There were a handful of very major tornado events in the United States during the spring.  The tornado outbreak in MS and AL was in late April, a week before the beginning of my first chase tour for Tempest Tours.  A violent tornado mauled Joplin, Missouri, on May 22.  Our tour was on the storm early on, near Parsons, KS, but we were out of position to catch the Joplin tornado later.  We managed to view a large tornado later in the evening a county or two south of Joplin.  Two days later we busted in northern OK during an outbreak closer to I-40 in OK, but we made up for it the next day in Missouri.  So, the chase season offered several opportunities for chasers to capture amazing and dramatic tornado and severe storm footage and images.  However, the bulk of the big stuff was shunted eastward away from the western and central Great Plains in marginal chase terrain.

I would characterize my personal chase season and chase success in 2011 as about average to a little below average.  The day that sticks in my craw the most is May 24th in OK.  If I had played that one better then I would probably have a much better feeling about 2011.  Nevertheless, I can’t really point to any other day and say that I really messed up, and overall I thought that my chase decision-making was very good.  Oh, yes — one other big tornado day for many chasers was June 20 in northern KS and southern NE, but this was during my week off.  It happens every year!

Outside of the above-mentioned big events, the prime-time chase period of early May to about July 5th was not bountiful tornado-wise.  The first three weeks of May were poor to very poor.  The big week was May 19 to May 25.  The final week of May was generally slow, the first two weeks of June were mixed.  I didn’t chase from June 12 to June 20 (when there were a couple excellent chase days), and the period from June 21 to July 5 was generally a little poorer-than-normal with respect to tornadoes and spectacular supercells.  For the season, I took only a few tornado images, and I didn’t get any GOOD tornado images!  This is in stark contrast to 2010, when photogenic tornadoes were nearby on several occasions.  Fortunately, I had a generally good season with the camera due to a number of amazing and colorful stormy sunset shoots.

Spring and summer on the Plains were dominated by a large and warm upper-level high in the vicinity of TX and NM.  This feature suppressed storminess on the Southern Plains and caused persistent hot to very hot weather south of Interstate 40.  Severe weather was very infrequent south of I-40 after the first of May.  In addition, the High Plains region was drier than normal this spring south of the Cheyenne Ridge and I-80.  Thus, the bulk of my chases were on the Central and Northern Plains, near or east of U.S. 83 (which runs from Bismarck to Pierre to North Platte to Liberal).

I was on the Plains and generally in chase mode or able to chase for 56 days, from May 2 to June 11 and June 21 to July 5.  Some of these days were “change-over” days between tours, but, fortunately, there were no missed big chase days because of tour logistics.  The season breaks down thusly:

Great chase days — 4

Good chase days — 20

Junky chase days — 9

Busts — 5

No chase and/or no storms — 18

The great chase days for me were May 21, 22 and 25, and June 11.  A great chase day is typically one with a long-lived tornado and/or exceptional supercell.  A good chase day falls short of being a great chase day usually because there was no tornado or drop-dead gorgeous structure, but the general feel of the chase and the storms is positive.  A junky chase day is a dud chase day.  It means that there were storms to observe, but they were generally weak or failed to impress, and the photo opportunities were not  good enough to salvage the day.  A bust day is one where there seemed to be good severe potential, but either:  a) I missed the good storm(s) for some reason, such as a poor forecast or poor chase decision, or  b) the atmosphere did not cooperate and there was little or nothing to actually see or chase.   Many junky chase days might be considered busts.   For the “no chase or no storms” category, there might have been something happening somewhere on the Plains, but, if there was, it was considered too distant and/or un-chase-worthy logistically to consider.  About half of these 18 days were due to tour group change-overs, but, again, I didn’t miss much on these occasions…unless you count June 20, when I was stuck in Denver to start a tour the next morning!

So, as you can see, less than half of my available chase days were good or great for 2011.

Let’s look at where I did and did not chase in 2011 and how the Tornado Alley states rated:

TX —- amazingly awful.  I drove through TX on May 2 and 3 to pick up the van for my first tour out of OKC on May 4, and there was no moisture.  My only storm chase in TX was northwest of Fort Worth on May 12, when a small supercell persisted long enough to make it a “good” chase day.  We headed to West TX from OKC on May 16 because it looked like the next day might be good that way, but on the morning of the 17th it was obvious that that would not be the case.  There was a big hail event in West Texas and far eastern NM on May 31, but our group was up in NE and SD and not able to get there.  An impressive supercell or two skirted through the northeastern TX Panhandle on June 11, but we were on a supercell near Liberal, KS.  There were a few days with tornadoes in central and eastern TX towards the end of April, but the remainder of the spring was generally hot and dry and storm-free for the state.

