2006 Season Review

[Shane Adams]

For me, 2006 was an ok year. I guess I was fortunate that I chased often early, with all my best days coming before May. I've always considered the early part of the season as important as any, an opinion not shared by a lot of others. I think that coming into this year, the popular opinion was "wait til May" or "when it's May you chase." I certainly agree with the second one, but I don't agree with the off-shoot opinion it seems to suggest: "March and April aren't as important." A year like this one reflects just how important respecting the entire Spring can be, not just May. I don't look at the calendar, I just chase each system as it comes. Fortunately it worked out well for me this year. IMO, May has become the Oklahoma of chase months.


2006 Chase Statistics

CHASES - 15
MILES - 7,943
AVERAGE CHASE DISTANCE - 530 miles
TORNADO DAYS - 3
TORNADOES - 4
SUCCESS RATIO - 1 in 5.0
STATES CHASED - Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas

 

[fplowman]

chases: about 11 or 12
miles: about 7k
tornado days: 2
tornadoes: 3
states chased: Ks, Ne, Mo, Ia, SD

Shane is definetly right about March and April. If it wasnt for April this year I may not have seen anything.

 

[John Farley]

I have now managed to get all of this year's chases/severe weather observations on My Webpage.

My successess, too, came in April, with a couple pleasant surprises during a June (primarily non-chase) trip to NM.

Here are my stats:

CHASES: 8
STATES CHASED: 3: IL, MO, and NM
TORNADO DAYS: 1 (April 16, a very happy Easter!)
TORNADOES: 2
BLUE SKY BUSTS: 1 (April 14)
MILEAGE PER CHASE: Didn't keep track this year, but average is certainly under 200 miles. Between my commitments and the overall poor chase season, long chase trips just did not happen.

The six events worthy of talking about thus far this year, all with details and photos linked from the above-linked Web site, are as follows:

June 14 - A fishing outing turns into a storm observation outing, as a severe storm sweeps down out of the mountains and over Eagle Nest Lake, NM.

June 6 - I observe what looked like a dust devil in the Santa Fe, NM area - but since it was under the leading edge of an approaching thunderstorm, perhaps the more proper designation would be a gustnado. You can look at the pics and decide.

May 24 - After intercepting severe storms in Pike Co., IL and Lincoln Co., MO, I pursue a severe storm from near Troy, MO through the Edwardsville and Marine areas to Highland, IL and beyond. The storm produces interesting features as it causes damage near Edwardsville, and lots of blowing dust and a gustnado near Highland.

April 30 - I get a few shelf cloud and lightning pics as storms pass northeast and southeast of Edwardsville.

April 16 - I see, but am unable to photograph, the F2 tornado that occurred southeast of Effingham, IL shortly after 5 p.m. I also see, and do get nice photos of, a rotating wall cloud and brief spinup tornado near Assumption, IL earlier in the day, as well as a number of other interesting storms that occurred from around Springfield, IL all the way southeast to Robinson, near the Indiana border.

April 7 - I encounter a series of prolific hailers in Southern Illinois, and, without trying to get in the hail, manage to get my best hail video ever.

I feel like I have been pretty fortunate in what has generally been a difficult chase year - and still have some hopes for some chases yet this summer up to the north and/or some fall action.

 

[Jeff Snyder]

2006 Chase Statistics

CHASES - 15
MILES - 6380
AVERAGE CHASE DISTANCE - 425 miles
TORNADO DAYS - 2 (March 20th and April 24th)
TORNADOES - 3
SUCCESS RATIO - 1 in 7.5
STATES CHASED - Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas
MILES PER TORNADO - 2130

Chase logs and pictures available on my 2006 Chase Logs page.

