In September of 2025, my work is generating the most income it ever has in my career. Yet, I'm being forced to shut down my successul operation, against my will, due to one cause alone: 95% of that revenue is being stolen by piracy and copyright infringement. 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. Do not be misled by the lies of infringers, anti-copyright activists and organized piracy cartels. This page is a detailed, evidenced account of my battle I had to undertake to just barely stay in business, and eventually could not overcome. It's a problem faced by all of my colleagues and most other creators in the field.
I was shocked, as was many of my colleagues, to learn of accomplished storm chaser Andy Gabrielson's fatal head-on accident caused by a (apparently intoxicated) wrong-way driver on eastbound I-44 in Oklahoma. Though I had never met Andy, his work was well-known to me (and all storm chasers) due to his uncanny knack for not only choosing the right storm every time, but with a precision that allowed for up-close tornado intercepts on an uncommonly regular basis. His footage is some of the most amazing ever captured in the hobby.
So far, auto accidents are the only causes of deaths for storm chasers during the actual activity of chasing: that means either during a chase, on the way to one, or on the way back from one. Throughout the millions of miles all of us storm chasers have logged collectively, storms themselves have yet to even seriously injure one of us. The highway - and other vehicles on the road - have always been, and always will be, the storm chaser's only real threat. While the road is a dangerous place for anyone (observer or not), the many extra thousands of miles that individual storm chasers log every year make us much more exposed to its threat than the average person. Compared to the road, the threat from storms to a storm chaser is close to complete unworthiness of mention.
Andy is the fourth known chaser who lost their life in a car accident since the early 1990s. The third was Fabian Guerra, one of my friends who accompanied me on many trips from 2004 to 2008. Fabian's accident was caused by a deer on I-80 in Iowa while he was on the way to a chase target in June of 2009.
It's truly saddening when a tragedy like this befalls one of our own.
So sorry to hear this. Ignorant people who drink and drive. - Posted by Mom
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From Dan: Please Read
To my regular readers, I offer my apologies for this heavy-handed notice. Unfortunately it has become necessary, so please bear with me!
Please don't copy/upload this site's content to social media or other web sites. Those copies have been a critical problem for me, seriously harming this site and my photography/storm chasing operation by diverting traffic, viewers, engagement and income. "Credit" and "exposure" does not benefit this site or my operation, rather they threaten my ability to cover my operating expenses. Please read my full explanation for this notice here.
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