Chase Map

 

Day 1 April 12th
The initial chase looked to be a good one in Western Kansas. A dry line was setting up and all the numbers were coming together for a quality day. I initially targeted South Western Kansas. I began to meander further North as the instability looked to be more substantial in North Western Kansas. I arrived near Goodland and watched as towers would form and die. I waited and waited and waited. It became apparent that the cap was going to win this day. A few severe warned storms did fire near dark North of Goodland. I gave chase for a good amount of time. A few funnels and a brief maybe nado were reported by other storm chasers. But overall day 1 was a bust tornado wise. I did get some amazing photos of a line of out flow boundary storms developed North of Goodland. An incredible sunset and some amazing cloud motion saved this day from a complete bust for me. I moved on to day 2. I was targeting South West Oklahoma for day 2. So I was on may way. 

Day 2 April 13th
A decent chase looked to be taking shape in South West Oklahoma and I anticipated storms firing over the Red River and becoming super cells as they marched North East. After over nighting in Elk City Oklahoma, I arrived in Lawton just as storms were firing. I was on some initial cells that were going up and they did pack quite a punch with hail and heavy rain. I followed these storms for a good time and they never seemed to become the beast I was looking for. A storm to my North strengthened quite a bit as it was approaching Norman. I fired North and after hitting unexpected toll booths made it to the storm just after it dropped a brief weak tornado directly over Norman Oklahoma. I was just a bit late. I was also noticing that the majority of these storms were high precipitation, and chasers were not getting good visuals. Anticipating another round of storms firing back near Lawton, I raced back South and West. Sure enough cells fired again and were strengthening. I battled massive amounts of rain to try and get back into position to intercept. I fought and fought, but gave up due to darkness falling and the fact that if these storms produced a tornado, it would likely be rain wrapped. Sure enough a handful of chasers were able to catch a quick wedge that developed near Cooperton Oklahoma. This tornado nearly took out a few chasers, and I was happy I did not pursue.  
Day 3 April 14th
The big kahuna. This was the day I had been eyeing from the start of this adventure. A major tornado threat was taking shape in Kansas. I made my way to Wichita to over night and be in prime position for the event. After I arrived in Wichita, I took some time to review models. I determined that the threat was exploding further North. With EHI and Cape values being the most favorable near the Nebraska/Kansas border. I decided to push my self North and fore go sleeping. I made it to the border around 4am and got some sleep. This day was panning out to be epic and deadly. The SPC had issued a 45% hatched tornado risk for large parts of Kansas and Nebraska. This was almost unheard of. I woke up and felt good about my location after reviewing the models. On the other hand I was not excited about the cloud deck that had developed over Northern Kansas. I was still confident clearing would occur and storms would fire. The NWS issued PDS tornado watches for both Kansas and Nebraska. Storms fired near my location around 11am and the fireworks had begun. I began by intercepting storms in Northern Kansas that had a few tornado warnings on them, but looked crappy on radar. These would produce only large amounts of rain. I began to worry. I realized that the threat would be further South out of range of this early morning convection and cloud cover. I still had time to adjust. I began to race South towards Greensburg Kansas where supercells had began to develop around 2pm. I battled past Salina Kanas (more on how painful this would be later) and Great Bend and made it all the way down to the cells in South Western Kansas. I thought I had avoided a disaster. These storms would fire, grow, look good on radar and then putz out. I kept jumping from cell to cell, working my way further South. I always try and target the Southern most cell in a line (more on why this would be painful later). THESE STORMS JUST COULD NOT GET IT DONE! They had tornado warnings and wall clouds and looked nice on radar, but that was it. After hours of this game, it was looking like a very over rated day. I had overextended myself by chasing for 3 days in a row. I was tired, grouchy, hungry, frustrated and I just wanted to see my family. Right about now, I started to hear reports that a wedge tornado had developed near Salina, Kansas. WHAT!!!! How could this be? I just crossed over Salina. Turns out the Northern most storm in the line of cells I was on, strengthened and dropped the most picturesque tornado of the day. I wanted to cry. No really, I wanted to cry. Then more reports of numerous tornadoes in North West Oklahoma. UGGGGG! I was caught in the middle. To far to catch any of these storms before dark. My day was over. A tornado would eventually track all the way to Wichita and cause damage. I could have kept chase, and maybe caught a few nocturnal tornadoes to save the day. Should I have tried? Needless to say, I was defeated on my drive home. Never had I been so frustrated with storm chasing. My spirits slowly improved. As I always do, I recovered and realized there will be another storm. I missed many tornadoes this day, and it was very hard. Passion will take me back out to do it again.
I don't chase storms for tornado counts or money. I chase storms for the sheer photographic beauty of mother nature. So, this whole 3 day adventure was pretty painful. I did muster out some good photos on Day 1, but overall BIG TIME BUST! Onward and upward.