Sky Diary Storm Chasing

Chris Kridler's Sky Diary: storm-chasing adventures and rainy-day tales

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Welcome to Sky Diary!

Chris Kridler’s storm chasing site is here, with photos, chase reports, kids’ pages and more

Welcome! Sky Diary’s home is now here on my official site, ChrisKridler.com (the main menu is above in case you’re looking for the Chris Kridler home page, author services, books and more). I started chasing storms in 1997 and soon after that developed a website, first on America Online and then on the web. After building Sky Diary for more than twenty years in HTML, it became a bit creaky. I’m capturing the best of SkyDiary.com and transferring it to this site for a more reader-friendly experience. See the latest chase reports here on the blog and in the new index of storm chasing reports from recent years (continually updated as I add more of the archives). Stay tuned for updates.

Alethea and Chris pose in front of a supercell at Colby, Kansas, in 2021. Photo by William T. Hark, HarkPhoto.com.

 

Storm Chasing 2024

Cow is our loyal companion on the road.

Alethea Kontis and I went to Tornado Alley in late May of 2023 and saw many fantastic storms. I’m way behind in posting images in the blog, as my attention has been diverted to writing books under my pen name. That said, you can see all the storm chasing posts from this and previous years in the blog (with the exception of some very old posts I’m still moving to this site as time allows). You can read about our adventures here and on social media, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube (please subscribe!). We do intend to head back to Tornado Alley this spring. Stay tuned!


 

 

Recent posts on skies and storm chasing

28 December 2023: Two SpaceX rocket launches in one night

It’s been months since I photographed a rocket launch, even though we’ve had a lot of them here on the Space Coast. I’ve been busy working and also writing books (under my pen name). There’s only so much time in the day … or the year. Which is almost over. But I couldn’t resist checking out the SpaceX Heavy launch and booster return on …

19 June 2023: Spectacular lightning on Florida’s Space Coast

When I saw a big line of storms approaching the east coast of Florida with lots of lightning on June 19, I figured I could get into position to photograph it. But Act I of the chase was disappointing. I parked at the St. Johns River west of Cocoa and photographed the line coming in. Just about all the lightning was in the clouds. …

24 May 2023: Dusty tornadic supercell in New Mexico

  It took a while for Alethea Kontis and I to “pull the trigger” on this year’s storm-chasing trip. That’s what my chaser friends who don’t live in Tornado Alley say when they’re planning to hit the road. For most of us, with jobs and families and other things that keep us busy, we can’t do a lot of spur-of-the-moment thousand-mile trips. It’s better …

30 April 2023: SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket launch at twilight

  SpaceX launched a Falcon Heavy rocket from Kennedy Space Center at twilight on April 30, 2023, with the ViaSat 3 internet satellite and two other payloads. I went to Cocoa Village to try to get a shot. It was about a half hour after sunset, and I could have tried a streak shot but worried it wouldn’t be quite dark enough for the …

29 April 2023: LOUD hailstorm chase on Florida’s Space Coast

  This is the third day out of four that I ended up storm chasing. Today’s chase was even more spontaneous than Thursday’s, as I’d been at an event for most of the afternoon and visibility was terrible today. But then, in spite of the murk, I saw the cool structure on this severe storm and couldn’t resist. Besides, the hail core looked decent, …

April 26-27, 2023: Two days of chasing severe and tornado-warned Florida storms

  Severe storms two days in a row. With hail. And tornado warnings. In Florida? And I got to chase them both. It’s been a weird week for us here in east-central Florida and the Space Coast, but the weather reflects the overall weather pattern, with the southern branch of the jet stream enhancing our chances of severe storms. On Wednesday, April 26, Alethea …

 

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Some of my favorite chases

Chase 2016: Incredible 20th year

My Tornado Alley chase was incredible in 2016, with many tornadoes and photogenic storms. 

2016: Katie-Wynnewood, Oklahoma, tornado

May 9, 2016: Entire life cycle of violent EF4 tornado

2005: Texas hail and tornado

May 12, 2005: Giant hail batters chase vehicles after large tornado near South Plains, Texas

2004: Attica, Kansas, tornadoes

May 12, 2004, Attica, Kansas, tornadoes

 

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Storm-chasing adventures

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Cocoa, Florida, lightning by Chris Kridler
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