What made you decided to become a storm chaser.

[Dann Cianca]

I don't think I ever really made a decision. I've loved meteorology since I was a child ... storms were always the most interesting and my passion evolved around that. When I moved out of the mountains of Montana and onto the cusp of the plains here in Colorado, it was a natural extension to head east and follow ...

 

[Susan Strom]

A severe electrical storm, warned on as tornadic, occurred in Scottsdale AZ in September 1994. It shredded the landscape, taking 600 trees along one boulevard alone.

It was so bad that it caused me to be not-so-comfortable around the Southwestern Monsoon the following year. I had to educate my way out of that, by studying everything I could get my hands on about the Monsoon and its lightning. Oddly, through the experience I "came back" to lightning, something I loved when I was kid.

It was nice that I was a photographer anyway, and worked in journalism, this proved handy. To see the lightning and get a good look at it (for longer than Nature lets us see it in real time), I shot it. I pounded on it very hard, driving hours and hours each evening across every corner of Arizona during summer Monsoon...2am in the desert, backcountry, playas, it didn't matter. Phoenix doesn't always play out, so I travel a lot.

This was one of my first clear pics during those days, an airstrike in the mountains of the Central Deserts. I was thrilled when I got it back because now I could see details. At that point (90s) I was perma-hooked, and continue to this day hunting lightning in the deserts, high country and plains.

 

[Adam Lucio]

Like many, it started as a child-hood obsession. I always had an attraction towards things that were intense, not common or normal. Whenever it would storm I would be glued to the window. Fascinated and mesmerized I wouldnt leave until the last drop fell.

Two extreme events are what really got my interest going, the 1st I was very young...maybe 8 years old at great america with my family. A nasty storm rolled in and the sky lit up with orange mammatus...I was terrified since this was the 1st time I was actually out in the storm and not watching it from the safety of my home. As i clung to my moms leg in fear i still couldnt help but look up.

Then when I was around 12 we went to the Nascar race in Detroit, a tornado ended up hitting I think 3 blocks from the campsite. My dad and I were inside our tent which got lifted off the ground and would have flown away if it werent for our bodies inside. The campground was flooded, people got stuck by lightning and it was a real disaster.

I loved watching storm chasing shows on TV and Ive always wanted to see a tornado. I would sit there wishing that could be on the TV, out there chasing the storms. I never thought myself capable of doing it. Especially not living in the alley.

Around 21 I had an epiphany and told myself this obsession will never go away, and that the only way I can be truly happy in life was to persue my childhood dream....and I did.

 

[Chris Nuttall]

I pretty much started doing it because most of my classmates at OU were chasing...and they kept asking me for rides. I had a pretty acute fear of storms. I still do of lightning. Up until April 4, 2001, I maintained that there was no way on God's green Earth that you would ever get me storm chasing. That all went out the window on April 5. My first chase was on April 6, and I haven't looked back.

 

[Maggie Kahman]

I have always been interested in the weather, always looking at clouds and stuff, but i havent always liked severe weather. When i was really young I use to be afraid of storms, bordering on phobic. I believe it wasnt until my early teens that my fear started turning to amazment when storms would roll through. It was like i was afraid, but at the same time, i was curious. I then started reading books about storms and tornadoes and stuff and leaning bits a pieces of info about them. I didnt know about storm chasers until i saw the movie Twister. I knew right then thats what i wanted to do. When i found out that chasing wasnt anything like it was in the movie, it was too late. I was hooked. At that time i figured chasing at best was only a dream for me, thanks to my "dad" (i put dad in qoutes cause i dont claim him, but that is a whole other story). He almost beat the passion of the weather out of me, figuritivly speaking. To make a long story short, after my mom left my dad, my passion for the weather EXPLODED, i had to learn everything i could about storms and chasing. I joined ST about a year ago and even went on my first chase. Didnt see anything but I was finally living my dream.

 

[Verne Carlson]

This funnel formed over my apartment in Littleton back in 1987. Later I ran into a strong tornado in 1991 coming back from the Black Hills in Edgemont, SD - that got me fully hooked!

 

[Mike Peregrine]

Local chasing with my dad when I was a kid ... then as an adult, a tornado behind my mom's place re-ignited my interest in the mid-90's. Started following storms instead of hiding from them at that point.

 

[jeremy wilson]

I was born with it. Ever since I can remember I have been fascinated with meteorology. I started chasing when I could drive.

 

[Michael Carlson]

Born into chasing! My favorite tornado has to be September 16, 2006 up in SD, it was my first close range tornado. That solidified my chasing life style.

 

[Shane Adams]

My story is here: http://www.passiontwist.com/about.htm

 

[Steve Sherrod]

My dad was a volunteer fireman in a small Kansas town, he always went out in the firetruck to storm spot. I always jumped in my car a went to the edge of Wichita to watch but never really chased. Then, after the Andover Ks. tornado I started watching more frequently, always watching The Weather Channel, my wife said I should have been a meteorologist. In 2003 I talked my wife into coming, she wanted to SEE what I was so crazy about. We saw 19 tornadoes/funnels and was 1/2 mile away from a 1 mile wide wedge near Danville Ks. I have been going out and taking my whole family 3 kids and my wife ever since. I just started getting into the computers and profiles from Storm Prediction Center the last 2 years. I now have a video camera and a cheap still digital. I have always been able to be in the right spots by instinct. I always see the TIV, Josh and John Davies so I must be doing something right!! I can't wait until 2009, I am building a hail cage for my old 88 s10 blazer and wiring in some more outlets. Or renting a car!!! See you next year!!!

