Individual tornado and day you wish you could have chased

[Chris Hayes]

What tornado and which day do you wish you could have chased?

Tornado: For me, a tornado I would love to have been able to see was the April 26, 1991 Billings/Red Rock tornado. The video that Bobby Prentice took of that tornado is simply awesome. For those who havent seen it here are links to the three part series on Youtube in order from part 1-3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoXjHFler9w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zUJJH_MSZI&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lf90f57PtZQ&feature=related

A day I would like to have been able to chase? This is a hard one. June 15, 1992 comes to mind simply because of the awesome storm structure of the day. I had this other day in my mind earlier, if it comes to me I'll edit this post.

[Melissa Jablonski]

April 26 ,1991 Billings/Redrock comes to mind for me too. I was Preggo at the time and couldn't chase all season.
Melissa

[Michael O'Keeffe]

As far as one tornado is concerned I would have liked to have been on the May 20, 1957 Spring Hill, KS F5 because when placed on a map from now it would have sliced a path through the neighborhood I live in, however it wasn't till about 10 years ago when my neighborhood went up.

As far as a specific tornado day I would have loved to have chased the June 8, 1995 Panhandle outbreak, if there has ever been an event considered a true "wedgefest" that would be the day. Never have I seen so many storms produce multiple wedge/large tornadoes within close proximity of each other (in pics/video that is). WOW!

[Chris Hayes]

LOL! Cant beleive I forget June 8, 1995 as being the day I would love to have chased. Pampa and Hoover tornadoes would have been the tornadoes to see that day!

[John Hudson]

Without a question, it would have to be the Wichita-Andover tornado. All the footage I've seen from that one makes my jaw drop; I've just never seen a multiple vortex wedge that compares to it.


John
VE4 JTH

[Rob Wadsworth]

I would have to say either the Pampa TX tornado on June 8th, 1995 OR the Oklahoma City OK on May 3rd, 1999. It is hard to pick between the two of them. The TX storm was amazing in the visible debris that was accounted for in the film. But I think the scope and size of the OK twister sticks in my mind. 318 mph wind speeds clocked. Yeowser!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-PdZr2PAC0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Trr5HG6swKg

[Aaron Strum]

As I never had chased before and never had the chance or ability to get out of my weather bubble (really my county is pretty dry when it comes to tornadoes and server storms yet counties to the west, north, and south get them every now and then.), I would need to say the Tri-State Tornado (March 18, 1925). I mean if any of you guys were able to go back then and then come back, we should have a better understanding of tornadoes then we do now, and we would not be waiting for the next one.

[Kathryn Piotrowski]

Most recently April 29, 2009 with Jeff Piotrowski and Terry Schenk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SgD7ZmxCq4&feature=email

Infamous Brady, NE with Brian Stertz and Jeff Piotrowski

May 3, 1999 with Jeff Piotrowski or Brian Stertz

Glen Elder 2008 with Sean and Katie McMullen

[Dan Robinson]

April 3, 1974, targeting SW Ohio and cell-hopping south through central Kentucky. A May 3, 1999-like chase day just a few hours from home. Too bad I would not be born until 18 months later.

[Justin Wiley]

I am definitely biased but I would easily say the April 26, 1991 event, specifically the Andover tornado as well. Being so close (10 miles) from it yet, and yet so far (8 years old)...

But it was the one that got this little engine started.

The Winfield or Red Rock storms would have been pretty sweet too. Pretty amazing.. 3 violent tornadoes on the ground at the same time.

[Greg McLaughlin]

For me its a toss-up....

April 26, 1991 Andover, KS tornado

June 23, 1998 Columbus, NE (Crazy Farmer) tornado

June 8, 1995 Pampa, TX tornado

[James McCormick]

June 27, 2005. Far western Nebraska. Beautiful, fairly weak tornado that moved southeast across the flat, desolate plains of the NE panhandle. I still do not remember why I didn't chase this storm.

[Greg Blumberg]

May 27th, 1997. Jarrell, TX. I was 9 at the time and left Jarrell fifteen minutes before it was hit on a trip up to Ft. Worth. The wonder from missing such a significant tornado by that much fanned the flames of my interest in meteorology and storm chasing for years to come. It would be great to be able to go back in time and see that.

Either that or a May 3rd or the Super Outbreak. But the reasons for those two are obvious.

[Jason Boggs]

For me, its easy.

June 8th 1995 Pampa, TX tornado.
May 3rd event.

