how early do you get to your target? and your biggest Uh Oh?

[Skip Talbot]

I'm envious Kurt. Of course I got all my facts wrong... as usual. We busted hard that day and went for the mammatus consolation prize. Adding insult to injury. My nonchase friend spotted that tornado from I-55, driving home from school. "It was huge! Dozens of professional storm chasers were pulled over taking pictures of it!" What a slap in the face. Anyway, I'm glad I finally found one of the "dozens." Nice pictures, the rope stage is always the most pretty in my opinion.

 

[Shane Adams]

I didn't see the "biggst uh oh" part of the thread....

May 22 last year. Our target was dead-on, and we sat there over three hours waiting. Then storms started firing all around us, several miles away, and I was beginning to think we were standing around missing a major outbreak, so we bailed at the last minute and raced west towards a storm an hour west of us. Just as we reached it, we looked back east (for the first time) and saw a nuclear bomb going off - right where we'd been all day. The storm that eventually produced the Daykin & Hallam tornadoes developed 20 miles south of where we'd been all day.

The storm we eventually caught further west produced photogenic tornadoes before we got to it, but only managed a weak, brief tornado for us. Hardly a "great" day during a major outbreak.

 

[Amos Magliocco]

I missed the 'uh oh' part as well.

I had a lot of 'uh-ohs' so I'll pick my favorite: May 24th. Started in southern Nebraska, as usual, and witnessed the birth of the supercell that eventually produced the Albany, Missouri tornado. But on its way to that fame and fortune, it took a dump near the Missouri border--looked awful both visually and on radar, then the tornado warning was dropped.

That sequence of degradation, along with heading into the trees and hills (confirmed by three Missouri residents caravaning with me) fit all the criteria for abandoning a storm. So we left it and raced back west to the Republic County, Kansas storm which had been producing multiple tornadoes, a trapeeze act, and a monkey who could read Joyce through a megaphone.

We put a stop to that.

As soon as we arrived, the storm produced one last meager midlevel funnel and became post-FROPA elevated with a big sign hung under the RFB: "You should have seen me an hour ago. Wow."

So, we raced to Topeka, where new storms were firing, and some inside information alleged that the SPC was VERY concerned about convection in that area, with a combination of good instability and mammoth SRH values. They produced all right, but well before we arrived, and were solidly HP mushbomb material by the time we had them in our viewfinders.

I stopped answering on the radio and drove south, without a destination--frustrated beyond belief--and thinking I could make Mexico by morning and assume an alias to avoid the shame and infamy of May 24th, 2004.

 

[Tony Laubach]

I missed the 'uh oh' part as well.

I had a lot of 'uh-ohs' so I'll pick my favorite: May 24th. Started in southern Nebraska, as usual, and witnessed the birth of the supercell that eventually produced the Albany, Missouri tornado. But on its way to that fame and fortune, it took a dump near the Missouri border--looked awful both visually and on radar, then the tornado warning was dropped.

That sequence of degradation, along with heading into the trees and hills (confirmed by three Missouri residents caravaning with me) fit all the criteria for abandoning a storm. So we left it and raced back west to the Republic County, Kansas storm which had been producing multiple tornadoes, a trapeeze act, and a monkey who could read Joyce through a megaphone.

We put a stop to that.

As soon as we arrived, the storm produced one last meager midlevel funnel and became post-FROPA elevated with a big sign hung under the RFB: "You should have seen me an hour ago. Wow."

So, we raced to Topeka, where new storms were firing, and some inside information alleged that the SPC was VERY concerned about convection in that area, with a combination of good instability and mammoth SRH values. They produced all right, but well before we arrived, and were solidly HP mushbomb material by the time we had them in our viewfinders.

I stopped answering on the radio and drove south, without a destination--frustrated beyond belief--and thinking I could make Mexico by morning and assume an alias to avoid the shame and infamy of May 24th, 2004.

And to end that day (I was with Amos through that fun afternoon), I was held up a gun point by Topeka cops at a Motel 6 as they were busting someone with drugs downstairs. All I wanted to do was get some ice! :lol: Definately a moment where I was saying "Uh oh!"

 

[Tim Stoecklein]

Some "ice" huh? :lol:

 

[Amos Magliocco]

I stopped answering on the radio and drove south, without a destination--frustrated beyond belief--and thinking I could make Mexico by morning and assume an alias to avoid the shame and infamy of May 24th, 2004.

And to end that day (I was with Amos through that fun afternoon), I was held up a gun point by Topeka cops at a Motel 6 as they were busting someone with drugs downstairs. All I wanted to do was get some ice! :lol:

Jeeeez, Tony. I don't think you ever told me that. LOL! As bad as we were on the 24th, I'm sort of not surprised that people were pointing guns at us.

AM

 

[Tony Laubach]

Jeeeez, Tony. I don't think you ever told me that. LOL! As bad as we were on the 24th, I'm sort of not surprised that people were pointing guns at us.