 

[Tony Laubach]

2006 Chase Statistics
As of July 1, 2006

CHASES - 24
MILES - 16,839
AVERAGE CHASE DISTANCE - 702 miles
TORNADO DAYS - 2* (May 5 and May 23)
TORNADOES - 2*
SUCCESS RATIO - 1 in 12
LARGEST HAIL: Softball (May 5)
STATES CHASED - Colorado, Kansas, Wyoming, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio (state graphic here) Total 20 States
MILES PER TORNADO - 8420

2006 Storm Chase Logs

 

[nickgrillo]

CHASES - 13
MILES - ~14,300
AVERAGE CHASE DISTANCE - ~1,100 miles or so
TORNADO DAYS - 1 (March 12th)
TORNADOES - 2
LARGEST HAIL - 2" inches (dented hood of my car)
STRONGEST STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS - ~100mph (estimated -- March 12th)
SUCCESS RATIO - 1 in 13.0 (in terms of tornadoes)
STATES CHASED - Michigan, Kansas, Iowa, Oklahoma, Texas, South Dakota, North Dakota, Missouri, Illinois and Nebraska
MILES PER TORNADO - ~7,000

LOL... Yep, that'd be my year (so far at least). Quite possibley the worst year I've ever had (probably only due to the fact of being miserable due to spending outragous cash). I got two large tornadoes on March 12th (and no real good video to show for it) and decided, after chasing the first couple days of April, to wait until early May to leave. I did so, and that is when the 'change of pattern' took place... LMAO... Yeah, it really did change. Everyday had >1800m LCL/LFCs and plenty of convective mess. I've gotten several decent supercells this year, but I haven't been updating my 2006 chase logs on my site properly (which will be done in a couple of weeks).

Worst year in chasing history, perhaps? Name at least 2 real tornado days that occured in May and June. Oh, yeah... That's right! There was none...

 

[Darin Brunin]

Chases - 23
miles - around 9000
Average chase distance - 391 miles
largest hail - baseball 3 times with 1 busted windshield
tornado days - 4 (March 12 - 4, March 30 - 1, April 6 - 3, April 15 - 1)
tornadoes - 9
success ratio - 1 in 2.6
average miles per tornado - 1000 miles
States chased - KS, OK, TX, AR, NE, IA, MO

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

CHASES - 28(so far, it's not quite over yet)
MILES - 15,558
AVERAGE CHASE DISTANCE - 556 miles
TORNADO DAYS - 1(April 6)
TORNADOES - 1
TORNADO SUCCESS RATIO 1 IN 28
SUCCESS RATIO - hmmmm probably 1 in 6 or so for something semi-worthwhile.
STATES CHASED - CO, SD, NE, KS, OK, TX, MO, IA, IL, IN
MILES PER TORNADO - 15,558(good thing I'm not chasing just for those or I'd feel REALLY bad driving that many miles for one)
LARGEST HAIL golfball(March 12, March 30, April 1, April 18, April 24, May-June??LOL) I guess I found some baseball hail March 12 at night after driving back south to where I was parked infront of that tornadic storm that went south and east of Concordia MO.
HIGHEST WIND something over 60(May 25, June 10, June 16, June 21). November blizzard probably had the highest. I'm starting to count fall with the following year like a school year, since it is easier for making a video that way.

I have no desire to sugarcoat the 2006 year. I've seen some say it is what you make of it. I disagree. Sightseeing areas of the plains to me isn't part of chasing, it is sightseeing areas of the plains. I chase to see the storms and they have very largely sucked. All I have to say is thank god for April. I try to convince myself to blow off March and April every year so that I don't wind up having to blow off later days because of money. It is a pretty wise way to be in the long run if you know you can't possibly chase them all for 4 months straight, plus the summer when it is so "local". I'm glad I have no ability to skip early stuff just because it is early. The need to get back out there is just too strong early in the year. I've changed my view about April just a bit thanks to this year. I've also changed it about May and June, noting it is entirely possible they can both REALLY suck some years. I kept hitting May and June fairly hard being affraid to sit out that one day that winds up going nuts somewhere. Thank god they are both over now! Hopefully some magic can happen at least one day in either July or August. I've decided August 30 to be the end of a season for me. September will have to be the start of the next one. Hmmmm then again, lol, I guess like 2004 spoiled some of us and our ideas of what years should be like, 2005 fall likely spoiled our views on the fall/winter.

2006 chases

 

[Amos Magliocco]

2006 Chase Statistics

CHASES - ~16
MILES - ~7600
AVERAGE CHASE DISTANCE - ~475 miles
TORNADO DAYS - 4 (April 24th, May 5, May 9, May 30 )
SUPERCELLS: ~12
BIG HAIL: May 5 baseballs, splash another windshield
TORNADOES - ~8 (first tornado of three on May 5 is questionable)
STATES CHASED - Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Iowa

Final chase reports here.

I chased what I could in April but my work schedule often prevented longer trips. I skipped many setups in 2006 and avoided some busts that way but I also missed the Beatrice tornado on a weekend I was free and able to chase. That stung. The BIE day suffered the same poor moisture and afternoon mixing that plagued us almost every chase but still produced a fine tube, which proved to me again that it's dangerous to chase as if my margin of error is small. It isn't.

Saw all my tornadoes in Texas and Oklahoma despite several trips north and even a quick reconnaissance from Iowa into Minnesota chasing a rain shower. I'm surprised at my low number of genuine, rotating storms since it felt like I saw fifty outflow-dominated, high-based junk parades. After a while I was so accustomed to outflow that I expected it each time I stepped out of the truck. But, to paraphrase a character from the HBO series Deadwood, I'm still glad to be in the camp, even on the sorriest of days.

 

[Brian Stertz]

2006 Chase Statistics

CHASES - 10
MILES - Less than 2000
AVERAGE CHASE DISTANCE - 300 (estimated)
TORNADO DAYS - 2
TORNADOES - 4 (March 12th - Saline Co. MO...and Sept. 16 - McCook & Minnehaha Co. SD)
SUCCESS RATIO - 2 in 10 (20%)
BIG/BAD HAILBOMBS: Baseball hail March 12th, April 18th
STATES CHASED - Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Illinois, South Dakota, Minnesota
HIGH RISKS - 1
MODERATE RISKS - 5
SLIGHT RISKS - 2
BUST CHASES (no severe wx observed) - 2

http://vortex-times.com/2006chases



This will go down as probably the first year since 1988 that I have chased successfully only 10 times
in a spring season. It is my alltime first for not recording any successful chases for severe wx in the
months of May and June in 2006 !!

 

[Mickey Ptak]

2006 Chase Statistics

CHASES - 15
MILES - 9338
AVERAGE CHASE DISTANCE - 622 miles
TORNADO DAYS - 3
TORNADOES - 8 (6 - March 12 MO) (1 - April 15 NE) (1 - May 2 TX)
STATES CHASED - Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas

Very fun season and I could not ask for more from such a dry season.

Mick

 

[Scott Olson]

Updated 2/15/07:

Chases: 22
Total Mileage: 9300 miles
Tornado Days: 5 - Beatrice, Woonsocket & Kingsbury
Tornadoes: 11
Clearsky Busts: 1 (5/20/06 even though I did intercept some pathetic cells)
Avg Chase Distance: 490
States Chased: ND, MN, SD, IA, NE, MO


It was a fantastic year.

Highlights:
3-12 Near Hurricane force winds & lightning illuminated vault on Tornado warned supercell NE of Kansas City.

-Beatrice Tornado (viewed from a distance) and Beatrice supercell and later Nebraska City supercell and funnels (possible tornado, not counted).

-Woonsocket Supercell and tornado

- Gustnado Fest in SE SD.

- August 9th cirrus splash from tornadic supercell near Leola

- Needle in haystack Kingsbury hybrid supercell and photogenic tornado.

- Six tornadoes and incredible cyclic supercell from Miller to SE of Huron, SD.

- Following rain-wrapped tornado into recently damaged city of Surprise, Nebraska.

- Two tornadoes and several funnels on 9/16

 

[Scott Currens]

2006 Chase Statistics
As of July 4, 2006

CHASES: 23
BUSTS: 6 (Mar 30th, Apr 1st, May 8th, Jun 5th, Jun 9th, Jun 10th)
TORNADO DAYS: 5 (Jan 28th, Mar 12th, Apr 6th, May 23rd, and May 30th)
TORNADOES: 12 (2 non-supercell)
HAIL (>2 inch) DAYS: 1 (April 18th Chillicothe, MO)
MILES: 10810
AVERAGE CHASE DISTANCE: 470 miles
MINUTES VIEWING TORNADOES: 94
MILES PER TORNADO: 900
TORNADO MINUTES PER CHASE: 4.1
TORNADO SUCCESS RATIO: 1 in 4.6
SUCCESS RATIO: 1 in 2 (worth the time and money)
STATES CHASED (most – least) - Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, Iowa, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas
LARGEST HAIL: 2.5 inch (April 18th Chillicothe, MO)
STRONGEST WINDS: ~70 MPH (June 21st 12 miles west of Clay Center, KS)
BEST CHASE: March 12th W/C MO
WORST CHASE: June 9th Iowa cap bust on the warmfront

Twelve tornadoes on five tornado days sounds great but most of them were rather pathetic tornadoes. The only good tornado days for me were March 12th and April 6th.