[Danny Neal]

May 3rd
June 2nd, 1990
March 13th, 1990

[Jacob Ferden]

May 3, 1999 for obvious reasons
June 16, 1992 - Chandler, Minnesota F5 tornado
1995 Friona/Dimmitt event

[Dave Kaplow]

May 10, 1991 - Lazbuddie, Texas tornado carousel. Maybe not an obvious choice, but think about it... A big dusty slow moving tornado, with full-fledged satellite rope tornadoes constantly forming and dissipating all around it, the whole thing rotating at a stately pace, everything perfectly visible... Keep your boring old wedges, this is the kind of stuff I like to see! Well OK, I want the wedges too, but really I'm hard pressed to think of a more interesting and visually awesome scenario than this one. And I get the impression that there was quite a bit more to this event then what you see in the well-known video. My kind of storm, for sure.

June 23, 1998 - Columbus, NE tornado. I've never had a chance to see the famous "Crazy Farmer" video in its entirety, but what I have seen leaves no doubt this one is right up there in it's awesomeness factor, even if it is just a single tornado. Big drool factor, for sure.

May 3, 1999 OK - How can you not have this day on your list? But for me it's not necessarily just the Moore storm, I think the number and variety of tornadoes produced by Cell B almost beats the big F5, barely. And the only other chase day that could even come close in terms of multiple photogenic tubes is...

June 24, 2004 SD tornadofest. The incredible life-cycle of the Manchester tornado, plus many other tubes in rapid succession... Unbelievable. This and the May 3 OK outbreak were probably the two best days ever for multiple powerful chaseable tubes.

[Jeff House]

May 4, 2003 comes to mind. Thought I was free to chase. I was a meteorologist in Wichita, not scheduled to for regular duty that day.

It was an obvious outbreak day. Only issue was where along the dryline to chase. Joked about chasing northeast KS from my Wichita location, and playing in KC that night. Upon a serious look at the upper air charts, I favored southeast KS and a simple return to Wichita that night. Looked like the best turning with height and speed shear was in southeast KS. We know Girard happened that day. KC got it too, so both picks verified.

Gathered up my gear and called Andrew, another met and coworker, who I was hoping to chase with. He was very ready to go but seemed confused about why I was planning to go. I said, “I am off. What is the problem?” Andrew asked if I had checked the on-call schedule. I replied that I was not on call. Upon double checking, the most deflating feeling came over me. A freight train smashed into my stomach because I was indeed on call. Poof! No chase after all that morning excitement.

I have missed other good days, but knew I would miss them for work. Missing May 4, 2003 was particularly crushing because I woke up thinking I was going. My bad.

[Melissa Jablonski]

To Dave Kaplow ,I was on that South Dakota tornado fest June 24th ,2004. We punched the core of a supercell in the badlands and caught the Woonsocket and Manchester tornadoes what an awesime day.
Melissa

[GlennMartin]

May 31,1985 It would have been my first chase but I was seriously contemplating it. I could have caught the dryline (yes dryline in eastern Ohio!) in 4hrs from where I was living at the time. What a memorable first chase that would have been. My first chase would have to wait till the following year driving into a pulse storm with pea sized hail :)

[Shane Adams]

June 13, 1998 OKC metro tornado outbreak....the one that got away.

[Tony Laubach]

Speaking in terms of a time period when I was chasing, I would have to go with the October 13, 1999 F-3 tornado that hit my hometown neighborhood in Circleville, Ohio. I would've planted myself on my front porch and watched the F-3 hit the street across from mine.

Secondly, I would like to have June 24, 2003 back... I went to Nebraska on a time leash, but figuring I would've easily made the South Dakota insanity and would've been back in time.

[Brian Stertz]

Mine would have to be the Andover KS F5 and the Manchester SD F4. Had to work on 4/26/91 and was living in STL at the time. The Manchester event I was in Tulsa and out of vacation days.

[John Farley]

5/10/2003, Illinois. See:

http://www.stormtrack.org/forum/showthread.php?p=226432#post226432

That was SIUE's graduation day and I was department chair. I had committed to go to graduation as had several of our new faculty, and I figured I would be setting a terrible example if I skipped out to chase - so I was there instead of on the tornadic storms in west-central IL. I did chase locally that morning and managed to get hailed on but missed the funnel cloud that formed right over Edwardsville around 10 in the morning. Then off to graduation.

[Andrew Stoller]

Since it was a local event, and at that time I was a delivery driver and could see the convective explosion all day, I'd have to say May 10, 2004 west of Limon, CO. Was even worse to know I probably could have chased it near or after dark as I got off work in time.