NM — amazingly awful.  Eastern NM and the TX Panhandle region and southwest TX suffered from drought conditions from late winter into summer, 2011.  It was not a place for storm chasers to be outside of one or two days, perhaps.  I did not target NM on any chase days, and I was only in the state during my drive from CA to TX on May 1.

CO — very poor.  Decent low-level moisture from lower-elevation areas to the east made very few forays into eastern CO.  The Plains of eastern CO were generally dry and local moisture sources were distant.  Days with dew points above 50F were few, storms were high-based, and tornado threat was persistently very low.  I usually favor the High Plains versus the lower Plains when there is a choice, but this year I stayed away from the High Plains unless it was the only game or it was logistically convenient.  I was not in CO until June 5, when we observed some junky cells near Eads while on our way from OKC to the western Dakotas.  The two final tours were out of Denver, and we were bailing north out of the state at the beginning of both tours!  I had one good chase day in CO (June 27), thanks to a pretty high-based supercell on the Palmer Divide.  On June 11 some chasers targeted southeastern CO and found an interesting supercell near Pritchett, but we played a little farther east, in the central OK Panhandle, where moisture was a bit better.

WY — poor.  Like eastern CO, eastern WY found quality low-level moisture a rare commodity.  My first visit was on June 6 on the way to MT and SD.   I had three good chase days in eastern WY in late June and early July.

MT — poor.  I targeted southeastern MT on two occasions.  On June 23 we found a decent cell near the WY/MT border northwest of Sheridan.  On June 6th I was in Gillette, WY, and was contemplating a run towards Billings.  The tornado threat was a bit too marginal to commit that far west, especially since the next day’s target was up towards southeastern ND.  We wound up with some so-so stuff northeast of Rapid City, and there was a tornado at dusk north of Billings.

OK — fair.  The OK chase season was severely diminished by the nearby persistent high pressure dome over TX after April.  I had a junky chase near Woodward on May 18, a good chase with a small tornado near Okeene on May 23, and a bust near Medford on May 24 (a good day to forget entirely).  We busted near Enid on May 28, bit we were there only because our tour had just begun out of OKC.  My big OK day was actually on June 11, when a nasty supercell was observed in the OK Panhandle southwest and south of Liberal.  I saw no storms in OK thereafter.  So, on just four days this season was OK a target state for me, and only a couple of these OK chases were worthwhile.  On May 22, the strong tornado that we observed from near Southwest City, MO, actually began well to the west, near Grove, OK, and was in OK for most of the time that we were observing it.  Several photogenic tornadoes swept through southwestern OK on November 7.

KS — fair.  The better upper flow and reasonably cool air aloft in May and June were generally north of I-70, so I spent many days in KS.  I show about 8 chase days this year with a target in KS, but about half of these days were duds.  May 22 began in southeast KS and ended with the big tornado at Southwest City.  The day prior featured a spectacular supercell at Topeka, KS.  Three Kansas days were noteworthy for amazingly colorful and stormy-sky sunsets:  May 19 at Rozel (west of Larned), May 20 at St. Leo (west of Kingman), and June 3 at Angelus (north of Grinnell).  June 20 was big in north-central KS for some chasers, as was May 24 in central KS, but I was elsewhere.

NE — poor.  Nebraska was my target state on about a half dozen days, and I witnessed a tornado in the extreme northwest NE Panhandle on May 9.  We saw a handful of dusty gustnado/tornado hybrids near Kearney on May 30, and had a woeful murky chase of a fairly significant supercell on June 26.  Outside of these, there was little fun to be had in the Big Red State.  NE would have been upgraded to “fair” had I been able to chase June 19 and 20, I figure.

SD and ND and, heck, let’s throw MN in, too — poor.  On many chase seasons, magnificent storms in the Dakotas can salvage an otherwise poor-to-mediocre season.  Not this year.  We had to head to Presho, SD, on May 8 to find a nice supercell, and returned to SD on June 2, June 6, June 25, June 30, July 1 and July 4, with a mix of dud and good days.  Perhaps the most significant chase for me in SD was July 1, when a long-lived tornadic supercell went up near Spencer.  We caught it near Colton, but it was already a messy HP.  It outraced us into MN, where it caused damage on a path all of the way to Duluth!  That was my only day in MN.  I was in ND on just one day, June 7th, for a so-so fast-moving supercell on the southwest side of the surface low.  Tornado count for the Dokotas — zero.  A handful of good tornado days made some chasers very happy in the Dakotas later in July, while I was recovering on the Malibu beach.

