2015 post mortem

[Todd Lemery]

Chase season just about looks like it's just about got a fork stuck in it. Once I start seeing frost advisories, I pretty much figure the fat lady is in the back room warming up. Here's a quick rundown on my thoughts for 2015.
1) Saw four tornados. Nothing past May
2) Texas police officer pulled me over for 80 in a 65 and didn't even run my license. I'd love to buy that man a beer!
3) one of my chase partners (out of two) never went out this year. He's since made a verbal commitment to next year, but we'll see.
4) seemed like every decent setup came when I had to work this year.
5) I'd really like to buy that officer a beer.
6) I'm really starting to like Holiday Inn Expresses. They all seem clean, have free wifi and offer a nice breakfast.
7) I really thought Missouri would be the hot spot this year. I haven't looked at the numbers, but it sure seems like I was way off.
8) This season isn't completely over yet, but next year already has me laying awake at night trying to figure out how to be more productive.
9) MOAR STORMS!!
10) I love my wife. She puts up with me leaving at the spur of the moment. Two years in a row I was gone for Mother's Day and she let me live. I hope it doesn't become three in a row, but she'll understand if it does. I think that makes her special

Anyone else with thoughts on the year?

 

[Michael Towers]

Looks like we had some similarities with our seasons:

My action to this point was all done by May as well but hopefully there’s still more to come. Highlights for me were Rochelle and the May 9 tornadofest.

Kansas cop pulled me over for 85 in a 65 but I had no such luck as you and got my first ever speeding ticket while chasing. Expensive one too, well over $200 IIRC.

I missed some of the year’s best because of business but that’s par for the course. I blew off a couple of others because I didn’t see the potential but that’s par for the course as well.

HIE or Hampton Inn for me as well, I’m not a hotel snob but I know what I get with both and I’m rarely disappointed.

Lowlight for me was May 10, not only did I get the speeding ticket referenced above but I blew off chasing altogether because everything went up early and my target area got worked over. So instead of chasing a cell that was going to come right to me I continued toward home and less than an hour later it was churning out one tornado after another. Nothing like getting out of the way of a perfectly good storm when just hours earlier you were busted for hauling ass in an attempt to get to a perfectly good storm

 

[Ethan Schisler]

Pretty solid season for myself. I can't complain, considering how it started out. I managed to nab several close to home events as well which was probably the highlight of my year and certainly the best "local" season we have had since 2010 IMO. No speeding tickets here either or expensive car repairs, which is great! I did manage to mess up a big "local" event on April 9th (Rochelle EF4) though, which is probably one of my bigger busts to date, so that is certainly the low point in my 2015. I think the worst part is, that I never really considered that area, in my forecast. I'm not completely sure what I was thinking, or if I even was. Regardless, can't bake a cake without breaking a few eggs first I guess. Bring on Spring 2016.

*I'll save the detailed stats for I'm sure what will be an upcoming thread, plus I haven't complied them all yet either.

 

[Dan Robinson]

Since I live in the Midwest, my 2015 tornado chase season's not over until December 31. But so far, it's been another year when my home turf saved what would have otherwise have been a pretty disappointing season. I missed all of the best Plains events this year, coming home with only 2 low-contrast tornadoes. Not an all-time low season by any reasonable definition - I mean, any time you come back from the Plains with tornadoes is a good year IMO, even if they're low-contrast.

It's the Midwest that has come through once again in 2015 (it has never failed to do so every year since I moved here in 2010). I have 4 MO/IL tornadoes (all within 2 hours of home) in what has been an above-average year here. IL has produced several banner events for others. If I had played things right, I might have as many as 7 Midwest tornadoes this year. Happy to have the 4.

It was an expensive spring for me, with the loss of a $1400 camera and lens in addition to the two Plains trips. Mileage is probably going to be about average, between 8-10k for severe storms (not counting winter weather outings).

 

[Drew Terril]

I was able to get out more than last year, but crashing oil prices and the resulting cut in pay at my job, along with busting the rear axle on my truck on the way back from Texas, killed my season after the first full week of May. The repair on the truck alone made it by far the most expensive chase season ever for me. Unless oil prices rise dramatically in the next few months (resulting in more work for me), I don't see myself being able to get out much in 2016. I'm looking for a new, better job for that reason.

Didn't see any tornadoes this year, botched a target one day and picked the wrong storm another day. I was pretty close to the one that hit S OKC but couldn't see anything. I just saw the couplet blow up on the velocity scan and darted away from that area quickly. Better safe than sorry is my philosophy. Other than that bit of excitement, the best I saw was some quarter size hail (maybe slightly larger) in Kansas.

 

[ScottCurry]

Since this is in the introductory forum, I'll post.

This was my first chase season. I wonder how many of you had similar first chase seasons (if you can remember back that far)? Like many others, I missed most of the good days due to having to work. I was limited to Colorado due to not having money for hotels and gas. Not that big of a deal though, since Colorado was awesome this year. There were many days where tornadoes were forming all around me, less than 40 miles from my office in Denver.

