May or June

[JamesCaruso]

Thanks a lot @Jeff House , just when I was starting to feel better about having to take a later trip this year LOL

Seriously though, I agree, and that's what I was getting at with my earlier post - second half of May seems like a slam dunk. Some chasers could be biased by particularly memorable personal chase experiences that happened to occur in June, or could be biased by more recent successes in June, etc. Certainly some chasers like Bob can statistically and objectively point to having had better personal success in June, I'm not intending to question that...

There could be variables at play other than climatology, such as luck, timing, etc., and some chasers specifically identified non-climatological things they like about June - e.g. fewer chasers on the roads, preference of northern Plains, etc. But I think we would all have to agree that strictly on climatology alone, late May is the best choice.

For a two week trip, my personal approach (when I was able to do it) was to set aside the 3rd and 4th weeks of May and the 1st week of June. Head out for 3rd week of May if it looked good and chase May weeks 3 and 4, otherwise wait a week and chase May week 4 plus June week 1.

I do always feel like I'm coming home too early if it's May 31 or earlier - I do like the idea of being out that first week of June - but what the hell, you're always going to miss something before or after a two week chase vacation.

But if I was lucky enough to have a whole month, and could only choose May or June with no overlap, I'd go with May. If I could have overlap, I'd probably swap the first week of May for the first week of June, and do something like May 7th to June 7th.

 

[Michael Towers]

I prefer the Northern Plains over the Southern Plains, advantage June. Nothing beats the convenience of a backyard chase or one that doesn’t require an overnight away from home, advantage June. I hate crowds and while convergence can still suck in June it sucks the most in May, advantage June. I love the relative ease of tracking a slow moving storm versus the high stress and greater danger of tracking a fast moving storm, advantage June. I like longer chase days, ones that go later into the night, advantage June. Given all the advantages June provides over May the last half of May for me has by far been the most productive for memorable storms, memorable tornadoes and memorable chases. If given the choice of a one month period I’d take mid-May to mid-June but if forced to choose the calendar month of May or June I’d take May because for me the rewards of late May have far outweighed all the things I like about June.