Worst places to chase?

[joel ewing]

I'm a Nebr. native, and love chasing Nebraska more than any other state. Like a lot of you guys....I have my own little "secret" viewing hot spots in that area that are off the beaten path that have paid big dividends for me in the past. But whoever said that all of Nebr. is chaseable....man, I don't understand that statement. The chaser-map provided earlier in this forum showing the Sandhills as basically poor chasing.....seems to agree with my experiences there. I guess if one means "chaseable" to mean that there are at least a few roads thru there....well, then it's chaseable. I don't know how many tornadic storms I've had to say adios to that have drifted away from the view provided by the road and disappeared permanently into no-man's land. That won't keep me from chasing there, because I simply love the raw beauty of the Sandhills....but make no mistake, that area will give a chaser a punishing lesson in futility. It's not a problem of foresting, because there are relatively few trees...it's the hills themselves and the sparse roads thru them. Too bad too, because it's a darn good area for tornadic storms...esp. in June.

 

[Jacob Parrish]

Can't believe noone posted Alabama and Mississippi.(where I'm from) ... the tree density here along with the hilly landscape makes for a nightmare.

 

[Hannah.Taylor]

Tennessee sucks for chasing. Hills everywhere, and the road network is awful!!!

 

[Donnie Beasley]

Can't believe noone posted Alabama and Mississippi.(where I'm from) ... the tree density here along with the hilly landscape makes for a nightmare.

I love the delta region of Mississippi, but you are right, everything east of I-55 is a nightmare! I won't even bother chasing that far east.

 

[James Wilson]

Western Nebraska as shown below yuck! Good luck chasing cells out of Colorado into this area.

 

[StephenHenry]

It's not the worst place by any means, but area between Colorado Springs and Denver always seems to get me more frustrated than other places. It's more of a "We're in Colorado, it should NOT be this difficult" kinda thing, but the hills, trees, stoplights, and lack of roads makes this little corridor tricky. And it seems like we're there many times a year looking for that Palmer Divide magic.

 

[Brad Dormer]

For those of you who frequent the central plains, Nebraska is pretty much 100% chasable, outside of that patch of Cherry county with no roads for 50 miles in any direction. I've found a few spots in North Central Kansas where roads aren't really roads, more like dirt paths with washouts in the middle. Clay Center area. Moral of Story: Stick to Pavement and make sure your maps are correct.

Southwestern Iowa is a bloody nightmare (And frankly anywhere along the MO River Valley). Huge bluffs, few bridges, lots of trees, and the road network, although well paved, doesn't connect well and gives you very few escape options. Some local guys got stuck in a bear cage and steamrolled by a tor a few years back due to said road network.

I live in Eastern Nebraska and I've chased in Southwest Iowa before, another issue is the that there are TONS of dead spots (wi-fi/data wise) along I-29 for me at least. I haven't really been chasing anywhere else than Eastern Nebraska/ Southwest Iowa yet, but I have been west across Nebraska and it is VERY flat!

 

[DavidThomas]

What does anyone think about Eastern North Carolina, in terms of being on the good or bad places to chase list?

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[Dan Robinson]

Eastern NC is a mixed bag, I'd rate it on the worse end of the scale. The trees are dense and very tall, and the only views are where agricultural fields are cleared out. It's not impossible though.

 

[DavidThomas]

OK cool. I do know that the tornado in Bertie County NC on April 16, 2011 was rather visible from almost anywhere in the town of Askewville. I lived only four miles away from there at the time and now only one mile from where the tornado originally touched down.

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[Marshall Stoner]

If you want to talk about the WORST place to chase, I'd have to say anywhere near an urban metropolis. Nothing can ruin a chase like getting stuck in traffic. Plus, if a tornado does head your way you might have difficulty driving out of it's path.