Dr. Charles Doswell III - RIP (age 79)

[Blake Naftel]

I have archived all of his chasing-related blogs. I consider them VERY important references concerning specific realities of storm chasing.

It would be a total discredit to the history of storm chasing if his blogs were lost, especailly those related to ethics. There has been an effort to erase or alter negative historical elements.

Excellent to read, Warren! Glad you archived Chuck's writings.

In terms of electronic communication archives, do consider forwarding them in a digital format to the Texas Tech University Southwestern Collection/Special Collections Library where the remainder of his multimedia archives are permanently stored. They would fully welcome those writings, journals of which would combine with other collections from Tim Marshall, David Hoadley, Kaz Fujita, Dr. Ted Fujita, my own and others.

Blake


BLAKE WILLIAM NAFTEL
Artist, Comedy Writer, Meteorologist

616.643.7762
blakenaftel.com
threereelfilms.com

 

[Blake Naftel]

There’s got to be an interesting story about how/why that recliner was put in a field! Did they put it there just for the picture? Or was it randomly found and they decided it would be a great photo opp if they added a lamp and table for the shot? I wouldn’t be surprised if it just happened to be there in a field. I’ve seen lots of crazy stuff on the Plains. In fact, one of them involved a recliner! One chase vacation, there was a recliner in the center lane of I-40 near Amarillo, facing oncoming traffic, somehow aligned exactly parallel with the lane markers such that it was directly facing me as I drove toward it.

Elke Edwards, R. J. Evans (if I recall correctly), Gene Rhoden (?) and Chuck hauled the recliner out into the field as a theme. I may be getting my facts wrong with this as I was not there, and only spoke with them about it after the fact. Somewhere I recorded on video a interview with Chuck and Elke about the day. If and when I can relocate that clip, as there were thousands of hours of interviews, b-roll, etc from SC Anthology 1, I'll post.

Either way, what was intended as a holiday styled card turned out to be one of Chuck's most favorite portraits.

Blake



BLAKE WILLIAM NAFTEL
Artist, Comedy Writer, Meteorologist

616.643.7762
blakenaftel.com
threereelfilms.com

 

[Blake Naftel]

Forwarded and posted to StormTrack Online with Randy's permission, here are some e x t e n d e d memories about Chuck from fellow University of Oklahoma and NSSL meteorologist Randy Zipser from Florida.

Enjoy!

Blake

+++++++++

For everyone who has played any part in Chuck’s extraordinary life, they will certainly have many, many stories and reminiscences to share. The outpouring of stories in Storm Track Online, for example, shows just how much Chuck touched so many lives, evoking a gamut of human emotions.

During the early- to mid-1970s, I had the great fortune to work along side some of the best-and-brightest severe-storm research meteorologists in the world. It was during this period of my life, a young lad in my early twenties, that I first met Charles Doswell III. I referred to him as “Chuck,” a nickname which, as I now recall, he chided me for using. At that time, I was an OU Department of Meteorology master’s-degree student intern at the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) in Norman, under the tutelage of Dr. Joseph Golden. Dr. Golden’s research was involved with the photogrammetric determination of tornado windspeeds near the ground. Chuck Doswell, who was commencing his doctoral degree research, occupied a standard governmental-sized cubicle in the main room on the second floor at NSSL near Dr. Golden’s office, near where I would be working. Since our research projects were along entirely different paths, I had only very infrequent encounters with Chuck, although his work cubicle was the very first one on the left as one entered the main room. It was hard not to see Chuck on any given day, and what I fondly remember was the view of Chuck sitting in his chair, with back tilted and feet propped up over the front edge of his desk, studiously pouring over a document or meteorological journal. Chuck was a prodigious reader, absorbing knowledge like some super-human vacuum cleaner! In that regard, I recall thinking that he was model example of what a severe-storm research meteorologist should look like.

