Beginning Descent into Chase Season 2014

[Jeremy Perez]

chaseable, map

Thanks for that diagram Skip!

Last year when I was looking at some setups that might tempt me east of I-35, I hit Google Earth and started browsing locations using Street View to sample the terrain at ground level. I worked up a map to give me a sense of what I could expect if I wanted to drift into those areas and plotted a marker at each area viewed. It's something I've been meaning to jump in and start taking more samples, and also adding contours for where gridded roads give way to sparse & cobwebbed.
Green = Perfect
Yellow = Very good but with some vegetation & terrain influences
Orange = Increasing vegetation & terrain, but still opportunities for vantages
Red = suicidal tendencies

 

[chrisbray]

This is some great info, thanks guys!

 

[Dan Robinson]

Skip covered this well. In general, if you chase Missouri, you'll want to stick to major highways if you're south of I-70. The county roads in these areas are devoid of views, and most don't have shoulders or pull-offs. The rougher terrain of Missouri isn't all that different from eastern OK, so if you've chased there, you'll know what S MO is like.

IL has mostly perfect chase terrain all the way to 50 miles south of I-64. There are pockets of trees and hills (mainly near rivers and streams), but no different than you see in many parts of the Plains.

 

[chrisbray]

Yeah I was born in Bloomington Illinois and other than when I was at college at Butler (Indianapolis) I've been living in Illinois all my life, now up in Bourbonnais, an hour south of Chicago. I've just never had a good chance to chase that far south. I'm generally limited to the upper 2/3 of Illinois and that's where 95 percent of my chases have been. I agree, chasing in Illinois is fantastic if you avoid Chicagoland (easy enough to do) and the Illinois River (a decent enough smattering of crossings. It's just a shame we only get a handful of decent setups a year!

Someday, I will make out to the great plains for a chase or two or three! Last time I tried was May 5 2012 and I was only supposed to go to Iowa with my friend. Well, we ended up crossing all the way over to Nebraska out of desperation and got nothing in return (epic cap bust!). Needless to say we couldn't make it back to Illinois in time and we crashed at an Iowa motel at about midnight. I had to call in sick the next day to get off work. The wifey was very mad at me! It's probably going to be a couple years before I leave the state again haha!

 

[Zack Hargrove]

The trough that has been developing on the end of the Euro run for the past 2 runs has high drool potential.

 

[Bob Schafer]

I hate trying to post images, because, well, it's a PITA, and I know you probably can't view the full-size image of this, but it's very helpful. Impossible to find it online. Also remember that it's easy to discern areas that are flat vs. hilly. Just look at a map and see if the roads go predominantly straight or are real curvy.

 

[Mike Johnston]

Whether roads are predominantly straight or curvy has as much to do with the historical differences in land survey practices and legal real estate descriptions. The original 13 colonies (and their extensions) used the old metes and bounds method. After that, a great deal of the west and south adopted the township/range/section method which applied the "grid" we are all so familiar with. Road paths naturally followed section lines and were laid out in straight north/south and east/west patterns. There are only a few exceptions - Ohio has kind of a hybrid system as a result of experimentation back when the public land survey system was first implemented. Louisiana's system, as in other areas of law, was kind of screwed up by the French. At any rate, in the old eastern states, the metes and bounds system is still used. You know - start at the big flat rock on the shore of Tuckahoe creek, thence a farthing east by southeast to Old Miller's mill, thence...etc. So, many curvy roads that winded there way around irregular land plats - and still do!

 

[chrisbray]

Thanks for that Graphic Bob! I didn't realize West Virginia was one big forest!

 

[Skip Talbot]

Oklahoma on the other hand...

 

[Kelly Sugden]

Ha! Nice map. I'm glad I'm not the only one that thinks OK is overrated for chasing... and that hurts to say being an OU grad.

 

[chrisbray]

Haha that is hilarious. Oklahoma sure does seem cramped when you put it like that. Looks like Kansas is the best state for chasing

 

[Logan Karsten]

Yeah, I used to think Oklahoma was this great state to chase in..... until I actually started chasing there. Skip's map pretty much says it all. If I had to pick a spot that I think is the best in Oklahoma, it would have to be southwest Oklahoma just west of the mountains. Flatter than a pancake with the mountains as a cool back drop to your east. Definitely need to get into the Western half of Kansas more often.

 

[Shane Adams]

I don't understand how a state can be overrated for chasing. For whatever reason, Oklahoma continues to be the most widely-criticized ("it's overrated") yet most-chased state. Probably because it gets a sh*t ton of tornadoes in a typical year.

The best long range chase terrain on earth is western KS into eastern CO, but trying to not kill yourself by falling asleep at the wheel is a constant risk.

 

[chrisbray]

18z GFS today showing a lot of promise over the next few weeks if it holds. Definitely showing the pattern change that they were calling for - always a good sign! Moisture will probably still be an issue for a while to come, but the upper level pattern looks a lot more supportive. In other words, actual spring!

 

[Brett Roberts]

I don't understand how a state can be overrated for chasing. For whatever reason, Oklahoma continues to be the most widely-criticized ("it's overrated") yet most-chased state. Probably because it gets a sh*t ton of tornadoes in a typical year.

The best long range chase terrain on earth is western KS into eastern CO, but trying to not kill yourself by falling asleep at the wheel is a constant risk.

I'm on board with this. I hate chasing the majority of Oklahoma, but I keep doing it year after year, and so do many people from 500 miles away. Why? Because, averaged over long periods, we're right in the middle of the region that receives the largest quantity per year of good-looking, chaseable storms.

The terrain isn't great, for the most part. I'd even concede that the average terrain quality might be better in Illinois than Oklahoma (this perception is amplified to outsiders, though, by the fact that the "good" terrain in W OK has been terribly inactive for the past decade). But our storms on average absolutely destroy what you'll typically find in the "great terrain" of places like IL, the MO bootheel, and E AR. Great striated supercell structure, amazing mammatus-filled sunsets, lightning-illuminated updrafts surrounded by stars after dark, etc. are probably seen on one out of every 15 chases in those regions. I always say that when you chase out there, you'd better nail it and see a good tornado up-close, because usually that's the only thing worthwhile up for grabs.

With that out of the way, two things: first, Skip's graphic is hilarious and all too close to the truth. Second, KS is clearly the better state to chase in, if you don't factor in the law enforcement issue. I'd prefer every year be like 2007 and focus activity from the TX Panhandle into KS and NE, with the eastern 3/4 of OK staying out of the mix. And I don't blame anyone else for feeling that way.