Date: 20100510
Miles Driven: 1,332 Miles
States Visited: OK
SPC Outlooks
Chase Partner(s): Eric Treece
Chasers Encountered: Shane Adams, Mickey Ptak
Weather Conditions Experienced:

• Funnel Cloud
• Hail
• Severe Wind
• Tornado
• Wall Cloud

Photo Gallery

Chase Map

Monday May 10th was a day most storm chasers had seen quite a bit of potential in for quite a few days leading up to the event. Model run-to-run consistency had been very good in painting a grim picture for Oklahoma.

I had originally asked for the time off on Wednesday the previous week. I planned to take Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday off, and I would leave for Oklahoma City on Sunday afternoon after having lunch with my mom for Mothers day.

Sunday Morning I started talking to Eric Treece. Eric is a fellow chaser, and captain of the Wilfred Sykes freighter on the great lakes. He had given up hope on Saturday night that he would have a chance to make Oklahoma on Monday. Eric was delayed time and time again. We started looking at flights and started seriously talking about having him fly down to Tulsa, as he would be getting off the boat hopefully Sunday night. He still had to beat another ship into port.

It turns out he did, and got a ride to Green Bay from Escanaba, then rented a car in Green Bay where he drove to Milwaukee and got an hour or two nap before his flight from Milwaukee to Tulsa with a switch in Houston.

I started driving down Sunday after lunch and made it to Joplin, MO before stopping at the Motel 6 for the evening. I got a decent night sleep, having gotten into Joplin somewhere around 12:30 am.

Date: 20100429
Miles Driven: 1,239 Miles
States Visited: NE, KS
SPC Outlooks
Chase Partner(s): Mike Holcomb
Chasers Encountered: Scott Bennett, Adam Lucio, Danny Neal, Randy Cooper
Weather Conditions Experienced:

• Hail
• Severe Wind
• Tornado
• Wall Cloud

Photo Gallery

Chase Map

After a poor weekend the previous weekend, I needed to get back out and have some better luck. My father decided he wanted to come along on this trip as well. The trip got off to a poor start immediately, as we left a lot later then I had anticipated or wanted to leave.

The original target was Wichita for the night, but it became increasingly apparant on the drive down that I would need to be more north, possibly St. Joseph, MO. We decided to go to Omaha, and stay at Scott Bennett's house. Adam Lucio and Danny Neal also showed up later on.

We had another setback on Wednesday evening. I dropped my laptop about a foot onto some carpet and shattered the LCD, rendering it useless for the rest of my trip.

Our target originally was Nebraska City, NE and after lunch we headed down there and met up with Scott, who had gone to work in Lincoln and then headed over after work. We sat around and Rain-X'ed our windshields and got ready for the chase. Cells started firing in central Kansas and then a tornado watch was issued. We dropped south to Auburn, then west to Tecumseh where we dropped south towards Marysville, KS.

We made an intercept of the first storm cell that was just west of Marysville, and went north on US 77. The cell fell apart, so we topped our tanks and headed west towards the next cell coming up into Washington County, KS.

Date: 20100424
Miles Driven: 1,254 Miles
States Visited: MS, AL
SPC Outlooks
Chase Partner(s): Solo
Chasers Encountered: Connor McCrory, Kris Hair, Gene Yates, David Reimer, Dave Marshall
Weather Conditions Experienced:

• Tornado

Photo Gallery

Chase Map

We woke up in Vicksburg, MS on the morning of the 24th and inside of a High Risk of severe weather with a major tornado outbreak expected. A quick walk outside revealed that humidity/moisture was incredibly insane and that I needed to grow a pair of gills to breathe. The lower level jet was cranking already in response to the deepening low, as clouds were just screaming due north. Sun was already out in Louisiana according to the visible satellite and CAPE values were building. The atmosphere was primed for a HUGE outbreak of massive tornadoes, and we were at ground zero.

The 13Z (8am CDT) Jackson, MS sounding (click to view) painted a very serious picture. With the moisture column almost saturated to 400mb, and a big curved hodograph, we knew we would be dealing with HP beast storms for the day.

Cells were already ongoing in Arkansas, and becoming Tornado Warned. We decided to get up US61 in a hurry to try and intercept them as they seemed like, at the time, the best cells out there.

After an already frustrating weekend so far (read my April 22 and April 23 chase accounts) we decided to really book up to those cells. We got pulled over and I received a speeding citation for 79 in a 55. Not a good start to the day, and frustrating.

