Its been a busy week since last Monday’s epic Colorado chase, and with all the time since then, I have reflected a lot on what turned out to be the best Colorado chase of my career.  A sad fact given how long I have been chasing being based out of this state, but one I am finally glad I can say with promise.  I gleefully post the link to my Colorado tornado chase log here.

Its been the talk of the Colorado gang since last week, and given the lack of any weather to chase since then, its been an easy conversation to repeat.  For most of them, it was another terrific Colorado day.  But for me, it was my best.  It was also my first tornadoes in the month of August leaving only November, December, and January as my only tornado-free months.

For this season, I would like to have this chase wrap it all up.  And while odds are still pretty decent I’ll get another chase or two in (outside of the Denver-area spotting trips), I would have absolutely no qualms about ending this amazing on-paper season on this amazing note.  While it wasn’t the best chase of the season, it is definitely a top 3.

Another first from this chase was the video I shot of the outbuilding being destroyed.  Out of the 100+ tornadoes I have witnessed over the last eight years, I have never seen a dramatic display of debris like I saw that day.  I guess you could call me fortunate to have not witnessed such a thing, but it finally happened last week.

Its funny going back through that day and seeing how it started almost like every other Colorado chase I have had; me being late and missing tornadoes.  It was a last second decision for me to make that trip, and a lot had to do with work/social plans I had going that day.  With 5 minutes of phone calls, I moved those plans out of the way and ventured out.  Halfway between home and my initial target, the first set of tornadoes began and of course, ended as I arrived.  Turns out the funnel I saw from the Byers area was one of those several touchdowns.  While it secured me enjoying a steak with friends later that evening, it was nothing different than my previous Colorado tornado chases.

My good friend, Ed Grubb, once said to me that sometimes a homerun barely clears the wall.  But its still a homerun.  One could argue that point about the Colorado tornadoes I had seen previous to last week.  While they weren’t third-deck walk-off grand slams, they still circled the bases.  And while my record in other ball parks sits pretty well (other ball parks = other states), my home record wasn’t all that great.  Still, up through the first half of last Monday’s chase, I had at least tagged my home park for another barely clearing homerun.

With the intial storms moving off the convergence line, the attention then shifted to the colliding boundaries to our north.  After some conversation with Carlson and company, the “7th inning stretch” commenced with the drive from Agate up to near Brush.  With the bases loaded in the final inning, I stepped up to the plate in hopes to knock a couple RBIs by collecting some hail on the then severe-warned storm.  I quickly went down in the count when my two tries at hail both failed.

Down 0-2, I turned myself around on the county road and looked up in the sky to my immediately north/northeast to see the thickening funnel.  “Would you look at that”, were the only words uttered from my mouth as I calmly reached for my video camera.  Scanning the ground, I saw the swirl near the farmstead.  A center cut hanging fastball, swing and a drive.  For the next few minutes, I sat on the east side of CO-71 looking west at the tornado as it destroyed the shed and morphed into a Colorado tornado that had eluded me for years.  The ball carried well into the third deck, and there it was, the home ballpark walk-off grand slam I had been waiting so many years to see.

I watched the tornado, switching from video to photos, until its rope out had finally completed and allowed me a safe chance to venture down to the wounded property to check on anyone who may have been in the area.  During the rope-out, I had been on the phone with Morgan County 9-1-1 to relay the tornado/damage report to NWS and advised that a crew be ready in case someone was injured.  I ventured west on the dirt road only to be stopped by a horse trailer that was rolled into the middle of the road.  I got out of the van and ran into several ranchers, all of which were unharmed, including the one whose recently built shed was littered all over the countryside.

I checked on him to ensure he was okay and before we had a chance to venture any further into the conversation, I turned to see the second tornado from this storm dangled across the sunny skies to my immediate south.  I advised him to seek shelter as I returned to my vehicle to get into a better viewing position.  Again, I phoned the emergency folks of Morgan County to advise them of the second tornado as well as to pass along all residents in the area were unharmed and not in need of any emergency assistance at this time.

The second tornado’s life was of unknown length for me given I first spotted it at some point in the middle of its life.  It roped out within a few minutes of my spotting it, but I kept a camera on it until it, too, disappeared into the clouds.

With the tornadoes gone and the status of the ranchers confirmed, I took a minute to take it all in.  In a season when this “Colorado Curse” seemed to be at its most noted peak, I felt a large weight vanish from my shoulders.  This was not one of those days I was going to regret, this was finally one of those days I could say, I was there.

It was later in the evening when I met the handful of gleeful Colorado-based chasers at Diggers Diner in Brush to enjoy our victory dinner.  The events of the day for all of us were amazing, but certainly had an even more special feeling for me given I had finally conquered a curse that plagued me since I started keeping records in 2002.  And it was nice to share that victory with a group of very close friends, whom on our own, enjoyed this day.  There is something very nice about a storm to where only those local chasers get to enjoy it, not having to share the roads with out-of-staters, research teams, or a ton of tour groups.  This was a true Colorado day for true Colorado chasers.

The post-dinner drive home was great.  The sunset beneath the low clouds was amazing and the blasting of my victory hairband music made the 90 mile trip seem like 30 minutes.  I arrived back at home to watch the tornadoes on my big screen HDTV, but this time, it was my video from my video camera.  Not someone else’s video from another Colorado event I missed.  It was my video from the Colorado event I finally was there for.  The curse… that dreaded Colorado curse, was finally blown away…