On Sunday afternoon, March 22, 2009, all I wanted to do was return some books to the Hastings library. My simple plan was pleasantly disrupted when I noticed a brightly painted Chasing4Life stormchase vehicle parked across the street at the Hastings Auditorium. Being a good Christian stormchaser, I promptly introduced myself to Eddy Weiss, founder of Chasing4Life. After a brief discussion about the next day's imminent severe weather outbreak in South Central Nebraska, we decided that the prudent thing to do was to join up the next day and chase together.

Monday was hectic from the get-go. I already planned on using some vacation time that day, but I had a mandatory business meeting at 9 a.m. which took all of the focus I could muster, considering the fact that a severe weather outbreak was only hours away. Approximately .0005 seconds after the meeting was over, I changed out of my business apparel into standard chase gear (blue jeans, chaser t-shirt and an optimistic outlook for the day's potential).

When I met up with Eddy and Chasing4Life team member Dan Bocklund, Eddy introduced me to his family, we checked data, radar, etc. and then KHAS TV Meteorologist Travis Klanecky arrived from Hastings ready to chase. We then went east to the 281/Hastings exit to pick up KHAS TV Reporter Adam Lefkoe to complete the crew. Before we left to begin the chase, Arby's was kind enough to donate bottled water to the entire chase team. Thanks I-80 Arby's!! 

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Click on the image below to see a gallery of photos from this chase day or on the video to your left for highlights. March 23, 2009 Nebraska March 23, 2009 Nebraska Waiting on a train. Waiting on a train. This is what today's storm looks like on radar. This is what today's storm looks like on radar. Here it is again...in case you didn't get a good look at it the first time. Here it is again...in case you didn't get a good look at it the first time. Monster wall cloud. Yes, I was peeking out from behind a building. We couldn't beat the storm that was on us. Monster wall cloud. Yes, I was peeking out from behind a building. We couldn't beat the storm that was on us. Eddy's wiper assembly doesn't work too good without the window. Hail blew through the back window all the way to the front! Eddy's wiper assembly doesn't work too good without the window. Hail blew through the back window all the way to the front! The windshield wiper is lodged in Eddy's tripod. The windshield wiper is lodged in Eddy's tripod. The only part of the back windshield that held together was covered with the KHAS TV5 sticker. The only part of the back windshield that held together was covered with the KHAS TV5 sticker. Eddy autographed the first casualty of this chase season for John Walsh-KHAS' weather anchor.Eddy autographed the first casualty of this chase season for John Walsh-KHAS' weather anchor.

Long story short, awesome chase day! Low topped, cold-core supercells racing North toward us at 50-70 mph. We had a close encounter with a torrent of hail, wind and rain. Eddy, you're right, storms were closer than they appeared in our mirrors!  Great job driving Cheyenne! Thanks for the great chase day guys/gals!

Looking forward to a busy 2009 chase season and many more chases with Eddy and his Chasing4Life team, and Travis and Adam from KHAS TV!

Chasing4Life Team Blog