Why 2009 Was One Of My Best/Favorite Seasons

[Tony Laubach]

I didn't want to hijack the 2025 epilog thread, but a few asked about why 2009 ranks so high with me...

2009 is filled with wonderful memories for me which is why it ranks so high... there were several really good chases in there, some quite memorable (Goshen/Aurora), and while those were big factors, for me, it was the slew of memories that came with the season...

1. While not the first season with TWISTEX, it was our first with Discovery Channel and it was an amazing experience, easily my favorite of the three seasons. Our crew was super awesome, they let us do our thing without trying to stir up any BS. This was also the first year where we really had gelled as a crew and had some great chases.

2. I became a Meteorologist... I took my last final on May 12, walked out of the building where Ed was sitting there in our mesonet; we drove out to Kansas and the following day chased Kirksville (my first tornado as an official Met).

3. This was my first season with no attachments; I got to play for nearly two months straight; no job to tie me up, I was out of school. I had a full run from early/mid-May all the way through June. It was my first full time, no restrictions, chase season.

And yes, there were some great chases in there... April 29 near Plainview had one of my favorite rope-outs of all time; Kirksville which was my first tornado chased as a Meteorologist; June 10 in southwest Kansas had an entire episode of 'Storm Chasers' written for me (it was MY episode); Goshen, my first Wyoming tornado, was my first truly photogenic tornado (and I took HUNDREDS of photos), then of course Aurora, one of my favorite all-time chases. The tornado count was only 24 tornadoes on 10 different days, but they were some good days.

FULL AURORA JUNE 17 CHASE LOG: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkHuolhjHzU

 

[JamesCaruso]

Thanks for this Tony, I definitely understand your fondness for 2009 now!

I just read my old storm chasing journal for Goshen day. It was painful to relive that screw-up; apparently I targeted northeast CO instead of southeast WY, and only caught up with that supercell when it went into Nebraska. Seems I still enjoyed the chase, probably because back then you didn’t instantly find out when you had missed something great.

I remember delaying my trip until June because nothing was happening in May, and being out there only 9 or 10 days. Then being super-frustrated and demoralized when Aurora happened right after I got back.

This was my first season with no attachments; I got to play for nearly two months straight; no job to tie me up, I was out of school. I had a full run from early/mid-May all the way through June. It was my first full time, no restrictions, chase season.

I can’t wait until I’m able to say the same. I’ll be much older than you were / are, but that’s OK…

 

[Tony Laubach]

I can’t wait until I’m able to say the same. I’ll be much older than you were / are, but that’s OK…

I have been BEYOND blessed that I have been able to do this for so long in the capacity that I have... and have been able to do it so early in life. I never take for granted how fortunate I have been to legitimately do this for a living.

 

[John Farley]

Ah, yes, the Kirksville day. I really wanted to chase that day, but as chair of my department at SIUE, I had to set a good example for my colleagues and show up for graduation when I was signed up for it. So I was listening to boring speeches and "Pomp and Circumstance" while some of you were off to my northwest bagging tornadoes.

Here are a few pics from my day near Roodhouse and Manchester, IL on August 19 of that year, my best-ever Illinois day:



These are 2009-technology video captures, taken through a car window due to intense CG lightning going on, but you get the idea. This was one of three long-track tornadoes in central Illinois that day, with a setup which, as I mentioned, was very similar to yesterday's with a MCV moving into Illinois from northeast MO, fairly early in the day. @Mike Smith will remember that day, as he was working with the railroad and ordered that train stopped because of the tornado, which not too long after I took these pictures crossed the tracks (actually kind of moved along them for some distance) northeast of Manchester.

 

[Andy Wehrle]

I had forgotten about Kirksville and Aurora (IIRC that was the one that injured Reed Timmer with flying glass when they couldn't get the Dominator's Lexan window protector rolled up in time). So not quite as bad as I remembered, but still pretty slow (at the time I was, and to an extent still do, judge every chase season by the standard of 2003 and 2004, which gave me the impression that every May had a 10-14 day stretch of unrelenting tornado activity with multiple verified high risks).

 

[Dan Robinson]

Tony, you basically nailed every big day that year, I'd say it was a good season too if I were in your shoes!

Tornado-wise, my 2009 was a shutout. It was one of only 2 years since 2004 (2020 being the other) that I didn't see a tornado. I either busted or didn't chase on all of the big days. I went on my sole 2009 Plains a chase trip from April 24 to May 2. April 29th was my biggest fail that year. On April 27-29 I was hanging out in Tulsa intending to play several of the sleeper setups that week, and decided not to go to the Texas Panhandle on the 29th because I just wasn't liking the setup enough. There really wasn't an excuse for me to not make that 6 hour drive, I have only myself to blame for that one!

Lightning-wise, 2009 was one of my better years. The Plains trip yielded top-quality upward lightning in OKC on April 26th:



Then back in West Virginia in August, I caught some close-ups of upward lightning using a 1300mm lens I'd just bought days before: