In Memory of Chaser Alex Sahlberg

[Andrew Revering]

Most of you probably have never heard of Alex. He was a brand spankin' new chaser from Duluth, MN. 18 years old and couldn't wait to get his license so he could chase.

Until then he would drive his bike around Duluth to get closer to the storms he would see on radar. He would go down to the Lake Superior shoreline and videotape some amazing wave footage during the winter and summer. His images were awe-inspiring.

Alex had this great passion for weather. As a member of the MN-Chase email list, he would post a new video almost every week of weather he videotaped just around Duluth.

A few chasers went to visit him a couple times, and he would be so excited. He would ride up on his bike all smiling and eager to listen and hang on to every word that the 'mobile chasers' had for him. He truely had the passion.

Alex died of bleeding in the lungs associated with an acute pneumonia.
The storm chase community lost their latest up and commer. He will be missed.

Andy

 

[Nick Benson]

Alex

That is very sad news indeed.

I still have his latest video clip sitting on my desktop - I loved watching that cool video from around Duluth.

I never met him, although we did exchange emails a few times. His enthusiasm was very refreshing.

My thoughts are with his family and friends.

 

[Justin Walker]

Man...too young to die. Very sad news. :cry: Will be praying for him and his family and friends.

 

[Bill Doms]

Alex and I had developed a friendship over the past 3 years which
started out as him emailing me a few weather related questions and
grew from there. He was a regular topic of discussion in our
household and as I sit typing this, his phone numher still hangs on
the bulletin board in front of me scribbled on a piece of yellow
paper I had Cullen write it on a couple of years ago.

Jen and I met up with him last September while on a weekend trip to
Duluth to trade vids and hang out for a couple of hours. Cullen and
Alex spent many a late evening chatting on I/M about everything from
school to video editing tips. Alex would I/M me when Jen was online
and make Alex play a game of trying to figure out if it was really
me or if it was her playing a joke on him. Alex would usually ask
her a weather related question to find out for sure. I will miss
his enthusiam for all types of weather and his natural gift for
knowing what would look good on video. He was very proud of his
association with KBJR channel 6 and always had a good story to tell
of something which happened down at the station. I was joking to
Theresa earlier this month about how I never even bother to look at
the GFS model anymore for long range as I was confident Alex would
be the first to see something on the 180 hour and tip the rest of us
off. He would sit up until the wee hours of the night watching
thunderstorms roll out of North Dakota on radar in hopes they would
survive to provide him a flash or two of lightning at 4am. I wonder
how many other people got up in the middle of the night at the State
Fair to shoot lightning video? My final memory of Alex will be of
him riding his bike back over the lift bridge in Duluth last
September as we parted our ways for what I believed to be until this
chase season. I remember Jen and I talking about how refreshing it
was to know there were still a handful of truly outstanding kids
today and how lucky we were to be able to call Alex "friend".

Assured Alex's memory and spirit of the sky will be with me on all
of my chases this year, every time I hear the roll of the thunder,
every time I smell the rain, every time I feel the wind on my face.

 

[Jerry Veverka]

Never got a chance to meet Alex, but did shoot e-mails back and forth on occassion. He showed us you don't need that big tornado to have wonderful weather shots. The weather phenomenon he shot around his area (Duluth) was just fantastic.

You'll be missed Alex.

Jerry

 

[Andy Wehrle]

I met Alex a few months ago when he emailed me about my site. Since then I'd talked to him on AIM a few times. Great guy...I wish I'd gotten to know him better. He will be missed. :cry:

Alex's website: http://realwx.tripod.com/

 

[Craig Maire II]

In memory of a fellow storm chaser

My condolences to the friends and family of Alex. God bless you Alex, I wish I to could have gotten to know you. This is truly a sad loss for the world as well as the entire chaser community.

 

[Greg Manarik]

Shock

This is such a horrifying shock. I met Alex a few months ago had AIM and even chatroom discussions with him. He was a great guy. He was one of the 1st members to join my forum. We all talked about chasing together sometime in the near future. My deepest condolences to his family.

 

[Jeff Miller]

condolences

My condolences to the entire family.

 

[Caleb Lawrence]

My condolences and sympathies to all of the friends and family.

Rest In Peace, Alex.

 

[Morgan Palmer]

Alex sounds like an incredible young man whose life was taken all too soon.

I think he's chasing the big one right now in another place, and he'll always get it.

mp

 

[Bobby Lang]

Wow, that is really bad news to hear :cry: . Alex was a truely outstanding person, and will be greatly missed. May Alex RIP, and thoughts and prayers go out to his family.

 

[Melissa Moon]

I may have talked to him once via E-mail or IM, as I get a fair amount of E-mails/IMs from random people who like weather and surf into my site. Can anyone tell me in a private message what his E-mail address and AIM name was? I'm curious as to if I corresponded with him or not. He sounds like he was a great person which such a passion, and even though I never got to meet him, he will be missed!!!

 

[Rocky Rascovich]

Thoughts on Alex's passing

I was checking MN-WXCHASE and was deeply saddened over hearing of Alex's passing. Just last night I was visiting his website and watched some of his latest videos. I corresponded with him briefly around Christmas in hopes to meet up with him as I was going thru Duluth on the way to the U.P of Mich. I was thinking just thismorning before reading the news about emailing him in trying to get some videos of the storms around Duluth. I will really miss him despite that we only met online.

It goes to show that we should never take for granted every day that is given to us..whether you believe in God or not...life is too precious to let pass by without living it to the fullest. I can see that Alex did that... Who knows what he would have ultimately contributed to the field of meteorology...he was sure off to a good start...Alex's passion inspired me and brought me back to my days growing up in Florida when I first had my drivers license, going out to Lake Okeechobee chasing thunderstorms in the late '70's.

My deepest condolences to all who knew him better than I and especially those that maybe monitoring this list who are family.

God Bless Rocky&family

 

[Jayson Prentice]

I'm very sorry to hear this. I wish I would have been able to talk to him sometime, as I'm his same age and I'm sure we would have had a lot in common.

Best wishes to his family! People my age shouldn't die... :cry: