What is your favorite boundary to chase?

[nickgrillo]

What is your boundary to chase?

I prefer drylines... Since growing up and my first few years of chasing were in the great lakes - I never had the pleasure to enjoy dryline chasing. Instead, most of the time you have to deal with cold fronts... In turn, they often produce strongly forced, lines of thunderstorms in the late spring and summer. Some give you a pretty darn good wind event, but most of the time, nothing more. I really love drylines because they typically have JUST enough convergance to setoff discrete supercells... In addition, I also like OFBs, since they often allow a storm to "root" or "anchor" along them and can often work magic in terms of tornadogenisis.

 

[John Gnuechtel]

I like drylines because of how they give evidence of their position. Drive through a nice sharp one, and you can tell without doing anything besides opening a window. On a well-capped day, you can spot the CU bubbling on the dryline from many miles away.

It wasn't on the list, but down in Florida, there's at least some fun to be had playing with the seabreezes. If they can make it to the center of the state intact (no early convection to steal instability or muck up the setup with strong outflows going every which way), the results when they cross each other can make for some pretty sweet storms. Occastionally, the speed and orientation of the seabreezes as they merge create a setup very similar to a traditional tripple point (a surface low off the west coast definitely helps). Any rotation is usually very short-lived, but the structure is always great.

 

[Bobby Eddins]

Drylines of course, in the Texas panhandle if possible on flat ground :wink:

 

[Mickey Ptak]

I think a majority of chaser will choose a dryline chase over any other. I am no exception. I absolutely love a good dryline setup in the TX Panhandle / W OK.

Mick

 

[B Ozanne]

My favorite is the dryline. For the type of storms I want to see the dryline is by far the most productive.

 

[Karen Politte]

Interesting poll.....

Of course if I was being normal and was imagining things were idyllic - sure I'd cow-tow and choose dryline too. But - then I got thinking.....

How many times have I actually seen a classic, much-sought-after string-of-pearls along an actual dryline? Over my 4 years of chasing.....I can count rare occasions when the typical dryline has produced as us chasers would like it to. We would always set up our day of chasing a big event with the hope of starting on the warm front, and then dropping south onto the string-of-pearls when the WF went gangbusters and all messy. But - for some reasons or another - it seems to have been incredibly hard for me to get on a good dryline tornadic storm.

So - I opted for OFBs. Why? Well - it's about 60% nostalgia and 40% experience. The nostalgia comes from my induction into the chasing world - June 23rd, 2002. Nothing will ever top that storm for me - for many reasons. The remanining experiences I have had with OFBs have made for some very sweet memories........when they're there.

I like being different. :wink:

KR

 

[Darin Brunin]

Very good topic Nick.....

I gotta go with Karen on this one although each kind of boundary has its day. I love outflow boundaries when they work their magic. Warm fronts are good too but usually end up being shorter chases as everything turns into a mess quicker than you always want it to. Although, if you want a good strong tornado the warm front is the other place besides an OFB that I would be. Drylines are for structure people and your reasoning for usually not finding a good tornadic storm associated with them is well served. There are some instances when that could be proven wrong though. Isolated storms make the dryline what it is. If you like to chase cold fronts you might as well be shot

May 22, 2004 was an example of OFB heaven with the Hallam storm. Everything else was a congealed mess and for those patient (not me) it payed off very well.

 

[brody_clifton]

Here in NC we rarely get a true dryline, only cold front+dryline together type systems with a trough ~100-200 miles out in front. Right on the warm front is also normally a non chaseable area with the systems by the time they reach NC - normally there is garbage convection going on in the counties north and south of those. So I'd have to say somewhere along the prefrontal trough, especially an intersection between it and an outflow boundary. Once in a blue moon though, when developing surface lows come up from GA or SC, we'll get a triple point setup, and in those rare cases just barely southeast of the TP is my favorite target spot.
That happened on 4/15/1999, and gave birth the the infamous NC 'tornadocane' (quoting the SPC's "Cool Images" site) supercell, which first matured in western Robeson county almost right on top of the triple point and anchored on it throughout its path to the Atlantic 3 hours later.
Of course when this cell developed I was 70 miles south of it in SC watching a dying tail-end charlie, and could not get close to catching it.

 

[Khristian Snyder]

we get some amazing drylines out here at the Califonia coast!!!









I wish... :roll:

 

[Mikey Gribble]

Definitely drylines. The vast majority of tornadoes I have seen in the southern plains have come from dryline storms. IMO there are too many things that can go wrong when chasing fronts. Relatively speaking, it is much easier to forecast accurately on a dryline setup. It is also a lot easier to see which storm is looking the best coming off a dryline since the visibility is so much better than it is along fronts.

 

[Andrew Khan]

I love to chase drylines, and sometimes, perhaps an OFB. I usually go for drylines, since that is where the majority of severe weather can occur, especially tornadoes. OFB's are tricky, because they can dissipate fairly quickly. Cold fronts are fun too, but not as near, to drylines.

 

[Dick McGowan]

I love to chase drylines, and sometimes, perhaps an OFB. I usually go for drylines, since that is where the majority of severe weather can occur, especially tornadoes. OFB's are tricky, because they can dissipate fairly quickly. Cold fronts are fun too, but not as near, to drylines.

Wait a second, Andrew.......you have chased before? Or is this what you want to chase? Sorry if I recall incorrectly......

Cold fronts are the last resort for me (But i'll take them over nothing!). I'd choose a dryline if it was near, but I like OFB's. Warm fronts can be tricky and lead to a big mess (Not always!). If I can get a storm to root itself on an OFB, then i'll follow it. (Terrain-wise: NEVER chase NE KS, flint hills of KS!, or cent, nc, NW Missouri!)

One example of a dryline this year (associated with triple point) would be May 11th, where the retreating warm front (I think) in NW KS/SW NE lost, in a sense, to the dryline bulge to the south, which paid off to the patient chasers in SW KS . Of course this is just one example, as different situations offer different circumstances and results. I treat each setup differently, so it's hard to say what my favorite is for the day.

On certain days in multiple areas of focus, it would all depend on the circumstances (work, school, other chasers, distance, finances, location LOL). One thing I've learned with chasing is stick with your initial target and have those reliable nowcasters (Thank you) ready for new data coming in. (I know some dislike, but I love SPC's mesoanalysis when I have time to look.)

Good topic Nick.

2005 was a work-your-butt off year for most chasers IMWO. I'm hoping that 2006 will show more promise. (at least for myself and everyone else, cheers!)
From here to March, I'll take anything. Just my worthless .02.

 

[Kurt Hulst]

I love drylines and OFBs as they mix together. Causes more convergence and can create a very dynamic set up. Its nice when you can see on SAT the dryline with a bulge and a OFB coming together.

Another area i dont mind is the tripple point along the warm front just east of the LOW. BUt i think i would take a dryline over a tripple point deppending on the parameters

 

[Jay Cazel]

My vote was for drylines. But in Kansas we do get alot of cold/warm fronts!

 

[Jay McCoy]

There is no comparison to a nice dryline in the Tx panhandle/west Oklahoma. I have chased fronts,OFB's, etc but non compare to a sharp DL. Isolation is the biggest reason. You can 1 or 2 good supercells along a 100 mile DL unlike CF's where you get 10 storms in an area 50 miles wide. plus its pretty easy to figure out where the dryline is.

20 yrs of chasing and counting but nothing beats a DL and a small impulse coming through