Preparations beginning a little bit later this year than in previous years that we've chased. There are a few new things for this year ...

New vehicle! I had a ton of engine problems with my last vehicle and had to trade it in due to the problems. Because I had to trade the vehicle in for a different one, we didn't have time to reconstruct the hail guards. We will not be chasing with hail guards this year and will play it safe like we've done in past years and hope for the best!

This year Brad and I will be chasing together once again and joining us in our vehicle will be Greg Stephens, fellow Weather Network meteorologist and veteran storm chaser. Greg has been storm chasing long before Brad and I started and it will be awesome having him along. One of Greg's more memorable tornadoes was the infamous 2010 Campo, Colorado tornado (as seen below in a picture of Greg with the tornado).

Greg posing in front of the 2010 Campo, Colorado tornado.Due to work schedule constraints we aren't as flexible as we would like to be about our chasing dates but hey, you gotta work for a living! We've booked off from the 2nd week of May until about the first week of June which should give us more than enough time to get to Tornado Alley and play around with the storms (if nature cooperates). There's been a lot of negativity slung around about this May's severe weather being ... lack-luster. Though, pattern-wise, this year and last year are very different, last year looked uneventful and well, if you check our last year's blog, photos and video, you'll see it was anything but uneventful!

Yes, the long range models don't look promising but they're just that, long range models and I wouldn't bet money on them. We'll see how the pattern progresses over the next few weeks. The earliest we can leave at this point is May 11.

The plan is to meet up with our regular chase crew: Scott McPartland, Dave Lewison and Mark Robinson and of course hoping to meet up with friends and chasers Daniel Shaw (who is already chasing), Chris Kridler, George Kourounis, Jason Persoff, Robert Balogh and Bill Hark (if I'm forgetting anyone I'm sorry!).

There are many fellow Canadian chasers heading down as well so hopefully we'll have a chance to meet up with them as well. Tornado Alley is really a big "class reunion" for most storm chasers and I'm excited to get out there to see you all.

The electronics have all been installed in the vehicle. We just need to install the laptop mount and a camera mount and the vehicle is ready to go! Getting excited!