2008 in review: How was it for you?

[Joel Wright]

Can't complain here. Chased less than 10 times and captured 2 tornadoes, albeit weak ones.

The biggest disappointment of the season was without a doubt missing the Parkersburg Iowa tornado by one storm to the north. We were on the tornado-warned sup south of Charles City Iowa when Parkersburg got hit. Seeing the tornado trek over an area we had driven through just hours before made it even more painful.

Given the limited opportunities though, I can't complain at all. Anytime we can get out there and chase it's fun no matter what. It's just like hunting. Except we're hunting one of the most elusive, and most dangerous prey on Earth, and we're hunting with cameras as our weapons.

Definitely looking forward to '09!

 

[Connor McCrorey]

This was my first year of chasing, and I loved it. My first chase of the year brought me to Archer County, Texas, for this beautiful storm: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MU_xkV_5qXM

Unfortunately, I saw no tornadoes. I was positioned perfectly for two, but both were completely obscured by rain at the time. One was an EF-0 in Lipan, TX, and the other was the Stuttgart, AR, EF-3. Even though I didn't see anything touch down, I consider it a great first year chasing. I saw plenty of awesome mesos, wall clouds, and funnel clouds to go around, as well as enough hail to last me a loooong time!

It's amazing how much I learned this year. I thought I knew a lot more than I really did starting out, but you learn very quickly once you just get out and do it!

 

[Jason Young]

2008 sucked for me , Started a new job and could never get out off work . Saw one good storm and all it had was hail. Hope 2009 is a better year for me.

 

[Rob Wadsworth]

Yeah, it was a good year.
First year of chasing, saw great tornadoes in KS 22 & 23 May - but missed the Parkersburg event by 1 hr.
Came back to Iowa, and the Emergency Mgr for the Co asks me to the storm spotter and hook up with the eSpotter pgm.
Bought my first DSLR and wide-angle lens, joined STORMTRACK and have been learning more ever since.
There's been a lot to be thankful for this chase season/year - and I am...

 

[Scott Blair]

Congrats to all that ventured out and observed some nice storms!

Not a bad year...brief 2008 summary can be found below...

http://www.targetarea.net/var08.html

SFB

 

[Andrea Griffa]

Very nice thread! Very good year for me. I chased from may 2th till may 23th and we intercepted Stuttgart,Ar tornadic supercell, may 10th Kansas dry line supercell, Iatan,Tx tornado on may 14th, Collyer and Grainfield tornadoes on may 22th, and all the Quinter tornadoes except Ellis nocturnal tornadoes, even if we were so near, as we had two big vans and we could enter a muddy road . Some of my pictures is visible on my links down here.

 

[Laura Duchesne]

2008 was a pretty good year. I chased with Ron Gravelle and Jack Kertzie including other friends for two weeks in the alley. I was a bit frustrated that the tornadofest (a la Quinter) happened only a couple days prior to our trip departure, so we got to miss out on that event. At least we were able to catch the Pratt tornadoes on our first real chase day. The first tornado we saw formed in a field several yards away from us (another chaser or two got video of this tornado from the other side further away) and we took a direct hit from another brief tornado (the risks of HP supercell chasing!). It sandblasted the windshield but we were fine. I dubbed it the "tumbleweednado".

We saw two more tornadoes on May 29th in Nebraska. Well, we could barely see the main Kearney tornado as it was rain and dust wrapped, but we saw another brief tornado with funnel partially going down and a debris cloud in a field. I was a bit upset we missed the supercell tornadofest in Kansas, maybe because we didn't have the radar zoomed out far enough (oops). But at least we were not "tornadoless" that day.

I also managed to capture the best lightning shots I have ever taken this season and some interesting structure shots as well. I wish we had more high contrasted tornadoes and I found that many storms were HP but overall, still a good season... considering I saw all that in a two week period - coming from Ontario!

 

[Shawna Davies]

I think Shane or someone has used this before, but the best way to describe my year can also be summed up in the famous movie title.

"The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly".

