Life in the Fast Lane

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Storm chasers — a rare breed of zany adventurers, whose sole objective is the pursuit of ferocious tornadoes, ravaging hurricanes and menacing thunderstorms as Mother Nature wreaks her havoc on our world. What drives these individuals, risking life and limb to experience an ominous tornado in full force?

A violent swirling mass darkens the skies over Grand Island, NE May 10, 2007

Some are adrenaline junkies, others are research scientists, or journalists competing to get first dibbs on tornado warnings to boost their ratings. Many chasers are also storm spotters, reporting their observations of hazardous weather to authorities.

But for storm chasers Mike Hollingshead and Eric Nguyen, perhaps it has simply been the thrill in seeking cumulonimbus structure, watching a barrage of hail and lightning, and witnessing skyscapes unfold — their sense of heaven on Earth as nature puts on a show of her deadly and hypnotic beauty.

Cloud over Sioux City, Iowa, whipped into a massive, spaceship-like doughnut
a mile in diameter.

Alma Nebraska HP Supercell September 6, 2007

Up to 800 tornados are reported in the U.S. annually, with the majority found in “Tornado Alley” — in the Mid-West.

The storms there are triggered by the unique weather in the area which has a constant low pressure system that draws moist, warm air from the southern Gulf of Mexico towards the cool dry air of the Northern Rockies and the warm dry air of the Western deserts.

These conflicting air systems produce monstrous, violently raging masses of air called supercells, and when the cloud formation touches ground, another twister is born.

Chasers quickly learn to interpret the signs of a major storm brewing like towering cumulus — fluffy clouds — with the most hopeful sight being a “gust front” — an angry black wall of indigo cloud.

The thrill of the chase and the possibility of seeing nature at its wildest will typically lure the chasers in.

A monstrous tornado unleashes its wrath across Alvo, Nebraska, travelling
at over 70mph.

O’Neill NE Supercells, Creighton NE Intense Mammatus August 21, 2007

O’Neill NE Supercells, Creighton NE Intense Mammatus August 21, 2007,/p>

Motivations for Chasing
Storm chasing is chiefly a recreational endeavor, with motives usually given toward photographing the storm for personal reasons. Though scientific work is sometimes cited as a goal, such work is almost always impractical except for those participating in a university or government project.

Storm chasers are not paid to chase, with the exception of some television media crews, video stringers and photographers, and a handful of graduate meteorologists and professors. A few entrepreneurs, however, manage to sell storm videos and pictures or operate “chase tour” services.

Financial returns are relatively meager given the expenses with most chasers spending more than they take in. No degree or certification is required to be a storm chaser. The NWS (National Weather Service) does conduct severe weather workshops and storm spotter training, usually early in the spring.

Murray Hill Iowa Morning Fog August 25, 2007,/p>

Murray Hill Iowa Morning Fog August 25, 2007

A house in Mulvane, Kansas, misses the path of terror. Photo Eric Nguyen

Typical Storm Chase
Chasing often involves driving thousands of miles in order to witness the relatively short window of time of active severe thunderstorms. It’s not uncommon for a storm chaser to end up empty handed on any particular day. Storm chasers’ degrees of involvement, philosophies, and techniques vary widely, but many chasers spend a significant amount of time forecasting; both before going on the road as well as during the chase, using a variety of sources for weather data.

Dangers
There are inherent dangers involved in pursuing hazardous weather, ranging from lightning, tornadoes, large hail, flooding, hazardous road conditions, animals on the road, reduced visibility from heavy rain (often wind blown), and hail fog. Most directly weather-related hazards are minimal, provided the storm chaser is knowledgeable and cautious.

Tornadoes affect a relatively small area and are predictable enough to be avoided if a safe distance is maintained. Lightning, however, is an unavoidable hazard.

The most significant hazard is actually is driving, intensified by the severe weather. Adding still more to this hazard are the numerous distractions vying for a chasers’ attention such as driving, communicating to chase partners and to others with a phone or radio, navigating, watching the sky, checking weather data, and shooting photos or video.

Plant Cloud Creation January 20, 2008,/p>

Sunrise and Steamy Icy River Missouri January 17 – 19, 2008,/p>

Niobrara Nebraska Storm September 20, 2007

Seasonal
Storm chasers are most active in May and June across the Great Plains of the United States (extending into Canada), with perhaps a few hundred individuals active on any given day during this period. This coincides with the most consistent tornado days in the most desirable topography of the Great Plains.

Not only are the most intense supercells common here, but because of the moisture profile of the atmosphere, the storms tend to be more visible than locations farther east where there are also frequent severe thunderstorms. Storms occurring later in the year tend to be more isolated and slower moving, both of which are also desirable to chasers.

Spring abounds with activity, with more sporadically occurring in warmer months of the year, especially further north. An annually inconsistent and smaller peak of severe thunderstorm and tornado activity also arises in autumn, particularly October and November.

NW of Kansas, Tornadic Supercell May 22, 2007

Alton Kansas Supercell May 4, 2007

Chester NE to Kansas Tornadoes May 24, 2004

Some organized chasing efforts have also begun in southeast Australia, with the largest successes in November and December. A handful of individuals are also known to chase in other countries, including Israel, Italy, Spain, France, Belgium, Germany, Finland, the Netherlands, Switzerland and New Zealand; although many people trek to the Great Plains of North America from these and other countries around the world.

