It's been over 8 months since my May 2011 chase trip, and I finally got around to finishing my reports and photos for the 3,750 mile round trip. This was a tough one for me from a forecast and positioning standpoint. No tornadoes, and only one halfway decent supercell intercept. Everything else was incidental, fringe, weak storm interactions. As frustrating as that was, I have to remind myself of the beautiful things I did witness along the way, and a lot of important lessons learned. I'm taking a cue from Skip Talbot and posting a "Lessons Learned" section at the end of each day's report. I'm looking forward to another chase trip in 2012 and hope I can manage to improve my forecasting and positioning and see some more amazing weather on the plains.
Day 1 - MAY 8, 2011 - Night Storms in South Dakota
Day 2 - MAY 9, 2011 - Anticipating Initiation in South Dakota
Day 3 - MAY 10, 2011 - Positioning Practice in Kansas
Day 4 - MAY 11, 2011 - Tough Decisions in Kansas
