JIM SELLARS
Guest
After reading some of the other threads I thought I'd start one....Back in the late 90's I had one chase where I drove 1203 miles in about 25 hours and only saw golfball size hail....Luckily gas was about $1.15 a gallon...
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Most miles traveled on a bust?
- Thread starter JIM SELLARS
- Start date
Darrin Rasberry
Of course the second run (the one I have listed on this year's "record" as a contested "tie" since I thought there was one in the dark but the emergency operator rejected my report) was a totally random hit during an unrelated trip home, but my first chase EVER occurred on my own doorstep, the June 21st bust in Ames. So the answer for me is about thirty miles.
I have a feeling this will be dust and ashes by the end of probably even March, though ...
I have a feeling this will be dust and ashes by the end of probably even March, though ...
Shane Adams
June 4, 1999
That was the first time I ever chased into Nebraska. We hit our target, waited on initiation, and actually nailed it because the storms went up just south of us. We went to go after them and my chase partner's car wouldn't start. We were on the east edge of Imperial, so we had to flag down a guy. My partner rode into town with him (since it was his car) while I just stood around watching our storms get smaller and smaller as they moved away. Eventually they made it back with a charger, but by then we were so far behind it was pointless. I asked my partner how old his battery was, to which he replied "about five years." So I made him leave the motor running all the way back, even during stops. He was worried it would be too hard on his engine but I refused to let him kill it. When we finally rolled up to my apartment the next morning, he killed the car. I said "try to start it again." It was dead.
Total mileage: 1,356
That was the first time I ever chased into Nebraska. We hit our target, waited on initiation, and actually nailed it because the storms went up just south of us. We went to go after them and my chase partner's car wouldn't start. We were on the east edge of Imperial, so we had to flag down a guy. My partner rode into town with him (since it was his car) while I just stood around watching our storms get smaller and smaller as they moved away. Eventually they made it back with a charger, but by then we were so far behind it was pointless. I asked my partner how old his battery was, to which he replied "about five years." So I made him leave the motor running all the way back, even during stops. He was worried it would be too hard on his engine but I refused to let him kill it. When we finally rolled up to my apartment the next morning, he killed the car. I said "try to start it again." It was dead.
Total mileage: 1,356
Dan Robinson
I've had many 3,000+ mile busts, and even a couple of ones over 4,000 if you count a multi-day chase trip. Of course that includes the 1000 miles each way from West Virginia, but miles I have to pay for nonetheless.
afischer
EF4
1640 miles to Bowman ND and back on June 26, 2005 (consider it a bust, as I abandoned my original target 60 miles farther east and missed a tornadoes as a result)
1600 miles to Plainview TX and back on April 20, 2002 (second chase ever... convection formed on the DL just south of the TP, screamed across the WF, and died... this event nearly earned a High Risk from SPC)
1600 miles to Plainview TX and back on April 20, 2002 (second chase ever... convection formed on the DL just south of the TP, screamed across the WF, and died... this event nearly earned a High Risk from SPC)
Scott Olson
EF5
On March 12th, 2005 I drove from Brookings, Dakoa to near Paris Texas. Missing the tornado by minutes. I got a junky squall line near Tulsa at midnight and that was it. A total bust. It was around 50 hours straight in the car and certainly well over 1,200 miles.
Mikey Gribble
EF5
I don't remember the date, but it was in the spring of 2005. I drove to Saint Cloud, Minnesota (from Wichita) and turned right around and came home (because storms fired and were going linear). It always seems like a great idea until the reality of the situation dawns on you and you realize it's a bust. I get that knot in my stomach feeling and think to myself "what in the hell am I doing here". Then I slowly torture myself with the thought of a 13 hour drive home. Those long distance busts are not fun.
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Fabian Guerra
EF1
I usually take a couple weeks of chasecation in May but I've had a few 2-day marathon busts from Chicago-to-Kansas, Chicago-to-Nebraska, and more than my fair share of Chicago-to-Iowa excursions. I'm talkin about 1000-2500 mile round trips with nothing seen but a capped, blue sky in some cases.
As most of you know many of the best potential chase days have a moderate to strong cap predicted to be in place along with all the good stuff that we look for. Living in the plains you can wake up, look at the soundings, satellites and surface maps throughout the morning and early afternoon and make a decsion later in the day but when you live an 8-14 hour drive from a realistic target one has to leave a good 24-30 hours before initiation to be in place and allow for adjustments. Sometimes it pays off big and sometimes its a total bust only to arrive home broke, tired and due to work in a couple hours on no sleep. The fact of the matter is that you cant witness the best storms on earth unless you get off your behind and take the leap of faith from time to time...
As most of you know many of the best potential chase days have a moderate to strong cap predicted to be in place along with all the good stuff that we look for. Living in the plains you can wake up, look at the soundings, satellites and surface maps throughout the morning and early afternoon and make a decsion later in the day but when you live an 8-14 hour drive from a realistic target one has to leave a good 24-30 hours before initiation to be in place and allow for adjustments. Sometimes it pays off big and sometimes its a total bust only to arrive home broke, tired and due to work in a couple hours on no sleep. The fact of the matter is that you cant witness the best storms on earth unless you get off your behind and take the leap of faith from time to time...
