Good evening everyone. I should try and explain my passion for the whole chasing thing in this little story. It all probably began, when I watched Twister with bad Russian dubbing on VHS around the age of eight, or nine. Wonderful movie, and I really fell in love. Sadly I also developed a hard case of brontophobia and didn't pay much attention to weather, as I lived abroad. Returning to Russia, around 2008 and nine we had a series of severe weather events. It all culminated in me reading up on storms and cloud features related with them. Helped combat my fear of thunderstorms as well! Then one summer day in 2009 I spot this huge wall cloud that was looking quite nasty, as if it was ready to drop a funnel cloud on us approaching from the West / South West.
Besides warning my neighbors, who wouldn't hear of it I also gave a call to our national emergency services. I explained to them ,that I was a weather amateur and I had spotted a dangerous feature, that could rapidly evolve into a tornado. Sadly the voice on the other side said that the whole situation was completely bogus, and I should hang up lest I be charged for making a false call to the emergency service. There wasn't even talk of warning the public, or activating the few rusty sirens we had around town! I was quite upset and disappointed, that I couldn't get through anywhere else either. Alright, the wall cloud went off on its merry way and I gave it little thought until I learned of this alter that day
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Krasnozavodsk_tornado I firmly believe I watched the beginnings of that EF3 twister and that much of the damage and casualties could have been prevented if my call in was given some thought at least!
So from then on I got rid of my brontophobia and was smitten by the urge to spread severe weather awareness around Russia. Which is quite hard considering that our Doppler and Public Warning Systems are still in their infancy. Ever since that day I've been fighting, mostly alone to get public access to the raw radar data, that I know our Government has. I've finally had enough and now I could use some help and support for my cause. That is why I turned my eyes to this community, where I believe I would find some fellow-minded people and Friends in general. Thank you for listening to my story, I hope it made any sense whatsoever! Please feel free to leave questions and comments. I always enjoy a good discussion.