IA — poor.  I chase Iowa as a last resort, or on obviously big days which do not look big farther west.  The only day when IA was considered was June 8, but logistics and marginal tornado threat along a front through sw IA kept me from darting eastward from Council Bluffs.  The cap held in our ultimate target area around the MO/NE/KS/IA area, unfortunately.  No big tornado days in Iowa come to mind this year, at least while I was in chase mode!

MO — very good.  Much like Iowa, I avoid Missouri — even more-so!  The trees and uneven terrain and grim road network in much of MO make chasing more dangerous and less-than-fun.  I chased in MO on three days, and two of these featured large, long-lived tornadoes!  These were on May 22 and 25.  The chase into nw MO on June 9 was not too good.

Elsewhere — fortunately, I was not pulled into the jungles of AR and LA or the Corn Belt farmlands of WI, IL and IN this season.  Our tour group chased as far south as the Fort Worth area, as far west as Sheridan, WY, and Castle Rock, CO, as far north as I-94 between Bismarck and Jamestown, ND, and as far east as Poplar Bluff, MO.  It was out of the ordinary that the tour and I were never in central or southwest TX, never in NM, and had no decent chases on the Plains of CO.  We were in SK for four days in early July in 2010, but Canada did not beckon in 2011.

Finally, since I was not in chase mode from June 12 to June 20, I should mention where Brian Morganti and the Tempest group chased during this time frame:

June 12  — return to OKC for next tour group (a few tornadoes in sw ND)

June 13 — marginal storms west of  Emporia, KS (tornadic cell in Cherry County, NE)

June 14 — generally junky cap bust in nw MO

June 15 — nw KS pretty high-based supercells

June 16 — outflowing HP supercell along I-70 in eastern CO

June 17 — pretty supercell south of Limon, CO  (Brian is making up for my lack of CO chases)

June 18 — nice tornadic supercell near Arkansas City, KS, then back to OKC to conclude tour

June 19 — amazing sculpted supercell in sw NE near Cambridge

June 20 — headed to Denver and could not chase nc KS/sc NE tornadic supercells

If you are interested in a storm chase tour with me and Tempest Tours, then please send me and e-mail (bill@stormbruiser.com) and/or visit

tempesttours.com

Here is a link to a nice review by one of our recent tour guests, Tom Trott.  Be sure to check out Tom’s photo galleries at capturingadventure.com

May 1 and 2 — on the way to the Plains

May 5 — southeast KS junk

May 6 and 7 — Picher, Sage, Big Brutus and twine/Killing time while the atmosphere re-fuels

May 8 — Our precious Presho supercell/including a pretty lightning display

May 9 — Nebraska Panhandle tornado

May 10-18 summary, no images

May 19 — Central KS severe/a supercell near Sylvan Grove and a stormy sky sunset near Rozel

May 20 — strong storms near Pratt, KS/and a Ten Commandments sky!

May 20 — Amazing storm clouds at sunset/near St. Leo, KS

May 21 — Topeka supercell/Happy Mothership Day!

May 22 — Southwest City, MO tornado

May 23 — Okeene, OK tornado

May 24, OK bust

May 25 — Long track tornado in southeast MO!

May 29 — Little Lincoln LP/in southeast NE

May 30 —Central NE severe/and gustnadoes

June 1 — Lexington, NE supercell/and Eustis supercell

June 2 — gorgeous western SD skies/near Isabel and Hayes

June 3 — great western KS sunset CGs/at Angelus, in Sheridan County

June 6 — back in western SD/tower lightning

June 7 — ND supercell/my only chase into ND this year

June 8 — Busting down I-29/from ND to KS

June 9 — northwest MO marginal severe

June 10 — supercells near Chanute/in se KS

June 11 — cranking OK Panhandle supercell

June 22 — Ardmore SD and Devils Tower

June 23 — strong storm along the WY/MT border

June 24 — High Plains strong storms/Lusk to Hay Springs, and another vivid sunset