Date: 20090605
Miles Driven: 1,386 Miles
States Visited: MI, IN, IL, IA, NE
SPC Outlooks
Chase Partner(s): Scott Bennett
Chasers Encountered: Adam Lucio, Danny Neal, Randy Cooper, Steve Polley, Jesse Risley, Mike Brady, Skip Talbot, Chris Rice
Weather Conditions Experienced:

• Funnel Cloud
• Tornado
• Wall Cloud

Photo Gallery

Chase Map

I started this weekend out in Michigan, working 7 days straight since last week's trip to Holiday World. I originally had the 4-7 off, but managed to get the 8th off as well for my return home.

I left around 8am on Thursday the 4th and headed out to Omaha, NE where I arrived sometime during the early evening and stayed at Scott Bennett's house. Thanks go out to Scott and his wife for putting up with me! I really appreciated it!

Scott and I left in his Bravada around 9 am and headed out to an initial target of Sterling, CO. The target was refined while driving, with a target of Sidney, NE. We arrived in Sidney, NE and got some Mexican food at a really tasty Mexican place in town. Chris Rice, Steve Polley, Randy Cooper and Jesse Risley, Brandon Sullivan and Mike Brady all showed up in the parking lot and we hung out for awhile. The cells started going up north of Cheyenne and they eventually all left, leaving Scott and me as the only ones left.

We should have left with them, but I was convinced things were going to blow up further south. I decided we should move a bit further west at least, and get into position for the stuff further south.

Date: 20090513
Miles Driven: 1,275 Miles
States Visited: MI, IN, IL, MO, IA
SPC Outlooks
Chase Partner(s): Bill LaForce, LB LaForce, Andrew Glenn
Chasers Encountered: Scott Bennett, Jesse Risley, Mike Brady, Brandon Sullivan, Randy Cooper, Benjamin Rock, Adam Lucio, Danny Neal, Matthew Cumberland, Jason Loving
Weather Conditions Experienced:

• Funnel Cloud
• Severe Wind
• Tornado
• Wall Cloud

Photo Gallery

Chase Map

Andrew Glenn, L.B. LaForce and Bill LaForce all left from Battle Creek, MI on Tuesday evening, with an original target of staying the night somewhere south of Chicago. We made it to Normal, IL and checked in at the Super8 there.

Wednesday we woke up, and somewhat took our time getting ready, having a tasty Bob Evans breakfast and then heading south on I-55. The other guys made fun of me for wearing shorts when it was pouring rain and about 50 degrees out. I was cold, but it was a lot better than being hotter than heck later on when it was 80-85 with a dewpoint of around 65-72.

We drove to Springfield, and hung out at the Road Ranger for a number of hours. Danny Neal and Adam Lucio joined us, along with Benjamin Rock and his gang, and Danny & Adam's friend Matt. Eventually we decided to head west towards Pittsfield, IL as the surface winds were backed, the temp and dewpoints were good, and they were in the sun. While driving over there, storms started to initiate in Missouri, towards the Kansas City area. They originally looked pretty decent, but somewhat like they would go linear in a hurry.

Date: 20090501
Miles Driven: 538 Miles
States Visited: TX
SPC Outlooks
Chase Partner(s): David Drummond
Chasers Encountered: Craig Curlee, Erik Burns, Bob Schafer, Connor McCrorey
Weather Conditions Experienced:

• Funnel Cloud
• Tornado
• Wall Cloud

Photo Gallery

Chase Map

After busting on Thursday, David and I stayed in Childress, TX. After a tasty breakfast on the Friday morning, we hit the road for Vernon, TX. We topped off the tank at Walmart, then went in to get a few items we needed. We got stopped more than once due to our TVN apparel, people who were fans. It was kind of weird.

Anyway, we started south towards Seymour. A Tornado Watch was issued, and then cells started initiating shortly thereafter. We shot south past Seymour and towards Haskell, arriving in the outskirts of Haskell as the cell went Tornado Warned. We observed a real good wall cloud and funnel cloud as can be seen in the video below.

We punched south of Haskell, towards Stamford and observed the wall cloud and funnel cloud for quite awhile before hail started to fall. I got some decent pictures of the structure, and some RFD winds. We had to move south again, and flipped around into the opposing traffic lanes before observing a dust swirl under the wall cloud/funnel cloud previously mentioned.

Eventually that was cut into by the RFD, and we got south into Stamford, and then positioned for another intercept south of Stamford. The cell started looking poor at that point, so we made the decision to head back north towards the other cell which had fired near Seymour.