I’ve been lacking in the blog department because I literally haven’t had time to myself since June started.  I chased, flew to Chicago for Pokemon GoFest, flew home, then hours later was on the road for the trip that was suppose to conclude today, but has now been extended due to a high-end setup that’s coming into focus for Wednesday.  I will be out likely through Thursday at least, just depending on the drive home that awaits at the conclusion of that event. Today, Sunday, is a down day here in Columbia where last night’s chase concluded after being chased…

While early on the calendar this year, we’re still in the climatological peak of severe weather season, and there is barely a storm around.  Those who ‘have’ to be out are running back and forth from Texas to South Dakota, many heading down to Texas today.  Ten-plus years ago, that be me… not now haha In fact, I am somewhat content with the down time, albeit weird during THIS holiday, which has usually been one of the busiest times for me.  Not this time, and it looks like the down stretch will likely be an extended one, minus a couple…

The #ChaseTo500 continues with two more tick marks after yesterday’s pretty solid Colorado chase.  That puts the count to TEN tornadoes so far in 2026, leaving me 16 away from the 500 mark.  But of those ten, the only tornado to really speak of was the Minnesota tornadoes back on April 13.  Everything else I have seen have barely counted as tornadoes.  The two I saw yesterday in Colorado, neither were slamdunk touchdowns; the first, a rather pretty funnel, was confirmed by others that were positioned a bit better as I had just enough of a terrain rise between me…

Despite a pretty meh synoptic pattern, a halfway decent, albeit somewhat moisture-deprived setup exists tomorrow across eastern Colorado.  SPC has ticked up their outlook for the region since a general risk last night, opened with a marginal, now we’re sitting at a slight.  But us high plains nerds were all over this before sunset yesterday.  Questions becomes how big a crowd does tomorrow draw?  After the insanity that was the last couple days, one can’t help but be concerned about the crowds that could amass in eastern Colorado where we lack a solid gridded road network.  So lots of people…

The grind that is 2026 continues… brief tastes of success, but so much left on the table.  The story continued this past weekend.  Seems every year I hit a slump, and it grinds the season to a halt, and I wait for something to finally push me forward.  In 2024, that grind largely held all season.  But most years, I get a break.  This weekend was another grind, another tornado closer to 500, but plenty left on the table.  Monday was the headliner day, and of course, I did everything possible to avoid tornadoes.  I won’t end up writing up…

Yesterday went about exactly as I thought it would; bottom line was a lot of messy, HP, and outflow dominated storms with a couple tornado reports sprinkled in.  I knew yesterday wasn’t a tornado day, and that was very much the case as the few that were spotted/reported were all very brief and largely lacking any real visual pizazz.  The storm I was on did produce a briefy to my southeast, but I was dilly-dallying in the 2″+ hail and navigating a ‘minimum maintenance’ road after the soaking hail core rolled through.  I spent the backhalf of the active chase…