APRIL 19, 2002 – JUNE 21, 2024: 500,000 CHASING MILES
22 Years, 2 Months, 2 Days – 8,099 Days
Total Chase Logs: 876 – Chases Over 1K Miles: 128

On June 21, 2024 on the east side of Johnstown, Colorado, I crossed my 500,000th career storm chasing mile. It was a mark I set for myself when I started keeping official logs of my chases back in 2002. At the time, I had no idea the amount of miles I would actually drive in a year, so when I set that, I figured it would be career-long climb, assuming of course I went 30+ years. Well, it ‘ONLY’ took 22 years, and I drove the final mile on my way back from a Wyoming chase, only a few miles from my home here in northern Colorado.

I had chased a little prior to 2002, but it wasn’t til then that I started making money from videos, and being a numbers nerd, I began a spreadsheet to keep track of miles among other things, and I’ve been keeping track ever since. And if I can brag, I’d say the mileage count is pretty accurate as I have been anal about making sure I had the proper logs.

While I did have some chases between my first tornado chase in 1997 through 2001, I’d estimate the mileage total to be less than 3000. The first couple years were high school years, and I didn’t venture out of state til 2001, so it would be a mix of very local spot chases early on til I made a couple panhandle trips in 2001. But I consider my professional career to start in 2002 when I started freelancing, so my professional career mileage count started with my first chase in April that year.

I have owned a total of five vehicles during the stint, plus my time chasing with TWISTEX which was mixed between Tim’s Probe truck and my mesonet vehicle.  Scatter in some miscellaneous vehicles, including friends, rentals, and work and you have the culmination of how I got to the 500K mark.

500K MILES BY VEHICLE (See Tony’s Chase Vehicles)

The Storm Tracer 39,191 Miles(2002-2005)	White Lightning 74,974 Miles (2006-2013)	Twistex 73,336 Miles(2007-2012)
Storm Subie 124,639 Miles(2011-2016)	Van Damme 33,635 Miles(2016-2018)	The Weather Wolf 121,912 Miles(2018-2024)

Misc. Vehicles: 32,313 Miles (includes rentals, friend vehicles, work)

500K MILES BY CHASE SEASON (See All Storm Chases)

The mileage does NOT take into account any miles flying (obviously); nor does it count miles chasing winter weather events or hurricanes. This is all convective severe weather chasing. I’m making a run at 700,000K if you take all that additional weather chasing into account, but I didn’t keep as exact logs for those types of things until I realized the tax benefits of writing off mileage haha

In the end, I think the seasonal average balances out. 2023 was my longest season in terms of miles by a long-shot, my only 40K+ season. Meanwhile three years based in Wichita and largely being limited by DMA and Covid had three of my lowest season totals in the modern era. TWISTEX years certainly racked up the mileage running around with them like we did. But it was my two Subarus that have done nearly half the total (246,551 miles between the two). A testament to the reliability of those cars. But I gotta say, I loved the minivans for the space and I certainly wouldn’t rule out another minivan clocking in some mileage in the future.

This was a big deal for me and when I came into the 2024 season knowing it was within grasp, I held my breath for the moment all season. Oddly enough, I had conjured a whole list of scenarios as to how to handle that moment in various situations such as middle of a chase, middle of the night, running from a bear, whatever. The scenario I didn’t think about was what to do if that moment happened pulling into my driveway. When I wrapped up the final chase and started to head home from Sterling, Colorado, I googled the map distance from there to my house and it was within ONE mile of what I needed to hit the mark. I thought that it be funny as hell if I pulled into the driveway at 499,999 and had to wait for the next chase. But my route home gave me a little breathing room, and I hit the mark with 6 miles to spare, happening at Mile Marker 10 on Colorado Highway 60 on the east side of Johnstown.