Top 5 storms you wished you were on.

[Mike Hollingshead]

I'm bored and this wondered through my head today. What would be the top 5 storms you can think of that you wish you had chased? Only rule would be they had to occur after you started chasing. No tri-state tornado stuff that way. Just storms you remember seeing/hearing about after you either didn't chase, or did and weren't on it.

I'm sure I'll forget some really good ones, but here are my top 5 "wish I were there" storms.

1: May 29, 2001 TX Mothership
2: May 27, 2001 KS/OK Derecho(I was on it but didn't stay on it...sigh)
3: June 23, 2002 Brown CO. SD
4: June 24, 2003 Manchester SD storm
5: May 22, 2004 Hallam NE storm from the start

 

[Dan Robinson]

Here are 5 off the top of my head.

1.) May 29, 2004 - Harper/Argonia KS
2.) June 24, 2003 - Manchester
3.) July 13, 2004 - Roanoke, IL
4.) June 10, 2004 - Big Spring, NE
5.) November 10, 2002 - Van Wert, OH

 

[Danny Neal]

May 3rd, 1999 - any storm that day
October 4th, 1998 - OK
May 10th, 2005, Motherships in NE.
May 4th, 2003 - KS
July 13th, 2004 - IL....100 miles away from me and I was in the doctors office :SIGH:

 

[Chris Wilburn]

Here is my top 5 list: Many of these are before I really knew how to chase. I started chasing in 2004, but knew very little. A few of my top 5 storms will actually be from 2004.

May 3, 1999 (before the tornado hit Moore)
May 4, 2003 (Girard or Pierce City)
May 29, 2004 (Harper Co. Madness)
May 22, 2004 (Hallam wedge storm from the start)
June 24, 2003 (Manchester tornado, which is one of the most awesome tornadoes I have ever seen on film)

 

[afischer]

1. Hallock MN July 2, 2005
2. Kennett/Caruthersville MO April 2, 2006
3. Girard KS/Stockton MO May 4, 2003
4. Barnard SD June 23, 2002
5. Roanoke IL July 13, 2004

I'd have a different list if I could go back before 2001 ;-)

 

[Scott Taylor]

May 30, 1998 Spencer, SD
May 3, 1999 Moore, OK
June 24, 2003 Manchester, SD
April 2, 2006 Caruthersville, MO (1 hour south of this!!)
May 11, 2000 Waterloo/Dunkerton, Iowa tornadoes

 

[Dustin Wilcox]

1. May 22 2004 Hallam NE, Probably always will be #1, I spent too much time near home on the Columbus-Blair storm, warranted though as it wanted to destroy my hometown, doesn't make missing the largest tornado ever so close to home any easier though.

2. May 4 2007 Greensburg KS, After spending all day in the area getting a tan playing catch under blue skies, we were suckered into dropping South into OK, still saw a decent storm during day light hours but missed the big one.

3. March 12 2006 I-70 MO, Don't recall what I was doing that day, all I know is from the stories I missed a hell of a show along I-70

4. April 23 2007 Protection KS, After just traveling South for the 4/21 event missed the 4/23 event because of class, Not often you can see that many tornados in 1 area

5. June 6 2007 Badlands SD, Not that I missed all that of an impressive storm but while I was screwing around in Central NE I did miss a tornado in the Badlands, Seeing a tornado in the bad lands is up there on my list of things to do before I die.

I can remember a lot of summer evenings as well, looking at the radar here at home wishing I was out in Cherry Co.

 

[Andrea Griffa]

May 3, 1999 (Moore)
May 4, 2003 (Pierce City)
May 29, 2004 (Harper County)
May 12, 2005 (Plainview,Tx)
June 8, 1995(Pampa,Tx F4)

 

[Shane Adams]

June 13, 1998 (OKC tornadic mothership)
May 24, 1998 (N Oklahoma mini-outbreak)
May 8, 2003 (Moore/OKC F4)
May 7, 2002 (SW Kansas multiple tornadoes)
June 12, 2005 (NW Texas tornadic storm)

I chose these based on the level of pain they caused when I either screwed up or couldn't chase and missed them. That June 13 date will never be surpassed. I didn't expect much and I was promised to attend a wedding reception from 5-10pm that evening. My chase partners came by at 3:30pm and I said I wasn't going because of the reception and it didn't look that great. My ride to the reception didn't show up until 8:30pm, so I got to sit at home and watch all the tornadoes happening live, 30 miles from me. My chase partners saw three that day.

