Chase Range - How Far Are You Willing to Travel Based on Risk?

[Nate M.]

I don't have any hard and fast rules, but looking at my 2012 - 2019 chase map, it definitely seems like I have some implicit, emergent boundaries
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Nice! Definitely looks like you have a range. Come over here to northeast Oklahoma sometime. We have some great storms here

 

[Jason Boggs]

This is pretty much my zone that I feel comfortable chasing in. Pretty much agree with everything that @Warren Faidley said, especially since we chase together every year! LOL

 

[Michael Towers]

I’ll chase anywhere in the alley as long as the terrain is decent and the set-up worthy of the trip. I’m a lot more particular now though and there are many places I’ve chased in the past that I won’t chase now because of poor terrain/visibility/road network. Interestingly, even though I live in Illinois and have chased in 13 states and travelled as far away as Midland, Texas I’ve never chased right next door in Indiana. I really can’t say why as most of it is great chase territory and there have been plenty of opportunities at such a relatively short distance. Similarly but much farther away I’ve never chased the ND/SD/MT border area. I’ve always wanted to do a late season chase there and every year I tell myself I’m going to do it but every year I never pull the trigger…

 

[JamesCaruso]

I answered the first time more from the perspective of how far I am willing to drive. I see others posting more from the perspective of overall territory / preferred geographic areas, so I figured I would weigh in on that as well.

When I started chasing in 1996, it was with Marty Feely's Whirlwind Tours, one of the first tour groups. Marty had firm rules, similar to what @Warren Faidley articulated. That's the way I first learned, so I have stuck with that, for the most part. I feel like that territory, mapped out by the good visual that @Jason Boggs posted, is "old school"; back then, people just did not seem inclined to chase east of I-35, but that could just be my perception. In chasing today, it seems that no place is off limits, and this is not a good trend as far as safety is concerned.

I stretch the boundaries of Jason's map somewhat, and I'm sure he and Warren do as well. It's hard to forego a good setup just because storms are going to initiate or move a little east of I-35, especially if it's the only option. If there are options in better terrain, then it's an easier decision to turn away from the east-of-I-35 target. I missed Joplin in 2011 because of my general rule to not go east of I-35. I also avoided the Lawrence KS area on May 28, 2019. Neither day turned out well for me, although on May 28 2019 I had only myself to blame for missing the even better tornadoes in Waldo and Tipton.

Also relative to Jason's map, in 20+ years of chase vacations I have never been as far north as North Dakota (probably not much if any further north than I-90 in South Dakota), have never been in Montana, and have only gone as far north in Wyoming as Casper. I've only chased in Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri once each. This gets back to my post above, of setting limits on how much I am willing to drive, even though I'm on a chase vacation.

I would expand Jason's map slightly in one place though, southeastern Nebraska is pretty flat and has a pretty decent road network.

 

[Drew Terril]

Being as I generally can't take off work on extremely short notice, and even that has limitations depending on my normal schedule for that particular week, I'm mostly limited to just my usual days off of work, which severely limits my range. If we can tell a week out that we're going to have a significant sequence, I can probably sneak out for a run or maybe a full week, but that hasn't happened since I started with my current employer, so I haven't really been able to test that.

I spent the first many years only able to chase Dixie because I lived either in Kentucky or Tennessee during my first several years (until the end of 2013) and was never able to make it back home to Oklahoma during storm season, so I don't have a "nothing East of I-35" rule like many who have spent their entire careers chasing almost exclusively the plains. While I will generally avoid most of Arkansas and SE Oklahoma, that's not a hard and fast rule, and I know NE OK/SE KS/SW MO extremely well as I grew up in NE OK. After chasing much of KY and TN (and getting tornadoes there), NE OK really isn't all that bad by my standards.

I do really enjoy the Midwest (Illinois, Indiana primarily), but I can't pull the marathons like I could 10 years ago. Unless I'm on vacation, I can't chase those setups. I had 12/1/17 forecast a couple of days out, but due to when I had to be back at work, I was unable to make the trek for it. It's one of the occasions where I wished I had a traditional 9-5, or at least a regular M-F job, as I could have driven to St Louis after work, been ready for Saturday, and driven back Sunday without too much issue.

Basically, it just comes down to how much time I have to play with and how willing I am to make the drive. I did miss a June tornado maybe 60 miles from where I live last year simply because I was burned out from work and had no desire to spend my off days behind the wheel of a vehicle.

