2025 Chase Season Epilogue

[Dan Robinson]

It feels a little strange posting this end-of-season recap thread on the same day as one of the better tornadoes of the decade in western Nebraska, but that's storm chasing for you. So, how was your season?

Despite logging 8 "stat-padder" tornadoes, it was a below-average spring for me. Of course, season quality is subjective from chaser to chaser - it all depends on if the days you chose to go out produce spectacularly, and even if they do, you still have to make all of the right decisions on those good days. That means one chaser can be having the season of their lives, while others are struggling. I did not come away with this season with a "wall hanger" tornado - but then again, I don't most years. The inverse of this was last year, when I added three all-time best tornado intercepts to my logs in a personal record-breaking season, one that not all chasers came away with great results in. I see my 2025 in that context, simply the law of averages playing itself out.

My big catch of the season was Grinnell, Kansas on the 18th, a close tornado experience with stark visuals and sound.

The big and defining event of the season for me, however, was missing the May 16 tornado in St. Louis. It was a monumental failure of a costly, decade-plus home target bias that hopefully I can just let go of now. The silver lining of it is that after forensically recapping that day, I just don't see a scenario where I could have reasonably seen it coming in time. Supercells (that appeared to be elevated) were entering the metro with a dewpoint of 52F at Lambert airport at 1PM. The DP at Scott AFB/MidAmerica had just shot up to 66F just prior to the tornado - which was the one thing that could have altered my day had I noticed it. Still, I expected the frontal zone to be in the southern Metro (south of I-270/I-255), oriented NE/SW with the storm of the day well north of it. Despite a couple of fake-out RFD surges, the storm appeared to have a dominant northeasterly motion that would pull it farther north away from the front. The only way I would have caught it is if I'd just parked downtown in the morning and sat there, an action that would have made no sense given the setup - under no scenario would I have done that with incipient supercells in the better environment to the east. In a nutshell, it was just an impossible situation that no other chasers saw coming either - so I'm not going to dwell on it much going forward.

I try to make it a practice to focus on the things to be thankful for, despite the misses. My season was free of major incidents or problems, and I *did* see 8 tornadoes. I didn't have to use up a lot of PTO to make my trips. My gear all performed like it's supposed to. Any year when I can get out there is a good one!

Spring 2025 totals:
Plains expedition trips: 2
Plains miles: 3,968
Plains days on the road: 5
Plains chase days: 4
Plains tornadoes: 3
Midwest tornadoes: 5
States covered: 4 (Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri Illinois)

I have all of my 2025 Plains season logs on my site here:

Great Plains 2025 Storm Chasing Expedition Logs

 

[Tony Laubach]

I'd definitely feel safe to say that my season isn't done yet (Colorado is known for summer-time surprises; Yuma 2023)... but given I am out of action through this week due to a work trip in PA (so I missed yesterday's tornado three hours from home AND the baseball hail that hammered my house at 4am), I'd say I'm probably far enough along to epilogue my season to this point...

I've had great debate (three-day cross country trip allowed for plenty of windshield time) regarding where this season stacks up for me, and it is among one of the highest. Going in to this season, I would've rated my best years as follows...

#1 2023; #2 2016; #3 2009; #4 2010; #5 2008

Those seasons after #3 would probably shift with a bit more recollection of the chases, but the top 3 are pretty solid years..

2025 ranks as one of my highest in tornado quality by far... particularly that May 14-23 stint that included the photogenic landspouts in Nebraska, the Blodgett tornado, Scott/Grinnell, Kansas event, plus Akron '25. Those on their own would've put it up in the top 3, but then came Morton, which even further elevates the season as a whole. I certainly have come away with some of the best images/video of my career. Hands down, Grinnell's encounter on I-70 and my clips of Morton rank among some of the best I have ever shot (and certainly the most 'viral').

I tend to sit on things for a bit before I race a ranking to #1. I did this with Akron 2023 despite 19 tornadoes and one of the most photogenic twin tornado sequences ever, but after stewing over it, it was an easy decision to let it take over the #1 chase spot. Now, there is NO change in that; June 21, 2023 is still the #1 chase of all time for me, but the season as a whole...

With the two tornadoes I saw last Friday in Nebraska, my running total is 36 for the season which is third all time (only behind 2023 [50] and 2010 [43]), so the numbers are definitely there. But the quality of a lot of those is hard to deny, even as the majority (as usual) are stat-padders.

I'm gonna give it through the summer... I'm probably one more good tornado chase away from making it the easy #1 (had I been home on June 16 to play that southwest Nebraska day, I wouldn't even be having this discussion). And even still, I'm thinking pretty hard about it now. 2023 had the quality, and it and 2016 could go back and forth, but it's hard to deny what 2025 has been as a whole.

Outside of tornadoes, the season has provided some great hail (April 17) and several good lightning opportunities, which usually come after June when our monsoon season kicks in, so I'm already well scored on that, too. Professionally, it's been a great year for me as well, highlighted with the live coverage of the Blodgett tornado. I feel like this season, I took so many lessons of years past, and it resulted in some awesome images. I was very deliberate in taking photos, making sure I shot the hell out of stuff, and let my video take a backseat (meaning I was using mounted cameras and just rolling). I made good decisions; didn't waffle around much on questionable days, and I was in good positions on the days that counted.

