Chasing Lots (without a lot to show for it)

[John Hudson]

I can't stand it when people who don't chase give me grief because I "whine" and "cry" when things don't go well. The last time I checked, I was the one out there doing the miles, spending the time, the money, not having a life, living in poverty, to chase...while you sat at home in front of a computer watching it all being handed to you on a silver platter, no expenses, no road wear, no life sacrifices. Only desire that isn't quite ambitious or brave enough to be acted on.

Maybe I'm different, I dunno. But the last thing I wanna hear when I get back from a 700-mile bust, *****ing and complaining about it, is some jackhole who sat on his/her arse telling me to stop whining.

That's when I wanna break out the Hamburger Helper glove, and just slap the s**t outta them.

Believe me, I didn't sit on my arse this year, but it has been a long, hard road for a guy who, in most cases, can only watch the screen in envy as the watch boxes blossom on the screen in KS/OK. I'll fill you in....

My first chase of the year was a flight to Kansas City, and a rental car for one week. I was landing just around dinnertime, as the EF4 was pummeling Racine, MO. For the remainder of the week, a nice big ridge moved in. Nice sunny skies, and the only risky moment was when I forgot the sunscreen. Oh well, at least I got to see the supercell from my window seat.

The next chase, I decided to drive all the way from Winnipeg to Hays, KS. That is a long, long freakin' trip. Storms seemed to be firing just ahead of my maximum "range" for a days worth of driving. Tornadoes were on the ground three hours west of Lincoln the night I arrived. It was late evening and getting dark, so I elected to get a hotel room instead of risking falling asleep at the wheel.

The next day in KS was a disaster. I arrived in Hays just before the storms began to fire, and discovered (to my absolute horror) that my aircard was refusing to work. In spite of that, I made it to Ness City, using the weather radio and my GPS as a guide, and got some cool pics of the TIV and DOW, and something that "could" have been a tornado in the distance.

So, while not a total loss, disappointment tainted the whole trip. My wallet just isn't fat enough to head to the Plains in mid April and stay for eight weeks. It sucks to live this far away from the Alley.

Believe me when I say this guys, there's no sour grapes in this post. I just hope you all realize how lucky you all are to live where you do.


John
P.S. Now, could we puh-lease get some Northern Plains activity before the snow falls again?

 

[Kem Poyner]

tough year

This was a tough year for me too. But also very rewarding. I have never been so close to so many big tornados that I never even caught a glimpse of. The few tornados I did get video of required VERY aggressive driving. Flying down slick mud roads at speeds I would never drive normally. Core punching storms I never would have punched normally. Frustration makes you throw caution to the wind I guess.
On the flip side I learned more this year than all my fifteen years past about chasing HP cells. I now know how to approach properly (and safely) to view rainwrapped tornados. Chasing HP cells can pay off. But its not for the faint of heart!

 

[Michael Towers]

I did not chase a lot, just my annual chasecation, and for me it produced the best tornado of my life (which isn't saying much considering I've only seen 5 tornadoes). Seeing the 2nd Quinter tornado on May 23 is something I’ll never forget. No rain to obscure it, I had a nice clear open view for over 12 minutes as it approached from my direct south and crossed the highway about 3/4 mile to my west. The only time the tornado was partially obscured was when it was at maximum size and just towered above a tree line; instead of being an obstruction the trees were simply a great frame of reference to the size of the tornado. Referencing the map and the time I believe this is approximately the point in the path where NWS Goodland indicates an EF4 rating.

Video captures:









If I’d seen only blue skies beyond that my trip still would have been a smashing success, but I got to spend about 4 hours under a slow moving isolated supercell in Oklahoma the next day. Even though I only saw one rather small tornado from a storm that produced a bunch of larger ones, how nice it was to be able to slow things down and chase in a more relaxed mode, soaking in all the beauty of the slow moving beast.