At the time, being so young, I was a bit unsure about how I could fit in with the other more-experienced researchers at the Lab. Chuck, who had a very keen sense about “reading” people, playfully exploited this perceived weakness in me. In those early days at the Lab, I recall feeling as if I could never quite figure out just what he was thinking during those rare moments when we did discuss anything, but I, nonetheless, admired what I saw in him. Looking back, I really regret that I did not get to know him better during that period of my life.

It is funny, again in hindsight, what one does remember about those brief years of our encounter at the Lab. I do not recall doing too many storm-chases with Chuck, although I’m sure there were a few, the Union City, OK, tornado event on May 24, 1973, being the most memorable for me, but more due to fellow storm-chaser Alan Moller than to Chuck Doswell. However, in the spring of 1976, Chuck and I were both finishing up our graduate studies, and Chuck’s dissertation and my thesis defense meetings were scheduled for about the same time. At NSSL at that time, Ms. Carol Cunningham, who was the principal office assistant for NSSL-Director Dr. Edwin Kessler, was busy typing Chuck’s dissertation document and, at the last minute, I was bumped off her schedule. I found myself in a very uncomfortable position of not being ready to present my thesis document to Dr. Golden and thesis committee (which, as it turned out, included the late Dr. Jeff Kimpel, who succeeded Dr. Kessler as NSSL director upon Ed’s retirement). To my great relief, however, Ms. Evelyn Horowitz, who was another office assistant at NSSL, graciously offered to help me, and in fact, worked tirelessly with me through the entire night typing my thesis and attaching the illustrations, tables, and figures. Due to Evelyn’s Herculean efforts, my thesis was ready a mere three hours before my thesis committee appearance. All ended up fine for both Chuck and me, as Carol took care of Chuck’s situation and Evelyn heroically “saved the day” for me, but I could not help but to feel embittered at the time. Of course, that entire experience was not Chuck’s fault and I had no reason to blame him, but I confess to the distressful feeling I had at the time. After finishing my education, I left NSSL and went on to other fulfilling career pursuits. Chuck, however, remained in the severe-storm research community in Norman, to become a very esteemed and peer-respected severe-storm and tornado expert. As if by God’s Plan, Chuck’s career in and contribution to meteorology far outshined any contribution I ever made in that field of endeavor. To this day, I join many who knew him in humbly stating that Chuck is deserving of praise and recognition for his professional accomplishments.

Some years later, in 2014, I was considering attending the ChaserCon in Norman. I had contacted one of the ChaserCon organizers about whether I could arrange to get a tour of the World Weather Center, and especially to see some of my “old’ friends from my NSSL days who were working there. Somehow, that request got to Chuck, who responded, “Randy, you haven’t changed a bit over the years—you’ve always been so hard on yourself! You don’t need a special invitation to come here…because you’re one of us. You’ve made it and have nothing to prove [to, presumably, gain our acceptance]! Wow! Hearing those words from Chuck was enormously important and satisfying to me: I had finally gained relevance among the meteorological community of peers that I thought I had failed to achieve earlier in my life—I’d finally “come full circle.”! I will always be grateful to Chuck Doswell for vocalizing those words to me in private; to this day, I have never forgotten just how gratifying and uplifting those words were to me.

One closing, but important, observation about Chuck Doswell. Chuck was a very complex individual having multi-faceted interests…from mesocyclones to music to muscle cars. I found that he was not a really “easy” person to truly know. Although Chuck’s numerous professional contributions are told across the pages of JAS, JAM, MWR, and Weatherwise, his real legacy is that he was a great teacher about life for those who knew him…and I realized this only many years after my encounters with him. I had the sense that Chuck kept many of his most inner thoughts “close to his vest,” but he had a remarkable sense of “reading” people—“sizing them up”—and more often than not, his intuition proved to be “spot on.” That was certainly the case for me.

He will be missed. My prayers go out to Vickie and his daughter.

Randal Zipser
January 19, 2025

 

[Mike Dorame]

I think it was he who coined the term Bear's Cage, was it not?

 

[Blake Naftel]

I think it was he who coined the term Bear's Cage, was it not?

