A Look Back At The 2023 USA Storm Chase Season
The 2023 Tornado Season contained some incredible Storms and lots of Tornadoes. Before the Weather Holidays Team even got out to the USA there had been some very nice Weather Set-Ups including the First High Risk since before the Covid Era. Some beautiful Tornadoes were pictured throughout the February to April period including some photogenic Tornadoes in Iowa and an EF4 In Mississippi. The Jet Stream Pattern had been favourable throughout this period as well with lots of ejecting Troughs so as the middle part of Spring was coming around we were hopeful for this to continue.
Tour 1 started on May 7th and the upcoming weather pattern was looking very favourable for the 9th to 12th May Period. An ejecting trough and decent 500mb flow would set the stage for a 4 day severe weather set-up. Our Team managed 9 Tornadoes over 3 of the 4 days with Tornadoes in Colorado, Nebraska and Iowa on 3 consecutive days putting us once again alongside the best results of any Tour companies in this Industry. As it turned out this Tour turned out the most successful of our 4 Tours we ran this season with 11 chase days and 9 Tornadoes witnessed. The best of them being in Nebraska when a Strong Cone Tornado on the ground for 11 minutes was witnessed near the Town of Ericson.
Tour 2 started around the 18th May and the upcoming outlook of 500mb heights was looking very paltry something we have seen over the past 5 seasons but there would be pockets of locally enhanced flow and crucially over this period we would have lots of Mesoscale days in the Texas Panhandle and High Plains of Colorado and New Mexico with a daily recurring dryline set-up. These are not your normal Peak season set-ups but can reap big rewards from previous days Outflow Boundaries and local terrain driven features. This is one area we as a company excel at and over previous years we have scored Tornadoes on most Boundary/Mesoscale days so I was hopeful for some over-performing days in amongst some that would under-perform. And that was how it played out with this Tour witnessing 3 Tornadoes in Texas and New Mexico and some absolutely stunning Supercell Dryline Structures.
Tour 3 at the end of May and first week of June carried on much the same as the previous Tour. Again the outlook was for absent 500mb flow and locally enhanced areas of flow and Topographic lift in favoured Areas. We counted another 5 Tornadoes on this trip including 3 from a Cyclic Supercell on June 2nd near Fort Stockton. Again there were some stunning structure days with beautiful Dryline Supercells of all shapes and sizes. The chase area once again was around the Texas Panhandle and the High Plains of New Mexico and Colorado.
Tour 4 started on much the same note as Tours 2 and 3 meaning the pattern had not changed much if at all in the last 4 weeks……But there were signs of the weather pattern shifting a little bit further North to include parts of NW Kansas and SW Nebraska. This Tour featured another 5 very good standard Tornadoes in the Texas Panhandle and New Mexico again putting us in the top tier for results in the Tornado Chasing Industry and pushing us to 22 Tornadoes for the Season. Supercells of all shapes and sizes were once again documented and on the couple of down days we had we kept ourselves busy with various activities including visits to a Fire Stations 100 year BBQ and a visit to a working Kansas Farm.
On the 3rd week of June the 500mb flow returned briefly and some stand out June Tornado days were noted with some stunning Tornadoes noted in Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas and Texas. This really was a stand out season and we ended our count with 30 Tornadoes witnessed. Our new Business model with 4 people maximum to a vehicle had proved very popular and comments were made that the comfort factor in top of the range SUV Vehicles and a guaranteed window seat were massive plus factors.
We ended the Season on 30 Tornadoes and travelled 18,800 miles across 9 States and made countless new friends with some amazing guests. Looking forward to many more new adventures in 2024!
