Storm Highway by Dan Robinson
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By DAN ROBINSON
Editor/Photographer
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This is an index of my most recent posts, in chronological order. You can also subscribe to the Blog RSS/XML feed or view the post archives page.

Latest Blog Posts Index:

November 30:
November 2024 Storm Chasing Recap >>

November was a quiet month for storms and weather in the lower Midwest, punctuated by a couple of heavy rain/thunderstorm events. The first snow of the season arrived on the last day of the month.

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October 31:
September-October 2024 Storm Chasing Recap >>

September and October of 2024 were very quiet in the Midwest for thunderstorms and severe weather. Celestial events made up for the dry spell, with several significant aurora outbursts and a rare comet appearance providing several days of night sky shooting.

Read full post >>

October 22:
New Baden, Illinois super-resolution aerial panoramic photo >>

In January 2025, I'll pass the 15-year mark as a Midwesterner living in the small town of New Baden, Illinois on the east side of the St. Louis metro area. In this view, you can see the interstate leading to the Gateway Arch 29 miles in the distance - giving you an idea of all of the reasons I picked this as my new hometown in 2010.

New Baden, Illinois aerial photo

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October 16:
Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) over the Gateway Arch in St. Louis >>

I went into downtown St. Louis five times for Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS from October 13-17, successfully capturing the comet on the second through fifth outings.

Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS over the Gateway Arch in St. Louis

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August 31:
August 2024 Storm Chasing Recap >>

August 2024 wsa mostly a quiet one in the Midwest, punctuated by a few systems providing photo opportunities. This recap chronicles events covered during the month.

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July 31:
July 2024 Storm Chasing Recap >>

July 2024 was an incredible month for storms in the Midwest. Highlights include four tornadoes, a career drone tornado intercept and a Chicago upward lightning show.

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July 15:
Downtown Chicago EF1 tornado >>

I observed a tornado producing power flashes behind the Chicago skyline during the derecho event in northern Illinois.

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July 9:
Tornadoes in southwestern Indiana from Hurricane Beryl remnants (Mount Vernon EF3, Johnson EF2) >>

I went out for the remnants of Beryl spinning through the Midwest and saw two significant tornadoes in southwestern Indiana from Mount Vernon to near Owensville (just west of Evansville).

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June 30:
June 2024 Storm Chasing Recap >>

June was a much-less active stretch in the Midwest, with no major out-of-area trips specifically for storms.

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June 12:
Great Plains 2024 Storm Chasing Expedition Logs >>

Season Epilogue: The 2024 spring tornado season was one for the ages. Not only did it rank among the most prolific in United States history, it was a personal record-breaker for me in many ways: some good, but many bad.

Read full post >>

May 31:
Storm chasing season forecast update 13, for June 4 >>

As this season for the record books continues, the Great Plains hasn't slowed down in producing some great chase days despite the lack of blockbuster troughs moving through.

Read full post >>

May 31:
May 2024 Storm Chasing Recap >>

This year's peak storm season month was another for the books, with 8 tornadoes (including two EF4s) and a likely once-in-a-generation opportunity to capture auroras over the Gateway Arch.

Read full post >>

May 30:
New Baden, Illinois EF1 tornado on May 26, 2024: Aerial damage photos >>

An EF1 tornado passed over the west end of New Baden on Sunday, May 26, 2024 during a regional severe weather outbreak. The National Weather Service survey found a 10-mile path that generally parallelled I-64 and ended past Damiansville.

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May 22:
EF3 and EF4 tornadoes at Red Oak, Villisca and Corning, Iowa >>

I observed four tornadoes in southwestern Iowa on Tuesday, May 21, 2024.

Read full post >>

May 16:
Season forecast update 12, for May 16 >>

As often happens during active seasons, a solid tornado opportunity has emerged on a day I originally wasn't paying attention to. It's not an outbreak setup, but looks a like a classic isolated supercell event for central Kansas.

Read full post >>

May 14:
Season forecast update 11, for May 14 >>

Thanks to the active late April and early May we've seen so far, I've already logged a season's worth of mileage and trips (3) at this point with a near-record high of tornadoes observed already (15).