YEARLY CHASE STATS
Chase Logs

Scott Currens
www.violentplains.com


Edit:
Here are a few more stats from 2006.

FOOD: $186.60 PER CHASE: $8.11
HOTEL: $145.40 PER CHASE: $6.32
GAS: $1577.00 PER CHASE: $68.57
TOTAL: $1906.99 PER CHASE: $82.91
MPG: 18.1 (I need a Honda Civic!)

 

[Andrew Khan]

CHASES - 18
MILES - 9,000
AVERAGE CHASE DISTANCE - 1,500 miles or something
TORNADO DAYS - 0 (None!)
TORNADOES - 0
LARGEST HAIL - 2.5 inches (In SD)
STRONGEST STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS - 80 MPH (In central kansas)
SUCCESS RATIO - 4 in 18 (In terms of wallclouds, funnel clouds, and tornadoes)
STATES CHASED - Tennessee, Kansas, Iowa, Oklahoma, Kentucky, South Dakota, North Dakota, Missouri, Illinois and Nebraska
MILES PER TORNADO - (Didn't get a tornado...)
BEST CHASE DAY - SW SD (Redshirt, Deadwood) 6/13/06
WORST CHASE DAY: The awsome, EC Iowa cap bust, on 6/20/06...

 

[joel ewing]

CHASES - 18
MILES - 9,000
AVERAGE CHASE DISTANCE - 1,500 miles or something
TORNADO DAYS - 0 (None!)
TORNADOES - 0
LARGEST HAIL - 2.5 inches (In SD)
STRONGEST STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS - 80 MPH (In central kansas)
SUCCESS RATIO - 4 in 18 (In terms of wallclouds, funnel clouds, and tornadoes)
STATES CHASED - Tennessee, Kansas, Iowa, Oklahoma, Kentucky, South Dakota, North Dakota, Missouri, Illinois and Nebraska
MILES PER TORNADO - (Didn't get a tornado...)
[/b]

Well, I'm too lazy today to do the math and spit out stats today...sorry. My chase partner Doren Berge and I both flew into Omaha (he's from Salem, Mass. and I'm from Tucson, Az.) on May 23rd. We rented our annual Hertz 4x4 SUV "hailcatcher" and worked the alley from North Dakota down to the panhandle of Texas VERY VERY HARD for 3 weeks. Btw...we also hit Colorado and Iowa. OMG....what a frustrating and demoralizing season. Expensive too...to say the least. I know dang well that between the SUV, gasoline, eating well (I don't do those Allsup deep-fried things) and staying at good motels, I myself probably threw $3-4 grand at this season. We chalked up over 8,000 miles getting lousy gas mileage to boot. Our take for the whole trip was one brief but "exciting" spinup (yes, the real deal) in North Dakota, and after poor Doren flew home I bagged some nice naders near Gordon, Nebraska on June 10th. That was it. Man....for us, 2002 sucked, and last year.....Hill City Kansas and Kadoka S.D. excepting, was not that great either. But 2006......geez man, drive a stake thru it's heart and spit on it's grave. Arghhhhh!
Call me a sadist, but there really is a part of me that is proud to have made it through this season. And I think all you guys and gals that did the same should be proud. Of what..you say?? Of having the fortitude to keep getting up off of the mat after one disappointing day after another....then getting up and going out the door on another chase. A lot of us did just that. And I have to think that this season probably shook a lot of the dead leaves off of the tree. By that I mean, I have a hunch that quite a few of the yahoo/thrillseeker vermin-type chasers called it quits for good. I'd love it if it were a little less crowded out there...wouldn't you?
I can envision several years down the road, those of us that hung tough this season will be standing around under some wall cloud at an impromptu chaser's convergence, groaning and lamenting about the 2006 season. And we'll all nod our heads in agreement when someone finally admits out loud what none of us wanted to say ourselves....that we were all spooked after '06 that the weather was changing so drastically that there'd never be another really good tornado season.
Sincere kudos to all of you that "hung tough" this season. To me.....you all are the real deal. Joel