Chasing Lots (without a lot to show for it)

[Eric Treece]

Considering I have been on really only 4 chases this year and have seen tornadoes on all 4, I am not going to complain. The price of gas has really made me look deeper into my forecasting and pick the days I really thought would be viable tornado producing days. Yeah, none of them were photogenic nor did I see great storm structure and I haven't even made an attempt at shooting lightning, but this was the first year I felt really successful in my chasing without alot of frustration on "where to go". I picked my target and didn't have to go far from it to get the prize. I will probably go out today and ruin my perfect attendance record, but maybe I can shoot some CG shots tonight or get a nice structure shot.

 

[Brian Stertz]

I would have to call this a mediocre year for me too Matt. The hard targets from a forecasting stand point were pretty much a piece of cake on the big events. It was the positioning and maneuvering around these wet and sloppy fast moving supercells that made the challenge. Some chasers made out like gold and others were caught in the backwash (where I was a lot of times thanks to ugly road options). Well it was live and learn time on the Plains for chasers this spring. A good friend asked me if I had a good year since the tornado count was on record pace. I said no because the character of the supercells did not make for good viewing plus I was behind the curve by only being able to take half days off from work or leaving after work. That made for frustrating times for this chaser.

 

[Charles Kuster]

This was overall a good year for me, but I do agree that it has been a tough year. HP storms as well as very fast storm motions have made chasing very difficult. I have been around several storms and tornadoes, but have not managed to get any good pictures or videos. Poor contrast, blowing dust, rain, and rapid storm motions have all accounted for the lack of good photographs.

I made two mistakes this year that cost me some of the best tornadoes of the year. After seeing "Quinter 1" on May 23, we moved away from Quinter and then unfortunately saw "Quinter 2" from about 8 miles away, so I could not get any good video of the tornado. The other mistake I made was not dropping south sooner on May 29. We did not get to the north central KS supercell until after dark, but at least we got to see a tornado!

I am definitely not complaining about this year. I have seen more tornadoes than any other year so far and I really enjoyed spending two weeks on the plains chasing. I may not have great pictures or video to show for all of my efforts, but I am still extremely happy to see what I saw this year!

 

[Bryan Putnam]

My feelings about the season are based completely on late May. I couldn't seem to make a bad decision on the 22nd, 23rd, or 29th and came out with multiple tornadoes each day.

If I ignore the happy ending however, the season has been somewhat of a disappointment. I obviously love good structure, but it won't make or break a season for me. What is frustrating though is knowing how close you were to seeing a great tornado but didn't because it was obscured in rain. Two incidents in particular come to mind: Breckenridge, TX and Stuttgart, AR. My group and I couldn't have been more than a mile from either of these tornadoes, but our only clue to their existence was driving into the damage path moments later. I think some people would add these tornadoes to their count, but I don't. I can't find any reason to be excited about seeing a rain shaft.

 

[Brandon Ivey]

It was a really good season for me with more tornadoes observed and documented this year than in any other. It was a stressful year at the same time. I saw more low-contrast/rain-wrapped/overnight tornadoes this year than any other. The only good photogenic op on tornadoes that I got this spring was on the May 24th storm in Oklahoma. Good chase day's that I screwed up this season include:

1) Not taking off work early enough on May 22nd to chase in NW KS. I chased an LP storm with large hail in SW KS that evening.

2) Taking dirt roads from 281, trying to get to 181, on the Glen Elder storm (May 29th). Those roads went to mud in minutes after the hook caught up with us. We missed the whole show while sliding around on muddy roads, trying to get back to 281 without sliding off into the ditch.

I have also had more flat tires while chasing this year than any other! My current flat tire count while chasing is up to 3!

 

[Verne Carlson]

Accord Weather Calendar

To underscore the topic of this thread even further... The Accord 2008 Weather Calendar is out and there is not a single tornado from 2008 in it. It's hard to find any good shots from 2008 in it at all, everything is from past years. 2003, 2004, 2007 are some of the previous years' tornadoes and mesos. Not much from 2008.

 

[Dustin Wilcox]

The year started out pretty good, but after the first week in June things came to a screeching halt. Whatever happened to the summer months producing a few good storms, the High Plains and Northern Plains were a pretty big let down during the late June, July and August months

 

[Shane Adams]

Whatever happened to the summer months producing a few good storms, the High Plains and Northern Plains were a pretty big let down during the late June, July and August months

Welcome to my world. Now you know what OK chasers have to deal with every other year. Climo is a great guideline but each season has its own quirks and personality. Not even the Almighty N Plains are reliable year in year out. No place is.

 

[Jason Young]

Amen Shane ,

Southern Oklahoma had a few Mod. risk day's this year and all I saw was a lot of hail. So sad. I remember in the 80's , we had quite afew spin up's . Then in the 95 we had the Ardmore tornado. Seem's S.C. Oklahoma is a drought in a way.

 

[Jason Boggs]

Ahh, just keep your spirits up because it will change sooner or later. I thought the TX Panhandle was becoming a drought for tornadoes until the 2007 season hit. Then all the thoughts about that suddenly vanished...

 

[Jonathan Behle]

Oklahoma appears to be the state of contrasts this year, I looked at a precipitation map of Oklahoma for 2008 so far and was amazed at the extreme differences in precipitation between South Central Oklahoma and NE Oklahoma...

Take a look at this map!

http://www.news9.com/global/story.asp?s=9024870

I think this is one of the problems with Oklahoma in 2008 mainly, alot of the best supercelled storms were in the Eastern parts, where the trees and hills become a big issue.

I'm hoping Western Oklahoma can light up a bit more in 2009... But we'll see how the weather pattern sets up for the winter months first.

 

[Rob Wadsworth]

This has been my first official chase season - 2008.
I bought a new car and left California (good riddance!) and came out to the farm in Iowa (just shy of 2000 miles).
I chased in Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, S.Dakota, and Minnesota.
Odometer shows 14,000/miles.

I bagged tornadoes on the ground in Kansas - only.
One of them (#2 Quinter) was regarded as one of the best tubes of the year.
I got pictures of two tornadic events - but saw a total of six tornadoes.
The rest of the mileage were great storm structures and a LOT OF ALMOST-TORNADOES AND FUNNELS.
But I learned a lot about my camera/photography, storm genesis/meteorology, and storm chasing in general.
I may be the one that has had the least experience, but I appreciate every mile I've gone so far.

Overall, I had an experience that few can appreciate and some will never know about but have often wished they could do.
I thank God for it all; it's been amazing!

Since this has been my first year, my expectations were low, so everything I gained was a definite plus+
I was approached by the County Emergency Manager to be the storm spotter for the county.
The NWS signed me up as a eSpotter -too!
It's been a year of firsts for me.
Has this year had any 'firsts' for any of you?
Does this post stay in theme with the original thread?

 

[Dean Baron]

about the only day i got any decent pics was May 31st in a northwesterly flow setup. nice persistent wall cloud and a TOR warned storm, but other than that, not much. i was on the storm that passed just south of Spencer, IA on June 11th, and we were only about 1-2 miles south of the tornado, but there was an unimaginable amound of precip with that storm so even being that close to the tornado we never actually visually see it, although we did see the farmhouse that got hit. from what i've heard, this pretty much sounds like just about everyone else's season.