2008 in review: How was it for you?

[Skip Talbot]

So its time for something new. Most likely a Jeep Commander, possibly a Ford Expedition. See everyone in '09!

Yes, something with four wheel drive!

2008 was a good year. I came away with 8 tornadoes, but I could not get a photogenic condensation funnel to save my life. Most tornadoes were brief, dust whirls, or low contrast. Some big regrets: being out of position for the best shows on May 22, and May 23 although we got some tornado action both days. The biggest slap in the face was hauling ass to Iowa on June 7 when it went wedgefest 30 miles from my house in the Chicago suburbs.

May 25, one of my most photogenic chases:

May 30 I had my closest tornado encounter ever near Springfield, IL:

2007 was better. It had the same tornado count but the catches were more photogenic with better structure. 2008 was all about the fast moving HP's. These two shots sum up the rest of my 2008 tornado catches:

Super low contrast stovepipe:

Needle funnel with dust whirl:

 

[Ryan McGinnis]

2008 was a happy chase year for me. I chase mostly recreationally -- that is I don't usually blot out a week or so of time to chase in May, I just wait for days that look good and coincide with days I can beg off of work. Surprisingly, when you live in Nebraska, this system works reasonably well, though there were a few days when I had to sadly sit at my desk at work, watching GRLevel3 and wishing I could come out to play.

The highlight for the year was probably the Kearney, Nebraska storm on May 29th. It was a highlight because it did some weird things as a storm that surprised the hell out of me and in the end turned out being the most photogenic storm of the year that I ran into. I also enjoyed catching a tube near Quinter on May 23rd -- even though it was pretty low contrast, the storm as a whole was beautiful to watch unfold.

Mostly I enjoyed seeing all sorts of new places and expanding my typical chase territory into pretty much all of Kansas and Nebraska. I think next year I'm going to bite the bullet and take a week off of work to follow the wind, even if it takes me to Texas or North Dakota. This was also the first year I experimented with really marketing my storm photography, and that's worked well enough that I'm sure I'll be slapping my forehead every time I miss a storm next year.

Every time I bust on a storm, I try to remember that, hey, what the hell -- I live in tornado alley. I busted on maybe 500 miles of driving. Some of you guys are hauling ass from West Virginia or New Mexico or England or Italy. I can't complain.

 

[Richard Dickson]

2008 was absolutely thrilling for me. Eleven days with Tempest Tours for the second year, then five more days on my own after the tour before the 'death ridge' set in. A couple of weeks later had seven more days back to Kansas and Oklahoma. Two weeks after that was five days in New Mexico and west Texas. Then there was about twenty-five days of monsoon in Arizona. What a year!

My biggest catch was on my own on May 22nd about eight miles south of WaKeeney, Kansas. Technically, it was one mile north and one-quarter west of Trego Center. Just a 'ten-cent twister', but it was all mine and I absolutely loved it. Haven't gotten over watching the short video of it yet. These memories just make it more difficult to pass the time until next year.

 

[Tony Laubach]

This year was almost perfect for me; a very early start, tornadoes as early as the first week in February, giant hail in March/April, then the tornadofest in May!

My only real qualm with 2008 was its sudden end... seems like the season died quickly in June and never really returned. My only real chase of note after June 11 was the Brush, Colorado day, and that was more of a "there's storms, lets get em" type of things. Lightning in the summer would've been a total waste had it not been for the August 26 free-for-all, but storm season locally here in Colorado left a lot to be desired (and it continues as we're now 10 days away from breaking the latest first snowfall record). While that is my biggest qualm, the season prior to that was more than enough to suffice, and I think a lot of my lack of chasing was due in part to me feeling pretty well off.

I probably have the least reasons to complain about this year. It was a second coming of my 2004 season, and I knew better how to deal with it. May 29, for the second time in four years, was a day of pure nirvana. I eclipsed the 100 career tornado mark at some point between Tipton and Jewell, so if I had to pick something to whine about, it would be not knowing what particular tornado put me into triple digits. LOL

I owe a huge debt of gratitude to the TWISTEX crew (Tim, Bruce, Cathy, etc) for allowing me to take part in their adventures this season. It made for the best chasing experiences I have had to date, hands down. While there were days as a crew we completely busted, we had several rounds of amazing success! I've always said the people you chase with will make the chase everything, and this year was no exception!

The only real downside of the year for me was blowing my second transmission in the van... fortunately under warranty, the only cost to me was another trip to Amarillo and a rental car for a week.

