How was the 2004 chase season for you?

[David Sallee]

Can't really say I had a "great" year but for my experience level and # of chase days, it was good for me...

Chase Days = 5*
Tornado Days = 1* (my very first Tornado)
Funnels seen = 4* (my 1st funnels too)
Hail Size = 1.5*
States Chased = 2* - Mo & Ok
Miles Chased = 1200*

*= Personal best or highs

Last year (my 1st year) I chased a total of 2 times... mostly got lightning shots....

Dave

 

[James McCormick]

I voted this chase season an 'excellent' chase season for results and success of chases. I enjoy the hunt, and it truly was outstanding in the number of days that I was able to get out and about in Nebraska and northern Kansas. Just a couple of decision from being an oustanding season for results as well. Still hoping for a shot or two on the high plains here in July.

The season seemed a lot better for photogenetic tornadoes in Nebraska. The past couple of years it has always seemed that we have been fighting precipitation or precipitation wrapping around the tornado for photos. This year, several tornadoes (Amelia, NE; southern Rock county, NE - 5/16, Hader, NE - 5/21, Precept, NE - 5/22, Mound City, MO - 5/24) were very photogenetic with the wall cloud seperated from the precipitation. Another big plus this year was the lack of hail we encountered. A couple of golf balls from an RFD near Orleans, NE on 5/22 were the biggest hailstones we saw. I was particularly thrilled to see a couple of storms from the point of the cap breaking through the tornado (5/21 in C/NE Nebraska most notably).

Strangest/Most exciting day was May 22nd. Started in Furnas county, NE, around 4:30 and spent most of the next 5 hours south or southwest (and eventually east) of tornadic supercells, viewing numerous wall clouds and funnels while bagging three confirmed tornadoes, all south of the formidable precipitation core to our north.

One big item I missed this year was the cyclical supercell that kept producing tornadoes. Also fell out of position early with bad initiation points on a couple of big days (May 29th most notably). Only 'bust' was a day (June 15) in which nothing really materialized after models had indicated the day was worth taking off 48 hours in advance. Missed June 13th in Nebraska big time by not paying enough attention to the radar data on the storm when it first strengthened. Tough to miss a tornado that close to home.

Not sure how many miles we chased - May 21-24 was over 2,000 miles in 3 chases alone, and May 16th, June 10th, June 12th, and June 15th were long days as well. Was well over 3000 miles (maybe over 4K), which is well over the distance for any season I have ever traveled before.

James

 

[Jamie Lahowetz]

This season was excellent. I learned so much and even though i did not spot any tornadoes (I'm still a rookie) i gained a mound of experience and have came off this year very happy. I observed a wall cloud and a few occurences of golfball size hail. Having so much "action" around home this year gave me plenty of chances to practice my meteorology and link it to actual observations. It was Great.

 

[Bill Tabor]

It was good for me. Obviously there were a lot of good tornadic episodes and I chased a fair amount (10 chases or so), but I purposely chose not to go on the best events even though I forecasted them very accurately. My target areas were usually within one county of where the tornadoes occurred. Too bad it had to go this way for me, but I just had other priorities this year which preempted me going. There were a couple of instances where I went that didn't turn out as good as they could have. On one of my early chases I caught the Tulsa Sapulpa tornado, but couldn't get a place to park, and videotape it well while it was still on the ground. Even though I caught the tornado, my shots of it are not good. On May 29th I left late to catch my intentional target in KS, and in OKC pulled the antenna out of my cell phone causing me to lose any current updates. I went west instead (because of time) to catch the dryline. I caught a great storm with tornadoes, but didn't know about the Harper storm on the KS border. Had I had data it may have been different. The day of Mulvane I actually did a poor forecast IMO and stayed north too long. Once again I was unable to get hardly any data in KS (for some cellular reason) and was able to decide only too late to break for the area south of Wichita (aka Mulvane). I arrived and chased the storm in the dusk / dark, but missed the great daytime show spectacle.

Not sure of my stats, because I haven't bothered to try and calculate them yet. I can't complain though because it was my choice not to go after numerous storms such as Attica, or near the Tx / Ok panhandle another time, and also the series that occurred early in IA/NE. No doubt I would have had bunch of torns on video like a lot of others had I made the effort.

Also, I can't complain because I did capture a lot of weaker torns, and saw some incredible supercells and storms. A lot of these are on my website with pictures, accounts, and some video. Check some of them out here: http://www.tornadoxtreme.com/2004_Chases/2...004_chases.html

In summary had I chose to chase all of it I believe I would have categorized it as excellent for me; however since I didn't I would rate it as good.

 

[Jimmy Deguara]

Hi,

View attachment d3eb1eaba6d700fc4d8b994c5287b68a.jpg David Croan and I enjoyed the 2004 season immensely - excellent structures and quite a few tornadoes whilst we were in the US. Being in the US for 6 weeks total, mostly 3 weeks were productive. The following are some of the photographs and video stills for SOME of the events.

View attachment cbc9c8d879afceb93f8cfea78211104f.jpg
http://www.australiasevereweather.com/phot...jd20040627.html
View attachment 6595b07fb154884819cad919b5c2a95a.jpg
http://www.australiasevereweather.com/phot...jd20040627.html

12th May 2004
http://www.australiasevereweather.com/vide...4/20040512.html

24th May 2004
http://www.australiasevereweather.com/vide...4/20040524.html

29th May 2004
http://www.australiasevereweather.com/vide...4/20040529.html

Regards,

Jimmy

 

[nickgrillo]

I voted Outstanding. As of July 14th...

CHASES - 15
SUCCESSFUL CHASES - 13
MILES - 3,000+
TORNADOES - 4
FUNNELS - 12+
HIGHEST WIND EXPIERENCED - 100 mph (Central Indiana)
LARGEST HAIL EXPIERENCED - 1"+ on May 6
TORNADO DAYS - 4
STATES CHASED - MI, IN, IL, OH



July and August are still very active monthes for the Upper Midwest, so we'll see...