[Connor McCrorey]

3/28/07 was the first outbreak I really followed. I was 15 at the time, and I had always loved weather, but it wasn't until talking to a friend at OU who had chased TX that I realized I could chase. I would love to go back and chase that day.

[Terry Kern]

Would be May 3rd, was working in Indiana at the time. I was working with a group of guys who were from the OKC area and when I got word the OKC area had just gotten hit by a monster tornado, I yelled out to everybody about it. Then in unison, they all immediately dropped what they were doing and frantically grabbed their cell phones to call back home. It was kinda funny to witness that in an odd way.

[Darrin Rasberry]

Easy. Elie, Manitoba June 22, 2007. Best "lawnchair storm" I've seen on video - yes, even better than Mulvane IMO.

[mikedeason]

April 19, 1996: The I-72/74 Supercell during what was, at the time, the largest tornado outbreak in Illinois history.

It was my third year of chasing, but this particular day the supervisor of the FCWOS at Quincy had scheduled me to work 4PM-Midnight (the supervisor is actually typing this post.) I had been watching the surface low tracking through southern Iowa that afternoon with an extremely well defined attendent dry line. The area of concern would depend on the placement of the warm front that afternoon and by 3PM it had cleared the Quincy area. Wasn't long after a supercell almost literally exploded SW of the station. Unfortunately, I could not get anyone to work my shift and every time I had to type the comment "CB S MOVG E" (or later varients according to direction) on the the obs, the angrier I got.

Yeah, April 19, 1996 is a day I'm still bitter about. :)

[Rob Satkus]

June 8, 1974 Ok outbreak for me...I lived in Tulsa and had close calls that day ( I actually saw my first tornado from the front window) but would love to be able to go back and chase it. ( I was only 9 at the time.)

[Jordan Bell]

Going to go with a couple local events for me:

May 4 1978-Sedalia, Mo. Tornado went through a neighborhood on the SW portion of town and took out a country club

March 12, 2006-The Mid Missouri Tornadoes and the epic hail storms that went with them. This day was just non stop with round after round from 9 in the morning to 11 pm.

And of course:

May 3, 1999 in Oklahoma City.

[John Wetter]

For me a couple really stick out. These are MN events. I obviously would have loved to have been on May 3, or Greensburg....

1 - August 24, 2006 - multi-vortex F-3 tornado in Nicollet county, MN. Main reason I couldn't go is I started a new job on the 22nd, so I wasn't really ready to ask for half a day to go chasing... :-) It wouldn't be a problem now though because everybody at work gets that I'd be too fidgety anyways and they wouldn't want me around...

2 - March 29, 1998 - Comfrey-St. Peter, MN F-4 tornado. I was kind of chasing at this time, but for me at the time, this apparently wasn't an obvious enough day to go (who knows why). I know many people busted way south on this day though too. A few very experienced chasers at the time were in Iowa while this all went down.

3 - June 16, 1992 - This is 'the' Minnesota outbreak. 27 tornadoes. 65 tornadoes total on the plains. Wikipedia says it was the 3rd largest multi-day outbreak right after May 2004 and the super-outbreak. I think it's been topped a couple more times recently, but still a big event.

[Doug Mitchell]

June 23rd, 2002 north of Aberdeen, SD. Saw the supercell from my plane after a week of cap busts and elevated junk.

[Joe Acord]

May 15th, 1968 Charles City, IA

I would take the DOW and record the winds on this bear.
People in that community remember the weather service saying this thing went up to 300 mph. My mother was in this tornado and I just want to sit on the southern side of the city and watch this monster track through the town.

[Jason Young]

Mine would be from before chasing:
1. May 24 , 1973 . Union City Ok
2. April 10 , 1979 . Red River Outbreak . ( first warning I ever heard )

After I started chasing:
1. May 08 , missed due to work
2. June 24 , 03 , Manchester SD.

[Jim Edds]

May 12, 2004 -Attica, KS tornado with Scott McPartland - great lighting, great action, and he used a tripod. In my opinion, the Gold Standard in Tornado footage.

[Chris Hayes]

Mine would be from before chasing:
1. May 24 , 1973 . Union City Ok
2. April 10 , 1979 . Red River Outbreak . ( first warning I ever heard )

After I started chasing:
1. May 08 , missed due to work
2. June 24 , 03 , Manchester SD.


The Red River Outbreak is one that I'd like to chase as well.

[Darren Stephens]

I would love being co-pilot in SkyNews 9 on May 3, 1999 and reporting back to Gary England. This was the mother of all storms and probably a once in a lifetime event. WOW!!!