On May 27, 2015, I chased with Brad and Dayna Rousseau, Matt Grinter, Dave Lewison, Scott McPartland and Stephen Barabas. We targeted the northeast Texas Panhandle. In my mind, the town of Canadian seemed like a good target.

Incredibly, the storms not only went up there, but one tornado-producing storm there barely moved all day. At one point we just set up and watched it spin out one funnel after another.

But the main show was the large tornado, which we all filmed from different angles. I watched it from the highway bridge over the river, filming the tornado as it churned beyond the wagon bridge that had always captivated my imagination in spite of its sometimes gloomy history. Unfortunately, the twister reportedly caused injuries.

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While my friends chased in Texas on May 25, I opted to see if I could find something more isolated in Kansas. Storms were just popping as I reached south-central Kansas.

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On May 22, happy to be back on the road, I chased with Brad and Dayna Rousseau, Matt Grinter, Dave Lewison, Scott McPartland and Stephen Barabas.

We targeted the upslope of eastern Colorado and were rewarded with photogenic storms. The double rainbow over the wheat field was particularly rapturous.

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On May 23, I chased with Brad and Dayna Rousseau, Matt Grinter, Dave Lewison, Scott McPartland and Stephen Barabas. We targeted southeast Colorado and ended up at La Junta on a tornado-warned storm.

The storm moved north of La Junta but did not seem intent on producing a tornado, despite a report about this time (2 p.m. mountain time). It developed the telltale “greenage” color that usually indicates hail. We ended up with scenes of desolate beauty.

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After a difficult couple of days dealing with car issues after hitting a deer, I got a rental and did a mini-chase in Nebraska between McCook and Holbrook on May 16. I waited for middling storms to make their way to me, and they formed a beautiful if short-lived layered shelf cloud.

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On May 15, I chased with Mark Robinson, Jaclyn Whittal, Michel Millaire, Matt Grinter, Brad and Dayna Rousseau, Dave Lewison, Scott McPartland and Stephen Barabas. We began the chase on storms in southwest Nebraska, just north of the Colorado line.

While I got some beautiful lightning and enjoyed the chase, the trip “home” to the hotel ended in disaster when I hit a deer in the Middle of Nowhere, Nebraska. It’s a long story, but after the nightmare of dealing with AAA (who eventually lost my car – yeah, I found it again), the police and the crazy scene, I got to a hotel in the wee hours with the help of friends (special thanks to Dan Shaw and Greg Ansel), and my car went into a shop the next day in North Platte. After we found it. Seriously, it’s a long story.

To top things off, I had a horrible cold and spent the weekend worried my car would be totaled. It wasn’t, but it had to be held hostage for repairs. A rental car got me back on the road.

That said, the pictures are nice. Roll over each image to see the caption, or click on one to see a slide show with larger photos.

I chased with Canadian friends May 13 in Texas, and we caught a beautiful tornado at Guthrie. It was a rarity these days – because we were the only storm chasers on it.

I chased with Mark Robinson, Jaclyn Whittal, Michel Millaire, Matt Grinter and Brad and Dayna Rousseau. We targeted the Lubbock area and ended up moving a little east to intercept a small line of storms. The southern one surprised us by producing a classic tornado despite a relatively weak storm that was nothing special on radar.

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On May 9, I chased storms on and off with Mark Robinson, Jaclyn Whittal, Michel Millaire, Matt Grinter and Brad and Dayna Rousseau. We targeted southwest Kansas and ended up in the Oklahoma Panhandle, witnessing beautiful storms along the way.

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On May 8, 2015, I chased with The Weather Network’s Storm Hunters crew – Mark Robinson, Jaclyn Whittal and Michel Millaire. We ended up on the tornadic storm at Throckmorton, Texas, where I got a nice lightning photo later in the evening. It’s always fun to chase with friends.

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I’m busy trying to meet several work deadlines before heading out west to Tornado Alley, but the east coast of Florida has provided some welcome distractions for a storm chaser this month. We’ve had shelf clouds and lightning, though the lightning was a bit sparse. Let’s just say I spent several hours clicking the shutter for the little bit I got.

Still, there’s nothing more therapeutic than standing by the ocean, listening to the waves and thunder, while trying to capture a lightning bolt with my camera. Check out all the April storm photos below.

Stay tuned – the Tornado Alley chase is coming soon!

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