2006 Storm Chase Season
Chase days: 20
Number of days with supercells: 6
Number of days with tornadoes: 1
Busts: 3
Number of days with tornado warned storms: 4
Number of tornado warned storms: 5
Tornado warned storms that produced tornadoes: 1
Observed tornadoes: 3
Miles: 9612
June 17 - Alright, we have moisture and some boundaries, but we seem to be a little weak in mid-level flow and have too weak of a cap. In yet another chapter of a year when something was always missing... storms this day would again be unbalanced to the outflow side of things. Little structure was seen as Doug and I headed into southwest Oklahoma and followed storms east and northeast toward I-35. While driving home later, I decided to intercept a storm that formed near the Blaine/Kingfisher county line. This one actually had some nice structure to it briefly before again becoming a rage of outflow that spilled southward into Canadian county.
And with that, I can close the book on my 2006 storm chase season. It ended up being a season that I can argue was the worst in my 25 years of chasing. If I wasn’t cussing the generally pathetic look of the storms we were chasing... I was cussing gas prices. I always take with me the fun of just being out on the Plains... but little did I know the one April tornado event would be my only one of the season. The “meat” of the season (May and June) didn’t produce a single widespread supercell/tornado event anywhere in the Plains. I can’t recall that ever happening before. The remainder of the summer will be spent waiting for lightning photo ops closeby... with a chance of making a run for the Arizona monsoon when it starts to ramp up. Oh yeah, there will be a lot of looking forward to 2007.
June 16 - Chase number 19 for me this year was chase number one for Doug Speheger who was along for the ride. The day actually had some promise to it as good mid-level flow and a deep surface low in the Texas panhandle looked to have some good moisture to work with. Or, at least we thought. By early afternoon the moisture started to mix out and we were once again left with high-based storms that were very good at producing strong and damaging winds... but little more. The day was made worse for me when my Nikon D70 camera decided to crash (a problem that will require a few week stay with Nikon). It picked a bad time since the lightning associated with these storms allowed numerous photo opportunities. I caught this image near Elk City one the one occasion I got the camera to click.
May 30 - By days end... the grand total for eight straight days of chasing would be 4,158 miles. Lorraine and Gareth would see no tornadoes this trip... but did end up with one of their better years as far as lightning and general storm photography was concerned. This final day for them was a long trip through the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles looking at several severe and non-severe storms. Lightning near Canadian, Texas. Time lapse of updraft region of Roger Mills County, Oklahoma storm.
May 29 - Feeling like Kansas would be the place to be... we turned this into a longer drive than we needed. We found our way to severe storms that were in northwest Oklahoma - by way of Newton, Kansas. The show was well worth it as we were treated to an incredible lightning show for several hours after dark. ONE TWO THREE FOUR FIVE SIX SEVEN EIGHT NINE TEN ELEVEN TWELVE THIRTEEN FOURTEEN FIFTEEN
May 28 - As far as storms go... this was pretty much a bust. We headed west again and had hope that a severe thunderstorm near the Oklahoma/Texas border would keep going long enough to give us another lightning show. We weren’t that lucky. About an hour before sunset... the storm turned off like someone hit a switch. The leftovers produced another beautiful sunset and we clicked away just south of Shamrock, Texas. ONE TWO THREE FOUR FIVE. A time lapse view of the stormless anvil.
May 27 - This turned out to be a fun little day. We took a nice short drive into western Oklahoma and ended up in the Cheyenne/Elk City area as a high-based thunderstorm rolled out of the Texas Panhandle. The storm wasn’t severe... however, it would go on to produce a heat-burst with 60 mph winds. It also gave us a beautiful sunset and about a 30 minute window of very nice lightning. It proved once again... you don’t even need a severe thunderstorm to have fun. ONE TWO THREE FOUR FIVE SIX SEVEN
May 26 - We left Dodge City and headed toward northwest Kansas with a target in northeast Colorado... then got lucky enough to make the right call and play storms that formed near Gove, Kansas. They ended up being high-based fighting strong capping... but did manage to attain some supercell structure for a period. A fire red sunset was one of the better things about the chase. ONE TWO THREE FOUR FIVE SIX SEVEN EIGHT. Here is a time lapse look at one of the better looking updrafts of the day.
May 25 - The woes of the 2006 season continue and we are pretty much left with making lemonade. We decided to travel into southwest Kansas this evening for some lightning photography as high-based severe storms moved out of the Texas Panhandle. We didn’t get any “wall-hangers”... but we were entertained by quite a few flashes well into the night before stopping in Dodge City. On a side note: stay away from the Econo Lodge. ONE TWO THREE FOUR FIVE SIX SEVEN EIGHT
May 24 - A tough year got a little tougher with a bust run into northeast Oklahoma. We spent the late afternoon looking at Grand Lake and some ugly little TCU.