WINDSOR TORNADO
I think this a feeling a very small percentage of chasers have ever felt, and for about 3 hours on May 22, I was going through it a second time. Missing a historical tornado in your own backyard. And I mean historical, not I left Colorado and missed a few spouts, I mean I left Denver and missed the Colorado-rare mile-wide EF-3 wedge. happened with me back in 1999 a year after I moved from Circleville, Ohio... an F-3 ripped through my neighborhood. Enroute to Goodland, I felt that way again listening to what was happening in Windsor. For 3 hours, I was one of the most displeased chasers. By day's end, that feeling had pretty well been blown away with the 5th tornado of the day. You could hardly break my mood at Applebee's that night, and while the Windsor tornado still had a sting to it, it wasn't as bad considering the day we ended up having. The feeling all but went away as I had time to think about it and realized me leaving the state was probably for the best as logistics seem to show me I would have had NO chance to get on that tornado due to its early time and bass-ackwards movement. I would've been a nutjob had I been home, 30 miles away, and missed it as opposed to leaving. That would've been different had Kansas not produced like it did, but looking back, I realize I wasn't meant to have that tornado no matter where I was going. Made that pill a bit easier to swallow.

Overall, this was my best season to date. I saw the most things, had a good mix of experiences, and saw all sorts of weather! It will be very very difficult to top this season.

2008 Statistics (sorry Shane, gotta yoink this)

CHASES: 39 total logs, 28 tornado-targeted days
MILES: 27,720
TORNADO DAYS: 10
TORNADOES: 37*
SUCCESS RATE: 0.357 (10/28)
STATES CHASED: GA, AL, MS, TN, AR, LA, TX, NM, OK, KS, CO, NE, IA

*career high

 

[Michael O'Keeffe]

2008 was not so good, though we saw some neat things such as the biggest hail I've ever seen on March 30 in SW Oklahoma (baseball) and a record 9 tornadoes during the May 22 outbreak and what made this so awesome for me personally is that every tornado was different making it a wild day including the Collyer, KS storm that we were on with Verne. However the rest of season was riddled with bad timing, HP supercells, a few bad choices, and some uncontrollable disasters.

Here are some brief stats from the year

Chases: 21
Miles: >13,000
Tornadoes: 15
States Chased: KS, OK, MO, IA, TX, AR,
Tornado Days: 5 (5/10. 5/13, 5/22, 5/29, 9/12)

 

[Dick McGowan]

So-so year for me. Sat out May 29th when I was already out the door, only to watch Darin, Doug and Jordan witness the supercell of the year from where we all forecasted it the night before (both structure and tornado-wise). Completed the EF-scale with the Manhattan EF-4 (although only illuminated by power flashes and never saw the condensation funnel in real time) just a little over 16 months after it was introduced. Saw my best daytime tornado near Quinter (#1) on the interstate up close and watched a cyclic supercell ,practically all alone, on June 4th with just a few chasers around. We chased the "Beloit" tornadic supercell on April 24th until 2 a.m. which was the latest ever for a tornadic supercell.

Some of my best photos of the year:

 

[Dan Robinson]

Not a bad year so far (winter is just beginning, so my year's not done yet). Although I did get my annual Plains trip in and scored a few tornadoes, the the highlight of my year was the June 2008 near-daily storm fest here at home in West Virginia. I enjoyed great lightning almost every other day and got my first home-state (even home-county) hail dents. Better yet was that I had just bought my new DSLR and was able to document it all.

http://stormhighway.com/blog/june3008a.shtml

 

[Bob Hartig]

Some nice photos on this thread, Dick's being representative.

This year was great for me, but my criteria are probably different from those of you whose backyard is the Great Plains. Tornado alley is a long haul from Michigan, but that can sometimes create unique opportunities, as I'll relate in a second.

The year started early, with a January 5 chase near Columbia, MO, that netted a couple tornadic supercells. May 22-25 was the highlight for me, though I have mixed feelings about it. I saw a number of tornadoes, some quite large and one very close. But the storms were fast-moving HPs, the visibility was mostly lousy, and my lack of skill with my new, first-ever digital camera sabotaged the cool shots I could have had.

After the Kansas tubefest on May 22 and 23, our team started making its way back east for home. So while most chasers were in Kansas on the 25th observing landspouts, we were in a position to catch the Iowa monster supercell that produced the Parkersburg tornado. We missed the EF-5, but we caught the one that followed, a dusty EF-3 wedge that gave Hazleton a glancing blow.

All in all, 2008 wasn't so hot photographically but it was awesome experientially, and I grew in my forecasting skills. With the Year of the HP Supercell behind me, I'm hoping that 2009 will be the Year of the Classic--and that gas prices will behave themselves.

