For those who have seemingly infinite resources, sure, the season is NEVER over (because who knows whether that CF sinking through southern Georgia won't produce a brief spinup?
It's also a matter of it being worth spending the time and money. Norman biased or not, it's difficult for some people to justify spending a 2 or 3 day trip spending hundreds on gas and possibly more on food and lodging for such a low risk type setup. 99 times out of 100 you'll go home with basically nothing to show for it other than a day on the plains. If I wanted that, I could go out in July or August when it's 110 and say the same thing. Hence, in the minds of people like Brett (and myself), for all practical purposes our season IS actually over.
Sure, and I say a lot of the above half jokingly. Most of us can't chase every setup, and you almost have to get the prettiest tornadoes each year. Throw a trough and a moderate across South Dakota and a lot of you are making the trek up there, only to come home without much to show for it. You budgeted for that trip and made the time. If you can get the same result playing a few modest upslope days as you did this rather comparatively modest (despite the moderate) day in Nebraska on the 11th, why wouldn't you do it?
Because you don't get the same result. I think this is mainly just the difference in chase styles or attitudes. A photogenic supercell and a small tornado isn't good enough for a lot of people. If you feel that you have to get a large, significant tornado on a day in which it was expected (so that people are paying attention) in order for any significant travel to be justified, than yeah you're probably going to be pretty bummed about the season. I think you would be more often than not though.
Of course it's an exaggeration to say that you're going to blue sky bust 99 times out of 100 playing the upslope. If you've got 55 Td's and easterly flow at the surface over CO you're probably going to see some gorgeous storms over some gorgeous scenery. Of course this is where the differences in chase style shows, and there's nothing wrong with it really. I just like to poke fun at it a bit, but it seems that this isn't good enough for a lot of chasers. That a tornado has to be handed over on a silver platter, a triple point and a trough over I-40, or it's just not worth driving more than 4 hours and shelling out $80 for a motel room. Four days on the upslope, a sculpted LP one day, some lightning another day, a landspout if you're lucky, and then a day hiking. That's a dream come true for me, but for many chasers, and I'd label them the stereotypical storm snob crowd, that's pretty lame. That's fine, whatever floats your boat. I chased the upslope in August last year. We cap busted half our days, came home with a few funnels and some structure, but it was one of my favorite chase trips of all time because we had a blast while we were out there, and that's pretty much why I chase. Not to see a violent tornado every time I go out, but to have fun chasing in all of its facets.
I certainly can't chase every 2% setup, but I like to pick a few of them each year as time and budget allows, and I usually have an awesome trip each time because I see a few great storms and have a lot of fun in the process. And if I'm super lucky I might catch an awesome tornado that makes the season or even the career.
"Every season has a few diamonds in the rough." That's all of chasing to me. The tornadoes are always diamonds in the rough.
