I *hate* chasing in Oklahoma. Most people don't know this, but Oklahoma is one of the most densely populated states in tornado alley. Only Texas is more densely populated. I hate chasing in Texas as well. There's also a lot of trees in eastern Oklahoma.
I prefer to chase in the open plains where visibility is the best and the least property damage, and loss of life, can occur. And this would imply the best areas are Canada, the Dakotas, eastern Montana, northern Minnesota, western Nebraska, eastern Colorado, eastern Wyoming, western Kansas, the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles (OK, there is a part of OK that's good to chase in). Next time we just might chase in mid-July, where the storms fire up in Canada, the Dakotas, eastern Montana, and northern Minnesota. Plus, I've never chased in those areas at all. (I did chase in *western* Montana, in the Rocky Mountains--yes, you can get tornadoes in the mountains--but that's not the open plains).
That having been said, I don't get to choose where the tour goes. The tour goes where the strongest storms are expected for the day (specifically prioritizing any tornado threat). So I chased in Oklahoma. (The only exception is that the tour won't chase in cities--it's too dangerous).
Well, we got stuck in rush-hour traffic in Oklahoma City, and we missed the best part of the storms. But there were no tornadoes, so we didn't miss any of that. However, we did get there in time for one of the best lightning show I've ever seen! (There was one previously in an earlier chase that you might call better).
Unfortunately, Heidi's camera wasn't working with her lightning trigger, and mine can't use one. So I took my photos using my iPhone with an app called LightningCam 2. Here are a couple of those photos:
Here is the GPS track for the day. We logged over 700 miles in Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas.
Next up: New Mexico, Colorado, and a wrap-up of the entire chase week.
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