 

[Paul Hadfield]

Obligations to work and parenting is what keeps me from venturing far but the 2008 IL storms season has for the most part been kind. Prior to finally investing in a bb card in June, I did miss out on some of the better tornadic events including May 30. My motivations are very broad so from the standpoint of witnessing rare meteorological phenomena, I scored many gems. Perhaps the greatest lesson learned was in recognizing the significance as well as placement of OFB's. This year i've also grown much more confident with my photography for which I thank many of you for sharing your technical expertise here. I also owe a debt of gratitude to Andrew Pritchard for nailing the forecasts as well as John Farley for offering post event interpretation of things that did not make sense to me. Ironically I have never met either of them or virtually anyone for that matter. Starting to believe that after six years of hardcore wx pursuit I never will.

June 3, wall cloud with spin up's outside of Forsyth IL. Big night followed by incredible flooding across the region. Perhaps the only time it was ever "safe" to be on the interstates versus out in the fields.

July 11, arcus roll cloud outside of Boody IL. Didn't even know what this was called until a couple weeks ago. Watched it develop from nothing into a massive structure. Was so mesmerized that I neglected to get video... doh!

July 21, slow moving wall cloud over Warrensburg IL. Never produced but was a very exciting opportunity. Ever since March 12, 2006 i've wanted to capture nocturnal structure. Although nowhere near impressive as that beast of a storm, helped to settle a personal achievement goal... if that makes sense.

July 27, "Drummondesque" lightning NW of Decatur. I say that as i've always wanted to a score lightning similiar to an incredible picture by David that was exposed in such a way as to have many starburst points along it's path. In France they'd call it "Le modèle de Drummond"

August 05, lightning over Lovington IL. Although sorely underexposed, the mistake in being stopped down too far created a very unique effect for this series. This night also held several personal reflections but most notably was the vibe I felt while in the field. Despite being alone and under total darkness it just seemed like I wasn't. Without becoming too superstitious, this event reinforced my belief that our connection to wx goes beyond logical reasoning whether we care to admit it or not.

 

[Eric Carlson]

2008 for us was a pretty good year! My dad posted earlier so I wont go into much detail, but most of what was there was rain wrapped and hard to see, so it became more of a year of structure and hail than photogenic tornadoes.

 

[John Farley]

It was a very good year for me, especially considering that I had made the difficult choice to be out of the country for the majority of May to take advantage of an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a trip to China guided by a Beijing native. However, the storms cooperated with my schedule! This CG I photographed in Beijing may have been a harbinger of what was to come:

Once I got back, on 4 chases from May 30 - June 6, I saw 8 tornadic supercells on 4 chases. Although most of the tornadoes eluded me, I got a real prize on June 4 between Bloomington and Peoria, IL, where I watched a slow-moving tornado for 15 minutes. I felt very fortunate that one of the few supercells I saw this year that was not hauling along at 50 or 60 mph was the one that gave me a long-lasting tornado. The picture below has two images of the tornado, one normal and one that I got accidentally when lightning flashed just as I took the picture:

I also got some nice images with the storms on the other days, such as the following:

After mid-June, things really simmered down in IL and MO, but I did get in a couple nice chases around the Santa Fe, NM area later in the summer with monsoon hailers:

All in all, a very good year for being gone in much of May!

 

[AndyGabrielson]

I felt 2008 was a pretty good year for me chase wise and behind the scenes. This spring I debuted my own personal www website and finally upgraded from the "free" tripod/geocities stuff to a decent looking site. Then in July I became part of SevereStudios chase team... on to the chasing...

This Tornado/Landspout was the first action of the year on May 1st in Lyon County Iowa. I witnessed the large dusty Sioux Center tornado but several miles away and wasn't able to get any good shots of it.

The Next came on May 23 as I was one of many who witnessed the Quinter/I-70 Tornado.

That certainly isn't the most stellar shot of the season but it was getting dark it was taken south of Ness City, KS about an hour and half I would guess after the Quinter/I-70 deal.

Funnel outside of Frazee, MN on July 11. This cell later went on to produce a weak tornado west of Park Rapids,MN.

Here's a picture from July 28 near Chamberlain,SD on a tornado warned storm. I have more pictures from the rest of the season just re-working my website at the moment and feel I have used my fair amount of space for this thread.

Nothing to great from me in the picture department from this season but a good year all the same, I enjoyed reading and seeing everyone elses chases from this year as well. Keep em' coming.

 

[Jim Saueressig]

Mine may not count as I am still stuck to being a local chaser but it was one of the better lightning shot years for me and did provide some nice structure shots even if not a single funnel or tornado. I would say it was not to bad for storms. I have a list of photo captures I want to make or improve on and managed to cover quite a few this year. (click on any for a larger version)

From early spring:


May 01 Under the Stars:


Lightning under the stars:


Sunset Ray:


Stormship Enterprise:


Moonlit Storm, Sunset, Lightning and Stars all rolled up into one:


Daytime Strike:


Sunrise Strike:


Over the Sunrise Strike:


Close Strike: One of the branches of this strike landed less than 10 feet from my head)


Tornado warned but no cookie: (Dick has a few pics from this one)


I had my best year ever for lightning shots but that same thing took many of my lightning shots away from me when lightning nailed my photo backup drive.