June 25 — junky storms south of the Badlands

June 26 — in the murk in NE/a supercell in stealth mode

June 27 — Larkspur CO cells/continued sunset chasing

June 29 — ho-hum NE PH storms

July 1 — Siouxland supercells

July 1 — noctilucent clouds

July 2 — east of the Black Hills rainbow extravaganza

July 4 — Lucky Pierre electrical storm

July 5 — northeast WY supercells

I was on the Great Plains for 61 days in 2010, from April 29 to July 4.  For most of that period I was directing the Tempest Tours chase group.  From June 2 to June 6 I enjoyed a break back home in California.  I counted 27 chase days with good supercells and/or significant convection.  I observed at least one tornado on 11 of these 27 chase days.  There were 17 days in which we were in chase mode, for the most part, and the end result was a bust, or generally a junky, unfulfilling convective experience.  On 17 days we were not in chase mode.  Most of these were “in-between” tour days:  days on which we had to be driving back to the base city, greeting new guests and/or repositioning at the beginning of a tour.  A handful of days were non-chase days or reposition days during a tour, when storms were not expected.

Here are the stats by state or province (on a handful of chases I was in more than one state and I had to choose the state with the more significant activity):

TX—I had 8 chase days in TX, but these were primarily junky chases in the Panhandle and way down towards Big Bend around Marathon.  Best were May 14th near Penwell, Iraan and Ozona; and May 18th near Dumas and Stinnett.  Bob and Marcia had a couple of good tornado days in the Panhandle during Tempest’s Tour One in April.   Chalk up just one brief TX tornado for me in 2010, near Dumas.

OK—5 chases, with several good supercell days in May (10th, 11th, 12th, 19th).  I was unlucky with OK tornadoes, though (except for the final stages of the Campo event, which spilled into the OK Panhandle).  I managed to see one tornado near Dover on the 19th, which quickly wrapped in rain.

KS—6 chases—three junky, and three with decent supercells and tornadoes, though these KS tornadoes were either weak, brief, distant and/or relatively ho-hum.  KS was not a good tornado state in 2010, though one of the better events of the year was in northwest KS (near Jennings, on June 11).  Few if any chasers were on that storm.

NE—3 chases, all fairly junky!  Nebraska was really dead in 2010.  So, I fared rather poorly in 2010 in terms of decent tornado intercepts in the heart of Tornado Alley, from TX to NE.

Dakotas—amazingly, just one chase in SD and one chase in ND for me.  Both were excellent days, though, with a big tornado day in northwest SD on May 24.

NM—2 chases, both with decent supercells but no tornados.

CO—7 chases, including big tornado days near Campo and Last Chance, and the HP beast in Yuma County on June 21.

WY—3 chases:  a bust, a junky chase, and a tornado and big BIG hail event near Chugwater on June 20!

MT—no chases, but we did pass through on our way to…

SK—4 chase days, and two fun supercell days and a distant tornado!

Jungles—one chase in AR, with supercells in the northeast part where the chase terrain is decent.  Luckily, no chases in LA or MO, and no chases in the trees of TX and OK (except late in the day May 10 east of OKC).

Corn Belt—two big busts in IA (where else?!), a bust in southern IL, and one big HP supercell in southern MN.

My best chases in 2010 were definitely those on the higher terrain:  in CO, WY,  western SD, and even SK.  The region south of I-40 was slow, and so was the region east of I-35.  Nebraska was amazingly slow in terms of decent and chase-worthy storms.  South Dakota had three huge days while I was on the Plains, but I could only get to one of those events.  Minnesota had a tornado outbreak on June 17th that I could not chase.

This long post is kind of a “best of 2010″ image gallery. Scroll down to see the best images from each chase, and click on the dates to go to the chase account page to read about the event and to see more pictures.

April 29/Washington County, KS/tornado It’s nice to get a tornado at close range on the first full chase day, no matter how small and brief!

April 30/western IL/junky storms The less you know about this chase, the better.

May 1/northeastern AR/supercells This high risk day was characterized by a high infrequency of tornadoes, but we saw what may have been a weak tornado.

May 2/southeastern KS/weak storms If you like a long drive topped off by weak, low-topped convection, then you should have been with me this day.

May 3/Picher and Neutral/killing time The atmosphere was taking a break, so we went into explore and photo-shoot mode.

May 3 to 8/summary of chases A lot of driving during the last half of this tour resulted in a couple of ho-hum chases.

May 10/Red Rock, OK/supercell We were on a very strong tornadic supercell…just prior to its tornadic phase.  Nice mammatus at sunset!

May 11/Woodward County, OK/supercell We placed ourselves just east of a pretty LP-ish supercell in northwest OK right after sunset.

May 12/Carter, OK/supercell One of the vans blew an alternator, and we found a rental minivan in time to get the group on a decent supercell in western OK.

