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Here is a tale on just how frustrating chasing can be. If one is around Sioux Falls SD early, around 1pm, on such an outbreak day as shown above, some might wonder how it is possible to miss everything. Here is how. After such a year, to have a bust like this, well should gaurantee it to be the worst for some time to come, lol. Lets see how to start this to paint the whole picture 2006 paints. April was good, though I screwed up the majority of the good days. March had the big outbreak on the 12th, which I screwed up by simply being on the storms too early and not being able to stay with them as they go on to tornado. March 30 I'm watching a supercell with a few other chasers in se KS. We leave it for a second to head east with it. During the 5 minutes we aren't viewing it it produces a tornado. It drops this the second we flip around and we see it lifted as a funnel as we go east. April 6th comes and I do well by being a bit late on the storm. April 15th comes and I "give the storm time", since this had worked out with the other early season strong storms. While I wait 15-20 miles ne of it as it races towards me it does its tornado fun right after rain blocks the view of the lowering I had seen. I miss the whole tornado show it put on. Then I head se and almost chase one of the middle storms in this line near Auburn. I decide too much seeding is going on and fly se for tail-end charlie. That storm near Auburn I left produces a tornado shortly after this. Then in nw MO I somehow manage to miss a tornado near Savanah as well as later tornadoes to the east. April 24th, I chase a storm into Tulsa while the El Reno tornadoes happen. May 9th I leave Dodge City in the morning and hold out west of OKC. I almost chased the TX Panhandle but couldn't make myself do it since it was post-frontal. I end up in se OK jumping from storm to storm all the way down to near the TX border. I give up before dark and miss the Westminster and Anna TX tornadoes just to my south. Not just that but the TX Panhandle I almost chased lit up and produced supercells and tornadoes. Most of the rest of May is screwed by east coast troughing, but late May holds a couple ops. I decided around this time to just hit it hard from here on out till a good day or two happens as I did not want to sit out after trying a bunch only to miss a good day. May 25th I find myself chasing in Indiana of all places. The next afternoon I would be in nw KS(that was a long drive). The next afternoon up on the ND border. I busted the ND border day and the following day. June 5th I just about chased up in eastern SD. The night before I noted the upper level winds would be more backed(front left quad of the jet) and maybe something could get going in that environment as it would be vented better than having its precip blown more into its inflow. I'm in Norfolk NE getting data and noting the better dews up there as well(southern NE got hose by early morning rain). I continue nw keeping the option open. I then see the storm explode up there(visually from a long ways away), but it was a long ways off and I blow it off. Well, it drops se forever and is tornado warned a lot of that time. I would have been on it in plenty of time had I just went for it. It produced tornadoes. June 10th I'm in Sidney NE pondering heading down into NE CO, but opt not to because of the more veered upper level flow there. A nice long lived supercell happens and goes se forever as I play in outflow in NE. June 11th(lol nothing like screwing up the following day in the same area) I leave North Platte with two targets in mind, the WY/NE border, or down further closer to Denver. I head to Sterling and wind up just east of Denver. Meanwhile a lovely tornado warned supercell drops south near Scottsbluff NE. June 21st I get a lovely ticket for "not stopping" from some anal cop RIGHT infront of me that I'm staring at as I make sure to come to a complete stop. $120 and the longest stop of my life making me later for a mean supercell near Clay Center. Oh yeah and got stopped May 24 in IL for no seatbelt and ticketed just minutes after I took it off while pulled over getting data(it is always on while chasing). That was the only reason I was even pulled over by the cop, no seatbelt. How often does that happen! Thank you IL. July 17th missed a tornado ne of Des Moines by less than 5 minutes. Also, whatever day early in the year Iowa City got hit I sat out. That was a VERY rare day I sat out. At least of the days with any shear and instability around. I did not think anything would fire around where it did thanks to very bad convergence and capping. It's only 2 hours to Des Moines, but I opted to sit it out and paid the price for it later as training supercells got that area. $3 gas all year. Lots and lots of other busts and uneventful chase days. I've been trying to chase every single thing I can just so I don't miss "that day", you know, the day that it finally all comes together. That was my worst fear, to keep chasing this whole time(most of the time since early March) and stop and give up the wrong day(I have past examples that have firmly planted this thing not to do in my mind). As crappy as the year has been, it was about to peak in a big way....#@$#@$ :( @#$#@%