 

[Tony Laubach]

I think my willingness to drive stupid-long distances in one shot has died away with age, cause I know I've answered this same question before with "just about anywhere", and backed it up with multi-day chase trips that started in Colorado and ended in Ohio or single chases that were over 1200 miles round trip in one shot.

My "range", independent from my chasing job here in Kansas, really is based on the quality of the system I am chasing. Obviously one-shot events in the southeast are not my cup of tea, but I would drive equally as long to say, Montana/Dakotas, for a decent event. If I could get a multi-day system that offered decent chase days as it moved across the country and dumped me into Illinois/Indiana/Ohio and didn't require a ton of "commuting" between setups, I'd be game for that.

But it's all timing... if I have a three day weekend somewhere and I can drive out in a day, chase, then drive back, I'd go as far as I could drive in those days around the event. Really what it comes down to for me anymore is how much I want to drive in a sitting. The days of needing to rush out and back are getting further and further behind me. I've seen enough in two decades where I think I've earned a little easier choice in chasing lifestyles

 

[Joey Prom]

Being as I generally can't take off work on extremely short notice, and even that has limitations depending on my normal schedule for that particular week, I'm mostly limited to just my usual days off of work, which severely limits my range. If we can tell a week out that we're going to have a significant sequence, I can probably sneak out for a run or maybe a full week, but that hasn't happened since I started with my current employer, so I haven't really been able to test that.

I spent the first many years only able to chase Dixie because I lived either in Kentucky or Tennessee during my first several years (until the end of 2013) and was never able to make it back home to Oklahoma during storm season, so I don't have a "nothing East of I-35" rule like many who have spent their entire careers chasing almost exclusively the plains. While I will generally avoid most of Arkansas and SE Oklahoma, that's not a hard and fast rule, and I know NE OK/SE KS/SW MO extremely well as I grew up in NE OK. After chasing much of KY and TN (and getting tornadoes there), NE OK really isn't all that bad by my standards.

I do really enjoy the Midwest (Illinois, Indiana primarily), but I can't pull the marathons like I could 10 years ago. Unless I'm on vacation, I can't chase those setups. I had 12/1/17 forecast a couple of days out, but due to when I had to be back at work, I was unable to make the trek for it. It's one of the occasions where I wished I had a traditional 9-5, or at least a regular M-F job, as I could have driven to St Louis after work, been ready for Saturday, and driven back Sunday without too much issue.

Basically, it just comes down to how much time I have to play with and how willing I am to make the drive. I did miss a June tornado maybe 60 miles from where I live last year simply because I was burned out from work and had no desire to spend my off days behind the wheel of a vehicle.

Drew, whats the chasing like in IL and IN? I just moved here and I am wondering when the prime months are/what some typical setups look like? Also, things to be aware of/plan around. Thanks.

 

[James Wilson]

Mine really all comes down to my work schedule and when deadlines are. Quick look over it I think this is close with KC as the base.

Dark Red = After work close chase-Home that night with no loss of work. Done a lot of times for ANY threat.
Red = At most 1.5 days off from work with travel the night before if Colorado. My most common one!
Green = Multi Day chase usually meaning at least 2 full days off
Black = PTO or holiday weekend

 

[Mark Egan]

I’ll give the perspective of a mostly armchair chaser. If I have a day off and there are no major family plans:

1. the time I spend potentially chasing should be equal to or greater than the one way drive to get to an area where storms are predicted

2. “Potentially chasing” means I’m at or near my target area, and it’s late afternoon, even if the storms haven’t formed

3. “chasing” stops for me when I can no longer see the landscape ahead of me (at latest this is about 15-20 min after sunset)

4. I’ll be willing to spend some time photographing twilight or night lightning (generally no more than an hour). If I can’t get a good lightning shot in an hour, then the storm wasn’t producing enough visible lightning, or I’m at the wrong angle on the storm. But by this point I’m not chasing anymore- I’ve backed off the storm for safety (not experienced enough to chase after dark)

5. I prefer to be home no later than midnight. I genuinely won’t consider spending the night to chase UNLESS 1. it’s a really good system (good chance for isolated supercells) AND there are clear skies behind the storms AND there’s no moon (I can then stargaze)

I calculated that, at most, that means I can only chase within a 4 hour radius from home (and that’s when the sun sets after 8).