The "bear's cage" term was floating around the University of Oklahoma meteorology department in the early to mid 1970's. It was mutually coined by that early class of student meteorologists, geographers and storm chasers, but there is always one or two who wants to claim it for their own.

Also to add, Randy Zipser made a comment after I originally posed this via email to me, of which is shared below.

Blake

+++++++++

The attached images are from Tim Marshall’s 1995 publication STORM TALK. In its definition, the term “bear’s cage” is not pegged to any given origin, place, or person. As you can see, the paragraph showing the names of draft publication reviewers goes beyond the Norman chase community, so the term might have been used elsewhere, as well. The term “bear’s cage” has a nebulous beginning, perhaps first used informally among chasers in the field, unlike the term “wall cloud,” which was coined solely by Dr. Ted Fujita in his ground-breaking paper about the Fargo, ND, tornado in 1957, I believe it was!

Hope this helps answer the question posed by the STO reader.

RZ

 

[Warren Faidley]

Some of my fondest memories of Chuck were when we would all meet at the NWS office in AMA. I picked his (and Alan Moller's) brain for every ounce of meteorological information I could get. Between Chuck, Alan, Dave Hoadley and the NWS crew in AMA, I could not have had a better severe weather education.

On May 15th, 1991 we were in the AMA NWS conference room (where chasers hung out), going over data and there was a discussion on where to go. Chuck and Alan decided to head towards DDC and Tom Willett and I decided to go further east towards Childress. I don't recall the reasoning, but Tom and I ended up at the Laverne, OK tornado.

Another fond memory is when Chuck presented a paper on the Wizard of Oz tornado at the Severe Storms Conference.

 

[Blake Naftel]

Some of my fondest memories of Chuck were when we would all meet at the NWS office in AMA. I picked his (and Alan Moller's) brain for every ounce of meteorological information I could get. Between Chuck, Alan, Dave Hoadley and the NWS crew in AMA, I could not have had a better severe weather education.

On May 15th, 1991 we were in the AMA NWS conference room (where chasers hung out), going over data and there was a discussion on where to go. Chuck and Alan decided to head towards DDC and Tom Willett and I decided to go further east towards Childress. I don't recall the reasoning, but Tom and I ended up at the Laverne, OK tornado.

Another fond memory is when Chuck presented a paper on the Wizard of Oz tornado at the Severe Storms Conference.

All great memories, Warren!

Did you document any moments on camera at AMA NWS on 15 May 1991 with the chasers/meteorologists at the office? I know Roger Edwards and a few others did that day, of which those interactions are archived both in my own vault and at TTU. If you did, please put together a video and share, I along with others would be interested in viewing the "lead up" to that day.

Blake

 

[Warren Faidley]

All great memories, Warren!

Did you document any moments on camera at AMA NWS on 15 May 1991 with the chasers/meteorologists at the office? I know Roger Edwards and a few others did that day, of which those interactions are archived both in my own vault and at TTU. If you did, please put together a video and share, I along with others would be interested in viewing the "lead up" to that day.

Blake

I'm not sure if we did. I'll need to go through the video archives.

Here is my surface map for that day. One of my most accurate forecasts back in the day. I'm sure Chuck gave me some good feedback.

 

[Jeff Duda]

On the MAP email listserv, numerous academics and researchers are sharing their memories and stories about Chuck. Here is a particularly insightful one by professor Lance Bosart at SUNY Albany:

Chuck Doswell died last Saturday evening at the age of 79. He had been in declining health for awhile due to a combination of atrial fibrillation, pericardial effusion, Parkinson’s disease, and dementia. Chuck was a giant who was bigger than life in the severe storm community. He worked with NOAA for many years, first in Boulder, CO, and then in Norman, OK. Chuck was the lead author or a coauthor on 88 refereed journal articles during his career (for a complete listing of Chuck’s papers in AMS journals please see this link: Search Results for Journal Article | AMETSOC

Beyond his significant and lasting science contributions to the severe storm community, Chuck was a larger than life figure in the field of atmospheric science in general and to the severe local storms community in particular. He was also an avid storm chaser who used observations he made while storm chasing to both inform his scientific research and to craft novel methodologies derived from storm chasing to better inform operations. Chuck was at his best when he was engaging with others on almost any topic. Chuck was a naturally curious person who liked to ponder how the atmosphere behaved from direct observations. Check would talk to anyone about any topic. There was just one rule of the road: Chuck would call you out if you tried to BS him on any topic. Chuck was especially happy to call out BS from pompous administrators who had no clue about anything that they were saying.

