Best year in the history of chasing

[Bill Hark]

I picked 2004. Amazing year. I'd like to see the opinions of those veteran chasers who chased both 1995 and 2004.

Bill Hark

 

[Terrence Cook]

2004

I would agree with 2004 being the greatest season. For one, May 30th 2004 was my first tornado and that's all that need be said for my opinion.
Otherwise Mike's list is another great reason....

 

[afischer]

I'd go with 1999. Too bad I was completely free that spring, sitting at home in ND unsure of what to do with my life and meanwhile wishing I knew how to chase storms. One reason I chose this year as the best was it that it was extremely active in the Dakotas... including the June 6 event in northeast ND, which was a part of the June 3-June 6 madness. Then of course there were April 8 and May 3. While probably not as big a year as 2004 considering sheer number of events, those 3 outbreaks were tremendous in their magnitude IMO. Sitka and Almena occurred that year as well, and there are others I'm sure I'm missing.

 

[Shane Adams]

I decided to vote based on personal experience rather than history, so I went with 2004. Personally, I think 1991 was probably the best year start to finish, because it started in March and never let up, where 2004 was practically dead in April and much of May. As I expected, 2004 is winning in a landslide, which reflects the overall newbie nature of the majority of ST chasers, and more to the point, non chasing members.

If you gave this same pole to the CDFG group, it'd be a runaway between '91 and '95.

 

[scott r currens]

I have to agree with Shane. In the 9 years I have chased 2004 is by far the best chase year, but chasers with 20+ years would likely pick a different year. In the past I have posed this very question to several veteran chasers and most bring up 91. I know Gene Moore brought up a year in the 80's but I can't remember witch one.

My original vote was for 2004 but now I have had a little more time to reflect on what more experienced chasers have said.

This is how I would rank the chase years listed:
1. 1991
2. 2004
3. 1995
4. 1999
5. 2003

 

[Greg Stumpf]

I'm surprised there are no choices for 1982, 1977, and 1974. For the veteran chasers, these were fantastic years in the Plains. 1982 had a number of special events in the TX Panhandle, plus the Altus tornado. The "Seven Days of May" in 1977 brings back many memories for some veterans. 1974 had a number of events, including the 6/8/74 Central OK outbreak.

I began active chasing in the Plains in 1987, and by far, my best year was 1991. It seemed that for every severe weather outbreak, you could not buy a bust. There was something magic in the air that year - if there was a chance of severe weather, there was a going to be a photogenic storm/tornado somewhere. 3/21, 3/26, 4/2, 4/12, 4/26, 5/10, 5/11 (see avatar), 5/15, 5/16, 5/26 were tremendous (I probably forgot some). A "Storms of 1991" would have had to take up at least two full-length DVDs (one just for 4/26 alone).

Believe it or not, I saw my highest number of tornado days in 1992. But I would rank it "in the middle" since many were not photogenic and/or short lived.

 

[Rich Thompson]

As Greg S. mentioned, you couldn't seem to go wrong in '91.
3/21 - southern and southeast OK (at least 1 F3)
3/26 - infamous "night hoses" including 44 mi F3 nrn OK
4/12 - tremendous tornadic storm near Pond Creek, plus
other tornadic storms closer to OKC, and in N TX.
4/26 - Andover/Red Rock outbreak
5/10 - Lazbuddie TX
5/11 - Boise City OK
5/15 - Laverne OK
5/16 - near Wichita KS
5/26 - Woodward OK, Towanda KS, and near LBL

The vast majority of the tornadoes occurred during daylight, and even the nocturnal ones were visible on 3/26. Also, most of these days included multiple F2+ tornadoes that lasted 15 mins to 1+ hr.

1982 would also rank up there with NINETEEN tornado days in OK during May. I've only heard stories and seen pictures of May '77, but the quality of storms was similar to June '95.

2004 would probably flirt with the top 5 for many of the long time chasers.

 

[nickgrillo]

2006 hands down. I got a bazillion wx-worx tornadoes.

 

[scott r currens]

A "Storms of 1991" would have had to take up at least two full-length DVDs (one just for 4/26 alone).

I'd buy a "Storms of 1991". Vern are you ready for a new project.

 

[Verne Carlson]

Heck yes! I saw my first 'real' tornado in May 1991 in western SD just by accident so there must have been alot of tornadoes around. That was the year that really got me hooked - I'd love to do historic 'Storms of' DVDs if there was enough material sent in and chapter producers.

I didn't even own a camera back then!

 

[Brian Stertz]

Ah yes...1991...had to work 4/26 but got the great back to back Laverne and Clearwater specials in mid May. My wife even got one without even chasing in Broken Arrow. The Laverne F3 was my first big boy tornado, and certainly is in my top 10 chases of alltime.

 

[Rich Thompson]

Mike,

I chased through the entire '91 season, and I missed several of the better days having to work in May of '04 (5/12, 5/22, 5/24). I did chase 5/29-30, as well as 6/10-12 in '04. There's probably some bias on my part because I was more able to chase each event back in the early 90s, but I'm well aware of what happened in 2004. For the record, I saw my first tornadoes prior to the '91 season, and I saw more tornadoes in '99. I still prefer '91 because events were spaced throughout the entire spring, with a rather signficant tornado day at least every two weeks from March through May. June '91 was lame, but nobody cared much at the time!

I doubt we'll reach any sort of agreement because none of us have the same set of experiences. I'd love to see how 1957 would compare to these recent years, given the same number of chasers and similar technology.

 

[samuel stone]

gotta go with 2004 but, I gotta represent 90',91', Andover, Hesston were a couple of the real big ones but many smaller events as well too long ago to name them all.

 

[Paul Austin]

I've only been making trips to the Plains since 2002, so I'm quite biased. I would have loved to have chased the storms of '91 and many of the other great years, but I've gotta go with 2004. This was the year of our first definitive success (May 10, Limon, Colorado) among others and the Attica Kansas storm...which we missed due to poor positioning and timing

 

[Courtney Punton]

I'd have to go with 2004. So much happened that year! It was an incredible time for chasers and other weather enthusiasts. What a year!