David Piano: Photographer & Storm Chaser

06/11/2026

Overall, yesterday's chase didn't pan out as I expected, but I still managed a few photogenic shots of this cell tracking towards Wallaceburg from the Michigan side of the border. This cell was the left-mover of a marginal splitting supercell pair in the Detroit metro area. Both cells produced severe hail in Michigan but weakened quickly on the Ontario side of the border.

I believe tonight's storm risk will be similar in that the advancing squall line from Michigan will weaken substantially by the time it reaches the international border.

06/07/2026

The legendary storm chaser Mike Olbinski has put a lot of time and effort into creating Storm Chaser Atlas, a new app that serves as a tracking mechanism to log your chases and also interact with & contribute to the storm chasing community at the same time. You can report road hazards/driveability and add your favourite local stops to hit up when awaiting convective inititation. It also has a networking side to it, allowing you to create circles to collaborate with, as well as a general news feed with chasing updates. I encourage my chaser followers, especially in Ontario, to create an account and add me!

Never Stop Chasing.

Check out my profile on Storm Chaser Atlas:

Chase smarter. Chase safer. The privacy-first, community-powered map built for storm chasers.

06/07/2026

Some photos from April waterfall adventures around Owen Sound and the Beaver Valley area!

05/30/2026

05/26/2026

So this was pretty cool....on a walk this evening on the Thames River Trails in Beachville, I watched a Red-winged Blackbird plucking fur from a White-tailed deer. The deer seemed to enjoy the head scratches 😄

05/25/2026

My intense May 19 chase video is up: https://youtu.be/RGv10PY_8p0?si=mpaE_tfuEs_czFYS

CHASE WRITE-UP
An overachieving setup brought an intense close-to-home chase day for me on May 19 along the Middlesex/Oxford County line.
I began my chase near Thamesford where I intercepted a lead supercell in front of the developing bow echo which was in western Middlesex County at the time. I experienced downburst winds causing blowing dust and speeds in the 90-95km/h range along with a beautiful & turbulent whale’s mouth region beneath the surging outflow. As the storm moved east of me, a well-defined RFD cut and lowering/wall cloud was evident towards Ingersoll…and this supercell character was also noted in the radar imagery. I then dropped south on Putnam Road to just south of the 401 where I found a good west-facing field. This location was right under the outflow boundary left by the storm to the northeast…and I quickly noted a QLCS circulation on the leading edge of the advancing system with a good amount of dust being kicked up underneath and lofted upwards toward the cloud base. As it turns out, this was the long-track EF-1 tornado in the distance which NTP has recently released the track details on. The radar showed an appendage marking the mesovortex responsible for this tornado, and a velocity couplet was correlated as well. The tornadic circulation eventually broadened and the damage track ended just a few km west of me, however the parent mesovortex continued to pass JUST north of me. Suddenly, I was hit with damaging winds plastering the side of my Rav4 with mud and debris from the field. Several tree limbs broke off a few hundred feet in front of me. My anemometer measured a 114km/h gust despite being parked next to a grassy embankment about 5ft high which impeded the wind flow some…unobstructed 10m wind speeds over my location likely peaked in the 120-130km/h range. Post-chase review of footage and radar indicates I was on the SE flank of the mesovortex where an area of maximized wind was present at the surface with a direction from the SSW-NNE. My GoPro 360 cam picked up the rotating updraft associated with the mesovortex very clearly as it passed north of me while I was hit by the field debris. This was one of my top 5 most intense Ontario chases to date and my first tornado of 2026!

On May 19th, I captured the long-track EF-1 Lambeth-Mossley QLCS to...

05/24/2026

Photos from the memorable May 19th chase along the Oxford / Middlesex County Line.

Photos include the first outflow-dominant supercell near Thamesford and the subsequent bow echo and QLCS tornado seen from south of Putnam near the 401.

Will include a full write-up of the chase when I post my chase video (coming soon!).

Northern Tornadoes Project

05/24/2026

Coming Soon: EXTREME QLCS Tornado / Destructive Bow Echo chase video and pics coming soon, including stunning footage from my GoPro 360 cam of the circulation passing to my north as I get blasted by debris...This chase in southeast Middlesex County has found a place in my top five all-time Ontario chases!

05/14/2026

Taking in some of the best sights and sounds of Spring last week at Rock Glen Falls & Mystery Falls in Arkona, ON!

02/02/2026

From the most spectacular beaches I have ever seen to vibrant coral reefs and dream-like subterranean adventures, my recent trip to Bermuda has me itching to go back soon! There sure are plenty of breathtaking locations packed into this tiny island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean!