I had my first storm chase experience on Wednesday, June 20, 2007. I left work around 6 p.m. thinking nothing of the weather. After a 15-minute drive home, I popped inside, started to make some food and turned on the TV. Immediately I saw the radar and the storms that were building around the Twin Cities area.

I headed back to St. Paul, as the storms were splitting and heading in two different directions, around the core of the Twin Cities. From there I started heading west on I-94 toward Minneapolis. Both storms looked quite dramatic at that point, as reports of hail and high winds started pouring into WCCO-Radio. At that point in time a Tornado warning was in effect for the southern storm (radar indicated).

I made a quick stop along Franklin Ave. and I-94, grabbing some shots of Downtown Minneapolis. I found my way back onto I-94 West and took that to I-394 West. I followed that all the way to I-494 and headed south. By this point in the chase, the evening was wearing on and the storms started to lose some of their fuel as the sun started setting. I made one more quick stop around Minnetonka/Hopkins and then started heading home.

Before calling it a night, I headed over to Minnehaha Creek where I knew I could get a slightly elevated view of both storms as they moved out of the Metro area. I got a bunch of good shots there and headed home, feeling good about my first chase.