 

[Adam Boggs]

I became interested in weather while getting my pilot's license. I started learning more about severe weather after learning the basics from my pilot books. Since I grew up in Boulder, CO we were always watching reports of severe weather occurring just to the east of us. One day about 4 years ago while driving home from work one evening I saw a huge "mushroom cloud" developing to the east. Somewhat on a whim, I decided to go find it. I ran home to grab some food and a camera, and headed east on I76 toward Fort Morgan. As I approached Fort Morgan, I could see the storm structure developing around me. I saw the DOW on the side of the road and figured I was in the right place. I pulled off the interstate and watched the clouds swirling above me. It started to rain, and some other chasers jumped in their car and headed back east. Not really knowing where I was going, I turned north.

Now, you have to look back on these experiences and ask yourself "what did I learn from this?" I proceeded to get pounded by golfball+ hail as I unwittingly drove into the core. It smashed my windshield, broke one of my headlights, and dented the hell out of my relatively new car. The sound was so loud my ears were ringing. Lightening was striking all around me, and the wind threatened to blow my car right off the hail-slick road. It pounded my car relentlessly for about 15-20 minutes. The worst part: a tornado was reported 8 miles north of Fort Morgan, right where I was.

I hobbled home with my beat up car, trying to answer the question. It was obvious: I had to learn a lot more about this before venturing out again. I needed to know storm structure, road networks, communications (weather radio, cell phone, internet), forecasting and intuition. I needed to find a partner to chase with who could "show me the ropes". I acknowledged that without knowing these things first, what I did was stupid and that I was lucky that all it was going to cost me was some money to get my car fixed instead of hospital bills. I vowed to go out again a lot smarter. I'm still chasing today, and get smarter every time I go out. And, I still wear the dents in my hood to remind me of my first experience storm chasing.

 

[Eric Flescher]

it all started in "only 1 tornado Rhode Island"

I was interested in tornadoes since I was junior high. I combed the library looked in books and started looking for the storm prediction center stuff and more. I new RI at that time only had one small tornado before 1951. I saw all those great pics and was never close to seeing one.

As I was getting my earth-space education ed degree, I did research on tornadoes in New England 1951- 1971. Not bad and I learned a lot about climate and meteorology more then I got from reading the books.

I lived and worked in North Carolina. No tornadoes but some nice storms. Michigan close but no cigar. A mega storm in 1980 in Ann Arbor and that green sky got me hooked.

Came to Kansas. I was so involved with astronomy, teaching ,kids, family , my dissertation etc I could not really pull out to do a lot of chasing until after 1997. I did a lot of astronomy, eclipse, helicoptered into Mt. St. Helens in 1988 but weather always beckoned. Its all around.

I started to think more about chasing . While in a tennis tournament final (we won) in Lawrence, KS in late May , a huge bolt of lightning struck the big Wesco Library up on the hill less then a mile away as we were playing. Wow. A small tornado or funnel came down just to the East after we won. So I thought I have to get out more and "bag a torn".

Then last day of school in 2000, a huge hailstorm and other structures went up in the sky over Olathe, KS. I got in the van , photographed and videotaped this short local chase. I was hooked. Not there yet.

Doug Raflik was kind enough to let me team with him and in Colorado, OK and Texas, I saw things I've heard about but never seen and much more. What a hoot! No tornado but just about everything else. I was hooked even more.

Since then I have bagged 4 torns , seen some magnificent structures and met some great stormchasers and people . I started to show my photos and videos to my elementary, junior high and HS students and weave that into the courses even more with my websites, blogs and more. What better way to show students about real science by your own experiences?

Total solar eclipses only come by every once in a while (I have seen 6 and will see the next one in China ). Kansas and the Midwest has some great storms and weather and there is a better window to experience nature greatest spectacles throughout the years. While the total eclipse is Nature's Greatest Spectacle (trust me it is and partials and annulars are not good enough ) the tornado and storms come in a close second and I have to chase those suckers or at least try.

Like you all, we have our photos, videos and experiences.
But we'd like to see more. Once you seen one, once is not enough.

 

[Michael O'Keeffe]

I was born to chase! I still think I moved from New York to Wichita for a reason. I was 6 months when we came to Wichita so I grew up with tornadoes. Been photographing storms since age 4 and saw my first nader at 7, chasing since age 12 and 54 tornadoes later and I am more hooked than ever. My dad is hooked too.

The intercept that hooked us more than ever was Sept 16, 2006 in SE South Dakota the same as Michael C.

 

[Matt Sellers]

I remember the day well - the last day of fifth grade, playing outside after that final day of school for the year, under clear skies. Beulah Valley's northeast ridge prevented me from seeing the beast, some 100 miles away. The only local TV channel that we could receive off-air, however, had a clear view of this beast from behind and broadcast its image during its 530pm newscast. It had produced large hail east of Colorado Springs and was moving northeast...

Its target was Limon; the date was June 6, 1990. I was scared of lightning and knew nothing about severe weather, other than the hailstorms (mostly of the non-severe variety) that hit Beulah about five times per year. But this "beast"? "That.. looks..... sweeeeeeet!"

As I learned a couple years later, the "beast" was actually called a "supercell."

My father and I built a Heathkit weather station in September 1991; it went live on the 16th of that month. In March 1992 I became a spotter for the Pueblo, CO NWS. On July 14, 1993, a supercell passed within ten miles to the north/northeast of Beulah as I watched from the valley; it produced 2.25" diameter hail and rainfall estimated at 7 inches in 45 minutes by area ranchers.

I was really hooked after that storm (and by watching storm chaser shows on Discovery once cable TV came to Beulah); the spring of 1996 couldn't come soon enough.