The Good: Getting married on a storm chase
The Bad: June 11th NW Iowa (bad terrain plus bad rain wrapped mesos and hearing about the Boy Scouts)
The Ugly: May 23rd getting caught in the massive chaser convergence on K96 west of Ness City


Shawna

 

[Wesley Luginbyhl]

It was no 2007, but it was not near as bad as 05 or 06 was for me. Cant really complain. Generally made all the right decision. Camera dash mount made a huge difference year and wish I would have made one a few years ago.

I had been waiting for a rope out like this for years. Rope stage lasted around 4 minutes. It was great. - May 23 between Fort Supply and Buffalo, OK.

When you get to see this on bad day, it is not that bad of a year. I have been waiting a long time to see something like this as well. - June 14 Conway, TX.

 

[Erik Burns]

2008... Wow... What a year... Many career highs this year and lows.

Miles:8,950*
Chases:14*
Largest hail: Baseball
Tornado days:4*
Number of tornadoes: 16*

States: TX, OK, NM, KS, AR.

Fast moving cells and rained wrapped tornadoes made this a tough year. Persistance is what made this year my best ever. Joined the 0k club on April
9th near breckenridge TX something I hope to never do again. Got my best Tornado video ever and expierenced 6 tornadoes on April 23. Got lots of amazing structure photos this year. Saw the most tornadoes I had ever seen in one day on May 22nd, 9. Also did my first Febuary Chase and November Chase. Met and chased with some really cool people this year as well and made some really great friends. Reed Timmer and Joel Taylor, Amos Magliocco, Tony Laubach, Micheal O'Keefe, Randy Denzer, Adam Cuker, and Aaron Dooley.

Some pictures of my chase year.

March 3rd

March 17th

March 30th

May 1st

May 22nd

November 5th

Link to april 23 tornado
April 23 Roby TX tornado

 

[Dann Cianca]

11 chases, 5114 miles

... 1 tornado ... my very first.

August 13th:
Beautiful boundary-rooted LP supercell on the high plains of Colorado. 2% tornado risk that day. Went out on a whim with Michael Carlson. Tornado formed , lasted for 9 minutes ... hit a woman's barn. Her name is Dorothy. Seemed fitting ... (Insurance covered the repair)

Skeletal view of the updraft. Storm almost split. (Posterior had anti-cyclonic rotation)

Jellyfish meso.

Fancy hat meso.

Funnel

Tornado

Video here (not sure how to embed Youtube?): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIkgU__uY1I

Also got some of the best lightning of my life even later (September 22nd in Colorado after a chase into Nebraska) report here: http://blog.bigskyconvection.com/2008/09/very-tired.html

Great year, though I wish I could have got out more ... gas money was the deciding factor.

 

[Jim Saueressig]

Video here (not sure how to embed Youtube?):

Use youtube /youtube like you would the other codes - quote, url etc with square brackets and in the middle put only the Video ID which in your case is ZIkgU__uY1I . For some reason the code tag wouldn't work to allow me to show you.

 

[Aaron Kennedy]

Honestly, 2008 was pretty much a pile of crap for me. First year without a tornado in quite some time. I attribute this to a few points:

Limited opportunities in the Dakotas.
High gas prices limited number of marathon chases.
Marathon chases we did go on ended up being marginal setups.

 

[Ron Riemersma]

Best year. Only had 2 chases out of WI this year, but one was May 22-23 with Doug Raflik and Brian Hastings. On the 22nd, we saw the Grainfield and Hoxie tornadoes including 3 on the ground at once north of Hoxie. Doug's pics from that day. http://www.wxnut.net/5-22-08.htm

May 23 was the Quinter fest with so many others. Saw 2 tornadoes -- I think within about an hour of each other, from the same road. Doug got a pic of the EF-4 wedge with a satellite vortex. http://www.wxnut.net/5-23-08.htm

Just a great 2 days. Special thanks to Doug for great decision making.

 

[jeremy wilson]

Worst year ever for many reasons, some non-weather related. Was within spittin' distance of the breckinridge,tx tornado and barely saw anything. That happened alot this year. Saw incredible structure though. I saw more violently rotating wall clouds that didnt produce than I ever want to again.

That being said, my worst year chasing is better than most things.