Halloween Boogie At Skydive Perris (11/9)

Traveled to southern California for the 2024 Halloween Jet Boogie in late October and early November 2024. This is the only place you can skydive from a commercial airliner, a DC-9 jet, the only such aircraft converted to a skydiving jump-ship (and brought back online after over a decade). I also did a "dead air" exit from a hot air balloon over Perris during a crisp morning at sunrise!


You can check out the SKYDIVING section of my website (which has videos of these jumps), or click the link below.

www.sky-chaser.com/skydive.htm

Major Hurricane Milton In Florida (10/10)

Hurricane Milton, yet another major hurricane to hit Florida, came into the Florida west coast near Sarasota on October 9-10. Milton made landfall as a major category-three hurricane with 120 MPH winds and a minimum central pressure of 952 mb. This is the fourth hurricane (and third major hurricane) to hit this area in just over a year.


You can jump straight to the section on my web-site for the chase logs for major hurricane Milton by clicking the link below.

www.sky-chaser.com/milt24.htm

Major Hurricane Helene In Florida (9/27)

Hurricane Helene hit the Florida "Big-Bend" area during the overnight of September 26 to 27, 2024 as a major category-four hurricane with 140 MPH winds and a minimum central pressure of 938 mb. This is the third hurricane (and second major hurricane) to hit this area in just over a year. I have executed a chase on this storm, and a full chase log is also available in the STORM CHASING section of my website.


You can jump straight to the section on my web-site for the chase logs for major hurricane Helene by clicking the link below.

www.sky-chaser.com/hele24.htm

Hurricane Debby In Florida (8/5)

Hurricane Debby hit the Florida "Big-Bend" area during the morning of August 5, 2024 as a category-one hurricane with 80 MPH winds. A chase and log of this storm is also available. Be sure to check out more footage of such storm chases in the STORM CHASING section of my website.


You can jump straight to the section on my web-site for the chase logs for hurricane Debby by clicking the link below.

www.sky-chaser.com/debby24.htm

Storm Chasing Completed - Central USA (5/28)

Storm chasing for most of May 2024 in the central USA is completed. Below is a powerful wedge-shaped tornado tears across Oklahoma west of Custer City during the late afternoon of May 19, 2024. This tornado was produced by a powerful cyclic supercell, and was observed at close-range off Highway 183 while in the rain-free "bear's cage" of the supercell inflow notch.


See more footage of storm chases in the 2024 STORM CHASING section of my website under the MIDWEST 2024 section. You can also view more information on this observation by clicking the link below.

www.sky-chaser.com/mwcl2024.htm

Total Solar Eclipse - Central USA (4/8)

A rare solar eclipse occurred on April 8 stretching fron SW Texas and Mexico to eastern Canada on April 8, 2024.


The log is now available in the STORM CHASING section of my website under the MIDWEST 2024 section. You can also view more information on this observation by clicking the link below.

www.sky-chaser.com/mwcl2024.htm

Storm Chaser Summit 2024 (2/5/2024)

The National Storm Chaser Summitt was in Fort Worth on February 2 and 3, 2024 - Please check out this event in the STORM CHASING section of my website under the EVENTS section.


The image above shows this event, or the link below for more information on this event.

www.sky-chaser.com/picnic24.htm

Happy Holidays And A Happy New Year (12/25)

Wishing everyone a happy holidays of 2023 to 2024, and a great new year!

Hurricane Lee At 165 MPH (9/8)

This as when hurricane Lee was over the open water with wind speeds of at least 165 MPH (well into the rare category 5 status) as of September 8, 2023. Fortunately Lee missed most islands and land, and weakened as it passed to the west of Bermuda. Any land in the path of such a storm at this intensity will suffer devastating effects at this intensity. Eventually, the storm turned north and re-curved, striking Atlantic Canada late the week of Sept 10-16 as an extratropical storm.


The images above show the HWRF hurricane research model (analysis) with the hurricane core during the morning of September 8. The image to the right is an IR satellite image of Hurricane Lee about that same time. Hurricane information is also available in my TROPICS section on this web-site, or you jump straight to the tropical activity page (TROPICS section) on my web-site by clicking the link below.

www.sky-chaser.com/tropics.htm

Major Hurricane Idalia In Florida (8/30)

The interception of major hurricane "Idalia" is completed and was the first hurricane chase of 2023. The full chase log is now available in the STORM CHASING section of my website under the TROPICAL section.


