2003 Storm Chasing & Photography Accounts, Photos and Videos

By DAN ROBINSON

Editor/Photographer

From Dan: How the crime of copyright infringement took $1 million from me and brought down my business.

I've lost more than $1 million to copyright infringement in the last 15 years, and it's finally brought an end to my professional storm chasing operation. This page is a detailed account of the biggest threat to my photography and video operation that I had to battle daily to just barely survive, and eventually could not overcome. It's a problem facing all of my colleagues as well.

2003 was one of my more difficult storm chasing years. It was the first year that I put a major effort into Great Plains tornadoes, embarking on four separate chases from West Virginia from April to June. Despite going out during the infamous 'Ten Days in May' series of tornado outbreaks, I missed seeing anything on all of them. The year was also lackluster in still imagery captured on film, aside from finally capturing lightning with the New River Gorge Bridge after years of trying. All that said, 2003 was still an enjoyable year of adventures, including my first hurricane in September, and starting out in the world of shooting video for TV clients in October. Any year I can get out on the road, see storms and enjoy life is a good one - even if I don't fill my logs with top-notch pictures.

View logs by year:

2003 Notable Storms

August 26, 2003
Severe thunderstorms in Cambridge, OH.

August 16, 2003
Lightning over Pittsburgh, PA.

September 18, 2003
An chase to document the landfall of Hurricane Isabel in North Carolina.

July 19, 2003
Lightning and the New River Gorge Bridge.

July 15, 2003
Sky-filling lightning in Teays Valley, WV.

June 16, 2003
Major flash flood in Charleston, WV.

Storm Chasing Expedition 2003
Four trips to the Great Plains, USA during peak severe weather season.

April 16, 2003
Wildfire on mountains at night near Charleston, WV.

February 22, 2003
Winter thunderstorms from Huntington to Charleston, WV.

February 19, 2003
An ice storm brings down the WVAH TV tower near St. Albans, WV.

All 2003 Storm Logs (51)

January 2003:

1/9: Solar optics WV

1/24: Arctic cold WV

February 2003:
2/16: Winter storm WV
2/19: Ice storm WV
2/20: Tower ice falls WV
2/22: Severe storms WV
2/23: River flooding WV

March 2003:
3/13: Storms & fog WV
3/20: Lightning chase OH,WV

April 2003:
4/4: Lightning chase OH,WV
4/16: Forest fires WV
4/19: Tornado bust OK,IN,KY
4/30: Lightning chase WV

May 2003:
5/1: Lightning chase WV
5/2: Lightning chase WV
5/5: Lightning KY
5/8: Tornado bust KS,OK
5/9: Tornado bust OK
5/10: Tornado bust MO
5/23: Severe storms KS,OK,TX
5/24: Severe storms OK,TX
5/29: Shelf cloud WV
5/31: Tornado bust NC,VA

June 2003:
6/11: Flooding WV
6/13: Severe storms OK,TX
6/16: Flash floods WV
6/28: Lightning chase WV

July 2003:
7/5: Lightning chase WV
7/6: Lightning chase WV
7/7: Lightning chase WV
7/9: Tower lightning WV
7/10: Severe storms WV
7/12: Capitol rainbow WV
7/15: Lightning chase WV
7/19: Lightning chase WV

August 2003:
8/4: Lightning chase WV
8/9: Lightning chase WV
8/16: Lightning chase PA
8/26: Lightning chase OH
8/27: Lightning chase WV
8/28: Charleston rainbow WV

September 2003:
9/6: Sun dogs WV
9/18: Hurricane Isabel AL
9/28: Thunderstorms WV

October 2003:
10/14: Wind event WV
10/27: Slick roads WV
10/30: Aurora borealis WV

November 2003:
11/8: Lunar eclipse WV
11/12: Tornado chase OH
11/20: Flooding WV

December 2003:
12/14: Icy roads WV

Catch of the Year:

July 19 - Fayetteville, WV: A lightning strike comes down behind the New River Gorge Bridge, in a photo that took 2 years and 25 chases to capture. [ Read more about this event ]