2017



2017 built on a pattern I'd been seeing for the last few years: During the last 2 weeks of May, the action area was getting farther and farther south. This year's chase took it to an extreme: Not only did we chase almost exclusively in Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico (barely touching Kansas on the last day) but we made it into new territory for me: Two days chasing along the Mexican Border near Laredo, Tx.

The tour started well with a few good chase days but ultimately died out in the end, resulting in a couple of touristy and extremely marginal days. In the end, we saw two more tornadoes, including a nice stovepipe in McLean, TX moments before getting all of our windshields blown out! This was my first direct experience with baseball and softball sized hail and what it can do to vehicle windshields!

2017 Chase Logs / Summary

2017 Photo Album:
2017 Photo Album with captions

Chase Day Pages:

May 15th, 2017: Pre-tour chasing near Borger, TX.

May 16th, 2017: Tornadic supercell and windshield-smashing hail near McLean, TX.

May 18th, 2017: Western, OK supercells.

May 19th, 2017: Central, TX chase and Bangs, TX tornado.

May 20th, 2017: Freer, TX deep-south supercell.

May 21st, 2017: Deep south TX lightning and structure-fest.

May 22nd, 2017: Jal, NM core-punch

May 16th, 2017 McLean, TX Tornado 

All pictures (C) Richard Hamel 2019.

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