I cannot say it was a bad year but I hope the next is better...

 

[Greg McLaughlin]

I have enjoyed looking over everyone's pics and accounts of 2008. For me 2008 had many highs and lows. This was my first complete chase season since 2003 (recently moved back to the Alley). Here are a few quick recounts of the more notable events I chased this year.

May 1 (central OK):
Witnessed an awesome LP supercell northeast of OKC. One of the most incredible LP structures I have ever seen. This storm rivals 05.29.01 in the Texas panhandle. Missed Osage county tornadoes after dark, having left that storm for the LP. I don't regret that decision at all.

May 10 (eastern OK/western AR):
This day brought back memories of 05.04.03 with fast moving tornadic supercells in the horrible terrain of eastern OK/western AR. Chased a supercell south of the Pitcher storm from east of Tulsa to Rogers, AR. Very limited road options kept us from getting into position to see any tornadoes with this storm. This day was quite frustrating.

May 22 (western OK):
Chased a large HP south of I-40 in western OK. Didn't have the time to make a trip up to western KS/northeast CO for the real show. Another frustrating day.

May 23 (southwest/central KS):
Chased a great supercell that tracked from the Oklahoma panhandle northeast up to Great Bend, KS. Saw a beautiful stovepipe tornado (can't remember where we were right off the top of my head), but once again poor road options had us too far away to get a chance to get footage. Ended up getting awesome footage of a mesocyclone occlusion right in front of us. This day was quite frustrating, but little did I know that evening the next day would make the year for me.

May 24 (north-central OK):
It was my girlfriend's b-day and I wasn't planning on chasing. Justin and I had stayed at a motel in Cherokee, OK and we began making our way back to Tulsa. We stopped in Enid for lunch and decided to look over the setup expected in NE later that afternoon. We saw the outflow boundary and the instability developing to our southwest. I called my girlfriend and told her what we were looking at and she encouraged me to chase! Now that is the kind of girl every chaser needs. We saw at least 8 tornadoes, maybe more depending on how one counts tornadoes, and the second tornado we saw near Hennessey was one of the most incredible close up encounters I may ever have. When I say we were 200 yards away I really mean we were 200 yards away. This day was my hat trick as well.

May 26 (Pratt, KS):
This was a long and arduous chase that finally produced with a supercell that quickly became tornadic around sunset near Pratt, KS. We would have had a great view of the tornado, but a train ended up ruining that possibility as it moved right in front of our view of the tornado right as it touched down. We ended the night stopping in OK to witness one of the most constant displays of lightning one will ever see.

This was a difficult year, and if it hadn't been for May 24th I would have considered this year one of my least productive.

 

[Derek Weston]

Best year I've had, though, first year I've really hit the road hard.

A half dozen or so tornadoes(would-be, anyway), though, they were often obscured by their HP nature. Positioning wise, I was there, I just couldn't... see it very well, often. I did see plenty of neat structure, however. And plenty of neat shelf action later in the summer. Went through the core of at least 3 real-deal severe storms with 70 mph (if not more at times) winds. That's always fun.

Tornadoes...
May 22: Grainsfield tornado in distance. Wakeeney at sunset. (again, hard to actually see) Collyer Kansas massive meso and wall.
May 23: Dighton -- beautiful meso and multi vortex touchdowns -- got it before it went HP. Ness City tube that would only give you brief viewings in a massive HP storm.
May 25: Parkersburg supercell. Watched as the storm crossed a mile or two north of me near Hazelton Iowa. Still doing EF4 damage, likely. Unfortuately, I could not make out a defined tornado -- only a massive meso. While I knew I was a safe distance from the storm, it was still a quite scary experienece in listening to some of the horrific damage reports coming in on a storm that was only a short ways north of me.
June 08: Local chase yields what looks like a nice snaking tube in the distance... One of those storms you chase because of the warning and proximity -- rotation was hardly noticeable on radar. First time I've had a marginal local setup produce something like this...

Blew it:
May 1..... busted in western Iowa, didn't get to the NW corner of the state to catch the Rock Valley storm.
May 23: Should have stayed disciplined and played closer to the warm front... missed Quinter fest.
June 4: Dropped original target of SW Iowa and went into Nebraska just as the long lived slow moving tornado producing cell in SW Iowa popped -- we could've had that.

Goals in 09:
Hit up Oklahoma/Texas for the first time. Actually get a few LP storms. Get a nice clear shot of a tornado plowing through open spaces -- something that has still eluded me.