You can jump straight to the section on my web-site for the chase logs for hurricane Idalia by clicking the link below.

www.sky-chaser.com/idal23.htm

Storm Chasing For Spring 2023 Completed (7/1)

Storm chasing in 2023 (from May 1 to July 1) is completed. All storm chases as well as a highly-detailed chase log are now available in the STORM CHASING section of my website under the section for MIDWEST 2023.


You can jump straight to the section on storm chasing in the central USA for spring of 2023 by clicking the link below.

www.sky-chaser.com/mwcl2023.htm

First Storm Chase Of 2023 (Apr 4)

The first storm chase of 2023 was done from April 3 to 5, targeting a moderate risk of severe weather on April 4, mainly in Iowa is completed. In the image below, a long elephant trunk tornado appears over the trees near Knoxville, Iowa at around 7 PM CDT on April 4. This is posted in the STORM CHASING section of my website.


Click the link below to go right to the section for STORM CHASING EVENTS in 2023.

http://www.sky-chaser.com/mwcl2023.htm

National Storm Chaser Summit (2/5/2023)

The National Storm Chaser Summit (convention) in 2023 took place from February 3rd through the 5th in Midwest City, Oklahoma at the Reed Conference Center. This was the second of a re-imagined chaser "summit" similar to the former "ChaserCon" event(s) ran by late Tim Samaras and Roger Hill. This was again another great event - With a large turn-out - Thanks to the great efforts of Erik Fox and his group - Be sure to check out this event in the STORM CHASING section of this website.


Click the link below to go right to the section for STORM CHASING EVENTS in 2023.

http://www.sky-chaser.com/picnic23.htm

Happy Holidays To All (12/25)

Seasons Greetings ... Wishing everyone a happy Holidays in 2022 and may all your wishes come true ... As well as good health and prosperity in the upcoming New Year of 2023!

Hurricane Nicole In East-Central Florida (11/11)

Hurricane Nicole affected east-central Florida during the overnight hours from November 9 to 10, 2022 as a low-end category 1 storm, with sustained winds up to 75 MPH. Damage was mostly along the east coast of Florida, with devastating coastal damage extending well north of where the center made landfall. I was one of several storm chasers who went through the eye of the hurricane.


You can also click the link for this chase-log below as well.

www.sky-chaser.com/nico22.htm

Hurricane Ian Devastates SW Florida (9/28)

Hurricane Ian came ashore in SW Florida from Sanibel Island to Punta Gorda during the early afternoon of September 28, 2022 as a high-end category 4 storm, with winds up to 155 MPH. This is a devastating event. I was one of many storm chasers who went through the eye of the hurricane.


You can also click the link for this chase-log below as well.

www.sky-chaser.com/ian22.htm

My Father Passes Away (8/6)

I finally mustered up enough strength to post this (in early September 2022) ... With a grieving and heavy heart, my father, Richard D Collura, sadly passed away peacefully in hospice during the afternoon of August 6, 2022 - With myself close by his side. He is survived my myself and my older brother, Ricky Collura. My father was 80 years old and suffered from severe dementia and muscle wasting after January 2022. My father was a great man, rough around the edges and stern, but always meant well, and brought up two great sons (myself and my brother). He served on the New York City Police Department (NYPD) from 1963 to 1983. After that his passion was security and protecting everyone he loved and strived for what was fair.


He was passionate in football, and worked / volunteered in anything related to the sport, from coaching and refereeing high-school football, coaching my soccer team as a kid, and worked many years for the Miami Dolphins (even been at four super bowls). He even owned two sports bars up in New York from 1983 to 1985, and continued his work in security after moving to Florida in 1985. He had a beautiful wife, Geraldine Collura, and enjoyed owning three boats from 1986 through 1995. My mom passed away peacefully in September 2013, and afterwards he spent time with Barbara Billadeau, his girlfriend from late 2014 until January 2022 (she became disabled from Alzheimer's).

A limited service for internment of my fathers ashes as well as my moms (both were cremated), will be at Our Lady Queen of Heaven Catholic Cemetery on September 14, 2022. Hats off and R.I.P to a fantastic man ... Keep him in all our prayers and thoughts.

Storm Chasing For Spring 2022 Completed (6/18)

My storm chasing trip to the midsection of the USA was from April 27 to Jun 18, 2022, and has been completed. A full chase log is now available in the STORM CHASING section (under the main "chase expedition" area for 2022) of my web site.


You can jump straight to the section on storm chasing in the central USA for spring of 2022 by clicking the link below.

www.sky-chaser.com/mwcl2022.htm