Another Chase Season Gone

Its finally that time of year. The last day of the year is ere and looking back on the 2012 season I can honestly say it was not that bad. Comparatively speaking, 2012 was one of the worst seasons for tornadoes and supercells in recent history. After setting the second highest number of tornadoes recorded in a year in 2011, we went to the fewest recorded in recent years in 2012. The two biggest outbreaks of the season: March 2nd and April 14th, proved to be extremely difficult to chase if you didn't make every decision perfectly. I was lucky enough to be in a good spot for viewing a tornado on March 2nd, that I think only Adam Lucio and co. saw as well. Following that, as my graduation gift I got five days during the final week of May out on the Great Plains. Although the first chase of that trip (May 24th) proved to be an enormous bust and something which nearly cost us good positioning for the next day, May 25th made up for it completely. What started out as a sleeper "See Text" day turned into a typical late spring setup in Central Kansas. I saw my first Kansas tornadoes and some of the best storm structure I have ever witnessed. After a day's rest in Omaha the next day, we went on to York, Nebraska and ended up catching some of the high-based stuff that came out of northern Kansas. Overall it was a great experience and something I won't soon forget considering it was my first time on the Plains. Between May and October not much happened. It was the quietest June I have ever seen and besides a bust on June 29th (the day of the mega derecho), not much was going on chase-wise. The season looked to be over early but thankfully a day popped up on the GFS in late September, progged for sometime between October 11-13. So on October 12, I was able to, thanks to the huge kindness of Stephen Jones, go out to the Texas Panhandle and see my first Texas/October tornadoes. The season wrapped up for me on November 10th after a fun bust in south-central Kansas with Zach Elliot, Andrew Lyons and CJ Sayre as well as a whole group of other awesome people at a bar in Pratt (which I would not recommend if you want fast service). I can't complain about one of the best seasons I've had in five years of chasing, especially with all the new people I was able to meet and hang out with. So goodbye to 2012, its been great.

Off-Season

As I sit here typing this out, we're currently stuck in what I consider the second worst part of the off-season barring February. The pattern, while becoming more active recently as opposed to the stagnant zonal flow we were stuck in for much of late November/early December, is still depressing as hell. A rather deep trough brought an arctic blast with it about a week ago and we've just begun to thaw out a bit in Oklahoma. Heading into a month long break from school with about 76 days left to go in the off-season, I can only imagine how bad the doldrums will get. This winter so far has served as quite the conundrum. Bursts of extremely cold air mixed with almost spring-like temperatures haven't made it very reassuring for what's to come next season. Although no amount of climate prediction/black magic voodoo can predict what the upcoming tornado season will be like, I am not particularly impressed so far with what the pattern looks like in the foreseeable future. Periods of zonal/split flow followed by extremely amplified longwave patterns over the mid-section of the country make this out to be a wonky winter. I pray this doesn't lead to another 2009-type season, with the best setups scattered all over creation. But it's still extremely early and making predictions/assumptions right now is beyond stupid. So here's hoping for a quick end to the off-season so we can finally see what 2013 will hold.

First Snowfall

Well folks, Cincinnati got its first snowfall yesterday. A very frigid air mass has finally dipped south  and is putting temps in the 30s and low 40s for the rest of the week. We've finally hit the point of no return where 55+F days are rare. Still have 91 days until March 1st, the start of my chase season with the possibility of more snow coming next week. Heres hoping December goes by quick so it can get that much closer to storm season!

Oh and on a random note, I finally got a new camera. Its a Nikon L105 and its so far proved to be far better than my old, tiny Canon. Really looking forward to storm season now!

Off Season Update

Hey all, finally got over my computer troubles so I'll be posting again. Temps are starting to drop off across the US right now with winter storm warnings across the northern plains. Its still pretty warm here (upper 50s/lower 60s) but it should begin to drop off as a very sharp cold front allows a polar air mass to dip down.

Its kind of amazing how fast this November has gone. It seems like just a week ago it was Halloween and we're barely 5 days away from Thanksgiving. Right now there are 101 days until chase season 2012 begins for me. I'm progressively saving up money in an account to purchase a Canon EOS Rebel T3i for the season. Along with trying to get the new camera, I'm also looking for a job so I can get together funds for my Plains excursion that'll be happening from May 19, the day after I get out of school, to May 31. Its looking like I'll need to get in the range of $2000-$3000 to account for lodging, gas, food, and any emergencies such as car troubles during the trip.

I've got my costs laid out down here:

Gas-$1200

Lodging-$900

Food-$500

That comes out to roughly about $2600 plus whatever extra I can scrounge together just in case.

Back onto weather, its shaping up to be a brutal winter like last year right now. Not necessarily sure if there'll be any correlation between the intensity of the winter and the severe storm season, but hopefully 2012 will produce better stuff further west, preferably out of Dixie alley.

I'll post again here in a couple days!