The June 12 Rock, Kansas tornado for me personifies why this season has been so phenomenal - the storms did exactly what you wanted them to - and then some - over and over again.
After so many years of watching storms 'almost do it' then fall apart for one of various reasons, 2004 was the year when the storms went from high based to low based, from rain-free base to wall cloud, from wall cloud to funnel, to debris swirling on the ground......time and time again. The days of going home disappointed were overshadowed by the numerous days of going home awed, exhilarated and above all, satisfied.
The Rock tornado, while not the longest and most dramatic of the year for me, in my opinion is the epitome of why we chase. A wall cloud that waited patiently for us to stop and set up our cameras, then slowly and perfectly gave us a show from start to finish, topped off with spinning condensation all the way to the ground in front of a golden sunset-tinted sky. The wall cloud even moved west and parked over a break in the treeline in front of us, dropping the tornado in between the gap in the trees so it was completely visible the entire time. The tornado even stayed stationary between that gap for its entire life cycle, not moving out of view once - how could you ask for a better gift than that!!
I had an unofficial 'list' of tornado 'goals' (things I'd like to see in my lifetime) going into 2004, many of which I thought I would have to chase for 20 years to fulfill. The list included things like photogenic tornadoes, to hear the sounds, to get tornadoes at varying lighting conditions (frontlit, backlit), to get a debris cloud shot similar to 6/8/95 Pampa TX, to see a wedge tornado, etc. After 2004, the only item left undone on my 'list' is the wedge. And that's why 2004 gets my vote for OUTSTANDING.
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