'Storm Chasers' Matt Hughes Has Been Dead for 6 Months, Show Reveals

(Nov. 4) -- Fans of the Discovery Channel program "Storm Chasers" were surprised to learn on last night's episode that one of the stars of the show has been dead for several months.

Matt Hughes, a 30-year-old meteorologist, died on May 26 in Wichita, Kan. A statement on Discovery's website said only cryptically that his death was caused by "an injury unrelated to his chasing activities." The show explained only that he had suffered an injury at his home the same weekend his last episode was shot.

Rumors are flying around the Internet that he may have died after attempting to commit suicide. PopEater reports that Aaron Blaser, a meteorologist at KAKE-TV in Wichita, where Hughes once worked, wrote in a blog post that Hughes tried to kill himself on May 14.

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"One of our KAKEland StormChasers, Matt Hughes, was taken to the hospital after trying to take his life. This sentence is still hard to explain and even more difficult to express on a computer screen. Matt was in the hospital for several days in intensive care, there was a 24 hour vigil outside the waiting room, family, other chasers, business associates, etc," Blaser wrote in the June 7 post.

Hughes' death has not been kept a secret -- an obituary for Hughes was published in the Wichita Eagle on May 30 and fellow Storm Chaser Reed Timmer tweeted about his death on Oct. 30, curiously five months after his friend had died. But many of the show's fans were not aware of his death until last night's episode.

Hughes is survived by his wife, Kendra, and sons, Hunter and Collin.

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'Storm Chasers' Fans Surprised by On-Air Revelation of Matt Hughes' Death

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