The comparisons and contrasts in storm chasing Australia and Tornado Alley

Chasing Australia for some storm chasers such as myself have allowed us to pioneer the techniques and make significant discoveries particularly of the LP supercell. Being local, you can come and go as you please so there is not as much pressure and an expectation of results. Mostly what can be expected here in Australia are hailstorms - if you are lucky a tornado may come your way!
 
The Tornado Alley region however raises the bar a level! Not only can you or should you expect giant hailstones, you need to consider the likelihood of tornadoes. Storm producing conditions there are simply a storm chasers dream. The ingredients that are required for violent rotating storms often come together perfectly - some cases more than others. Tornadoes greater than a mile wide may be rare but have occurred many times throughout history! Tornado Alley is the pinnacle for storm chasing as Mount Everest is for climbers!
 
Another significant difference in storm chasing in Australia compared to the United States are the amount of storm chaser traffic. Storm chasing in Tornado Alley is a circus - there are litereally hundreds of vehicles that line up the roads on a significant storm event. In comparison, in Australia I can count on one hand the amount of times I have converged with another storm chaser. This is know as storm chaser convergence. I appreciate all forms of storm chasing as it is a great social circle despite the rivalry that may exist amongst storm chasers. In the end, you know at the end of the day what was intercepted - you hope that you were part of that special storm!

And of course, storm chasers in the United States are firm believers that bigger is better with some investing thousands of dollars to arm their vehicles with anemometers, radio antennas, radars and other instrumentation that can assist in storm chases and also record information. In more recent years, probes have been developed and also vehicles that look more like armoured tanks built to get inside information on tornadoes without being blown apart.