Not much to speak of from this recent two-day chase trip… enough so where neither day will get a written log out of the deal, but alas, that’s how it goes sometimes. I have rolled back home safely and have updated the books and I continue to move 2026 further and further up the ranking list… as of the end of this most recent trip, here are where my numbers sit in the annual rankings starting back in 2002, and what it would take to move into the top 3 and the first place overall.
| Statistic | Current | To Reach 3rd | To Take 1st |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles Driven | 35,822 (3rd) | Already 3rd | 42,361 — add 6,539 |
| Tornado Chases | 31 (7th) | 33 — add 2 | 44 — add 13 |
| Tornadoes Documented | 21 (12th) | 37 — add 16 | 51 — add 30 |
| Tornado Days | 13 (4th) | 15 — add 2 | 18 — add 5 |
| Tornado Average | 0.419 (7th) | 0.500 | Above 0.531 |
| Spotter/Work Logs | 26 (T-4th) | 28 — add 2 | 31 — add 5 |
| All Chase Logs | 57 (T-5th) | 59 — add 2 | 63 — add 6 |
| 1,000-Mile-Plus Chases | 10 (T-4th) | 11 — add 1 | 13 — add 3 |
| Avg Miles Per Chase | 628 (5th) | 683 | 711 |
It’s not far-fetched to think I could hit #1 in several of those stats… namely the number of chases and perhaps even making a run at #1 miles, although that would require a bit more than I think would be expected at this point in the season. Hitting #2 overall in miles is almost a slam-dunk, I would think as it’s only 582 miles from 2011, which held the #1 spot til 2023 was my first over-40K season. Basically one round trip outside of the state would get me to #2. While hitting #1 seems unlikely (not impossible), I can see a scenario where I do make my second run over 40,000 miles in year, so we’ll see if that accomplishment comes to pass or not. But I think we can put some even money bets on hitting #2 in miles. Tornado chases and tornado days are not surprising when you look at the sheet, but they were a lot of one-birdfart days; the tornado year on a quality note was bad, as I’ve discussed at length already. The quality was there, certainly in the number of days, but that is only stat-padding the tables. Three more tornadoes, regardless of quality, would get me into the Top 10, which right now that being the only thing outside the top 10. And again, it’s all numbers haha
One note on the grand-scale of miles, it’s definitely now highly likely I cross 600,000 career miles next year as I have moved within 27,000 miles, sitting now at 573,400 career miles as of this last trip. I hit the 500K mark in June of 2024, so this would be among the quickest progressions to accumulate 100,000 miles, which the fastest three calendar years were 2022-2024 where I did 101,495 miles between those three seasons. And right now, if you could 2025 and 2026, I am within 34,000 miles of having another three-year 100K stint. I’d have to look specifically at chases and dates to really hammer that down, but I am well on pace right now to have another 3-year, 100K stint. Regardless, hitting 600,000 miles next year is growing in likelihood. A far cry from my 2018-2020 stint where I did just over 28K miles.
So yeah, stats for you numbers nerds! Or me, the true numbers nerd! When will I add to those totals? Maybe the next day or two… we’ll see how the Fall season shakes out. But alas, 2026, ON PAPER, continues its climb in the rankings that go back to 2002.