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So, August 24 was coming and it sure looked like another chase op. Then the night before the actual day, the models show an even better setup than they had been. I said it in chat, as did others, this was the best looking chase day since April. On the NAM it showed there would likely be two areas, one along the inverted trough north of the sfc low and one more to the east of the surface low on the warmfront. One thing the model keyed in on(as it did a few other setups this summer) was the very high convective temps east of the low, dropping off quickly as you got even further to the east. Most of eastern SD showed convective temps in the 100 range, while MN had many in the upper 80s. This panned out. I was excited about this day to say the least. Even at noon I was still very excited and I noticed how that was a bit of a change. I was like, this is something new, that it still looks good at noon. I get data a few times as I move north, noting the CIN was eroding pretty quickly in southern MN. Then it was eroding along the inverted trough/cold front in c SD. At the same time eastern SD was capped. I commited to the east option early, heading into Pipestone MN. The bad part was that on satellite there was a lot of clearing happening in se SD now, and there had been a meso low there. The best upper support would be over SD too. My thought was that it would be best to be just to the east of this cap, but west enough to get some help aloft. At the same time I thought it would be best to error to the east, just incase sc MN was the only area to go I'd then be closer to it. So I creep east right along the warmfront. I notice my decent cu field being eaten alive from the west and was like, crap. So I keep going east figuring the warm and dry 850mb air was killing sw MN. Not much later I can see a tower rocketing up to my se. I look at my xm radar and there's nothing on it yet. I was like, well judging by the height of that that is going to show up any second. Instead I see a blip on there due east of me, ne of it. I can't see any towers as there are still some cu in the area and it was very hazy. I drive a bit faster east and quickly see these new towers. I believe I saw these from Wabasso. They weren't all that far east and were just going up. I was certain I was doing as well as I could and that I was set. I keep moving east, dealing with increasing traffic thanks to the time of day and the larger tows now in the area. It wasn't long and a tornado warning was issued, while things still looked very crappy on radar. I had a good radio station on with people reporting what they were seeing live. It was nice as no one was reporting a tornado yet. I was getting closer and closer to the back of the towers, but I was noticing how I was not catching them nearly as quickly as I thought I should be(they were scooting east fairly quickly..or perhaps I was just that anxious).
I think this was taken as I was near Sleepy Eye MN. Just prior to this I could see something hanging down from the sw side of the storm. At the same time live reports of funnel clouds start coming in over the radio. I say the time on video as 5:15. Here is the storm report from the SPC: 2209(5:09) 3 W COURTLAND BROWN MN TORNADO OBSERVED BY NUMEROUS STORM SPOTTERS JUST WEST OF THE MINNESOTA RIVER AND NORTH OF STATE HIGHWAY 68. THE TORNADO CROSSED THE RIVER INTO NICOLLET COUNTY WEST OF C (MPX) I know what I saw is the same thing, but it honestly doesn't matter at all. I'm only mentioning it to help show how close I was. Thanks to the distance and haze the video captures are all crap. It persisted for a long time, surely till and past I lost views of it.
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After that sighting I make it through New Ulm, not hearing any tornadoes reported live the whole way till Courtland(for whatever reason the people reporting the first thing were only able to confirm it as a funnel). I make it out of Courtland(seen on the map above) at 5:40. I was now finally in shot of the base, but just out of view thanks to terrain and haze, and a few miles distance. But, I was now in that striking distance where I'd be able to get views of what was going on any second. As I was in Courtland and exiting someone live starts reporting a torando now. Then 1 mile east of Courtland, at the red x on highway 14, the fire department has the highway blocked preventing anyone from driving east!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Arrrrggghhh. Look north of the highway on the map, there are no other options to try to the north. Look south of the highway, 2 options before the river. Here are 2 reports from the SPC storm reports page. 2233(5:33) 2 S NICOLLET NICOLLET MN UMEROUS REPORTS FROM SPOTTERS AND CHASERS. (MPX) 2239(5:39) 1 E NICOLLET NICOLLET MN NWS VOLUNTEER REPORTED STOVE TYPE TORNADO WITH MULTIPLE VORTICIES. (MPX) I'm stopped 5 miles from the middle of Nicollet at 5:40. 5:33 report of the tornado 2 south of Nicollet. 5:39 report of a stove type tornado with multiple vorticies 1 east of Nicollet, which is pretty much the same time I'm only 5 west of Nicollet being stopped by a road block. AND, the guy reporting the tornado live continues and says how it is getting much bigger. I was rather furious to be this close and stopped. I flip the car around so I could get on the se option south of the highway. I drive the mile or so back west and hop on that option. I was happy this was actually paved. One problem, what do I see right away? They had this blocked off too, south of the other one$#@%!@$#!@$!@$. There is only one more option south of me before I hit the river. I turn south where they were as they weren't stopping people from doing that. The problem was my GPS would not find the damn satellite. I slowed down hoping it would lock for me, but no. I'm still listening to the live coverage of the tornado party moving further east as I'm dropping se to who knows where and to who knows what for damage/available options. The gps continues to not lock. I finally snap. I slam on the breaks, skid into a drive way and punch my roof as hard as I could. I then peel out back out of the driveway and race back from where I had come, pissed off something fierce, saying SCREW THE DAY. I quit. Hell what choice did I have. It was actually pretty uncatchable now when one tosses in the damage and forward speed of this storm. Continuing to chase the area wasn't much of an option either as convection just north of this storm was spreading south and surely going to be the end of the tornadic supercell going ons. Game over.