Chuck marched to the beat of a different drummer…and he always did things his way. I always learned something new from Chuck when I was with him whether we were in the middle of nowhere, at an AMS conference, visiting Norman, or I just felt like picking his brain on some random topic. Chuck was an iconic individual whom no one ever forgot after they met him. Chuck was also a walking can of BS repellent. If anyone, especially an administrator, tried to BS Chuck about anything he would call them out without hesitation.

Chuck was also an excellent educator. He visited Albany to teach a graduate level class in severe weather research at least twice. Chuck was very good at teaching students how to think independently and creatively. There is no doubt in my mind that if Chuck had gone into academia that he would have been an outstanding teacher. I can still remember how Chuck grabbed the attention of our graduate students from day one during his visits. Chuck liked to start his class with an overview of current weather to include determining the probability of severe weather occurring somewhere over the CONUS during the next day or two. I told our students registered in Chuck’s class not to underestimate Chuck on how he looks and to be prepared to discuss the how, why, what and when relevant to today’s weather discussion. One of our students didn’t get the memo on day one of Chuck’s class. Said student began map discussion by discussing a frontal boundary over the Midwest as drawn on an NCEP fax chart. Chuck asked what was the evidence for the indicated frontal boundary? Student responded by pointing to a cold front drawn on the map. Chuck asked said student did you look at the actual data plotted on the map? Student said no because the front was already drawn on the map. I was cringing and I could see that Chuck was building up a full head of “gotcha steam”. Chuck then made a speech about the importance of paying attention to the raw data and the need to do further homework by constructing observational time series for critical stations.

The students got the message that if they tried to BS Chuck he was going to call them out on it in front of their peers. Needless to say, the students were much better prepared for a Chuck style map discussion on the second day of Chuck’s class. Classic Chuck. Lunch with Chuck at the student center was also of interest. Chuck dressed the same for every class: Cowboy hat, old jeans, boots, and a shirt that had seen better days. Students eating lunch in the campus center cafeteria would call out to Chuck about where he bought his unfashionable clothes. Chuck could care less. He was always comfortable in his own skin. Chuck may have looked like he just escaped from a farm, but there was nothing off about his brain. Just the opposite, Chuck was an original big-time thinker. Rest in peace, Chuck. I am really going to miss you.

 

[Jeff Duda]

I'm also gathering from the MAP forum that there was an incident in which Chuck was arrested by Canadian police after crossing the border illegally on a storm chase. Hoping to hear more details on that, as it sounds wild!

 

[AmboyRoy]

I'll have to find the time to go through his papers that are available online...he was definitely a pioneer and legend

 

[Randy Jennings]

I'm also gathering from the MAP forum that there was an incident in which Chuck was arrested by Canadian police after crossing the border illegally on a storm chase. Hoping to hear more details on that, as it sounds wild!

