Into The Elements

10/16/2026

I’ve had a lot of people ask me what camera they should get as an entry level wanting to take the hobby more seriously. My answer? The one in your pocket. I know it doesn’t have “the look”. But the truth is modern phones have incredibly powerful cameras that can do 80% of what the dedicated cameras do. You have virtually the same editing power, and a myriad of options for settings. The difference isn’t likely the camera. It’s developing the eye. What do you like and why? How are you framing the shots? Do you employ rule of thirds when appropriate? Can you take a normal scene and find an interesting foreground or leading line.

Developing your eye is far more important than the gear you have, and you should only upgrade gear when you know what technical limitation you need to solve. That goes for higher end gear as well. The place to start is to take your shooting seriously. Learn what you like and why you like it, and ask questions. Most importantly have fun, and shoot what interests you. Photography can be a great way to learn to take a longer look at the world around you, and find a new appreciation for it.

Here’s a scene from tonight’s sunset in Council Bluffs, IA. Shot with an iPhone 16.

10/02/2026

09-30-2026 - Estes Park, Colorado : Taking a short vacation up in Estes and we had to race out the door to capture this unbelievable sunset over Rocky Mountain National Park. The sunset lit up the sky in 360 degrees with vibrant fluorescence. What an amazing evening!

09/28/2026

09-07-2026 Spencer, Nebraska : This is what a developing tornadic circulation looks like when it’s developing nearly directly above you. This wrap up was forming as I left the town just west of Spencer, NE. Previously I was concerned the storm may drop a tornado in the town itself. Thankfully it held off for roughly a half hour avoiding the town.

09/27/2026

09-07-2026 Spencer, Nebraska : Early on in this tornadic supercell’s life, once I decided to sneak out from underneath the mesocyclone. Up to this point it had made multiple attempts at wrapping up a tighter circulation. In about 15-20 minutes it would end up dropping a cone tornado in the Nebraska countryside.

09/23/2026

09/07/2026- Spencer, NE : As a photographer sometimes it’s difficult to make the decision to leave a developing circulation and focus on the structure and storm dynamics. This was the moment that convinced me to race East and setup ahead of the storm. We’ll see what fall season has in store, but if this is my last good chase of the season, what a way to end it.

09/22/2026

I’d like to take a moment to share a project that many of my friends and colleagues have worked on recently. Chelsea herself is dedicated to educating kids on weather by making it fun and understandable. She’s done many classroom and school visits to help kids learn about, and be excited by weather. Her programs are fun and interactive, and she’s really created a quality curriculum through long hours and hard work. Now she’s bringing the education to online resources that kids all over the world can watch.

If you have kids that are excited or interested in weather but you don’t know how or what resources to give them or how to encourage it. I highly recommend you use these. If you have any questions I’m sure she’d be happy to answer them if you reach out to her.

Great work Chelsea! Your hard work and dedication to your passions is clear and inspiring for the rest of us.

🌦️⚡️🌪️ IT’S OFFICIAL — WEATHER EXPLORERS IS LIVE! 🌪️⚡️🌦️

After weeks of planning, writing, building, filming, editing, re-filming, asking myself “Is this simple enough for a kid to understand?” about 723 times 😂… Weather Explorers: 20-Lesson Weather Video Library is officially available TODAY!

I created Weather Explorers because some of my favorite moments as a weather educator happen when a child looks at me and says:

“Wait… WHY does that happen?”

I wanted to take those conversations beyond the classrooms, libraries, and programs I’m able to visit in person — and give curious kids a way to explore the atmosphere wherever they happen to learn.

Inside Weather Explorers are 20 kid-friendly lessons covering everything from everyday weather to some of Earth’s most powerful storms:

☁️ Clouds
🌧️ Rain & snow
🌩️ Thunder & lightning
🧊 Hail
🌪️ Tornadoes
🌀 Hurricanes
🌊 Flooding
🗺️ Weather maps
📡 Radar
🛰️ Satellites
🌎 Weather vs. climate
🚨 Weather safety
✈️ Extreme weather careers
🚙 Storm chasing
🌡️ Weather instruments
🌤️ Forecasting
…and more!

Each lesson combines simple explanations, colorful visuals, real-world examples, storm imagery, Quiz Time, and a Junior Meteorologist Challenge designed to help kids do more than just watch — I want them to look, think, participate, and ask questions.

Weather Explorers is especially great for:

🏡 Homeschool families looking for engaging science enrichment
🏫 Public, private & charter school families wanting supplemental weather/STEM learning
💻 Online-school students who learn well through visual instruction
👩‍🏫 Teachers and classrooms working through weather or Earth-science units
📚 Libraries and community programs looking for ready-to-use educational programming
🌪️ Weather-obsessed kids who already know WAY more tornado facts than the adults in their house 😂
🌦️ And kids who simply look at the sky and wonder, “How does THAT work?”

💙 Choose the license that fits how you’ll use it:

$39.99 — Family / Household Access
For one household and its children.

$99.99 — Small Group / Homeschool Co-op
For one instructor using Weather Explorers with one designated co-op or educational group.

$199.99 — Classroom / Library License
For one classroom, library branch, or program location.

$399.99 — Organization License
For larger organizations needing access across multiple instructors or locations.

And for the kids who finish the program and STILL have a question — because I sincerely hope they do — there’s also an optional Ask a Storm Chaser! experience where they can submit a weather question and receive a personalized video answer from me. 🎥🌪️

This project has a lot of my heart in it.

It brings together years of storm chasing, weather education, conversations with kids, real storm experiences, and one very simple belief:

Kids can understand some pretty incredible science when we take the time to explain it in a way that makes sense to them.

So… here we go. 💙

🎓 Weather Explorers is officially OPEN!

👉 Get Weather Explorers here:
https://chaserchelsea.gumroad.com/l/explore

If you know a parent, grandparent, homeschool family, teacher, librarian, or young future meteorologist who would love this, I would be incredibly grateful if you shared it with them.

Real storms. Real science. Explained for curious young minds. 🌦️⚡️🌪️

Welcome to Weather Explorers. 💙

09/13/2026

09/07/2026 - Spencer, Nebraska : Structure of the year for me. This supercell took on many different shapes before dropping a tornado in the rolling hills of northern Nebraska near the Missouri river. At this point the storm had more “stacks” than I’ve seen before on a storm. Top 3 day of 2026 and number 1 on structure.

09/12/2026

Sitting today’s chase in Kansas out, while eyeing Monday’s setup. Today I’m countering the long miles on the road with some miles on the trail. Nature put itself on full display for me today, and it’s finally starting to feel like fall.

09/11/2026

09/07/2026 - Spencer, NE : Just before the cone tornado this storm had more stacked plates than I’ve ever seen before. It’s a rare phenomenon and a storm photographer’s dream. I’m still riding the high from this day.

09/09/2026

This page is typically dedicated to photography and videography of weather, but behind the scenes a lot goes into forecasting and planning chases. If you’re an aspiring storm chaser, and want to deepen your knowledge and understanding of how to forecast, this is the page to follow. Convective Chronicles YouTube is an endless resource for weather event reviews and forecasting deep dives. I highly recommend it for anyone, novice or 10 year+ veteran.

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m94d9xpXLsE

In-depth meteorological breakdown of the localized tornado outbreak that occurred across southern Mississippi on May 6, 2026, which featured an EF-3 that tracked for 82 miles and over 2 hours from near the LA/MS border to east of Interstate 55. We'll dive into the background pattern, some of the potential failure modes that were in play going into the event, and why such an intense, long-track tornado occurred anyway. We'll also take a look at some radar data from storm initiation through tornado dissipation.