While 2025 is going to go down as nothing more than an average to below average year for me personally, as a whole 2025 has entered legendary status. 2025 reminds me of 2010 where you get mostly mesoscale days that produce highly photogenic tornadoes. I think there will be a few more northern plains tornado days over the summer. The quality of tornado days this year is just about unparallel, and the past 3 years have been among the greatest multi-year stretches ever on the plains. Most years, a day like Morton 2.0 would be talked about all summer, but after Wellfleet, NE and then Gary, SD, it already seems long forgotten. My best day was Arnett, and that day was quite special. I hope everyone has been able to get something good from this year. I am hoping we get more troughing up north in July. I want to make a run up north to chase, but logistically it always seems to be too much to pull off with ongoing life responsibilities.
I have to agree. I don't know if it's just a great year, or the amount of coverage, or maybe just the visibility of it but I feel like I really missed the boat on this season after doing what I felt was ok up to the third week of May.While 2025 is going to go down as nothing more than an average to below average year for me personally, as a whole 2025 has entered legendary status. 2025 reminds me of 2010 where you get mostly mesoscale days that produce highly photogenic tornadoes. I think there will be a few more northern plains tornado days over the summer. The quality of tornado days this year is just about unparallel, and the past 3 years have been among the greatest multi-year stretches ever on the plains. Most years, a day like Morton 2.0 would be talked about all summer, but after Wellfleet, NE and then Gary, SD, it already seems long forgotten. My best day was Arnett, and that day was quite special. I hope everyone has been able to get something good from this year. I am hoping we get more troughing up north in July. I want to make a run up north to chase, but logistically it always seems to be too much to pull off with ongoing life responsibilities.
Most years, a day like Morton 2.0 would be talked about all summer, but after Wellfleet, NE and then Gary, SD, it already seems long forgotten.
as Greg also mentioned, the Morton 2.0 seems long forgotten after the recent stretch of incredible tornado days. That, unfortunately, rings more in my brain right now than that chase.
I have to agree. I don't know if it's just a great year, or the amount of coverage, or maybe just the visibility of it but I feel like I really missed the boat on this season after doing what I felt was ok up to the third week of May.
From what I saw, not only were the tornadoes what we all dream about and chase for, but the way they were chased by those who were there was on another level. Super Duper close ups with vehicles right next to drill bits, looking straight up into the rotation above, dancing vortices around twisting trunks...I honestly don't know how it could get any better, and I missed it all. Goodness it's hard to not feel like the game has changed a bit and I've been sitting in the cheap seats watching an epic show take place.
It's been a long time since June has served as the cornerstone of a season... probably since 2014, and even longer since a season that was actually good overall had a great June... 2010?
My reservations about calling this an all-time great year boil down to the same as the past two years: virtually no outbreaks or obvious days that panned out. In fact, a few obvious, outbreak-looking days that mostly or completely crapped the bed. That's a huge deal for anyone who's limited and trying to be selective.
they don’t really factor in to my personal season quality assessment which is focused on the times and places I can realistically chase.
For 99 percent of us, there are ALWAYS going to be days and seasons where, no matter what we saw, somebody else saw something better. Getting upset by that is a sure route to chaser insanity. My own personal example, on June 5, I saw/documented six tornadoes, five from the Morton storm. But not the Morton tornado, because I had started on the next storm north, which did produce a couple tornadoes but then fizzled. I could obsess over the fact that I missed the most photogenic tornado of the day, or I could be pleased that I got six others, a few of which were pretty photogenic in their own right. And by making the right maneuvers and having good luck, I was able to catch up to the Morton storm from behind, which is not always possible. I choose the latter thinking option, being happy I got six tornadoes rather than being unhappy over what I did not get. Being unhappy over a successful day or a successful season because someone else was more successful is a route to craziness. Because on most days and in almost every season, someone else WILL be more successful. Of course I would love to have started out on the Morton storm or to have been in the Dakotas the past 10 days or so, but the fact that those things did not happen does not reduce the fact that I had an excellent day on June 5 (after a long drought of such days) and an above-average season for me. If I let these things bother me very much, I would have quit chasing years ago. And missed a lot of great experiences as a result.I agree with Greg and Tony. There is no logical reason why something we saw should seem less special just because someone else saw something better. This goes for an individual chase day too. Contentment requires being satisfied with what you saw, even if someone else saw something better that day or a different day. But it's easier said than done. As a chase vacationer, I am all too familiar with the feeling of missing stuff before or after my chase trip. But it doesn't get any easier. It's particularly frustrating as I get older and more acutely aware that I have fewer chase trips ahead of me than behind me. When the hell will I *finally* be able to spend the amount of time chasing that I want to?!? Now that I finally have the ability to work remotely, it seems that now it's family obligations holding me back. This year was exceptional, with all three kids having graduations. Hopefully next year will finally provide some more freedom.