I guess to top it all off was that while both days had hordes of chasers, each time I witnessed a tornado I was basically alone. On Quinter there was nobody within a half mile of me on either side until a local pulled up about 8 minutes into the event. Of course the first thing he had to do was run right up to me while I was silently filming and start yakking. Actually, I don’t hold it against him, I guess its just human nature to want to talk to someone when something like that is going on and I didn’t discourage him as I started yakking myself. Even if he didn’t show up I probably wouldn’t have been able to keep my silence when the tornado approached the interstate, all the joy of the moment was immediately replaced by a sense of dread. Thank God nobody died; I hope the fellow that took a hit in his car has a quick and complete recovery. Even more surprising to being alone on Quinter was being among only a few other widely spaced vehicles for the Oklahoma tornado. I’ve seen hordes before but this was ridiculous, I could have set up a rolling taco stand and retired from the profits. But when the storm briefly turned left not many followed and I got to film a nice tornado for about 4 minutes in relative serenity. No rain, no obstructions, no noise and just a few other souls within sight…a little slice of storm chasing heaven for this chaser.

 

[Darrin Rasberry]

We were on the other side of that while following a different cell up to the Interstate by sheer dumb bad luck. When the warning came across and we noticed the Westerly movement on radar (they said "moving north" on the warning) we felt almost helpless, since we'd just turned on the Interstate and were already basically committed to training along with Labor Day traffic straight toward the motion at the typical "Interstate 85-95" traffic speed and flow when the warning bells went up. Although it turned out we were about 5 miles or so on the "wrong side," I tell you one thing - that is one place I never, ever want to be again.

 

[Brandon Goforth]

Man, I agree totally. I've chased pretty much every decent system that has come through OK and NW TX and 90% of the time I really got nothing. I mean, there was stuff goin down, but fast moving HP supercells with rainwrapped tornadoes plagued almost all of my chases, and I've chased a lot this year. I did manage to get on a few storms that were really nice, but for the most part photogenic storms were few and far between.

 

[Darrin Rasberry]

My question is - why has this year been more HP than others? I mean, I understand half or more have HP characteristics through their lifespans, and that's probably not even considering the majority of line-embedded sup's. But this year it's been what 80-90% after the start of May? Strange for a year where the moisture started out so badly for the Plains that I remember a few people crossing their fingers on buoys ... (March 30th or April 7th or something).

 

[Tim Shriver]

The increased number of HP cells doesnt surpise me after the record moisture
we had this past winter. Was sort of expecting it.

As far as the number of tornadoes vs chasing we seem to have a record amount
of tornadoes so far this year.

so....

Location, location, location.

Tim

 

[Darrin Rasberry]

The increased number of HP cells doesnt surpise me after the record moisture
we had this past winter. Was sort of expecting it.

As far as the number of tornadoes vs chasing we seem to have a record amount
of tornadoes so far this year.

so....

Location, location, location.

Tim

And storm motion, storm motion, storm motion

 

[John Farley]

I started out with low expectations for this season, mostly because I made the decision to be out of the country for most of May - but it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take a University sponsored trip to China led by a Beijing native. So I made my choice, and off I went. I guess it was an good omen, then, when on the second-last night of the trip, a strong storm blew in over Beijing and I got a nice CG on my very first try.

We got back on May 26, and Illinois promptly went nuts. I chased somewhere between 5 and 7 times in 8 days, depending on whether you count local chases that never get more than 20 miles or so from home, and ended up with one of my best years ever. Even on the several days I narrowly missed tornadoes, I got nice storm structure shots, and they were NOT all HP (though yes, there were a lot, though that is typical for Illinois). I've got as much new material to fill my Stormy Skies calendar for next year as I've had any year, and the year is not half over yet. What really made my season, though, was the slow-moving tornado northwest of Bloomington that I watched for 15 minutes on 6/4 - most of my tornadoes in the past have been brief and fast-moving, but this one I could just sit and watch. Yes, it was dusk and my photos weren't great, and my video worse (my own stupidity - 30 seconds before battery went dead), but to sit and watch the tornado cycle from stovepipe to multiple-vortex to wide cone was a real treat. Add that to the number of gorgeous backlit wall clouds and "mothership" structures I've seen, and I feel very lucky to have had such a good year when I gave up the chance to chase in most of May, and was only able to chase the IL/MO area. I will say at the end of that 8-day stretch that I WAS feeling the chase exhaustion that others have mentioned on this thread and the earlier one, though.