May 13/Garden City, TX/haunted house This was a reposition day to southwest Texas.

May 14/Penrose to Ozona, TX/supercells and lightning Storms started going up at lunchtime, and the long chase day culminated with a great lightning show near Iraan and Ozona.

May 15 and 16/Marathon, TX/almost strong storms The scenery was better than normal, but the storms were less than thrilling.

May 17/Artesia, NM/severe storms A couple of supercells looked good briefly, but then sputtered.

May 18/Moore County, TX/tornadic supercell We witnessed a brief tornado near Dumas, and somehow missed the one near Stinnett.

May 19/Dover, OK/tornadic supercell This high risk day was swarming with chasers northwest of Oklahoma City. We saw a tornado near Dover.

May 20/south of DFW/marginal severe Linear convection failed to please, but a pretty storm at sunset saved the day.

May 22/South Dakota dreaming Our group could do nothing but wish that we were chasing the Bowdle, SD supercell

May 23/Goodland/tornadoes A supercell moved north through the Goodland, KS, area after sunset, and a couple of tornadoes materialized.

May 24/Howes to Faith, SD/tornadic supercell A strong, long-lived, very photogenic tornado rambled through the empty vastness of western South Dakota…YES!

May 25/western KS/tornadic supercells A tornado near Tribune made an appearance to our distant west, and a bigger and better cell got away to our east.

May 26/DIA to Prospect Valley/slow-moving supercell A rotating updraft slowly drifted from the Denver area towards Fort Morgan.

May 30/northern OK/messy storms A storm or two looked good briefly, but convection was everywhere.

May 31/Campo, CO/tornado An amazing tornado was observed at close range just north of the CO/OK border (two parts—see Part Two for the Campo tornado).

June 1/Palo Duro/lightning On the final chase day prior to my break, a pretty high-based cell or two provided some lightning photography opportunities.

June 7/eastern CO/junky storm A long drive at the start of the new tour resulted in a pretty sunset scene.

June 8/Wet Valley/scenics We found ourselves between some strong, but distant, storms, and resorted to local photography ops.

June 9/western Nebraska Panhandle/mediocre storms Storms struggled north and south of I-80

June 10/Last Chance, CO/tornado A beautiful supercell spawned a tornado or two west of Last Chance.

June 11/Limon, CO/supercell A cold and nasty HP supercell kept our attention for several hours, and we were bummed to learn of the nice tornadoes late in the day in NW KS.

June 13/NE TX PH/outflow junk We were unable to get to the goods near Slapout in time, and wound up with a line and a pretty tail-end Charlie at sunset.

June 14/Tahoka, TX/messy convection The southern Texas Panhandle lit up, but the end result was plenty of mediocrity.

June 15/Tatum, NM/LP supercell In what will come to be known as “the day our tour group chased a storm in New Mexico”, we chased a storm in New Mexico.

June 16/Amistad and Dalhart/rainy mess I thought we might have a shot at a nice supercell today, but it was not to be. Shoulda woulda coulda been in DuPree.

June 17/western KS/supercell A pretty and isolated storm near Pen Dennis was small consolation, given the outbreak in MN.

June 19/Brush, CO/severe A drive-by chase in eastern CO, on our way to Denver.

June 20/Chugwater/tornado The atmosphere giveth, and the atmosphere taketh away.

June 21/Yuma County/HP supercell A large and nasty beast of a storm marched through Yuma County and into Kansas.

June 22/western Iowa/bust The troposphere and the lenses remained strongly capped, to our dismay

June 24/Bismarck/supercell A very pretty supercell teased us, weakened, and got serious again late.

June 25/Sleepy Eye/supercell We nearly had a tornado near Sleepy Eye.  The storm went HP and subsequent tornadoes went unobserved.

June 26/Wheeler, NE/marginal severe Isolated activity south of O’Neill struggled.

June 29 and 30/Saskatchewan/Canada real estate A couple of chase days in southern SK were marginal in terms of storm quality.

July 1/Pambrun/supercell Saskatchewan magic fell a little short, but Canada Day was not entirely uninteresting in the least.

July 2/Raymore SK/tornado We were a tad late getting to the significant tornado near Raymore, and were later treated to additional supercells near severe-storm hotspot Foam Lake.

July 4/Nebraska Panhandle/marginal severe My last chase day for 2010 was more of a yawner than a thriller.

Here is a more detailed breakdown of the spring chase season, in two parts.