Bob Hartig
EF5
The longest miles driven on a bust? That would be early March of last year, 2006. My chase partner, Bill Oosterbaan, and I drove around 1,800 miles in maybe thirty hours chasing what turned out to be just a big old severe squall line from Mississippi through northern Alabama. In all fairness, it was a humdinger of a storm, but it sure wasn't worth that kind of an investment.
Jerry Prsha
EF4
Eeeeeeeeeeeewwww.. About 2,000 miles. Took a week off in the middle of May in 2006. Drove to OK City and headed South. Just missed a line of storms through Dallas and although the storms were TOR Warned, we missed them because of all of the traffic. Spent the night in Waco and headed west. Another night in Midland and then went towards Roswell hoping to catch something off the mountains. Again, got sprinkles on the windshield.
It just sucked to take off that much time and get nothing. We ended up driving up to Wakita to see the museum and just taking a tour of Oklahoma in general because we had the time.
I just won't schedule a week off in advance anymore. All I got was a sunburn!
It just sucked to take off that much time and get nothing. We ended up driving up to Wakita to see the museum and just taking a tour of Oklahoma in general because we had the time.
I just won't schedule a week off in advance anymore. All I got was a sunburn!
Eric Treece
EF2
I think the longest was from Denver to Norfolk NE and I watched the sunset. The CAP killed any kind of initiation. That was a long long drive back home.
Craig Maire II
North central Nebraska on 06/22/03, sat under blue skys with just a few cumulus humulus clouds to taunt me along with the ever present PDS tornado watch blaring away on my weather radio, if I would have just drove south I might have witnessed severe weather including the 7 inch diamter hail that fell in Auroa Nebraska 
Was definitely a learning experience that I will try not to let happen again; but I do live in the BUST state of Iowa so I know I'll be sitting under some blue clear skies next year waiting for storms that will never materialize but each bust is a learning experience and you can't bag a good storm everytime or it would be to easy and lose some of it's magic appeal...
P.S. I did redeem myself the following day (06/23/03) when I witnessed 3 inch diameter hail and had an F4 tornado touch down very close to the farm I was at
Was definitely a learning experience that I will try not to let happen again; but I do live in the BUST state of Iowa so I know I'll be sitting under some blue clear skies next year waiting for storms that will never materialize but each bust is a learning experience and you can't bag a good storm everytime or it would be to easy and lose some of it's magic appeal...P.S. I did redeem myself the following day (06/23/03) when I witnessed 3 inch diameter hail and had an F4 tornado touch down very close to the farm I was at
Jason Branz
EF2
Lubbock TX to Medicine Lodge KS...not once, but twice. The first one was in June of 2000, I think...can't remember the exact day. We drove all the way up there for a marginal setup and went back empty-handed.
The second one was more painful: June 3, 2001. We sat and sat near P28 for the longest time, waiting for the cap to break, then decided to head back right before sunset. As we were heading west from Alva, I looked north and saw a beautiful storm going up back to the north. I remember some chasers seeing a tornado with that one near Anthony. All I got was a pretty picture of the backshear over a wheat field. We atoned for that bust with a gentleman's chase a couple of days later, observing a landspout and some awesome mammatus near Floydada. But that bust made me dislike Medicine Lodge, at least until 2004.
The second one was more painful: June 3, 2001. We sat and sat near P28 for the longest time, waiting for the cap to break, then decided to head back right before sunset. As we were heading west from Alva, I looked north and saw a beautiful storm going up back to the north. I remember some chasers seeing a tornado with that one near Anthony. All I got was a pretty picture of the backshear over a wheat field. We atoned for that bust with a gentleman's chase a couple of days later, observing a landspout and some awesome mammatus near Floydada. But that bust made me dislike Medicine Lodge, at least until 2004.
David Drummond
Member
Lubbock, TX to Northern Iowa. Saw lots of clouds.
Darrin Rasberry
Ugh. That.
I hope you didn't make the mistake I did the first time and go up to Amarillo and over to OKC before I-35. Even with the partial 1-lane it's better to take 82 back to Wichita Falls and swing up on I-44. Somehow it melts about an hour off the clock going that way, even though when I did it I usually caved in to my mom's "get here and see your mother at once!" requests. Yeah yeah late twenties, but grow up in Texas and you'll see what I mean, my dad still does it and his mom is ninety
There's also Dublin Dr. Pepper on the way throughout the stores on 82. Given how that whole block fifty miles N and S of 82 on that stretch has looked since 2002 with the exception of Throckmorton, that's about the best thing anyone is gonna see on a chase in that area (I've of course looked for years but until now not been willing to touch).
I just checked our Tornado Warning list after I remembered I had a semi-chase in late August that I retracted on after seeing a cell change direction and seeing the sun go down, as it usually does, faster than expected. There was surprisingly very little, and for some reason a few repeats, and I'd remembered most of them as they came out. Maybe this year will be better if they all dump out into cornfields.
