Passing of Jim Leonard

[Warren Faidley]

I received the sad news this morning that storm chasing legend Jim Leonard passed away after a long illness.

His biography is here for those who are not familiar with his devotion to storm chasing.

http://www.cyclonejim.com/biography.htm

W.

 

[Jason Persoff]

Cyclone Jim Leonard has died...

Jim Leonard, a storm chasing pioneer and leader, and one of the most important people in my chasing career, died peacefully this morning under hospice care. Jim lived to chase, savoring hurricanes and supercells...he was an amazingly funny and smart guy who literally was content with delivering pizzas so he could hit up some waterspouts when he lived in the Keys. He was part of Cloud 9 Tours, and appeared in numerous NOAA and other weather specials. Were it not for that, I doubt I would be a chaser today. Jim and I chased together a few times, always into chaos--that was the way he liked it! Jim chose to let go of life less than 72 hours after the end of hurricane season. He left us with the subtle style of a legend, quietly, after the storm had passed. Godspeed, Cyclone Jim. And thanks for everything...

 

[Rob H]

I received the sad news this morning that storm chasing legend Jim Leonard passed away after a long illness.

His biography is here for those who are not familiar with his devotion to storm chasing.

http://www.cyclonejim.com/biography.htm

W.

Ugh, this sucks. I had always wanted to meet him and thank him. A long time ago the "Crazy Farmer video" (Columbus tornado) was just something that might have existed. A little birdie told me Jim has video of *everything* so I shot him an email. He put the whole thing on a DVD and snailmailed it to me, a complete stranger. Until Roy Britt posted it on YouTube, this video was pretty much lost to time. He went out of his way and was very friendly. Sorry to hear of his passing

 

[Marcus Diaz]

Wow, so sad. Never met him, but always wanted to. Jim was a great chaser with awesome footage. One of my favorites was him and Robert Prentice's chase from the historic June 8, 1995.

Watch video >

 

[Marcus Diaz]

My favorite Jim footage was all the stuff from June 8, 1995 in the TX Panhandle.

Watch video >

 

[John Olexa]

Truly sad news! I always enjoyed seeing his hurricane / typhoon videos. There was nowhere he wouldn't go to shoot weather. Never met him personally but RIP my friend.

 

[Shane Adams]

He is storm chasing as far as I'm concerned. He was the guy who had done everything I wanted to do when I started, and was cool enough to reach out to me and give me advice/encouragement/support. Called me out of the blue in 2000 and talked to me for an hour. In 2001 he met me for lunch and let me pick his brain. It was like winning a contest where you get to spend an hour with your favorite celebrity and ask any questions you can think of. Eventually we became good enough buds where whenever we'd met, we'd just sit and chew the fat. He was always so damned enthusiastic and insane about storms, whether underneath one or just recounting old war stories. He did it back in the 70s when nobody cared, nobody was watching a stream, nobody was paying him, nobody had given him a TV show. He didn't care about the fact there was nothing romantic or sexy about everything BUT the storms. He'd do whatever it took to be there. Dedication, passion, tenacity. That was Jim Leonard. A mold breaker if there ever was one in chasing.

 

[Rob Wadsworth]

His passing is surely a major loss to the storm chase community. He was one of the very first few chasers I'd keep up with when I first began. Some truly fantastic videos!!! They were and still are inspirational. Of course his commentaries and breakdown of events had given me insights to understanding weather. Very brave man to do the things that he did. God bless his family and friends at this difficult time.

 

[brentford]

Very sad news. One of the guys who got me interested in severe storms.

 

[Dave Gallaher]

Met Jim in the early 8Os in Florida. He gave me prints of his then-recent photos of the Pampa storms, and was very kind and encouraging. Still have those in frames. Rest in peace; thank you for inspiration.

 

[JamesCaruso]

Jim Leonard was one of the first "big names" that represented chasing to me when I first started to study severe weather and became aware of chasing in the late 80s / early 90s. I think I only met him briefly in the field once in my first couple of years chasing with Marty Feely's Whirlwind Tours back in the mid 90s. So I did not know him personally, but needless to say I still feel a profound sense of loss from the passing of this legendary pioneer of that which we all love so much. Beyond chasing, by all accounts that I have seen, we have lost a good and kind man as well. I pray that God will give his soul rest and bring peace and comfort to Jim's family and friends.

Whenever someone passes, it reminds us of our own mortality. It is sad to think that one day our chasing careers will end. But as seen with the memories shared about Jim, our legacies will be defined not by what we accomplish but by what we bring to others' lives.

 

[David Wolfson]

Jim is for me from having the privilege of meeting and riding with him a few times in Cloud 9 Tours the best example of true storm chasing. This is sad news, but I'm on the other hand glad that he is now free to chase apart from the recent pain and debility that took him.

 

[Bill Hark]

I met Jim for the first time in 1997 when I started out chasing storms with Cloud 9 Tours. I have known Jim all these years. Few storm chasers had as much passion and dedication as Jim. In addition, Jim taught and shared his knowledge with many generations of storm chasers including myself. He will be missed.

Bill Hark

 

[Jeff Duda]

I never got to meet Jim, but I remember seeing him featured in many storm chasing videos from the 80s and 90s that I used to watch as a kid. It's too bad he had to depart our world early.

On a related topic, Jim was "eulogized" or celebrated by Roger Edwards at the Severe Local Storms Conference that happened in Madison this past week. I and many other (many now quiet) ST members were in attendance. It was a touching moment. Jim is not alone in terms of major meteorological individuals who have died in recent times. Since I joined the meteorology world in 2006, I don't think I've seen so many big name people die in such a short period of time (generally starting around the time of the death's of Tim, Paul, and Carl). The tribute session (first of any I've heard at the SLS conference) covered 10 people.

 

[Stan Rose]

I'm sorry i'm late to this but I wanted to add my appreciation for Jim as well. I met him first in '99 and I've talked to him a number of times, was always good to see him on the road, and I definitely looked up to him as one of the true greats. Will miss him for sure.