Sitting at home this afternoon waiting to finish up a work project means that barring some pop up storm that results in me trying to steal a lightning photo, my regular season is done. As I always have, I divide the year into four parts, similar to Football…
OFF-SEASON (DEC 1-FEB 29) May get some spot-chasing in, but very rare I get out during this time.
PRE-SEASON (MAR 1 – MAR 31) Dress-rehearsal, often a busy month, but it always feels like a warm-up despite some major events that sneak in.
REGULAR SEASON (APR 1 – JUN 30) This is what it’s all about, my full-time on the road season.
POST-SEASON (JUL 1 – NOV 30) Spot-chasing, often busy locally, with a few bigger events mixed in. Lot of chasing to be had in spirts, but far from constant.
It’s a rough idea over how I divide things up, but it typically works for what I call it, and in the end, that is all that matters. Below are the stats for the first half of the year, ending as of today…
SEASON STATS (THROUGH JUNE 28)
TOTAL LOGS: 36 (27 Chases/9 Work Chases)
TOTAL MILES: 27,175 (Avg 755 miles per log – 9 chases over 1,000 miles – 1 of which was over 2,000 miles)
TOTAL TORNADOES/DAYS: 19 on 11 Different Days (0.407 batting average – 11/27)
LARGEST HAIL SEEN: 5.25″ (measured on Kankakee).
FIRST CHASE: February 19 in Illinois
LAST CHASE (til now): June 26 returning home from Oklahoma
THE MILES, on a quick scan, rank as #11 all time in most miles driven. However, it’s worth noting that it is within 600 miles of jumping up three spots to get well into the top 10. I would expect with an average back-half of the year, eclipsing 30,000 miles will be no trouble. There’s quite a gap from my current #8 (27,720 miles in 2008) to #7 (31,018 miles in 2025), but as the math shows, only 545 miles between my current at #11 and the 2008 season. Wouldn’t surprise me at all to blow past that with one solid chase in July. I fully expect this year to get into the top 10 for miles.
THE TORNADOES, 19 seen, which sits at #13 all time. Quality-wise, easily among the worst… I’d say maybe 5 of which were quality, the rest were birdfarts, half-condensed, dusty spin-up, stat-padders. Believe me, the number hardly reflects the quality. As of today, I sit at 493 career tornadoes, 7 short of the #ChaseTo500 for my career. I don’t imagine NOT having a few more opportunities to hit that mark in this, my 30th season, so while I had hoped to hit that by now, there is still time to do it for this benchmark season for me, so not done with that yet. Obviously the Minnesota tornado in April and the Slapout tornadoes in June were the highlights for tornadoes for me. And trust me, there were not ample chances this year, most chasers will tell you, but I left a lot on the table on the few days that did perform. But, I am a one-day-makes-a-season kinda guy, and my two hits were good, so there is that.
THE HAIL, I’ve been a bit gun shy around hail cores since last year, but that doesn’t mean I cannot enjoy good hail, and I can do so WITHOUT destroying my ride. Obviously Kankakee was the Hail Highlight, having documented the state-record hailer with a gross amount of stones seen OVER 5″ in diameter that day. I rarely intentionally give up on a tornado for hail, but I did that day. Easily among the top hail events I have documented in my career, no doubt. Outside of that, the usual spread of hailers encountered through the season, all pale heavily in comparison to Kankakee, so even as many were probably good on their own, the shadow of the Kankakee storm lingers over.
THE STRUCTURE, I’m not a structure guy… what I mean by that is I am VERY happy when I am there to see it, but it rarely is something I will go out of my way for. I think as I have grown in photography, the structure aspect of storms has definitely grown on me more over the years, so I do find I appreciate it more, even as it’s rarely among the top reasons I embark on a chase. Given my recent stepping back from my Hail Boy days, I suppose it could slide into that spot a bit more haha But alas, this was a very good year for insane looking storms. While the Oklahoma structure/nado combo ranks among the top, several days included some jaw-dropping moments, which again, hard to argue against. They provided good opportunities to bust out the good cameras to capture. Hard to pick a favorite, but there are many in the running here in 2026, a solid consolation prize this season for sure.
THE PEOPLE, truly where 2026 shined for me… I often chase solo, and my long time friend and chase partner, Ed Grubb is usually my shotgun rider. And while that was the case early, as the season wore on, I found myself solo in the car for the most part, but I found myself much more this year than previous, in the company of others, coordinating chases and even in caravans during the chase. This happened often, and it wasn’t always longtime friends. I met many MANY new friends along the way, a couple whom I truly am grateful for. I don’t consider myself typically very social, and honestly that probably hasn’t changed much, but I was a bit more open, and as a result, really got to enjoy the company of both old friends and new. Friends to whom I hope will be the first of many years doing this in some part with. It truly made for a much better season than having to rely on the weather alone, and some of my favorite chases were shared with some of these people. If nothing else comes from this 30th season for me, I will be fine with that as this benchmark year was made much more special sharing it with some wonderful people.
So obviously the end of the regular season does NOT mean the end of my season. Not by a long shot… chasing will continue, just not in the full-time, rapid fire style that is the regular season. Things will spread out quite a bit, fewer multi-day trips, and hopefully more local, day-of action. And who knows whether a fall season will materialize or not, so plenty of time left here in 2026 to pad the stats.
2026 wasn’t the year I hoped it would be… truth is, you make what you want of it, and for a lot of it, I was hard on myself for a lot of it. This year did not provide many opportunities, and the few it did, most of them I didn’t take advantage of. This being obviously strictly from a storm chaser’s perspective. Those on the receiving end of this are grateful, and that being said, so am I. Obviously I am never wanting to see impactful severe weather, so trying to make this sound like it’s suppose is tough, hard to get that point across in mere words. Nature is beautiful, awe-inspiring, powerful, all those things can be both beautiful and dangerous at the same time. And while I always hope for that to be in the middle of nowhere far from impacting ANYONE, it doesn’t always happen that way. And that’s the part we do NOT want to see. But when its a bad year for chasing, it’s a good year for people, so despite some very impactful events, this year hopefully has had mercy. And that is what counts the most. But when she doesn’t, I want to be there, and hopefully by being there, I can make a positive difference for someone.