Most Influential & Distinguished Storm Chasers

[Jeff Passner]

Interesting thread in a way... I've only been here about a year and did not see this thread at all the first time it went around... I hate the idea of "best" at storm chasing but if you ask me who I respect, that's a different question... I respect people who chase with dignity, who show class on the road, and who understand that we are just humble observers of what nature offers. Yes, there is "skill" in forecasting and chasing, but we're just fortunate to observe it all. I've been chasing for 27 years now and I've learned from many people. Personally, I owe my passion to the late Travis Tull who passed away in 2003 and was my first chase partner. He was not one of the "greats" but I learned the basics from him and learned how he chased the odds.. From Gene Moore I learned how to perserve (never stop until it's over and get out there early)... From Tim Marshall I learned about "hope" -- there's always a chance (that comes from a discussion in Lubbock back in 1991). From Dave Hoadley I learned that there are no limits to our passion. From Howie Bluestein, I learned the science and the beauty of photographing it. From Lou Wicker, I learned to think "outside the box." Lou saw the science in a way most of us did not and we spent hours talking about it at OU. And a crazy as it may seem, I learned from a 14-year-old named Jesse who made me just appreciate the simple things in chasing --- like lightning and thunder and just standing there in the darkness and watching nature at it's best... There is no "greatness" in this field; yep, one of my influences is a 14-year-old who reminded me why I even went into this science. We do have influences and like many of the above posters I've listed mine..

 

[Terry Kern]

Howie Bluestein is my guy. When I was stationed at Altus AFB back in 1981, I read an article about Bluestein and the OU chase team. Growing up in CT, I was already obsessed with tornadoes (due alot to subscribing to Weatherwise and Storm Data) and knew eventually I'd somehow make seeing tornadoes a priority in my life. And that Bluestein article, seeing that other people actually did chase storms, pretty much was my calling and I've more or less made Oklahoma my home since then to chase storms.

 

[Jim Edds]

Since it's one of those Sunny Boring Blue Sky days, I thought I would mention my most influential person. This guy quit his day job and moved to the tiny Island of Guam to chase typhoons back in the early 90s. Guam hadn't seen a decent typhoon since 1976, and how in the world did he know they were going to get clobbered by super typhoons like Omar and Yuri in the 90s is beyond me. In 1998, he flew down to Puerto Rico in the hopes of getting close to an "Island Grinder" Hurricane called Georges. Georges changed course and went right down the middle of that Island wrecking it good. His thirst for the raging wind not satisfied, he caught the first flight out to Miami and had another go at Georges in Key West. He stayed at my place in Marathon and the next morning I rode with him to Key West. That was to be my first lesson in the Jim Leonard School of Storm Chasing. I learned how to stay safe, stash the car, and not get downwind from a car dealer sign about to be shredded into pieces.

I lived in the Waterspout Capital of the World – The FL Keys and was always on the hunt for them. Man, they were allusive. Jim would drive down from Miami and on the way out would stop by my place in Marathon to show me a waterspout he had just filmed. I mean every time he drove down he would nail a waterspout! How the heck was he doing this? One time back in 1999 we were watching a cumulus line that had just crossed over the ocean from Key Colony Beach. I asked Jim where he thought the waterspout would form and he pointed right over there. We were running tape with our cameras pointed “over there” when Jim said, “shoot (well it did start with an S) I’m just about out of tape, I have to go back to my car and get another one. Watch as soon as I get to my car, a waterspout will form”. Sure enough, he got to his car about 100 yards away and I saw a beautiful spray ring form right “over there”. I yelled at Jim and said run quick. I can still hear those everyday flip flops of his snapping as he sprinted back to his tripod. The funnel dropped down and the spray ring turned to a golden color just as Jim got his new tape in. It was a spectacular sight.

Jim was always helpful not just with the storm chasing side but the business side too. Even though my footage might compete with his, Jim would say, “hey, so and so is buying footage – send them what you got” or “don’t dub your miniDV footage to Beta SP, send them miniDV and let them transfer it”. The latter saved me a lot of money and time by not having to drive 130 miles to Miami.

If you’ve been to the Jim Leonard School of Storm Chasing you know what I’m talking about. He was doing it for 20 years before you could make a buck at it. He’s got more tornadoes, hurricanes, typhoons, & waterspouts than all of us. I owe him.

 

[Jason Young]

Due to waiting until my kids was old enough , I had to wait awhile to start chasing . So I loved reading Eric Nguyen , Mark Robinson , Shane Adams Web-sites and talking with Rob Satkus. Sadly I have only meet afew of ya'll on here so far , but there is alwas next year.

 

[Jeff Smith]

I had forgotten about this old thread. Gotta mention my good friend Lanny Dean. Lanny is a great chaser and an awesome friend. Sure, he gets sideways with folks at times, but he calls things as he sees them, and he is 100% honest His passion for chasing, and his compassion for the people that these storms affects is & has been inspiration for me.

 

[Tyler Burg]

The way I was "influenced" was through Images online. That being said my biggest influences have to be Eric Nguyen, Amos Magliocco, Mike Hollingshead, and Mike Umsheid. I'm still real new to the "chase scene" as some might call it, so even newer chasers have been pretty influential to me, mainly through their websites, blogs, photo gallery sites etc... Dick McGowan, Dustin Wilcox, Ryan McGinnis just to name a few. At a more personal level (not online) if it weren't for Derrick Herndon, I might not be chasing today. He's taught me most of what I know about forecasting and storm structure, even took me out on my first chase back in 2007. Mike Hollingshead has to be one of the nicest chasers out there, really cool guy. His Images have to be my biggest influence to chase, I found his site a few years back and boy you can spend hours browsing through thousands of top notch images.