500 tornadoes: A storm-chasing milestone 30 years in the making

After three decades of chasing storms across 22 states, Tony Laubach reached tornado No. 500 in Kansas on Wednesday, completing a goal that nearly slipped away as the 2026 season wound down.

When a tornado touched down near Susank, Kansas, on Wednesday, AccuWeather storm chaser Tony Laubach was looking at more than another storm spinning across the Plains.

He was looking at tornado No. 500.

Reaching the milestone had been one of Laubach's biggest goals for 2026, his 30th season chasing storms. He had pulled within three tornadoes of the mark a few weeks earlier, but with the calendar turning to October, he was not sure another opportunity would come along this year.

"Two things that I was nervous about was: A, don't lose track, it's only three, like you can count that high. And B: was it going to be one that I could get a picture in front of, because that was what I wanted more than anything," Laubach said.

Laubach witnessed his first tornado 30 years ago about 20 miles west of his hometown in Ohio. Since then, he has spotted tornadoes in 22 states, with January being the only month in which he has never seen one.

The milestone almost did not happen on Wednesday. Laubach had been home for less than 36 hours after covering a nor'easter and admitted he was unprepared for another storm chase. Being so close to tornado No. 500, he ultimately talked himself into making the five-hour drive to chase storms.

A chaser's lucky charms: No. 81 and a scratch-off ticket

Seeing hundreds of tornadoes takes decades of planning and a bit of luck. In Laubach's case, one of those good luck charms is playing the lottery.

"I buy a scratcher before every chase in the state I'm chasing, and if I lose on the scratcher, it means I will 'win' on the chase," he said.

He also travels with his "good luck Psyduck," from Pokémon and has long incorporated the number 81 into his chasing gear because it was worn by one of his favorite football players. Wednesday's rush meant there was no time for the scratch-off, but his luck apparently held.

One of his favorites came in Colorado in June 2021, when Laubach and his wife watched a tornado from the front porch of their new home the same day that they purchased it.

"We saw the tornado from our front porch 90 minutes after we closed," Laubach recalled. "That's a memorable one."

Not every memory from 500 tornadoes is a happy one. Laubach has witnessed destructive storms during his career, including tornadoes that caused deaths and affected people he knew. That made the setting for Wednesday's milestone particularly meaningful, with most of the Kansas tornadoes occurring in remote areas with minimal impacts.

The 'golden years of chasing'

The way Laubach finds those tornadoes has changed dramatically over the course of his career.

When he started, storm chasers relied heavily on paper maps and weather radio. Today, smartphones, high-resolution weather models and near-instant access to radar can put far more information in a chaser's hands while on the road.

"I am exceptionally grateful to have come in on the back end of golden years of chasing," Laubach said.

He said the earlier era required more work, knowledge and dedication to find storms, lessons that have stayed with him even as technology has made information easier to access.

After three decades, hundreds of tornadoes and countless miles on the road, reaching 500 provided a chance to appreciate everything that went into getting there.

"I feel like I've earned it," Laubach said.

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