Tony Laubach is a veteran storm chaser and degreed Meteorologist who has pursued severe weather across the United States since his first tornado in 1997. Over three decades on the road, he has documented hundreds of tornadoes, contributed to field research with projects such as TWISTEX, and shared extreme weather stories through broadcast, digital media, and national reporting. Today, Tony continues his work with AccuWeather, tracking, explaining, and experiencing the storms firsthand.
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Northern Illinois
2,148 Miles | SPC Outlook: Moderate

On the board with the first tornadoes of the season, but this chase will forever be known for the Illinois record-breaking hail over 5″ in diameter, largest hail I have ever seen! And the best single lightning clip I’ve ever shot!

TORNADOES: 2
MAX HAIL: 5.25"
FLOODING: Not Observed
LIGHTNING: Captured

Chase Log: March 5, 2026

Northwest Texas (910 Miles)
TORNADOES: 0
MAX HAIL: 1.75"
FLOODING: Not Observed

Chase Log: February 19, 2026

Southeast Illinois (1,689 Miles)
TORNADOES: 0
MAX HAIL: 0.88"
FLOODING: Observed

Chase Log: September 9, 2025

Eastern CO/Western KS (792 Miles)
TORNADOES: 0
MAX HAIL: 2.00"
FLOODING: Observed

Chase Log: August 10, 2025

Northern Colorado (150 Miles)
TORNADOES: 0
MAX HAIL: 1.00"
FLOODING: Observed

Chase Log: August 9, 2025

Eastern Colorado (514 Miles)
TORNADOES: 0
MAX HAIL: 1.75"
FLOODING: Observed

Chase Log: August 4, 2025

Northeast Colorado (493 Miles)
TORNADOES: 0
MAX HAIL: 4.25"
FLOODING: Observed

Tony's Blogbach, Between the Isobars

Latest Blog Entries

Illinois Went to Hail

March 11, 2026 | Post-Mortem

So much to digest after yesterday’s chase… much more on this to come (including the full chase log), but despite seeing two tornadoes (Pontiac and Kankakee), I am going to remember this day for what likely may be the state record-setting hail.  I measured 5.25″, which MAY be the largest…

Lackluster Chase, But Quick Turnaround?

March 8, 2026 | Post-Mortem

From a chase perspective, it was a rather lackluster couple days out this last stint; a lot of excitement going in yielded little for me.  Thursday’s setup in northwest Texas went down about exactly as it was forecast, mostly after dark, despite some afternoon storms attempting to go up a…

Good Morning From Amarillo

March 5, 2026 | Forecast Thoughts

Arrived safely to Amarillo early yesterday evening where I awaken this morning to find myself no more than a couple hours from my potential targets for the day.  Hi-rez cams continue to indicated supercells initiating later this afternoon with a window of about an hour or two before dark where…

Career Stats

Stat Keeping Started in 2002
Career Miles: 543,291
Career Chases: 552
Career Tornadoes: 476
Career Tornado Days: 198
Career Tornado Average: 0.359
Career Work Logs: 403
Career Total Logs: 955
Career 1K Mile Chases: 140
Tactical Weather-Instrumented Sampling in/near Tornadoes Experiment
Chase Log: May 23, 2008
Northwest Kansas
Tornadoes: 7
Chase Log: May 22, 2007
Northern Kansas
Tornadoes: 1
Chase Log: May 22, 2008
Northwest Kansas
Tornadoes: 5
Chase Log: May 23, 2007
Texas Panhandle
Tornadoes: 2
Chase Log: April 24, 2007
Central Kansas
Tornadoes: 3
Chase Log: April 23, 2007
Southern Kansas
Tornadoes: 1

HAIL CHASES

Chase Log: May 10, 2004
Northern Colorado
Max Hail: 2.00"
Chase Log: April 29, 2003
Northeast Colorado
Max Hail: 1.25"
Chase Log: April 15, 2016
TX/OK Panhandles
Max Hail: 2.00"
Chase Log: April 3, 2008
Northwest Texas
Max Hail: 2.00"

FLOOD CHASES

Chase Log: June 27, 2004
Northeast Colorado
Flooding: Flash Flooding
Chase Log: June 8, 2004
Northeast Colorado
Flooding: Urban Flooding
Chase Log: May 22, 2014
Eastern Colorado
Flooding: Flash Flooding
Chase Log: June 26, 2004
Northeast Colorado
Flooding: Urban Flooding

LIGHTNING CHASES

Chase Log: April 19, 2023
Southwest Iowa
Lightning: Captured
Chase Log: June 13, 2025
Nebraska Panhandle
Lightning: Captured
Chase Log: May 6, 2016
Northeast Colorado
Lightning: Captured
Chase Log: August 11, 2011
Northeast CO/Southwest NE
Lightning: Captured

MY CHASING HISTORY

Where It All Began

The first chase, the first tornado, the May 14, 1997 Ohio-chase that started it all.

The Story of #81

The number of Washington Redskins great, Art Monk, becomes a storm chasing icon.

The Road to Half-a-Million

In 22 years, 2 months, and 2 days, I drove half-a-million mile chasing storms across…