Today marks the OFFICIAL start of Astronomical Fall!  And we’re beyond the start of Meteorological Fall!  So no matter which you accept as the formal start, summer is now over in both manners!  For me, the summer 2026 will go down as one of my best lightning photography seasons ever.  I cannot recall having the level of success I had this past summer with the opportunities I had to snag some awesome lightning photos!  I plan to do a “was this my best lightning year ever” at some point here soon as I have fantastic pictures dating all the way…

SURPRISE! I chased anyway… fortunately out of pity (more on that below), Ma-Nature threw me a bone in the form of a mediocre-for-CG, decent-for-crawlers lightning show and even some blanketing hail.  It was enough to add a couple shots to the summer lightning portfolio and get some more video into the Monday TV rotation, and best of all, it only required about two-digits worth of miles. Turns out, the HRRR-predicted supercell happened, and where it initiated the storm was well timed; problem was the storm formed about 5 hours early and much further west.  Turns out I could’ve picked this…

Given the success of yesterday and my desire to have a full day at home in front of my TV watching football (namely the afternoon Washington/Dallas game), I have decided to sit out today.  CAMs are hit and miss on initiation, mainly in the timing, with many not popping storm(s) til at/after 7pm.  While the potential for a VERY discrete supercell exists, it will likely be fairly late, leaving a short daytime window to see much of anything.  Add to that the fact that most are initiating near the KS border, meaning it’s a nearly 3-hour haul just to get…

A decent, two-minute tornado, a brief birdfart landspout, intense accumulating hail, and some fantastic lightning shots!  It was the Holy Chase Trifecta!  I have posted the placeholder for the log and I will get the write-up done, hopefully here in the next day or two.  But a incredibly over-performing day, despite the HRRR nailing the supercell, a lot of crazy things went down.  The hail in this storm was reported up to 3″, but I didn’t see anything bigger than just over an inch, but what fell came down hard and heavy, accumulating along I-70 and making a slog of…

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. 2026 Storm-Chasing Statistical Targets Statistic…

Sleeper may be giving too much credit to day’s setup, but 24 hours ago, this was going to be a one-and-done trip… then today started sneaking in to some of the hi-rez model runs, and I went to bed last night thinking we could eek out one more day today.  This morning’s runs continued to show the northwest Missouri potential, so given the less-than-three-hour haul down I-29 from here in Omaha, we’ve elected to go ahead and make it so. SPC maintains a marginal risk from the extent of the front today, and I guess it’s not out of the…