Sean captures my feelings exactly. Similar to what Greg and Tony said, I felt "successful" coming home with Morton etc. I felt I did OK through that first week of June, but now it's hard not to feel like I missed the best stuff. And it's particularly frustrating that some of the best stuff came so late; it's fine for those who can chase everything all season, but I don't think anyone would have chosen these last few weeks as their *only* weeks. With talk of 2025, or even the three-year stretch 2023/2024/2025, being among the best, it's hard not to feel like I failed to optimize it (I know I screwed up a couple times in 2024, and I can't even remember what happened in 2023 but that alone tells you something about how that year went, I just can't recall if it was because of the timing of my trip or because I screwed up). This is particularly hard to swallow, when you never know if or when it will repeat, and what your personal situation might be if/when it does. It's like a football team putting its best roster out on the field and failing to win the Super Bowl before its best free agents depart.
At least for me, Northern Plains tornadoes in late June might as well be in Northern Russia, I’m never going to be able to chase up there with the consistency needed to catch these rare performers. As such, they don’t really factor in to my personal season quality assessment which is focused on the times and places I can realistically chase. For those that can do that, my hat’s off to you as this latest stretch rivals pretty much any legendary stretch in chasing history.
I agree with Greg and Tony. There is no logical reason why something we saw should seem less special just because someone else saw something better. This goes for an individual chase day too. Contentment requires being satisfied with what you saw, even if someone else saw something better that day or a different day. But it's easier said than done. As a chase vacationer, I am all too familiar with the feeling of missing stuff before or after my chase trip. But it doesn't get any easier. It's particularly frustrating as I get older and more acutely aware that I have fewer chase trips ahead of me than behind me. When the hell will I *finally* be able to spend the amount of time chasing that I want to?!? Now that I finally have the ability to work remotely, it seems that now it's family obligations holding me back. This year was exceptional, with all three kids having graduations. Hopefully next year will finally provide some more freedom.
This is probably my biggest pain point if there is one. It's not so much that I missed all the tornadoes (although I'd love to have seen them), it's that I could've been out there for any of them and I simply chose not to go, and have continued to make that choice more often the last two seasons. So I'm kind of kicking my own butt for not making the effort. But as Greg and Dan alluded to, the Northern Plains setups, while always desirable to chase, always seem so far away, not to mention the time commitment that's needed which increases the chances of conflict with the family schedule when decisions have to be made about going.And I have the fortunate situation to chase whenever I want, so a lot of that is on me.
This is probably my biggest pain point if there is one. It's not so much that I missed all the tornadoes (although I'd love to have seen them), it's that I could've been out there for any of them and I simply chose not to go, and have continued to make that choice more often the last two seasons. So I'm kind of kicking my own butt for not making the effort. But as Greg and Dan alluded to, the Northern Plains setups, while always desirable to chase, always seem so far away, not to mention the time commitment that's needed which increases the chances of conflict with the family schedule when decisions have to be made about going.
As I've mentioned before, I can usually move forward with little regret by taking the "If I'm not there, it didn't happen" approach. But, the last few days have certainly put that to the test. Maybe it's not such a bad thing that there's a little Fred Sanford in the back of my mind saying "Get out there ya big dummy!".
After witnessing the continued decrease of involvement in the SpotterNetwork staff in serving SN members with troubleshooting issues recently, I have unilaterally decided to terminate the relationship between SpotterNetwork's support and Stormtrack. I have witnessed multiple users unable to receive support weeks after initiating help threads on the forum. I find this lack of response from SpotterNetwork officials disappointing and a failure to hold up their end of the agreement that was made years ago, before I took over management of this site. In my opinion, having Stormtrack users sit and wait for so long to receive help on SpotterNetwork issues on the Stormtrack forums reflects poorly not only on SpotterNetwork, but on Stormtrack and (by association) me as well. Since the issue has not been satisfactorily addressed, I no longer wish for the Stormtrack forum to be associated with SpotterNetwork.
I apologize to those who continue to have issues with the service and continue to see their issues left unaddressed. Please understand that the connection between ST and SN was put in place long before I had any say over it. But now that I am the "captain of this ship," it is within my right (nay, duty) to make adjustments as I see necessary. Ending this relationship is such an adjustment.
For those who continue to need help, I recommend navigating a web browswer to SpotterNetwork's About page, and seeking the individuals listed on that page for all further inquiries about SpotterNetwork.
From this moment forward, the SpotterNetwork sub-forum has been hidden/deleted and there will be no assurance that any SpotterNetwork issues brought up in any of Stormtrack's other sub-forums will be addressed. Do not rely on Stormtrack for help with SpotterNetwork issues.
Sincerely, Jeff D.