 

[Cameron Redwine]

One thing I have to say is that I would trade my entire 2008 season to have been on the Windsor, CO wedge tornado that formed less than an hour from where we left from that morning. A tornado that large and that far west near the mountains moving northwest is something I doubt we will ever see in our lifetimes!

Boy, isn't that the truth. I hear ya, Verne. I was between Denver and Limon when I got the call. At least the show in Kansas made up for it a little bit.

 

[Stan Rose]

I havent seen any real good shots of the Windsor wedge, looked like a tough chase to me. I think KS more than made up for it. Im still kicking myself for somehow missing the Quinter wedge though, especially since i was sitting at the Quinter exit not long beforehand. That what i get for being cheap and not having streaming radar in my car. Well, a decent year and i just wish there'd be more setups like 1999, 2003,04 etc. The HP crud was definitely discouraging.

 

[Adam Lucio]

Hey Stan at leaste you didn't miss the Quinter show because you got stuck in mud, thats what happened to me!

08 has been my best and most challenging year, Its had a larger variety of setups and situations than last year thats for sure. Plus I finally bagged my 1st nader in my home state [and almost my home city for that matter] and the associated structure of that storm was THE best I have ever seen. While the HP bombshells in the plains have been challenging, the re-assurance that sometimes, though rare...something amazing can pop up within home territory.

Like Pritchard said, theres no hoards of chasers around here, and from what Ive seen my photos and video of the chicagoland tornadoes are totaly unique even though there are dozens out there that Ive seen. Because that storm produced for so long and there were only a couple chasers on it...we all were on it at different times and from very different perspectives which captured it from every angle.

Oh and Tim...was "location location location" a reference to Jeff Dunham? Hes hilarious.

 

[Jason McKittrick]

Not A bad year for me. I made my second long range, multiple day chase ever, May 22 through the 24th. In all I have chased 8 days this year. I nabbed my 5 year average number of tornadoes: 7. My best catch was the Hoxie storm on the 22nd. That was best video I have ever shot, by the way, my tripod blew over and fubared said video camera only an hour after filming the Hoxie tornado. Which also made it the last video I shot this year. Lesson learned never trust another person to watch your camera.
I admit I was disappointed by the lack of classic supercell opportunities but if you happened to be in exactly the right place at the right time there were a few gold metal moments out there. I have to admit I like all of the excitement and I would take a year like this anytime save for all of the fatalities. The worst part about this season was that in all the empty expanse of the central plains it seemed that these storms new right where to go to hit the population centers. My prayers go out to everyone who was personally impacted by this years severe storms.

 

[Matthew Crowther]

A very mediocre year for me- 4 tornadoes, all on the same storm May 23, Quinter 2 (but only got OK pics and video due to distance/poor contrast). The final insult was yesterday when I missed the great structured storm in SW Oklahoma because I backed into a ditch south of Clinton. Only one good structure day, last Thursday in KS south of ICT. Was not out on the Quinter 1 day or on the Kearney/Glen Elder day. Blew the day with the lone tornado machine north of OKC. So this year has to be placed in the lower tier of my chase seasons. Oh well there is always next year...

 

[Jim Leonard]

My question is - why has this year been more HP than others? I mean, I understand half or more have HP characteristics through their lifespans, and that's probably not even considering the majority of line-embedded sup's. But this year it's been what 80-90% after the start of May? Strange for a year where the moisture started out so badly for the Plains that I remember a few people crossing their fingers on buoys ... (March 30th or April 7th or something).

One big reason for the HP characteristic is the anvil SR flow. Whenever we would get a decent trough coming into the plains this year the mid and upper flow would cause the storms to race along at 40 to 50 kts. If they would only slow down this would cause the anvil level flow favor more classic supercells. During the big days in late May the anvil flow was mostly around 20kts, you need an excess of 40kts to make the updraft base more rainfree. Also there was a lot of anvil seeding, this is what we witnessed on May 1st in SE Kansas where NE Oklahoma had or more westerly upper flow which made the storms more descrete.