From April 25 to May 29 (35 days), I was in chase mode on only 20 days, and two of these wound up busts (no storms observed).  On 15 of the 35 days there was no chase, due to no chance of storms, repositioning, and/or changing tours.  Of course, if there had been a really good chance of tornadic supercells on any of these 15 no-chase days, we would have done our darnedest to have been there.  Of these 20 chase days, 11 were in Texas, 4 were in Oklahoma, 2 were Nebraska and 2 were in Missouri.  The remaining one was in extreme southeast Montana.  And, of these 20 chase days, I would rate 14 as “decent or better” (including supercells, strong convection, etc.), while 6 fell into the “marginal/lame/pathetic” category (busts, high-based junk, little or no lightning or severe wx, etc.).  I saw one brief tornado from a distance during these 35 days — yes — May was lame.  We were, however, on a few storms which contained rain-wrapped tornadoes and/or “tornadoed” at night.  I only had to venture east of I-35 twice (on the two Missouri chases), which was nice.  Except for a couple of mediocre days in western Nebraska and one Missouri day when we ended up on junk in KS, I did no chasing in KS, NE, SD, ND, IA, MN, NM, CO or WY during these five weeks in the heart of spring!  That is amazing.  The best chases were generally in TX and OK, between I-35 on the east and U.S. 83 on the west.

Part two occurred from June 5 to July 4, a 30-day period.  I was in chase mode on 26 days, and only four were no-chase (repositioning or tour-changeover) days.  Of these 26 chase days, 7 were in Nebraska, 6 were in South Dakota, 5 were in Kansas and 5 were in Colorado, two were in Wyoming and one was in Montana.  So, geographically, there was (not surprisingly) a definite shift from the Southern Plains to the Central Plains from May to June.  Of these 26 chase days, 16 receive a “decent or better” rating.  The remaining 10 get the “bust-junky-weak” rating. ( I should add that many of the junky chase days on the central and northern Plains still offered some outstanding photography opportunities.)   I witnessed tornadoes on six of these chase days, and on three other chase days we were on tornadic storms but unable to see (or confirm) a tornado.  I did not chase at all this year in ND, MN, IA, and NM (though we were in ND on one evening after a Montana chase).

This page is designed to help you get a fairly quick look at what I caught (or didn’t catch) this season, and to showcase some of my photography from spring 2009.  By clicking on the thumbnails, you will be privy to an enlarged version of the image.  To check out all of the images posted for a particular day, please click on the highlighted date and title above the associated thumbnail image(s).

April 25/western OK/supercells This was the first day out after beginning the drive from L.A. the previous afternoon.  It was nice seeing some severe storms again!

April 26/High Risk/western OK quasi-bust I favored the area south of I-40 in SW OK and wound up on a brief supercell near Elmer. We missed the tornado near Roll, OK.  I did not chase on the 27th or 28th.

April 29/Motley County, TX/supercell

We were unable to make it to the Floyd County tornadoes following noon  orientation in Arlington, and wound up on impressive supercells east of the Caprock.

April 30/Custer County, OK/supercell This fun chase culminated with a lightning-illuminated  barrel-shaped updraft, just to our east.

May 1/Jones County, TX/supercell We saw the tornado near Knox City, and later photographed lightning north of Abilene.

May 5/Stephens County, TX/supercell After three slow days, we were on the big hailer that tried hard to “tornado” south of Breckenridge.

May 7/De Kalb County, MO/supercell A highly-sheared and tilted updraft was quite photogenic at sunset.

May 8/Brown County, TX/supercell A tornadic supercell blew through Brownwood, and we had an excellent look at its structure.

May 12/Hall County, TX/severe storms Fun, but somewhat disorganized and linear storms near Memphis and Childress.

May 13/Blaine County/supercell This south-moving supercell produced a damaging tornado during the late evening in Anadarko, OK.

May 15/Carroll County, MO/severe storm Convection fired early in the day and declined to go tornadic in KS and MO.

May 19/Carter County, MT/virga bomb In the midst of a poor pattern with less-than-adequate moisture, we observed high-based “convection” in southeast Montana. Yawn.

May 20/northwest Nebraska/severe storms A plethora of storms from Harrison to Hay Springs to Ashby kept us busy.

May 24/Nebraska Panhandle/outflowing high-based junk The extended period of lousy chase weather continues.

May 25/northern TX panhandle/severe storms Still short on moisture, but Panhandle Magic did what it could.

May 26/Parker County, TX/supercell This hailstorm was high-based, in late May near Fort Worth. Gulf moisture was still less than robust.

