Cosmic Storm Chasing

08/06/2026

I’m going to be published!!

Ecstatic to announce that I get to be a part of Melissa F. Kaelin • Author & Aurora Chaser’s next big project - the Shape of the Sky Book Project. Her aim is to represent northern lights/aurora photography from across the state of Michigan. She is the author of “Beyond the 45th Parallel: The Beginner’s Guide to Chasing Aurora”, co-founder of the Aurora Summit, and founder of the Michigan Aurora Chasers. If there’s anyone I’d want to publish with, it’s her!

She’s still actively accepting submissions to the project so if you have a capture of northern lights/aurora that is from Michigan, you can submit for FREE following directions in the link I’m attaching in the comments. I’m strongly considering a submission for the front or back cover, which if you think you’d like to do so as well there is a $15 fee, you can see how that entry fee will be used towards the project through the link in the comments as well.

Such a cool project and again, I’m honored to be a contributing member. As always, I appreciate the likes and shares!

07/28/2026

If you haven’t followed Team Dominator Storm Recovery now is the time to do so! Proud to be part of a team of volunteers looking to make such a positive impact on the weather community as a whole.

Team Dominator Storm Recovery is launching the LIFT initiative.
In weather, Lift is the upward movement of warm air that helps create clouds and thunderstorms.
In TDSR, lift is also a positive, 4 part campaign for the weather community.

L - Learn - We will be helping the general public more easily understand weather and radar, map location, and storm direction with information and links to free courses. We will focus on providing simple, calm and prioritized public information during weather events.
I - Inspire - We will be helping coach young weather enthusiasts to follow their dreams by planning local and online events with our team and our partners, recording personal videos, sending out free merch, and other activities. All weather obsessed kids are welcome.
F - Forgive - We want to be a positive influence in the online weather community by encouraging everyone to try and be more kind to each other. Forgive misjudgments, stop public bullying and avoid the cancel culture. Adapt constructive criticism and help guide those willing to learn from mistakes.
T- Teach - We will be having presentations at various schools to help teach children about severe weather and how to be proactive and prepare for it, rather than being scared. We will have fun discussions, prizes and team recovery/ chaser vehicles for an interactive experience.

More information coming soon on our website - https://tdstormrecovery.org

07/27/2026

Almost 2:00 PM EDT; 7/27/26 - the NWS has issued a severe thunderstorm watch for the area highlighted in blue until 8:00 PM EDT. Main concerns include damaging winds up to 75+ mph, hail from 1.00-2.00” in size, and a low-end tornado risk. Let your loved ones know now to be on the lookout for incoming weather related warnings.

07/27/2026

11:35 AM; 7/27/2026 - a severe thunderstorm watch is likely to be issued for Southwest Michigan later this afternoon or potentially early in the evening hours. Now is the time to prepare for these storms if you haven’t already. It’s been messy trying to pinpoint this one down so don’t be surprised if it doesn’t play out as forecasters have been predicting this far.

07/20/2026

7/20/2026; 3:00 PM EDT: Off to our west in northeast Iowa and northwest/north-central Wisconsin a tornado watch is likely to be issued within the highlighted area in the image below. Reach out to any friends and/or family you have in this area so they know to be on the lookout for a potential all hazards event! These storms will eventually make their way east into Michigan sometime around 11:00 PM EDT to 12:00 AM EDT. Thankfully by then they should have weakened for us in Southwest Michigan but we should still be on the lookout primarily for damaging winds and potentially somewhat frequent cloud-to-ground lightning bolts. Thankfully some clear skies should be moving in behind this at least for a few days, both in terms of severe storms and wildfire smoke!

07/20/2026

An exciting new initiative from Team Dominator Storm Recovery! Can’t wait to see what else comes from this, and happy birthday to Mario!

07/19/2026

Big surprise coming for this young weather enthusiast tonight at the NWS Nashville. Tonight kicks off the Inspire portion of the LIFT campaign we are launching. Can’t wait to give him a special birthday this evening!

07/16/2026

Wildfire smoke is slowly yet surely moving in. Throughout tonight into tomorrow all of Southwest Michigan will be underneath some hazardous air conditions, especially for children, the elderly, and anyone with respiratory issues. Even those that don’t fit within those criteria should do their best to limit exposure outside if at all possible to reduce risk of harm.

Video taken in Moline, MI 7/15/2026 at 8:00 PM EDT

07/03/2026

An absolutely amazing lightning display last night. This storm was approaching South Haven, MI last night at around 10:30 PM EDT and was producing a ton of lightning on radar. This was my first chance to chase in quite some time so I didn’t want to miss it!

I left home and headed towards Hopkins, MI where I was roughly at in the first two images. I’ll have a time lapse later showing the storm rolling in from here. There was some weak rotation present for a short while, stronger winds were present as well. There was some damage reports I observed of tree limbs going down further south from my location but nothing in my immediate area.

The true show was on the backside of this storm though! The rest of the images were all as the storm tracked east and eventually weakened. Could not have asked for a better night.

06/30/2026

A single capture of lightning from passing storms Sunday evening, 6/28/26 at around 11:30 PM EDT. These storms were sending out frequent cloud-to-ground lightning and some heavy showers in isolated areas. This capture was from near Dorr, MI looking west at a cell approaching shore in Holland, MI just about 40 miles away!