I swore I said that at least once or twice! *LOL* My poor girlfriend who had endured her first major chase that ended up like it did (heck, screw the tornadoes, I'm even more ticked I missed the monkey :lol: ), had to watch me walk in wide-eyed because I almost ended up shot! :lol: Yeah, it was an intense day, that's for sure! And who knows, maybe someone near Topeka was pointing guns! We just couldn't see it through the rotating rain curtain just off the highway or the insane wind-driven precip on our way into what could've been a "wedge" or "emergency"! :lol:

I stopped answering on the radio and drove south, without a destination--frustrated beyond belief--and thinking I could make Mexico by morning and assume an alias to avoid the shame and infamy of May 24th, 2004.

You may have had a few gun run-ins had you gone that route! :shock: :lol:

 

[Skip Talbot]

Excellent narrative Amos, and good story Tony. Tales like that make reading bust logs highly entertaining.

::fidgets in seat:: 94 days, 18:09:12... 94 days, 18:09:11... 94 days, 18:09:10...

 

[Shane Adams]

I missed the 'uh oh' part as well.

I had a lot of 'uh-ohs' so I'll pick my favorite: May 24th. Started in southern Nebraska, as usual, and witnessed the birth of the supercell that eventually produced the Albany, Missouri tornado. But on its way to that fame and fortune, it took a dump near the Missouri border--looked awful both visually and on radar, then the tornado warning was dropped.

That sequence of degradation, along with heading into the trees and hills (confirmed by three Missouri residents caravaning with me) fit all the criteria for abandoning a storm. So we left it and raced back west to the Republic County, Kansas storm which had been producing multiple tornadoes, a trapeeze act, and a monkey who could read Joyce through a megaphone.

We put a stop to that.

As soon as we arrived, the storm produced one last meager midlevel funnel and became post-FROPA elevated with a big sign hung under the RFB: "You should have seen me an hour ago. Wow."

So, we raced to Topeka, where new storms were firing, and some inside information alleged that the SPC was VERY concerned about convection in that area, with a combination of good instability and mammoth SRH values. They produced all right, but well before we arrived, and were solidly HP mushbomb material by the time we had them in our viewfinders.

I stopped answering on the radio and drove south, without a destination--frustrated beyond belief--and thinking I could make Mexico by morning and assume an alias to avoid the shame and infamy of May 24th, 2004.

I think we read for the same part Amos, because the script we ended up with looked almost identical: abandoned the first cell near the river, raced west to the tornado factory but missed all the ones people remember, and ended the day nearing Topeka with high hopes, hearing tornado reports and nowcast tales of 120-kt shear markers on 88D. Got into some very mean-looking stuff, to the point where I wouldn't take us further into it unless I could see other cars ahead (after all, if you see a car fly away ahead of you you have a cushion). It looked like a classic, scary, metropolitan tornado situation (the kind you see on TV specials) except there was no tornado.

There was nothing to do, nothing to say, just head south with lumps in our throats and myself saying repeatedly in my head "we said we weren't going to blow it again...."

 

[Jeff Lawson]

So we left it and raced back west to the Republic County, Kansas storm which had been producing multiple tornadoes, a trapeeze act, and a monkey who could read Joyce through a megaphone.

I think I remember calling you during that time with a nowcast update, thinking "Geez, I'd hate to be in their shoes right now," as the front was already overtaking the storm by that point (after it had produced a kajillion tornadoes, of course).

 

[Jeff Wear]

I usually work until 2pm so it's rare I'm ever able to leave before then, but then again I rarely chase more than a 4 or 5 hour drive away from home. I try to time it so I get to my target right as the storms are going up - though like others this approach has caused me to get on some storms too late.

Those of you who missed the Topeka area storms on May 24 - don't feel too bad....I was on the storm that allegedly produced tornadoes in the Harveyville/Auburn area from initiation and never saw anything either. I think my biggest uh oh that day was making the drive all the way up there in the first place while several tornadoes occurred within a couple hours drive of Norman.

 

[ckbehnke]

Thank you everyone for your thoughts. Definantly some things to think about. For me personally, I love the idea of sitting on the dryline two hours before initiation in the Plains. That to me sounds like nothing but fun. However, in WI, you can't sit on a field two hours before initiation and watch the towers go up. Just can't do it. So that is the big problem I deal with. Also it seems with the easier access to Wi-fi it's harder to remove oneself from the data. It is more tempting to decide which cell looks best from radar vs. using ones eyes and feeling the situation out. Spend the morning forecasting, update and analyze at mid-day, get there early and trust my forecast. That is my philosophy for the coming season.

 

[Geoff Boyle]

It depends what region of the that I'm in. Most regions in my provence have their own "Storm Seasons" during the summer months. When you get the timing just right, quality storms are waiting for you on the horizon.