Read full post >>

May 10:
Bright aurora borealis over the Gateway Arch in St. Louis - May 10, 2024 >>

I took a chance with the northern lights show tonight. Instead of going out into the country where dark skies would maximize aurora viewing and photography, I set up in downtown St. Louis.

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May 6:
EF4 tornado at Hominy, Barnsdall and Bartlesville, Oklahoma >>

I witnessed a significant, violent and unfortunately deadly tornado in northeastern Oklahoma on Monday, May 6.

Read full post >>

May 3:
Storm chasing season forecast update 10 for May 3 >>

As we move to within 3 days of the big potential outbreak event on Monday the 6th, not a whole lot has changed from my last post.

Read full post >>

May 1:
Great Plains trip #2 summary and logs; forecast update 9 >>

The second Plains expedition of the season took place from April 24-28 across Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri and Oklahoma. This was one of the best trips of my career in terms of video and photography captures, solidly in my top 5.

Read full post >>

April 30:
April 2024 Storm Chasing Recap >>

April 2024 was a month for the ages, one of my most active in many years in terms of miles, captures and the significance of the events. This is a recap of all of the trips and adventures: from the eclipse to tornadoes to lightning and more!

Read full post >>

April 23:
Storm chasing season forecast update 8 for April 23 >>

Confidence has increased significantly in Great Plains expedition #2 beginning tomorrow night and lasting potentially through the weekend. Models have become consistent and in agreement on multiple days of significant supercell and tornado potential on Thursday, Friday and Saturday in particular.

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April 21:
Storm chasing season forecast update 7 for April 21 >>

April has been a very active month for severe weather in the Plains and Midwest, and it appears that may continue through the end of the month.

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April 17:
Great Plains trip #1 summary and logs >>

The first Plains expedition of the season is on the books, and it was not a good trip for me. The first day failed to produce anything photogenic. On the second day, my target storms did not produce tornadoes - then I hit a wild turkey, destroying the windshield and ending my day early.

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April 15:
Great Plains trip #1 is a go >>

There are still some issues with today's setup in the Great Plains, namely the likelihood of storms being entirely after dark. But moisture is turning out to be a little better than forecast, with the risk for significant tornadic supercells in Kansas after sunset.

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April 13:
Storm chasing season forecast update 6 for April 13 >>

There was a reason I only went as high as 75% confidence on a Plains trip for Monday: the fact that sometimes models back off of the potential on a big event as it gets closer in time. And that's what is happening now. There are several significant problems with the upcoming system.

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April 11:
Storm chasing season forecast update 5 for April 11 >>

I just arrived home from the trip to New Hampshire/Vermont for the eclipse, but it appears that Lord willing, I'll be back on the road soon. A significant tornado event on this coming Monday the 15th has been indicated by models for several days now.

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April 10:
Total solar eclipse of April 8, 2024: Vermont and New Hampshire >>

Virginia Beach chaser Bill Coyle, my brother and his family from Raleigh, my sister and her family from Boston and I traveled to Vermont and New Hampshire to observe the 2024 eclipse.

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March 31:
Storm chasing season forecast update 4 for March 31 >>

Sunday and Monday continue to have supercell/tornado potential in the Great Plains, but we will also have arguably equal or even better chances of the same here in the Midwest.

Read full post >>

March 27:
Storm chasing season forecast update 3 for March 27 >>

As covered in my last post, the current system making its way through the central US has great wind profiles for tornadoes, but was very lacking in enough moisture for the main Great Plains component of the event on Sunday. Once this trough exits to the east, another is shown following by most all medium-range models and model ensemble members.

Read full post >>

March 20:
Season forecast update for 3/20, hail shields progress >>

Meteorological spring 2024 has started out active, with four convective severe storms outings and two big supercell/tornado setups already logged for the year.

Read full post >>

March 1:
Annual March 1 post >>

It's that time of year again! We've made it through another meteorological winter to the season of green trees and grass, warm air, longer days and most importantly to storm chasers, storms!

