount Rushmore, the Badlands (we love South Dakota!) and the Medora Badlands National Park (western North Dakota).

10. EDUCATION: We work very hard to give you a meaningful education. While you are with Silver Lining Tours, you will enjoy a unique opportunity to learn from us. You will have plenty of time to learn about the formation, structure and dynamics of severe thunderstorms, tornadoes and other interesting weather phenomena in terms you can understand. You will be able to watch your tour guides actually prepare the morning forecast on many days. You will be shown our systematic approach to severe weather forecasting. You will enjoy the advantage of gaining insight while you are watching the atmosphere in motion. We feel strongly that if you come to our tours with a genuine interest in increasing your understanding of the atmosphere, you will walk away feeling like you have really learned something! We pledge to work tirelessly at increasing your knowledge about severe thunderstorms, storm chasing, forecasting and weather. We will answer all of your questions to the best of our ability.

11. ADDITIONAL PERKS: Each participant will receive a complete professional-quality video of the tour highlights from all 2006 tours, a Silver Lining Tours t-shirt and an end-of-tour banquet. It is emphasized that the quality of our highlights video has become quite excellent due to our wonderful relationship with Alister Chapman, a world-class professional videographer. This is yet another advantage of taking your storm chasing adventure vacation with Silver Lining Tours!

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