It's an easy top 3; and I imagine it's gonna find its way taking the crown as my best storm chasing season. I won't call it yet, but should another good tornado day loom for me, it will undoubtedly claim the spot with no further discussion needed.

TOP TORNADO DAYS OF 2025
1. June 5 (Morton/Lubbock) 10 Tornadoes
2. May 16 (Blodgett/Sikeston) 3 Tornadoes
3. May 18 (Scott/Grinnell) 6 Tornadoes
4. May 14 (Hershey/North Platte) 3 Tornadoes
5. April 17 (Fremont/Tabor) 3 Tornadoes

SEASON STATS AS OF JUNE 17
TOTAL LOGS: 34 (21 'Chases')
MILES: 22,058
TORNADOES: 36
TORNADO DAYS: 11
STATES CHASED: CO, WY, NE, KS, OK, TX, NM, IA, MO, IL, AR, TX, TN, MS, AL

 

[Andy Wehrle]

@Tony Laubach interesting that you rank 2009 as your No. 3. I wasn't actively chasing then (outside of local spotting outings, which were very sparse that year) but I remember it as one of the slowest seasons of all time; the only high-ceiling threat in the Plains being the April 26 high risk which (like every more recent Plains high risk post-4/14/12) was largely a dud that produced only one significant/photogenic tornado, really nothing at all of note in May and only the Goshen, WY tornado in early June providing some redemption for those chasers who were able to be on it. What else did you see that year?

 

[JamesCaruso]

@Tony Laubach interesting that you rank 2009 as your No. 3. I wasn't actively chasing then (outside of local spotting outings, which were very sparse that year) but I remember it as one of the slowest seasons of all time; the only high-ceiling threat in the Plains being the April 26 high risk which (like every more recent Plains high risk post-4/14/12) was largely a dud that produced only one significant/photogenic tornado, really nothing at all of note in May and only the Goshen, WY tornado in early June providing some redemption for those chasers who were able to be on it. What else did you see that year?

I had the same thought. I was chasing back then but I recall delaying my trip because it was so slow. I recall even VORTEX being stymied until Goshen.

 

[Brett Roberts]

I echo Andy and James's surprise at 2009 being a favorite. But I do recall one or two fairly big overperforming CO days, which might've been a factor for Tony. For the core of the Plains on reasonably foreseeable setups, it was pretty awful until June. Then I'd call June that year slightly above average, but not exceptional... with LaGrange WY of VORTEX-2 fame and Aurora NE being the highlights. Incidentally, 2009 was also the year that tortured me more than any other... after the Aurora day in mid-June (which I sat out due to frustration with preceding setups that were superficially similar), I spent a few weeks legitimately trying to convince myself that I needed to stop chasing for my sanity!

 

[John Farley]

2009 was a pretty good year for me, driven mostly by my best-ever Illinois day (where I lived then) with a photogenic long-track tornado near Roodhouse and Manchester on August 19 on a day with a setup very similar to today's, which produced multiple tornadoes in the same general area. But getting this thread back on track, I would rate this season thus far as above average for me. A month ago, when I drove 1625 miles to miss Arnett by 45 minutes or so and see nothing interesting the next day, I was ready to say one of my worst seasons ever. Pretty much resolved then not to go east of the Panhandles and western KS from my base area in southwest Colorado and northern New Mexico. But the first week of June changed my assessment of the season big time. June 5 was a top 5 all-time day for me with 5 or more tornadoes, even though I missed the most photogenic one near Morton. But I did get some good ones earlier in NM and later closer to Lubbock, and the Lubbock storm was one of the most intense I have ever seen. And that was one of 4 days in a row in which I caught something interesting, including a rotating wall cloud and likely funnel, hail accumulation, and a mud flow/rockslide within 30 miles of home on the 3rd, nice LP structure in NM on the 4th, and two tornadic supercells in the OK Panhandle on the 6th. (Still sticking to my resolution not to go chasing east of the Panhandles, though, as my experience that week reinforced the notion that I do not have to.)

And expanding the horizon a bit, a nice thundersnow stint in the NM mountains in early May and a couple days experiencing the rare combination of snow and hail (real hail, not just graupel, although there was some of that, too) at the same time. And earlier, April 25 was a pretty good day, too, with four supercells, most of them photogenic and with lots of hail, all within 50 miles or so of Santa Rosa, NM. For a variety of reasons, I am not in a position to chase as much as some of you are able to do, so given the amount that I can get out, I am quite happy with this season. And in Colorado, there is still potential for more, even though northeast Colorado is a bit out of reach for me, unless something happens when we will be driving through there on a road trip next month. But there is usually good lightning with the Monsoon in CO and NM (looks like it will start around Monday), and every once in a while it even offers up a surprise tornado.

States chased: CO, NM, KS, OK, TX.
Chase mileage: Around 3600 miles.

 

[Tony Laubach]

I don't wanna hijack this thread, so I opened a new one talking about my 2009 season...

Why 2009 Was One Of My Best/Favorite Seasons