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February 29:
February 2024 Storm Chasing Recap: Lightning, Tornadoes and Icy Roads >>

February this year was more like March: I observed lightning on five different days, captured lightning stills three times and saw the first tornado of the year - all within the state of Illinois.

Read full post >>

January 24:
Storm chasing and photography roundup from September 2023 to January 2024 >>

After the first of the year, I've been very busy with numerous winter weather events and trips, making a southern US/south Texas chase for the third winter in a row. Here's a summary of events covered since September of last year.

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January 11:
St. Louis' Gateway Arch over New Baden, Illinois >>

From 400 feet in the air, the Gateway Arch and downtown St. Louis appears in the background over New Baden, Illinois from 30 miles away.

St. Louis' Gateway Arch over New Baden, Illinois

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October 17:
Dan Robinson's Copyright and DMCA Frequently Asked Questions >>

Copyright infringement is a continuous assault on the livelihoods of today's content creators (photographers, filmmakers, musicians, writers, artists).

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September 6:
MYTH: Tornadoes are the biggest weather danger in the Great Plains and Midwest. >>

In the United States, including in the Midwest and Great Plains regions, there is another weather phenomenon that kills and injures significantly more people annually than tornadoes.

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August 22:
Atmospheric moisture content as a potential factor in fast vs slow states of positive lightning leaders >>

The purpose of this study is to investigate the hypothesis that atmospheric moisture content (represented by dewpoint temperature) plays a role in whether positive lightning leaders are slow (highly branched) versus fast (branchless) below cloud base.

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July 29:
Chicago skyscraper lightning extravaganza - July 29, 2023 >>

Nighttime storms produced at least 21 upward lightning events to Chicago's tallest buildings overnight Friday night, including strikes to 4, 5 and 7 of them at once.

Chicago skyscraper lightning extravaganza

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June 30:
Gateway Arch lightning strike: June 30, 2023 >>

The Gateway Arch was struck by lightning during an incredible barrage of lightning in downtown St. Louis between 9PM and 10:15PM on Friday night.

Lightning strikes the Gateway Arch in St. Louis

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June 17:
2023 Great Plains Storm Chasing & Photography Expeditions >>

After it appeared that the Great Plains would not offer any spring setups worth traveling for, a respectable multi-day tornado risk quickly materialized in mid-June, well after my usual end-of-season time. This resulted in a four-day Plains trip from June 15 to June 18.

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June 11:
Season Epilogue: The year without a classic Great Plains peak storm season >>

I've seen enough of medium-range models that I'm confident in declaring that my annual Great Plains tornado season standby period has ended, and will do so without me having made any Plains chases.

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May 31:
May-June 2023 storm chasing roundup >>

Here's a summary of events covered during the peak of an uncharacteristically inactive severe weather season in the Plains and Midwest.

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May 25:
Spring storm season update for May 25 >>

We're in the climatological peak of severe weather season in the Midwest and Plains, but you wouldn't know it from my daily schedule the past 2 weeks. It's been life-as-usual here, with very little of significance in the realm of storms to pursue either at home or in the Great Plains.

Read full post >>

April 21:
March-April 2023 storm chasing roundup >>

Here's a summary of events covered as the 2023 severe weather season gets going in March and April.

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April 9:
Updates on St. Louis Metrolink/bike trail extension to MidAmerica Airport >>

Work is finally under way on the much-anticipated extension of the St. Louis Metrolink light rail line from its current terminus at Scott AFB to MidAmerica Airport. Tree and brush clearing as well as utility/power line modifications along the right-of-way have been in progress for a few weeks. The plans for the extension have been publicly posted by St. Clair County, and they reveal some interesting details about the project.

Read full post >>

April 6:
Season forecast update 3 - could winter be done? Plus: recent storm catches >>

After this week's big system brings a temporary surge of cold air into the northern US (and a couple of frosts to the middle latitudes), all of the available long-range models and ensembles show what looks like a permanent retreat of major cold air into Canada afterward.

Read full post >>

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