It is late January, 2023, and I finally finished up my chase accounts for 2022.
The chase season for me was again rather mediocre. I chased from about April 21 to July 1, and the really, really good chase days were few. Fortunately, for the most part, I did not mess up on the days on which tornadoes were forecastable and also occurred. There might have been a day or two that I wished I had chased differently, but I don’t look back on any day in 2022 and say “Oh, geez.”
The season started out well enough, as we hit it big time with the Andover event (April 29) and then the Crowell event (May 4). But then the chase season on the Great Plains kind of hit a brick wall, at least with regard to forecastable and photogenic and non-brief tornadoes. Fortunately, we found ourselves in a great spot to observe the tornado north of Morton, TX, on May 23, and we saw a bunch of the brief tornados east of Russell, KS, on June 23. Supercell chases were not in short supply, generally speaking, but it seemed that most days which showed quite a bit of promise for tornadoes failed rather miserably in that department.
What were the problems this year? Probably a general dearth of quality low-level moisture. This is often a problem. Much of the Plains continued to suffer from drought conditions in spring 2022. This has been the case for several years now, and most areas of the High Plains were especially pathetic again. What might be surprising is that, with the lame conditions (and few opportunities) in E NM, E CO and E WY, I did not once cross a border into Iowa, or Missouri…or into Arkansas and Louisiana, for that matter. Of course, I avoid those states in the eastern part of Tornado Alley if I have other options. But, the weather gods were just not in much of a tornado-making mood in May and June ANYWHERE, from the foothills of the Rockies to the Mississippi River.
Anyway, those links in the previous paragraph will take you to the top four chase days of the season. You can find the remaining chase day accounts without too much trouble via the links below!
June 2022 chases Page 1 and Page 2
and the June 26 to July 1 chases
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