Drew Terril
Staff member
For me personally, it was a good year, as far as tornadoes/chase ratio. My opportunities to get out were (as always) very limited. Unless we have a repeat of 2015, I'm always going to miss out on a bulk of setups, especially the midweek ones.
That said, May 17 was my best single day in years. Wasn't able to make either the Nebraska target or the Fort Stockton target, so I gambled on something going up in the OK panhandle and the gamble paid off. Even then, because I had arrived back at home base late in the morning from my regular job, I was almost late for the first tornado near Forgan. It was pretty obvious as I raced across US-64 that it was beginning to get its act together, and I was still probably 10-12 miles away when it dropped its first tornado of the day. Luckily for me, I had just upgraded my camera equipment with not only a newer body but a much better lens capable of way more zoom than what I'd had. So I was able to pull off and get some pictures of a classic, "Wizard of Oz" type tornado that I've been after for years, as I greatly prefer that to the dust column that everyone seems to brag about bagging in Colorado.![18982 18982](https://stormtrack.org/data/attachments/35/35872-aba1405f2fabb1d2950dafd250275c87.jpg)
Stayed with that storm all the way up through Minneola, and it ended up being my best chase day since March 15, 2016. Storms were way better this day, but the challenge of the 2016 chase still leaves a bit more satisfaction.
I also chased the next day, but no tornadoes to show for it. That said, I did meet several in the field that day which presented its own enjoyment.
Most years though, I've traditionally done very well in secondary season. There are several years, in fact, where my only tornadoes of the year are in the off peak (ie, not in April-June) season. So I would not be surprised at all if I end up tallying some more tornadoes before 2019 is done. And after several years and who knows how many miles logged, Kansas finally gave up the goods for me. I've never had good luck there, and almost never can make it up there for the "good" days, but May 17 worked out in my favor.
Reading through this thread, there seems to be a lot of complaints, either about lack of photogenic storms, or by the difficulty of forecasts. As someone who's been around for quite a while, and has seen a lot of ebbs and flows (and in fairness, for whom selling footage/stills is not a priority), I really didn't have complaints. Was there much room for error? No, but there was a far narrower margin for error when I started back in 2006, especially not having any form of mobile data, and having radio communications limited to a 2m handheld ham radio (those from Kansas know that a large chunk of the repeaters in KS are 70cm).
For me, my only complaint was that I couldn't get out more, but that is going to be my issue every year since I'm not willing to give up stability in the rest of my life just to be able to take off work to "chase everything." Given the times I've been out, I think I did very well, and nailed my forecasts when I was out.
That said, May 17 was my best single day in years. Wasn't able to make either the Nebraska target or the Fort Stockton target, so I gambled on something going up in the OK panhandle and the gamble paid off. Even then, because I had arrived back at home base late in the morning from my regular job, I was almost late for the first tornado near Forgan. It was pretty obvious as I raced across US-64 that it was beginning to get its act together, and I was still probably 10-12 miles away when it dropped its first tornado of the day. Luckily for me, I had just upgraded my camera equipment with not only a newer body but a much better lens capable of way more zoom than what I'd had. So I was able to pull off and get some pictures of a classic, "Wizard of Oz" type tornado that I've been after for years, as I greatly prefer that to the dust column that everyone seems to brag about bagging in Colorado.
![18982 18982](https://stormtrack.org/data/attachments/35/35872-aba1405f2fabb1d2950dafd250275c87.jpg)
Stayed with that storm all the way up through Minneola, and it ended up being my best chase day since March 15, 2016. Storms were way better this day, but the challenge of the 2016 chase still leaves a bit more satisfaction.
I also chased the next day, but no tornadoes to show for it. That said, I did meet several in the field that day which presented its own enjoyment.
Most years though, I've traditionally done very well in secondary season. There are several years, in fact, where my only tornadoes of the year are in the off peak (ie, not in April-June) season. So I would not be surprised at all if I end up tallying some more tornadoes before 2019 is done. And after several years and who knows how many miles logged, Kansas finally gave up the goods for me. I've never had good luck there, and almost never can make it up there for the "good" days, but May 17 worked out in my favor.
Reading through this thread, there seems to be a lot of complaints, either about lack of photogenic storms, or by the difficulty of forecasts. As someone who's been around for quite a while, and has seen a lot of ebbs and flows (and in fairness, for whom selling footage/stills is not a priority), I really didn't have complaints. Was there much room for error? No, but there was a far narrower margin for error when I started back in 2006, especially not having any form of mobile data, and having radio communications limited to a 2m handheld ham radio (those from Kansas know that a large chunk of the repeaters in KS are 70cm).
For me, my only complaint was that I couldn't get out more, but that is going to be my issue every year since I'm not willing to give up stability in the rest of my life just to be able to take off work to "chase everything." Given the times I've been out, I think I did very well, and nailed my forecasts when I was out.