We got a few good photos on May 23. Normally that’s enough to make me happy with a chase. But our crew’s chase into Colorado was sharply painful after unfortunate choices had us missing two tornadoes.
We knew our northern target was the most promising for tornadoes, but it was a haul, and getting there in time would be nearly impossible. Then we were tempted by the nice storms going up farther south, and we stopped in Kirk to check them out.
Our chase crew targeted northern Colorado on May 23, 2025, but stopped in Kirk first.
The issue, of course, is that the storms moving into Colorado from Wyoming were pretty far away, and a tornado occurred in our original target area while we were looking at the storms farther south. Members of our crew liked the idea that the storm might produce again, as cyclic supercells often do. Though I worried as we left behind the increasingly beautiful cluster of storms.
The northern storm was still spinning but weakening by the time we arrived. It had nice structure, but it became clear it wasn’t going to produce another tornado.
We turned around, but we were too late again. The storms to the south produced a tornado. We’d missed both and still had hours to drive to our Kansas hotel for the night. It was an 800-mile-plus day for very little return.
A scenic sunset with interesting cloud structure.
Chasing is like that sometimes, but it can be frustrating. I try to learn lessons. One is the same one I’ve heard for years – never leave a rotating storm. Another is: Listen to your little voice.
I’d also like to learn how to fail with grace, but as I said in our chase update the next day with Alethea, I’m still working on it. Failure is a big part of storm chasing. And it’s good to remember that even a bad day chasing is a good day.
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