Bur I can’t really say “radius” because I won’t chase where there are lots of trees (E TX, SE Oklahoma, SW AR)

 

[Paul Knightley]

Just to give an 'out-of-towner's' perspective (!), I chase over a ~2.5 week period per year, travelling over from the UK. However, like a few who've commented above, just because I'm on vacation, I don't chase everything which might present itself. Long-hauls are fine, and are undertaken at times, but there has to be a pretty compelling reason. Several trips have been taken over the years to SD and most didn't end up with much!

Also, I can't be bothered with going off east too far - MO has been chased a couple of times, but we've never been to AR, for example. I'm not over to view storms behind trees - I'm over to see sculpted storms on the vast Plains. If they're not on the menu, then we'll find something else to do, which doesn't involve heading to the jungles just because there are storms there.

 

[JamesCaruso]

Just to give an 'out-of-towner's' perspective (!), I chase over a ~2.5 week period per year, travelling over from the UK. However, like a few who've commented above, just because I'm on vacation, I don't chase everything which might present itself. Long-hauls are fine, and are undertaken at times, but there has to be a pretty compelling reason. Several trips have been taken over the years to SD and most didn't end up with much!

Also, I can't be bothered with going off east too far - MO has been chased a couple of times, but we've never been to AR, for example. I'm not over to view storms behind trees - I'm over to see sculpted storms on the vast Plains. If they're not on the menu, then we'll find something else to do, which doesn't involve heading to the jungles just because there are storms there.

Well-said Paul! I always felt people would think I was crazy for not chasing anything, anytime, anywhere while on a limited-time chase vacation. Glad to see I am not the only one! We are definitely of the same mind in that regard, but you said it better than me.

 

[Bonne van der Veen]

Just to give an 'out-of-towner's' perspective (!), I chase over a ~2.5 week period per year, travelling over from the UK. However, like a few who've commented above, just because I'm on vacation, I don't chase everything which might present itself. Long-hauls are fine, and are undertaken at times, but there has to be a pretty compelling reason. Several trips have been taken over the years to SD and most didn't end up with much!

Also, I can't be bothered with going off east too far - MO has been chased a couple of times, but we've never been to AR, for example. I'm not over to view storms behind trees - I'm over to see sculpted storms on the vast Plains. If they're not on the menu, then we'll find something else to do, which doesn't involve heading to the jungles just because there are storms there.

I'm also an 'out-of-town' chaser, from the Netherlands. But we chase everything when we're in the States. We've seen some very pretty storms with marginal setups. Apart from that, the roadtrip and getting to know the different States and scenery is just as much fun to me. Back in the Netherlands, I stick to 2 hour drives (one way) at most, so that pretty much covers the most of the Netherlands and a bit of Belgium and Germany. Yes we live in a tiny country ;-)

 

[Steven Marshall]

I had assumed that now that I'm retired, I'd be chasing every moderate risk day and above...but the crowded highways and wide spots full of yahoos have me staying close to home. My limit now is about 500 miles for most chase days...mostly Ohio, Indiana & Illinois. Few crowds, better food options and fewer nights in a motel. But it still takes at least a moderate to get me out there.

 

[Wesley Luginbyhl]

250 miles... generally. I will make exceptions to it every once in a while, but it is my general rule. From Amarillo, that lets me cover Midland to Garden City and Santa Rosa to I-35 (OKC/Wichita). I try to keep it at 4 hours just so I don't spend too much time away from my family. Going much more than that can easily turn into a multi day trip. Before having a family, there was no limit if I had the time to go.

There are a few other factors that can come into play on certain days, but I have used this limitation (guideline) for over 5 years and it has worked for me.

 

[JamesCaruso]

250 miles... generally. I will make exceptions to it every once in a while, but it is my general rule. From Amarillo, that lets me cover Midland to Garden City and Santa Rosa to I-35 (OKC/Wichita). I try to keep it at 4 hours just so I don't spend too much time away from my family. Going much more than that can easily turn into a multi day trip. Before having a family, there was no limit if I had the time to go.

There are a few other factors that can come into play on certain days, but I have used this limitation (guideline) for over 5 years and it has worked for me.

You live in one of the best spots Wesley; a 250 mile radius from Amarillo covers ideal chase territory. Far better than spots like OKC or Wichita, where you are already on the eastern fringes of quality chase terrain. Nebraska is out of your stated range, but western Nebraska isn't great chase terrain anyway. But I love eastern Colorado, that's probably out of your desired range.