 

[Kory Hartman]

Cherry #*$&! County

I can remember a lot of summer evenings as well, looking at the radar here at home wishing I was out in Cherry Co.

Except if you were there, you wouldn't be able to get to the storms for the 2 roads they have in Cherry County, NE...

 

[Chris Hayes]

1: May 22, 2004 Hallam storm
2: May 29, 2004 Harper County storm
3: May 8, 2003 Moore tornado
4: June 9, 2005 Hill City, Kansas tornados
5: May 4, 2007 Greensburg

 

[Jason Foster]

Ranked picks (different from others)

1. May 3, 1999 - Moore, OKlahoma
2. April 28, 2002 - LaPlata, Maryland (was chasing this storm, but didn't see the tornado
3. May 27, 1997 - Jarrell, Texas (was just departing Maryland to chase for the season)
4. August 11, 1999 - Salt Lake City Tornado
5. May 30, 1998 - Spencer, South Dakota (stuck in OKC...said it was too far to drive)

 

[J.B. Dixon]

5/3/99 Moore, OK (Of course!)

5/24/04 Chester, NE Tornadofest --Still on a rush from getting a look at the Hallam beast two days earlier, I felt okay blowing this chase off for a couple of hours. I was late to the show for this one, as I was in the dentist chair in Lincoln too long! About the time the last one roped out, I was looking at it backlit from 6-7 miles away. Sadness. Quite the show that one was.

6/13/04 Alvo, NE Supercell/small tornadoes. -- I think Hollingshead was the only one on this storm, as my wife and I were on the golf course in Seward, enjoying a quiet Sunday afternoon. I saw the lone tower go up and drift to the east, and thought to myself, "Nahhh, no way." Who knew Hurricane Katrina would make landfall in western Cass County, Nebraska??

6/9/05 Hill City, KS -- Looks like from the footage, I really was the only chaser who didn't see this storm. These could be my favorite images of all-time. Ugh.....

11/12/05 Woodward/Ames, IA Tornado(es) -- Only because it was so late in the year, and the area is so familiar to me. I remember calling buddies tailgating at the Iowa State football game asking them what they were seeing. Ha! ((Add the local yokel's Woodward tornado video from a block away to my list of all-time faves. Him yelling at his dog to come back.......priceless!))

 

[Stephen Levine]

Alot of mine were relatively local.
1.The first, seen from a safe distance would be the Tri-State tornado. There was a great imagination article on this several years ago in the hardcopy S.T., as to what it would be like chasing that storm then.
2.Two others are in Ohio. I would have loved to see the Xenia OH tornado of 4/3/74. I was living in Athens at that time, about 75 miles SE of Columbus, the state capital. Though we had a spectacular hurricane-like windstorm later that night, to see the twister would have been awesome. A runner up would have been any of the twisters that hit Cinti. that very same afternoon. All this was before my storm chase days.
3. In the Summer of 1972 or 1973, I think in July, there were three Tuesdays in a row that tornadoes hit a part of Columbus, totally unpredicted. It would have been quite cool to see that! In Athens, it was sunny, hot and humid all those days, with nary a storm.
4.And, the Andover KS twister '91 makes my list as well.
5. I grew up in Pittsburgh, PA. The common phrase there was "there are never tornadoes in Pittsburgh". In May,1967, a funnel cloud passed almost right over our house, and dissipated like a watch spring unbinding. That was awesome. However, in 1998, a real bonified wide twister moved SE down the valley and hit Mt. Washington which is literally across the river from Downtown's skyscrapers. The whole thing was captured on the local "skycam", and made major news, causing up to F-2 damage. I would have LOVED to see this one, since it's where I grew up and is where they are "never" supposed to happen.

 

[scott r currens]

1. June 24, 2003 Manchester, SD
2. August 24, 2006 Southern MN
3. June 23, 2007 Elie, MB
4. June 23, 2002 NE SD
5. June 24, 2007 SW, MB

These are all chases that I did not chase and didn't have the option to chase. I could make a longer list of chases I could have chased but didn't. I'm not sure what the deal is with the June 23th & 24th. I guess I should always chase those date.