It have a vague memory of Chuck telling a story about this when a group of us (including Chuck, Roger and Elke Edwards, Gene Rhoden, Tim Marshall, and others) went to dinner after a TESSA conference. I did a quick search and Chuck does mention on his website crossing the border illegally, but it sounds like he reported it the next day (as it was an escape route) and it doesn't sound like he was arrested. From Chase Safety:

"Important Note: Although there are many possible roads to use for crossing the Canadian border during the day, only a small fraction of the border sites are staffed at night. In effect, an international border is very much like a river - especially at night - with only a few places to get across, so this needs to be accounted for in your navigation. It behooves chasers crossing the border into Canada to (a) get back across the border before the stations close (generally, at 10 p.m.), or (b) know which stations stay open 24 h per day and use them! Don't use a road with a border site that closes at night as an "escape route" from the storm, if at all possible! If you feel you must cross the border illegally, as we did once in 2001 (i.e., after the border at a particular station has closed) because of imminent danger from storms, then go back to that station as soon as possible after it re-opens next morning and be prepared to explain why you did it. Illegal border crossing is a serious Federal crime and carries with it the possibility of vehicle impoundment, a $5000 fine, and jail time!! No chaser should take this lightly - repeated occurrences surely will result in the Border Patrol viewing storm chasers in a bad light. In the post 9/11-era, this is even more true than when first I wrote this. I suspect it would incur the full wrath of law enforcement in today's world of fear spawned by the threat of terrorism."

Chuck was a great person with such a passion for storms and a willingness to share and was not afraid to tell you that you where wrong. I don't recall what he told me I was wrong about during a conversation at TESSA once. I sure I was. I do remember that even if you didn't agree with him on something, you where a fool to not listen to him and really ponder what he said to you. There was always something he said that you really needed to listen to and take to heart.

 

[Blake Naftel]

I'm also gathering from the MAP forum that there was an incident in which Chuck was arrested by Canadian police after crossing the border illegally on a storm chase. Hoping to hear more details on that, as it sounds wild!

Jeff,

The incident you refer to transpired during the first operational year of Tempest Tours on 24-25 June 2001 at the Manitoba/North Dakota border. This minor incident was momentarily blown out of proportion mostly on forums of the era; WX-CHASE, CFDG and from a select few that had an axe to grind, mainly with Chuck. This is not in defense of what happened, yet the majority, many of us were undergrads in meteorology, geography, etc at the time, found it comical at best.

The quick story: Tempest Tours, with tour director Bill Reid and Chuck, the said group in discussion pictured here, legally crossed north into Saskatchewan in pursuit of supercells on the afternoon of 24 June 2001. A supercell formed as forecast, yet due to a very limited road network, lack of visuals post sunset and in order to stay ahead of a southeastward moving mesocyclone that had produced a series of tornadoes and large hail earlier in the evening, the tour group stopped at an unstaffed border check point at Manitoba 256 and US 83, and were unable to find any way to communicate with border patrol staff. As the storm encroached further, Bill Reid made a decision to remove one or two traffic cones, in lieu of where a gate typically would have been, and the group illegally crossed back into the United States to avoid the storm. Word soon got out to local law enforcement via border patrol and an A.P.B. was placed on the "big white Ford van" with Texas tags.

Per Chuck's write up, the tour group was stopped in "Bottineau, ND during a convenience store "pit stop", while we were trying to intercept another apparent supercell." Nobody was arrested. Bill, Chuck and four guests were "invited" to explain and apologize to the border patrol for the incident, nor were fined and were free to carry on without incident. Martin Lisius, owner of Tempest Tours, understood the situation, but as I recall was displeased and rightfully so. Bill Reid could elaborate on this further. The day was partially featured in his annual 2001 storm chase highlights video 'Mesos For The Masses' released on S/VHS in early 2002. I interviewed Bill, Chuck and Martin on camera at separate points between 2014-15 about this day, although that incident interview did not make it into the final cut of the SC Anthology Vol. 1 documentary as I did not quite know where or how to fit it into an already packed production.

This moment in time also occurred just three months shy of 11 September 2001 in an era when US and Canadian border booth zones were not consistently staffed as in the years after 9/11, hence the traffic cone/s and lack of personnel at the border booth.

For a full posthumous reference by Chuck, see his website writeup of the 24-25 June 2001.

Hope this clears a bit of the 2001 incident up.

Blake



BLAKE WILLIAM NAFTEL
Artist, Comedy Writer, Meteorologist

616.643.7762
blakenaftel.com
threereelfilms.com