So... what's the verdict... 2011 chase season

[Bryan Stokes]

I tend to only chase the classic territories of the Central Plains and the High Plains, so for me, this hasn't been a good year. But hey, we're still chasing and it's still fun, even if we're chasing less than optimal setups. We've been out for the last 6 days and haven't had a good stand-alone supercell yet, but maybe it will get better!

Bryan

 

[Paul Townsend]

Paul, do you by any chance have any pictures or video of this storm? The tornado path went about a mile south of my apartment south of Madison, but I couldn't see much due to trees and buildings. A friend of mine was able to get some footage of a funnel, but that's about it. We have been looking for footage of it, but haven't seen any yet. Do you have any, or know of any at all?

Brad, I only have video of the multivortex northwest of Mount Horeb, and even that was very dark at a few minutes past 7:00! I was making my way eastward along county PD when I took an excursion south on county M but it was so dark that I couldn't make anything out. I beat it back north and then east on PD and right before I got to the residential area on PD (Madison city limits here I believe), I saw a powerflash to my southwest or south-southwest. This was most likely from a Verona transformer.

edit: Kansas was bad to me this year as I was shutout on both May 11 and May 19, but I did get to chase in CO for the first time on the 11th...
Unnecessary family activity kept me from the far eastern MO/central IL goodness on April 19
Multiple inclusions in tornado warning polygons occurred at home while I was out chasing

 

[Andrew Stoller]

The last few days in Colorado have made for a helluva a rebound. No confirmed tornadoes, but phenomenal shelf cloud structure/HP damaging outflow storms and snowstorm like hail.

 

[Michael Riedl]

Closed Lows Suck in KS this year.

KS sucked, Oklahoma was better.

The Western States need rain, which has been close to none existent.

 

[Kym Puga PhD]

Last night was pretty good here in north central Oklahoma although it died out without a funnel...

The last few days in Colorado have made for a helluva a rebound. No confirmed tornadoes, but phenomenal shelf cloud structure/HP damaging outflow storms and snowstorm like hail.

 

[Drew.Gardonia]

here's an interesting article on the 2011 Tornado Season from a "factual" stand point.

http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/climate-weather/stories/infographic-tornadoes-of-2011?hpt=hp_bn11

 

[Kym Puga PhD]

Great information, thanks for posting....

 

[Adam Simone]

I'm a little late to this thread because I was waiting to get a couple more chases in but here's my verdict. 2011 was my Rookie year storm chasing. It definitely had a lot of ups and downs as I'm learning all storm chasers go through. I did not get a tornado this year but I still consider it a successful year. The amount of knowledge I've learned from this site and studying on my own and the experience I gained this season was the most important reason I call it a success.

The season started off good on April 3 in NE Kansas. Made a last second decision to chase after seeing a super cell form west of Topeka. I learned quickly how much multi-tasking chasing took. From reading the radar to taking pictures and video, to making sure the live stream was working, and to the most important thing driving there was a lot of things to do. I ended up seeing the gustnado that was north of Lawrence but from a pretty long distance away. I also misjudged the path of the storm and pretty much took a direct hit by the hail core instead of being south of it like I wanted to be.

3rd chase of the year I got my first tornado warned storm. It was April 22 in Central Missouri. The storm had a nice wall cloud but never produced a tornado for me. I stopped chasing in Jefferson City and I believe that storm produced one of the tornadoes in the St. Louis area later that night. The next couple chases were bust then they day after the Joplin tornado I had a last second chase in the KC area. Did not get a tornado that day either but amazingly had over 2,000 viewers on my live stream which as a rookie I thought that was pretty cool. It really energized me and kept my hopes high.

Of course the next 2 chases were bust and really had me down chase wise. The 2nd bust was about a week ago in northern Missouri. On the drive up to my target area I ended up breaking my USB data card somehow and then the only radar I had was my i-phone which died on me after a couple hours. The storms were really struggling to stay together anyways so I called it quits and went home. Later that night there was a tornado in central Missouri not too far from where I had been. I thought about calling it quits for good. I had been on 9 chases this year wasted too much money on gas and other equipment and have had basically zero success. I really didn't know if it was worth it anymore.

A few days later I got a new data card and gave it another try. I target north central Kansas and was in great position for the super cell that formed south of Junction City. It ended up being the best chase of the year. I saw great structure and multiple funnel clouds. Just seeing mother nature at its finest like that is a feeling hard to describe.

Now it kind of sucks knowing the season is probably over. Next year seems like forever away. I'm glad I decided to pursue the goal of mine of being a successful storm chaser. It's something I've always wanted to do since I was a little kid. I have no doubt next year will be even better. All I can do is keep studying the weather and keep getting more experience. I wanted to think all the veterans on here for helping us new guys like you do. I've learned a lot by reading this forum. Sorry this was so long I had a lot to say

 

[cdcollura]

Good day all,

I am definitely not complaining about 2011. For me, despite not being out as long or often as I would have liked, I still got in on lots of action.