Unfortunately, I did not see a single tornado. Not one. I got really close once (just 2 miles away from a tornado). I picked a cell about 20 miles away that was just starting to rotate. I intersected it just as it was producing a tornado. In my race to get to the top of a hill so that I could see the tornado, I skidded on the hail and went into a ditch. Luckily, I had purchased a tow rope just a few days before and was able to flag down a sweet old lady in a AWD SUV to tow me out.

The chase season isn't over though. I love weather - all kinds. And this year should be awesome for blizzards.

 

[John Farley]

No tornadoes for me so far this year, but the fall season is just starting so there is still a chance. My chasing this year was severely curtailed due to travel. We traveled to the UK for two and a half weeks in April and May (because that was when we could use our frequent flyer miles) followed quickly by a trip to Nevada and California for a wedding Memorial Day weekend, to which we added a few days at Yosemite. So much of April and most of May was unavailable for chasing. Nonetheless, I did manage to capture two relatively rare southwest Colorado funnel clouds - one of them by chance while we were driving through Mancos on the way to the wedding, the other on a local chase September 5 west of Chromo. Only made two multi-day treks to the plains this year (eastern CO and NM) and both yielded spectacular storms. Probably could have seen a tornado on August 18 if I had just looked out my passenger side window while shifting my target from the storm that produced the tornado to another more isolated one that I thought had a better chance. Still did get a likely funnel cloud and a spectacular mammatus display from another storm later that day, though. Also I had four good thundersnow encounters during the March-May period in the Sangre de Cristo and San Juan Mountains, so really can't complain given the limited amount of chasing that I was able to do.

 

[Marc R. O'Leary]

This was my best year yet for tornados (May 9) and funnels, despite managing to be out of town for most of CO's big events.

Top 3 worst for lightning, which I prefer over tornados, honestly. Almost zero monsoon activity this year and an HP month of May kinda killed my bolt chases.

 

[Mike Marz]

Before this season the furthest that I had been able to drive from Minnesota to chase had been Nebraska, so I would consider this my first season as an actual dedicated long distance chaser. I was able to capture my first Kansas tornado (May 9th near Grinnell) and my first Oklahoma tornado (May 16th, just west of Tipton). The Kansas tornado was also my first nighttime tornado. I made it to the states of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, North Dakota, Illinois and Colorado. I learned a ton during my first ever Southern Plains trips this season, and still have so much more to learn. Experience is, in my opinion, the most important thing in chasing. Here are just a few things I learned this season.
1. Never ever ever ever ever doubt Colorado. I could not get excited about dews in the 40s and temps in the 60s, but I should have on May 9th...
2. Bring change and cash with you in the vehicle, there are a lot of toll roads from KS through OK, and some need exact change.
3. Save $ by sleeping in your car, it is really not that bad. I chase solo so I am not sure I will ever need to spend a penny on a hotel.
4. Hail can accumulate on the road quickly in Colorado, this can get dicey, slowwww down.
5. HALE, high aspirations low expectations. No matter how awesome a setup looks, or a storm looks, it can all fall apart extremely fast (April 8th, Seiling, OK)

 

[James Gustina]

Definitely a different kind of spring/summer season. Pretty much ended up being either Texas/far southern Oklahoma or Colorado for the good stuff this year. Made quite a few bad calls on days where I should have seen tornadoes (April 8 and May 9 come to mind) but also managed to score huge on May 16. Got skunked by Kansas three times which is surprising given how kind that state has been to me over the previous 3 seasons.

• March 19 - Actually ended up being an ok opening chase down in north central Texas. The cold front rapidly ruined most of the storms up near Vernon where we started out but finally bounced around and made it to a decent storm further to the SW. Had brief supercellular characterstics near Windthorst and managed to get some nice shots as the storm rapidly moved into the DFW metroplex.
• March 25 - A very surprising day along a stalled front in C OK, obviously missed the HP grunge monsters further east into OKC but got the best supercell structure of the day near Anadarko.
• April 8 - Initially targeted way too far east along with everyone else and their mother and had to bust it out of Enid to make the initiation point on the dryline that stalled further west onto the western Plains of Oklahoma. Made a poor choice to drop the stuff further north going into Kansas while going through Alva in favor of an isolated supercell blowing through Black Kettle Nat'l Grassland and heading for Camargo in Roger Mills. Didn't check mesonet data to the storm's east and watched the cell slowly wither after one cycled wall cloud near Seiling as the storm near Medicine Lodge went bonkers.
• April 18 - Highly sheared day that ended up having ridiculously high bases and as a result watched a piddly little LP south of Sayre for maybe 30 minutes before bailing east into that absolute mess of a convective complex north of the Wichitas.
• April 24 - Kansas day that didn't pan out at all as we couldn't make the Hays cell in time. Ended up sitting further down the dryline in Pratt and watching the insane shear tear apart the only convection that managed to even form.
• May 9 - Morning convection pushed us away from a Texas PH target and into NW Texas again. Dallied too long in SPS and as a result couldn't make up enough ground to get to the Cisco storm that ended up spatting out that EF3 stovepipe. Picked the middle storm which looked like hot tornado-warned garbage and never got it done.
• May 16 - Initially targeted New Cordell and progressively started drifting southwest as storms went up all along the dryline. Made our way into Childress and decided not to bite on the clustered garbage further north into the eastern TX PH. Made our way towards Vernon to get ahead of a maturing cell that was down by Paducah. Watched it struggle as it approached but finally got it's act together near the Red River. Managed to get out ahead and catch the Elmer tornado almost at birth and kept pace until it began to head into the Wichitas. Lost a windshield to an inflow driven baseball.
• June 4 - My final chase of the spring season, made it up to Russell and then sat east of Paradise for a few hours as storm initiation began to look more and more questionable. Moved towards Osborne and watched the first tower become an orphan anvil. Had just called the chase as storms erupted further west towards Phillipsburg. Trego County shenanigans struck again and the road system prevented us from getting south of a cell SE of Quinter. Got a few good lightning shots and not much else.

