April 6:
This was my first chase of the year, a bout 90 miles southwest of Lubbock near the town of Kermit, Texas and close to the New Mexico state line. I was able to get on a nice dryline supercell that was initially high based but crossed north of a warm front and transformed into an HP storm. NO tornado…but I was happy to see a supercell at least!
Supercells: 1
Tornado: 0
Chased alone.
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April 7:
I met up with Roger Hill near Snyder, TX. We both watched storms blow up to our northeast but we knew these storms were well north of an outflow boundary and would be elevated storms not worth going after. Later we got in position for new storms near Abilene, Texas. Storms went up to our west and northwest but these storms were high based. However, a storm on the boundary, hidden by the anvils and cores of the storms near by us produced a tornado near Throckmorton, Texas. We were only 20 miles south of this storm!!!! The tornado turned out to be a big barrel shaped funnel that was on the ground for several minutes! Oh well, we should’ve of just drove east of Snyder until we found the boundary. With southwest flow aloft it would be much easier getting any supercells that formed to our southwest plus we probably would’ve been there for the Throckmorton tornado.
Supercells: 2
Torandoes: 0
Chased with Roger Hill.
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May 8:
I finally had a day off work and did chase even though the upper level flow was weaker. I met up with the Tours in northern Oklahoma. We were on one HP supercell that produced some gustnadoes east of Enid, OK.
Supercell: 1
Tornado: 0
Chased alone but did meet up with David and SLT.
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May 24:
My target was southwest Oklahoma. I met up with David Gold and SLT and we intercepted a supercell west of Mangum, Oklahoma that produced a funnel that extended nearly half way to the ground.
Supercell: 1
Tornado: 0
Chased along bet met up with David Gold and SLT.
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May 27:
I chased after a storm that developed northwest of Lubbock. This storm was high based and produced a lot of golf ball size hail. The storm kept getting higher base as it moved southeast about 30 miles east of Lubbock. I kept with it since it was the best looking storm and it spun up a weak landspout near Ralls, Texas. The landspout only lasted about one minute. There were several gustnadoes developing along the storms outflow. I met up again with the tours and we chased this storm east off the cap rock. We finally gave up on it as a second more promising storm was redeveloping to our west. This turned into a really nice supercell that had a rotating wall cloud that nearly produced a tornado. A big outflow boundary that was produced by the first storm moved south and undercut our storm, transforming it into an HP storm. I didn’t follow this storm since I was nearly out of fuel and I had to make an emergency run 6 miles south to the town of Post. After filling my tank I looked at the storm I left and decided there was no reason to go back after it, so I went home.
Supercell: 2
Tornado: 1
Chased alone. Once again met up with David Gold and SLT.
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June 4:
I didn’t chase the initial HP storms that developed west and northwest of Lubbock. I was just hanging out at home watching the storms from my back yard. Then I saw a nice tower go up to my west. I called Dave who was with the tours and they were seeing the same storm about 5 miles southeast of Lubbock. An easy 10-minute drive got me to the storm. The storm evolved into a beautiful bell shaped supercell. It had a nice little wall cloud but became outflow dominant. The RFD of this storm packed 70 to 80 mph winds. Two electric poles were blown down right in front of me. I joined up with the tours and we chased this storm across northern Lubbock. I gave up after dark since I was working midnights and had to get back home (my work did call me in early). The tours got pelted with baseball hale east of Lubbock. They actually called the report into our office when I got to work.
Supercell: 1
Tornado: 0
Chased alone but met up with David Gold and the tours.
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June 12:
I was chasing with David on the Master Class Tour. We intercepted a supecell thunderstorm over northwest Oklahoma that produced several long-lived and intense gustnadoes.
Supercell: 1
Tornado: 0
Chased with David Gold and SLT.
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June 13:
We had to chase high-based storms over northeast New Mexico. We took this dirt trail to get closer to the storm then it started raining. It was really fun driving the van off that trail. The mud was more slippery than ice. We followed this HP supercell for the next hour.
Supercell: 1
Tornado: 0
Chased with David Gold and SLT.
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June 14:
We chased more high-based storms over southeast Colorado. One had mid-level rotation but became outflow dominate.
Supercell: 1
Tornado: 0
Chased with David Gold and SLT.
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June 15:
We got on a supercell that we heard produced a brief tornado in southwest Kansas. We drove through the core and got quarter to golf ball size hail. This HP storm produced a large outflow boundary that pushed south into the Oklahoma panhandle. Another storm formed along this outflow boundary and produced a nice landspout tornado that lasted for a couple minutes near the town of Turpin, OK. The entire chase I was wishing it was 10 years ago, 1992!
Supercell: 2
Torando: 1
Chased with David Gold and SLT.
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June 19:
What looked to be a big day in western Minnesota turned out to be a disappointment due to low stratus clouds that would never burn off! Storms did develop but they were all HP storms. We intercepted about four of these storms before sunset across south central MN.
Supercells: 4
Tornado: 0
Chased with David Gold and SLT.
June 23:
My best chase of the year. After the Master Class tour I decided to chase for a few more days on my way up to Michigan to visit my parents. Drove up to Mitchell from Norman, Oklahoma on the 22nd. Spend the night in Aberdeen, South Dakota. Called some friends back in Lubbock for data. Found out my forecast area was just north of town. Left Aberdeen around 3PM, headed northwest to Leola, SD. One storm attempted to go up but the CAP strength and vertical wind shear tore it apart. Continued to wait along the South Dakota and North Dakota border. Finally nice updraft went up to my southwest drove down to meet it and watch it evolve into a spectacular supercell that produced 3 large tornadoes and one land spout.
Supercell: 1
Tornadoes: 4
Chased alone.
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Even though 2002 was a below normal tornado year for the US, I had a pretty good year. I wish I could’ve chased every day I wanted but I had to work. I did get to see 12 supercell thunderstorms and 6 tornadoes.
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Supercells: 18
Tornadoes: 6
Bill’s total 75.