May 23 - The first day with Lorraine and Gareth along for the ride. The day ended up being somewhat of a disappointment as we at least expected supercell storms. What we got was a bunch of CAPE-starved storms with tall skinny updrafts producing small hail. We did see some nice structure in the first stages of development... but everything turned mushy soon after. The after dark lightning was also a disappointment. Each storm we targeted for lightning photos weakened with our approach. Storm development near sunset in northern Kansas: ONE TWO
May 9 - This turned out to be a great example why we don’t chase much in southeast Oklahoma. Storms traveled through areas with a lot of hills, trees and bad roads. It was a big CAPE day with fairly weak shear that led to very messy HP supercells. We ended up seeing our share of storms and finding a couple that were tornado warned... but never saw much structure and ended up with only a good car wash to show for it. The road home gave us a brief lightning show that was very much short of great.
May 8 - A classic example of a bust. We took a drive into southern Kansas only to see storm initiation occur well to the north and west. A nice sunset was the only reward on the day.
May 2 - There would be numerous supercell storms this day in the eastern Texas Panhandle and western Oklahoma... but several key parameters were weak that would prevent this from being a big tornado day. We ended up on two tornado warned storms... one in Hall county and the other in Hardeman county. These ended up having bad interactions with other storms in the area and what nice structure was able to develop... didn’t last long. The best show of the day for us happened on the way home east of Altus. Sunset provided a beautiful rainbow and some nice color on parts of the Wichita Mountains. The storms to the east provided only a few anvil crawlers... but the ones that happened were spectacular. “Lightning over the Wichitas”
April 24 - I had to work hard to get away from work on what I thought would be a very good supercell day. My trip into northern Oklahoma yielded severe storms with hail around one inch... but not a lot of structure. In the end... I didn’t have anything to show for it. Later, while at work... I watched T.V. as all of the local stations showed a supercell storm 30 miles west produce a couple of highly visible tornadoes near El Reno.
April 23 - In an attempt to have one of those days where something nice is pulled out of a “not so good” day... I headed into northwest Oklahoma to look at a few severe storms that formed in an environment that didn’t support tornadoes - but did support a minor supercell threat. It worked out fairly well with me coming away with a few nice storm and lightning shots: ONE TWO THREE FOUR FIVE SIX.
April 6 - Tornadoes near Manchester, KS - chase account.
April 1 - Things are looking up... this was a nice chase day and a great change from the previous outings this year. It was a fairly short chase that kept me in Oklahoma and the storms I got to deal with were slower moving and had nice structure. I sat near Erick, OK for the better part of the afternoon waiting for first development. A storm formed about 25 miles to the southwest of me that quickly became severe and started showing signs of evolution into a supercell by the time it reached Plainview, OK. The updraft was fairly high-based and never really gave a feel that tornado production would come from it... but still, it had some nice looking features at times. The best rotation became evident for a few minutes near Dill City in this wall cloud. Other image. The day was pretty much over shortly after that as the entire system evolved into a wind producing event and surged toward the Oklahoma City area. Sunset southwest of Bessie. Bessie lightning.
March 30 - Put simply... one of the worst chase days I have ever had. I knew that with the many questions the system was giving us that it would be a tough day... but a combination of equipment problems and bad chase decisions had me chasing my tail all over Kansas this afternoon. I always seemed to be two counties away from a good storm with no chance of catching it. In the end... I didn’t see anything that would keep me from calling this day a bust.
March 20 - A cold core event. It became evident by early afternoon that the best chances of a tornado with a low-topped supercell would be near or north of the I-40 area. Of course this was realized after departing toward southwest Oklahoma. Despite that... I continued to Mt. Scott where I took the opportunity to time lapse convection/virga moving through southwest Oklahoma. After playing with that a bit I started back northeast to Chickasha and then north up highway 81. I met up with a severe thunderstorm near El Reno that was high-based and clearly not the type capable of producing a tornado. But it was also at this time that a storm in Dewey county was producing a tornado. Go north! A storm in central Kingfisher county had the look on radar and appeared to be in a favorable region of the surface map... so I continued up highway 81 through Okarche and Kingfisher. It was nice to blast through the old town again. Muddy road options kept me on highway 81 until I reached Hennessey... and thus kept me from seeing the supercell storm up close at the time it was mostly likely producing anything. The storm was on the downhill side of things when I caught up with it at Lovell... but still had a nice looking updraft to it. Worth shooting a little video. The chase kept me close to home and put me on my first tornado warned storm of the year. We keep moving in the right direction...
March 8 - Not a lot of hope for the afternoon... but we felt like there would be a chance at some storms and the new ride was needing a test run. We drove south on I-35 and eventually worked our way back toward the Healdton, OK area. Greeted by a bit of rain and lightning as a group of disorganized storms moved northeast out of Texas. Internet service was good on I-35... but still leaves me with some concerns about rural areas away from interstates. The Threat-Net system looks to remain a vital part of the chase gear for this season and at least another to come.