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Image of the first stop east of Courtland.
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So, after all the frustrations of the year I was this close to what ends up being an amazing tornadic storm, easily a top 5 of the year judging from the images NUMEROUS other chasers have of it(congrats to them). This is what I get trying to leave no chance of missing "that day". I get to be the most frustrated I've ever been chasing, at the end of....well the worst year for chasing since 1988(May and June 06 vs 88 are very comparable in terms of crapiness).
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But no sense in ending it yet! Oh no. There is more. Go back to the top of this page and look at the storm reports map again. Note the long string of red dots(tornadoes) in SD. It was only around 6pm when this happens and I give up. Well I hadn't backed out xm radar for a long time. I had seen the storms in SD firing on a satellite loop earlier. I back out xm as I start to head home and am like...........oh for crying out loud. This crazy looking supercell is dropping se and is tornado warned. Hmmm, too bad I wasn't still in eastern SD. I'd been extremely anxious for a good while trying to get to the MN storm. I was now pissed, yet content with heading home. I honestly did not want to see what I was seeing in SD. Why? Because I didn't want to be tricked into thinking it would last and I could make it, leaving me anxious and hopeful for what was surely a lost cause at this distance. I didn't do very well at blowing it off. Not long into my drive I was speeding up and intending to give it a shot incase it somehow did last THAT long. Well, it was proving to be quite the storm and was lasting. I was between Sioux Falls and Worthington MN when I got to listen to live reports of another huge tornado, now with the SD storm. Around the same time little crapper cells fired west of Sioux Falls. I was like, I sooooooooooo know what I'm asking for having any hope for this. Sure enough. I'm heading north out of Sioux Falls and note it shrinking on radar. I get my first view and see a rather rounded updraft to the nw. Then I lose sight for a bit. Next view I get as I pull off I-29 to look west is that updraft in two pieces and turning into nothing fast. FANTASTIC! That storm had been going for 5 hours and put down a ton of tornaodes, including a monster wedge which looked a lot like the Manchester tornado(from another stupid day of mine). Earlier forms of it were similar to Spencer 98. This would be funny as I mentioned to Scott O in chat the night before how the upper levels were kind of similar to the Spencer day(had a very similar upper level jet).