May 27/Val Verde County, TX/lightning We drove to the end of the Earth for some electric fireworks.

May 28/Sutton County, TX/storms We are still struggling through the dreadful May weather pattern, as shear and moisture are much less than ideal. These storms were entertaining, nonetheless.

June 5/Banner County, NE/tornadic supercell We didn’t quite reach Wyoming, but we were able to view the LaGrange, WY, tornado from Nebraska!

June 10/Stevens County, KS/supercell The atmosphere has its act together! Today’s supercell was a bit HP-ish, but I wasn’t complaining.

June 11/Arkansas River, CO/supercell Two fabulous supercells duked it out in southeast Colorado.

June 12/Cheyenne County, CO/high-based supercell A big Colorado hailer chased us through the empty plains of east-central Colorado.

June 13/Morgan County, CO/tornadic supercell A storm near Fort Morgan spit out a couple of small tornadoes, for our viewing pleasure.

June 14/Lincoln County, CO/supercells Eastern Colorado is once again the place for fantastic supercells!

June 15/Adams County, NE/tornadic supercell After a long drive from Lamar, CO, we reached the Hastings area in time for a great show!

June 16/Hutchinson County, SD/tornadic supercell A beast of an HP supercell chased us in southeastern SD.

June 17/Aurora, NE/tornadic supercell A long-lived tornado was photographed between Grand Island and Aurora.

June 17/York County, NE/Lightning in CB After the tornado show near Aurora, the cumulonimbus tower looked nice in the fading light.

June 18/Cheyenne County, NE/nighttime lightning A high-based High Plains electrical storm salvaged an otherwise dud chase day.

June 21/Ziebach County, SD/supercell The beautiful prairies of South Dakota in June make storm photography a blast!

June 22/Corson County, SD/high-based supercells We found ourselves on the wrong side of the Missouri River with the highway heading the wrong way.

June 23/Logan County, NE/tornadic supercell Another fabulous supercell with a shy tornado, wrapped in rain, emerges from the Sand Hills

June 24/Davison County, SD/tornadic supercell A late forecast switch led to a late-in-the-day tornado!

June 25/Jackson County, SD/high-based hailer Late afternoon storms fizzling on the Badlands are better than a sharp stick in the eye.

June 26/Deuel County, NE/supercell Supercell structure on the High Plains in June — what a show!

June 29/Box Butte County, NE/high-based supercell Another mix of pretty storms above great landscapes, without any tornado threat.

June 30/Wibaux County, MT/tornadic supercell My first Montana tornado put an exclamation point on a great month of June chases!

July 1/Carter County, MT/high-based junk Junky hailstorms and junk in an abandoned building in Capitol…why can’t it still be June?

July 2/Niobrara County, WY/supercell Local Wyoming landscape and storm structure combined to make some happy photographers.

July 3/Ottawa County, KS/briefly tornadic supercell A long drive across Nebraska paid off with a good-looking supercell at dusk in Kansas.

July 5/Sherman County, TX/severe storms I wasn’t really in chase mode, but I made sure that I didn’t miss anything important.

July 6/Bruiser in NM One last look at Plains convection before heading to perpetually stable coastal Southern California…

My chase season as a whole in 2008 was a little more active compared to normal, in terms of decent chase days (severe weather, good lightning display or cloud structure, etc.)  There was only one really poor stretch with a Death Ridge, from May 16 to 19.  There was something worthwhile to chase on the Plains practically every day after that.  Tornado-wise, the season was close to normal for me…maybe a little better than normal.  I witnessed perhaps 15 tornadoes on the three days from May 22 to 24.  There were no other big tornado days for me, only a handful of weak or brief tornadoes.  Photography-wise, I am fairly satisfied with my efforts this spring.   Forecasting and chase strategy-wise, I made no big bonehead blunders, but naturally I’d like to have a few days back to do over. Give me a holler at

bill@stormbruiser.com

if you would like to say “hello” or comment.  And, if you are new to stormbruiser, “Welcome!”, and check back from time to time.  The photo “galleries” section remains empty, but I am hoping to get some time to work on that before next spring.

April 26 ^ This San Angelo supercell was quite healthy, and was a great start to the chase season.  Nighttime brought excellent CGs for the CCDs.

May 1 ^ HP fun in southeast Kansas, without the tornado muss and fuss.

