Longest single-day trip while chasing

[afischer]

My longest uninterrupted chase was June 12-13 2005, going from Kansas City to Hamlin TX and back in 25.5 hours (5:00am till 6:30am)... some 1500 miles. This is not something I'll do again anytime soon, but I wanted to get back home to potentially chase the next day to my northeast.

Just did an even higher-mileage trip for SW ND yesterday, but wisely got a hotel after the chase. Some of these marginal days, you wonder if the wear-and-tear on your car is even worth it. But the first marginal-looking day I sit out... mesoscale magic and a tor outbreak.

 

[Mike Peregrine]

My longest chase day is the same as Andy Fischer's ... not surprising since we live in the same area I guess - but I think it turned out to be a long day for a lot of chasers, including the Denver crew, because none of us completely expected to have to go that far south. Felt worse for Doug Mitchell, though - since he was coming clear from Minnesota. I was on the road for a full 24 hours straight on June 12-13, all except for a couple of hours of which I was behind the wheel.

 

[John Massura]

My longest chase day was some bust day a few years ago, we drove about 1800 miles in 27 hours. Luckily we were able to rotate drivers.

We left around 2am from Omaha for a MDT in SW OK/NW TX, picked up a partner in Lincoln, then headed to Hastings to pick up another friend. We all piled into one car and made it to OKC by noon, on the backedge of a huge morning MCS. At this point we had serious doubts, but we still pushed for Childress. We putzed around for a short time before realizing nothing was going to happen, and drove back to Hastings/Lincoln/Omaha, and I arrived back in Omaha around 5-6am.

 

[Anthony Silver]

During the May 2003 events I drove for 48 hours straight a couple of times, once on May 4th...and again on May 9th trying to catch up with storms spanning from Nebraska all the way down to Texas. It was a rough go...but some good times. :wink:

 

[Tony Laubach]

I have several marathon chases which I've recorded in the past few years... I'll rank these by mileage. The date was the target day as a couple of these were over three different "dates". All were single chase events, no back-to-back chase days.

April 19, 2003: 1814 miles in 38 hours (Outcome = busted).
May 24, 2004: 1706 miles in less than 36 hours (Outcome = high risk bust).
June 12, 2005: 1573 miles in 40 hours (Outcome = 1 tornado). We did 906 miles in 18 hours Sunday from Denver, CO to Snyder, TX.
April 5, 2005: 1350 miles in less than 36 hours (Outcome = not bad).
May 5, 2002: 1296 miles in 20 hours (Outcome = did okay).
April 10, 2005: 1186 miles in less than 40 hours (Outcome = 5 tornadoes). Blizzard left us stranded in KS for a bit before we could return home.
April 17, 2005: 1075 miles in 48 hours (Outcome = bust). I had a throat infection during this trip which ended me in the ER when I returned.
October 22, 2004: 1074 miles in less than 36 hours (Outcome= bust).
May 15, 2003: 968 in 22.5 hours (Outcome = 2 tornadoes). Slept 4 hours before and after this trip.

TOTAL MILEAGE FROM 8 TRIPS: 12,060

Sucks the top 2 longest where both busts! :lol:

 

[SteveCarter]

June 2-4, 2005. 1,786 miles in 33 hours. Left Seneca, SC at 6PM on the 2nd, and drove to Morrison, Illinois to pick up a friend. I got there around 7AM, and WAS going to stay there for some sleep, but saw the potential for tubes in the Wichita - Topeka area later that afternoon, and didn't want to miss it. So, after loading up, we left immediately for Wichita, and got there around 6PM, and continued to Ark City on the OK/KS border. Great storm, dropped a tornado AFTER we left to go back north to Topeka, to get ready for the next days storms. Talk about tired!! And after all that, Saturday - the 4th was a bust for ME, but some other chasers had a good day. Would I do it again? In a heartbeat