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So as that one vanishes I just laugh and begin heading home. I was a smidge sad and mad making the drive back, fearing what I would see online of these 2 storms in the days to come(congrats to those other numerous chasers who caught the SD storm). I'd been fighting this year all year, not willing to give up, and this is the thanks I get when things really come together. I thought about a lot of things the whole way back. ---- LOL I am playing MP3 files in the background as I write this, not really listening to any of them as the volume is down and the tv is on....I JUST noticed what is playing....LOL......."Frank Sinatra - That's Life".....that is great.....turning up the volume now...."ridin high in April, shot down in May........". Man I really do believe in signs sometimes. This is just odd. I was about to type about what I was thinking on the way home and the song I heard as I hit Modale IA. The song "Unanswered Prayers" came on the radio and I thought, hey maybe this validates some of what I'd been wondering about the whole way back. Maybe I chase TOO much and should be doing something else. Maybe with my constant feeling of it not being ok to miss anything, I've sort of asked for this to happen. Now with the "That's Life" song I'm not sure. I've been pretty upset the last couple days since the chase and just feeling like I need to do something, change something. Maybe I don't, maybe I do. A life of less chasing sure sounds interesting however. I've been extremely fortunate to see the things I have. At the same time, seeing those things takes up a lot of time. Chasing isn't like a vacation where you drive all day and get to your destination where you enjoy your time, relaxing, or doing whatever. Most of the time you drive all day and things don't pan out that well, so you drive all night back home(kind of like a lot of vacations without the vacation). Then toss in the time spent online looking at systems each day as they approach, and talking with other chasers about them. One can spend a sick amount of time on this hobby(hobby/job in my case). It just sounds so interesting to me to just not do it for a while. To do something else during all that time. A person can "ruin" anything in life when they don't balance it and do too much of it. I almost feel like I'm really working on ruining this by being able to do it so much, though at a cost($15,000 backwards as a whole over the last 30 months....not terrible after buying several things and paying bills with this as the only income, but also not good either!). So doing it full time as a hobby and a job can lend to not just overkill, but stress over bills as well. This year and this chase have just made me think I guess. I'd rather go chasing as a "job" than do anything else. I mean who wouldn't if they could? Does working at Cargill and being stuck there for 8 hours a day sound like something better than chasing? Does any job I've ever had sound more enjoyable than going out and chasing, or sleeping in when I'm not? NO......period....end of story. Problem is there is something to be said about a piece of mind as well with a real job. Toss in overkill and never knowing about money, and one is just asking to hate what they loved. I know this sounds like a tremendous amount of complaining from someone who's seen a lot of cool skies. It is. This is the thing that makes me wonder the most. To some degree it isn't even about the busts. If I'm completely honest with myself I can see feeling much the same had I caught either storm this day. I was down the last couple days and began wondering if I'd honestly feel all that much better having caught the storms. I'm uncertain, but I'm certain I'd still feel like I do this too often and not enough of anything else. When I think that I then think, what else would I do, what do I think I'm even missing. So I'd have to ask myself if I had all the money in the world would I enjoy chasing all the time like I am doing now. I think that I would. So, it almost seems like all this uncertainty and wondering is mostly from income questions from no job outside of chasing. The stress that comes from doing things this way can really trickle over into what one thinks of the hobby they love. As crappy as busting and those stresses can be, I am sure it is no worse than having a job you absolutely do not like and are stuck in each day all day. So in the end, maybe I'll take the Frank Sinatra song sign, "That's Life" over the first one I heard at the end of the chase from Garth Brooks, "Unanswered Prayers"--when I think about it all. I mean I have no choice when it comes to chasing or not chasing. I absolutely can not help myself, be it good or bad. If this was all a sign I should do something else for a while I must say sorry to the sign sender. It is abundantly clear to me I am an addict. A full blown addict. I can be this upset and this frustrated, wanting to do something else and not chase for a while and in the next minute find myself browsing the stupid GFS model for coming systems! Being this way, at this point, scares me actually. I'm not sure how I'm going to ever be anymore discouraged and frustrated, so to still HAVE to chase the next setup is honestly a bit scary. But, "That's Life" I suppose.
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You know what the most annoying thing about busting is to me? That damn Daniel Powter - Bad Day song! "You work at a smile and you go for a ride You had a bad day The camera don't lie" The camera dont' lie....LOL! It sure doesn't. This chase I had 3 images on my compact flash card at the end of the day...all of which were shot through the bug splattered windshield on the move...that is it. "You had a bad day You've seen what you like And how does it feel for one more time You had a bad day You had a bad day
Had a bad day Had a bad day Had a bad day Had a bad day Had a bad day" I laught at the "camera don't lie" part at first. Then by this end part I'm cussing at ol Daniel Powter. As if I need Daniel to tell me I had a bad day.
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06-8-24 I hope this flag makes a little more sense now(to those that saw it on the front page). I enjoy laughing and wanted something to laugh at. The site had to go into "mourning" for a couple days after this one. Sorry if it made anyone worry. There is no need to worry, I am an addict. I have no choice but to come back to my "crack". The next storm system that pans out had better watch out. I was pissed, on fire, and ready to go the day of this one. Now I'm just.... |