I started a new job so heading out for anything was impossible (from FL), but my first real score was a single day chase in Texas on Easter Sunday 2011.

Above: Easter Sunday near Baird, TX (April 24).

My main chase trip, the 10+ day trip in the end of May, landed me in the thick of the activity, although witnessing the utter (and sad) tragedy in Joplin, MO (May 22).

Above: Joplin, MO (After May 22 EF-5) ... Not something chasers like to see.

Above: May 21 near Sulphur, OK.

Above: May 24 (EF-5) south of Calumet, OK.

Above: Tornado on I-40 on May 24.

Above: Nice big hail on May 23 (OK).

Again, mid-late june had some activity as well, but I was not able to get out for that.

Now it's time for hurricanes!

 

[Verne Carlson]

All it takes is one day to make your whole season. For me it was May 24th. There have been so many days that looked good on paper but didn't materialize. It's definately been a year of tornadoes outside of tornado alley.

 

[Kym Puga PhD]

June 20, amazing images

here are the images and video I got on the Oklahoma Kansas border while everyone else hit Nebraska....the most amazing structure I have ever seen....
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=2058335745667&saved
[URL="http://kympuga.smugmug.com/Nature/Storm-Chasing-2011/17685408_7X3L24#1349025785_934szdv"]
http://kympuga.smugmug.com/Nature/Storm-Chasing-2011/17685408_7X3L24#1349025785_934szdv[/URL]

 

[Christopher Jacobs]

I can't complain too much about my chase trip this year. I only get to put in a two week chase trip to the plains about once every 3 years or so, so I'll take what I can get. I was able to chase May 22nd - May 24th this year. I'm usually just hoping that there will be some active weather during my two week trip rather than a death ridge, and definately got that wish this season. I was certainly more of an emotional trip this year due to the destruction that occurred. I have never experienced anything like that before.

I was on the Joplin storm on the 22nd, but was behind the storm when the tornado occurred. I wasn't really tempted to drive into that rain rapped mess, so I stayed on the perimeter of the storm and got some great lightning shots from it.

May 23rd was a very enjoyable chase due to the slower storm speeds. I was on the Gotebo, OK storm, which was a nice, leisurely chase until it died.

But, i'm still kicking myself for May 24th. I chased the two storms that formed south of the Chickasha storm. I was originally going to stick to the Chickasha storm but made a last minute decision to break off of it and chase the two other storms. I saw some amazing rotating supercells and wall clouds, but missed the tornadoes.

Anyway, I only had two complaints from this trip. I would have liked slower storm speeds/better visibility on the 24th and the lack of a death ridge after the 24th. But hey, I guess mother nature decides what is going to happen.

One of my favorite shots from the trip. May 23rd Gotebo storm, 6 images stiched together. Low contrast shot so I had to boost that a bit.

 

[Ryan Pfeifer]

I don't tend to drive more than 4 hours from home to get on a storm, and this year was pretty good for where I live (Omaha, NE). I missed a perfect long-lived supercell in western Iowa (I believe it was the Mapleton one) in early April because I was in Portland, but June 20th was also a very quality outbreak close to me and I finally got a good visual on a tornado. Three actually. Every other good outbreak I've gotten on around here I've only managed rain-wrapped tornadoes.

 

[Paul Townsend]

My best year in terms of number of tornadoes, so far, with more to come I hope.

4 tornadoes in northwest IA on April 9.

3 tornadoes in far southeast MN/western WI on May 22 including the Hokah, MN area ridge-rider and the Sparta, WI powerflash producer just wsw of the WI 16/I 90 interchange

3 tornadoes in the Canton/Fairview, OK area on May 24

2 tornadoes in the Sedalia, MO area on May 25

2 tornadoes in sw WI on June 8 including a widely spaced in time and space, multivortex tornado just northwest of Mount Horeb

Edit to add: 2 tornadoes in central WI on August 23, including most of the lifecycle of the significant tornado west of Marshfield and an, as of yet, unreported brief tornado around 10 miles to the ESE of the previous tornado.

 

[JoelHamburger]

This year marked a successful return after a 2 years of not being able to chase. In 7 days I managed to see storms everyday. I witnessed the 5/24 Canton wedge and the Fairview rope.

I'm most proud of the intercept of the 5/21 Reading KS tornado. My fiance and I witnessed the storm from initiation to tornadgogenesis. My photos were awful but I found some great ones taken by Victor Gensini from the COD tour group.

http://dryline19.blogspot.com/2011/05/5212011-emporiareading-ks-tornado.html

So I have no complaints about this season, I'm even getting a hurricane for free !

J