I'm sitting right around 4000 miles and I'm guessing that number will only go up once October rolls around and we get some form of troughyness back onto the Plains. I'm really not ready for this season to be over yet and hopefully a few more days pop up in the next two months that are worth something.

 

[Ben Holcomb]

I keep some interesting stats on my website, so I figure I'll post them here first. I'm pretty sure we'll still get a chase-able day or two here in Oklahoma before the fat lady sings, but you never know.

2015
Storm Chasing Days 32
Tornado Days: 13
Tornadoes: 27
Photogenic Tornadoes: 3
Busts: 10
Largest Hail Encountered: 3.75"
Highest Wind Gust: 80-90+mph
Miles Driven: 19559
Windshields Replaced: 1
Spotter Network Reports: 49
Best Chase Day: May 27
States: OK, TX, AR, MO, IL, NE, CO, KS, MI, IA, IN

For me, this year was quite good with plenty of close intercepts of tornadoes including May 6th, May 10th, May 24th, May 26th and June 22nd. I managed to get some of my best structure as well on June 3rd in SW KS. Blew a couple big days, but that happens. Can't win them all.

I fully stayed in Hampton Inn, Hilton Garden Inn's and full Hilton's this season. Got a bunch of points for doing so, especially on the June 20, 21, 22 trip where each stay/night got me 5000 bonus points.

I flew home after the July 13th chase, which is a first for me to fly home and work the next day from a chase.

I still hate Colorado. The people who live their sniff their own farts every day.

Speaking of smelly, sleeping in your car would make you smelly. Apparently I need to continue avoiding other chasers. If their socially awkward nerdy personalities weren't bad enough, not having a shower and sleeping in a hot car would be reason enough to avoid.

Here's my list of tornadoes for the year too

• April 2, 2015 - Afton, OK
• April 16, 2015 - Panhandle, TX
• April 26, 2015 - Stephenville, TX (2 Tornadoes)
• April 26, 2015 - Glen Rose, TX
• May 6, 2015 - Amber, OK
• May 6, 2015 - Bridge Creek, OK (2 Tornadoes)
• May 6, 2015 - Norman, OK (2 Tornadoes)
• May 6, 2015 - Bridge Creek, OK
• May 10, 2015 - Denton, TX
• May 16, 2015 - Tipton, OK
• May 19, 2015 - Buffalo Springs, TX
• May 22, 2015 - Fort Stockton, TX
• May 24, 2015 - Plains, KS (4 Tornadoes)
• May 26, 2015 - Caddo, TX (2 tornadoes)
• May 26, 2015 - Gordon, TX
• May 27, 2015 - Canadian, TX (4 Tornadoes)
• June 20, 2015 - Eddyville, IA
• June 22, 2015 - Harmon, IL

 

[Mike Marz]

Speaking of smelly, sleeping in your car would make you smelly. Apparently I need to continue avoiding other chasers. If their socially awkward nerdy personalities weren't bad enough, not having a shower and sleeping in a hot car would be reason enough to avoid.

Hahahahaha.... ouch... I won't lie I don't smell great after 3 days of chasing 14 hours from home, but I am not going on a date with the tornado, and I don't ever plan on spending any time with other chasers other than maybe a friendly wave on the side of a road if I am on a storm next to them... I'd rather save that $ for gas. I won't address the assumption that all chasers are nerdy and socially awkward though, it doesn't surprise me if that has been your experience meeting other chasers.

 

[Dan Robinson]

Truck stop showers are $10.

 

[Ben Holcomb]

I don't know how some do it, but I really can't go a day without a shower, even if I'm sitting at home doing nothing. I can't imagine sitting out in a hot sun sweating and having a long day of dust blowing on you and not showering. A bigger man than I for sure!

 

[Kevin Rimcoski]

I know I'll be camping a few days in my car next year. Save the funds for food and gas. I'll still find a place to stop and sleep and refresh, but definitely not everyday

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