May 3 ^ Balloon launches at NWS FTW on a down day

May 4 ^ The Hollis Bridge of Doom almost gets its sandy revenge

May 5 ^ This supercell sent softball-sized hail hurtling earthward upon the citizenry and infrastructure of Garden City, Kansas…no doubt resulting in a negative impact on a garden or two.  Bruiser wouldn’t have it any other way.

May 6 ^ The Texas Panhandle finds itself beneath convective bliss

May 7 ^ The Red River of the South is privy to severe storms.

May 8 ^ A beautiful supercell in western Kansas has its way with Jetmore.

May 9 ^ An isolated supercell treks across the central High Plains, but cool outflow greatly minimizes tornado potential, sparing dozens from harmful winds.

May 10 ^ Images of the long-track Picher, OK, tornado obscured by precipitation.  Sorry.

May 13 ^ A cell north of Mineral Wells, TX, amused us for an hour.

May 14 ^ A strange-looking LP near San Angelo is followed up by a beast, at a town named Brady.

May 15 ^ A nicely-sculpted Mexican HP cell fails to produce proper I.D. and forges into Texas, at Eagle Pass.

May 17 ^ Death Valley was not convenient for Death Ridge adventures, so we visited Big Bend.

May 20 ^ It’s great to be back on the Cheyenne Ridge!  A beautiful, isolated storm put on a colorful display at sunset.

May 21 ^ Who cares about this day?  The good stuff is fast approaching.

May 22 ^ Tornadoes at last!  A tornado-crazy supercell skirted Grainfield, Hoxie, and Dresden, Kansas.

May 23 ^ In southwest KS, a very strong tornadic supercell bisected Clark County and took aim on Greensburg.

May 24 ^ A plethora of tornadoes was observed with this isolated supercell near Enid and Perry, Oklahoma.

May 25 ^ We fiddled around with some mildly interesting Kansas storms and missed the biggie at Parkersburg, Iowa.

May 26 ^ Storm chaser error:  I abandoned the Pratt storm prior to tornado development.

May 27 ^ What makes a storm go mad?  Certainly it was not the conditions on this fine day in OK.

May 28 ^ We deemed this a positioning day into Nebraska for the following day, and visited Monument Rocks in western Kansas.

May 29 ^ Our tour was on the Kearney, Nebraska, tornadic storm like white on rice.

May 30 ^ The atmosphere made chasers in southeast Kansas wait all day before doing what it is supposed to do.

June 7 ^ A very entertaining and photogenic supercell produced a slender tornado near Downs, Kansas.

June 9-10 ^ Junky storms in NE and SD with Dallas Raines and company

June 11 ^ Storms were bunched up in NW Iowa, and we found one near Ashton which looked to be briefly tornadic.

June 12 ^ Severe storms near Emporia, Kansas, were wet and messy.

June 13 ^ An electric updraft gave our shutters a workout in southwest Oklahoma on this evening.

June 14 ^ A supercell trekked southward through the Palo Duro Canyon area, and another storm after sunset sparked enough to make lightning photographers out of us all.

June 15 ^ A healthy and wicked updraft base in Beaver County, Oklahoma, produced some dusty spinups.

June 16 ^ We played upslope and lost in northeast NM, and wandered around Solano.

June 17 ^ New Mexico did a little better than the previous day, but that’s not saying much.

June 18 ^ Tornadoes continued to be in short supply this June.  A nicely-sculpted storm north of Kearney called it a day as we approached.

June 19 ^ Numerous cells along I-80 in the Nebraska Panhandle posed for us.

June 20 ^ A pretty CB reaches for the tropopause east of Littleton, CO, on a non-chase day.

June 21 ^ Jailhouse and Courthouse Rocks were emitting some sort of magic atmospheric stabilizer dust, effectively producing fair conditions in the Panhandle.

June 22 ^ This anti-cyclonically rotating updraft near Alliance, Nebraska, might look normal to you Aussie chasers.

June 23 ^ A Sand Hills supercell that actually closely parallels a paved road!  There is a God!

June 24 ^ This amazing sunset in Corson County, South Dakota, was broadcast in living color.  Go ahead—click on the “June 24″ link—it’s only five bucks.

June 26 ^ Thedford, Nebraska, had the pleasure of our presence on several occasions on this chase day.  One cell north of town was a laminar-sided delight.

June 27 ^ Some weak activity in western Kansas was not good enough to aim the camera at…and never end a sentence with a preposition.

June 28 ^ Back to the Old House

August 15 ^ This doesn’t really count as a chase season event, but I run the show on this web site and can do what I want.  Check out this thunderstorm at Los Angeles International Airport!