2026 was a grind; a lot of effort and miles for not a whole lot to show for it. I was definitely feeling it pretty hard; lots of missed opportunities, bad wiffs, and days I just couldn’t get out of my own way. As June wore on and day after day fell short for me, I was definitely eager to get this season over with. Having returned home from another Midwest letdown, I was ready to be home, but high plains action finally took hold, and I took a few more shots in my backyard. Despite a VERY action-heavy day around Akron on the 22nd, things were pretty underwhelming. Then came June 24, one of the better Colorado setups of the year. And long story short, was another letdown. My initial storm went bonkers, and I played the tornado game, only to watch a merger kill off that opportunity south of I-76 in the vast wide open nothing. Another storm in far northeast Colorado fired, went nuts, produced a few brief tornadoes, and we the hour run from south of Akron up to south of Haxtun to get up on that cell. We arrived to a gorgeous LP storm, and literally watched it die in the 15 minutes we were there AFTER producing multiple times. I felt pretty defeated, it was my year summed up in one day. The only thing missing was the storm we left producing tornadoes. It did get warned, but ultimately, and mercifully, it did not. I was ready to go home right then, but another day awaited after this, one that had some good potential, but was also starting to show its cracks. I returned to the original storm down by I-70 and opted to stay in Goodland so I could wake up, see if I wanted to try the next day’s setup along the KS/OK border, or pack it up for the season. I definitely wasn’t feeling it.
But morning arrived in Goodland, I went through the motions; breakfast, packed up, and without a lot of debate, just started driving east on I-70. The day was looking messy, a boundary play somewhere near the border, but was not looking as promising as it did in the days prior (another theme for the year). I wasn’t overwhelmed with optimism, but I went anyway. My target was Dodge City, and after dropping south out of the pouring rain, I drove through mist and clouds, getting to Dodge without much clearing. Then came the ol’ reliable… I will keep driving til I find sun, so southbound on US-283 I went, eventually landing in Buffalo, Oklahoma. That was my new target. After about an hour, a storm went up about 50 miles west near Beaver, and when I found myself alone with a pristine view to the west on what was easily among the best looking storms of the year, it finally happened. Beneath that amazing structure in the WIDE OPEN nothingness of the far eastern Oklahoma Panhandle, a large, beautiful tornado came down. And for the first time in months, I exhaled…
It’s hard to romanticize this kind of thing cause of the bad it can bring. These tornadoes were in open country, no one to bother, and were under an incredible storm. And for once, I was there; on time, in perfect position, and after seemingly forever, it felt good again. This will be the first full chase log write-up among the backlog I have to do from this season. It saved 2026. I was watching this year creep its way to the top of m y worst seasons list. Minnesota in April was really the only reason I hadn’t put this at the top of that list, but it was going to get close. Missouri on June 10 was a good tickmark as well, but this… this was the ‘one day to make a season’ chase, and suddenly, it felt right again. Ironically, there was about a 15 minute window for this show, and a lot of people missed it. Honestly, I was surprised how many people SAW this, given I was in such a perfect spot to see it, and saw maybe a passing vehicle or two; I felt truly alone, nobody anywhere around. It was peaceful, no crowds, just me, my tripods, and a couple cameras. And it was probably the best structure/tornado combo I had ever shot, so imagine that. The tornado would rain-wrap, and that would be it. Other storms fired, and despite the great structure this storm hung on to for a while after, it never produced a tornado again. But unlike just about every other day, I was there for it. I wasn’t late, I wasn’t in a bad position, I wasn’t racing to get to it… I was just there… I was… Slapped Out of my funk…
Suddenly, 2026 wasn’t so bad…