Equipment
Storm chasers will vary with regards to the amount of equipment used — some prefer a minimalist approach, where only basic photographic equipment is taken on a chase, while others use everything from satellite based tracking systems and live data feeds to vehicle mounted weather stations.

The first in-field technology consisted of radio gear for communication which could also be adapted to receive radiofax data which was useful for receiving basic observational and analysis data, with primary users being university research groups who often had larger budgets than individual chasers.

Radio scanners were also heavily used to listen in on emergency services and storm spotters to determine where the most active or dangerous weather was located. A number of chasers were also radio amateurs, and used mobile amateur radio to communicate directly with spotters and other chasers, allowing them to keep abreast of what they couldn’t see themselves.

Radar

Most meteorological data was acquired all at once early in the morning, and the rest of day’s chasing was based on analysis and forecast gleaned from this; as well as visual clues in the field.

Some chasers made stops at rural airstrips or NWS offices for an update on weather conditions. NOAA weather radio could provide information in the vehicle, such as weather watches and warnings, surface weather conditions, convective outlooks, and NWS radar updates.

With the development of solid state technology, television sets could be installed in most vehicles in the 1990′s allowing storm chasers to actively view local TV stations.

The mid 1990′s marked the development of smaller more efficient marine radars, but they were illegal if used in land-mobile situations, and found to interfere with research radars. The first personal lightning detection and mapping devices also became available and the first online radar data was offered by private corporations.

Top of an NSSL chase vehicle showing A/C unit, compass, and GPS.

The Internet was awash in weather data and free weather software in the late 1990′s, the first true cellular internet modems for consumer providing chasers access to data in the field without having to rely on a nowcaster, and the NWS released the first free, up to date NEXRAD Level 3 radar data.

Wi-Fi units began to emerge offering wireless broadband service in 2001, and the first Windows-based package to combine GPS positioning and doppler radar appeared called SWIFT WX in 2002 which allowed storm chasers to accurately position themselves relative to tornadic storms while mobile.

XM Satellite Radio based systems came about in 2004, utilizing a special receiver and Baron Systems weather software. Unlike pre-existing cellular-based services there was no risk of dead spots, providing storm chasers with live data feed even in the most remote areas. The software GRLevel3 utilized both free and subscription based raw weather radar files, displaying the data in a true vector format.

The most common chaser communications device is a cell phone, used for both voice and data connections. It’s not uncommon for chasers to travel in small groups of cars, and some use Citizen Band radios or GMRS / FRS hand-held transceivers for inter-car communication.

Many chasers are amateur radio operators and use the 2 meters VHF to communicate between vehicles or with SKYWARN spotter networks. Scanners are often used to monitor spotter and sometimes public safety communications.

In-field environmental data is still popular among some storm chasers, especially temperature, moisture, and wind speed data, and many have weather stations mounted atop their vehicles.

Chasers have heavily utilized still photography since the beginning. Videography gained prominence by the 1990′s, but a resurgence of photography has occurred with the advent of affordable digital cameras.

Aurora Borealis

Aurora Borealis

Aurora Borealis

History
The very first storm chaser is generally agreed to be Roger Jensen, a Fargo, North Dakota native who pursued western Minnesota storms from Lake Park around 1953, and David Hoadley began chasing North Dakota storms in 1956. Bringing research chasing to the forefront was Neil Ward who in the 1950′s and 1960′s enlisted the help of Oklahoma state police to study storms. His work pioneered modern storm spotting and made institutional chasing a reality.

University of Oklahoma in cooperation with the National Severe Storms Laboratory began the Tornado Intercept Project in 1972 — the first large-scale chase activity sponsored by an institution. The Union City, Oklahoma provided a foundation for tornado morphology which produced the first legion of veteran storm chasers.

Storm chasing became popular with the broadcast of a segment on the TV program In Search Of, and the movie Twister in 1996 which provided an action-packed but comically distorted glimpse at the hobby. Various TV programs and the Internet have also contributed to a significant growth of storm chasing since the 1990′s.

Storm Chasers TV Series
Storm Chasers is a docudrama television show in the U.S. that follows 2 teams of storm chasers as they attempt to intercept and film a tornado from inside it. The team uses a fleet of 3 vehicles, the Tornado Intercept Vehicle or TIV, the scout car, and a Doppler on Wheels or DOW.

An early version of the TIV

The crew is lead by Joshua Wurman, a renowned scientist and tornado expert, whose goal is to collect tornado data in order to improve warnings systems. Aiding in this mission are Herb Stein (DOW Driver), Mara McFalls (Scout Driver/Journalist), Justin Walker (Scout Navigator/meteorologist), Danny Cheresnick (DOW Navigator/Meteorologist), and Karen Kosiba (DOW Navigator/Meteorologist).

The TIV is outfitted with weather instruments that collect data from about 12 feet off the deck that, when combined with the DOW radar imagery and the probe data, can help to give Josh a more complete picture of a tornado’s structure.

The show is technically in its second season, as an original season was filmed in 2006, but never aired.

About Mike Hollingshead and Eric Nguyen
Considered one of the elite amongst his peers, Mike Hollingshead, of Blair, Nebraska, has been chasing storms since May, 1999.

“I started out as a storm chaser, with no plans or desire to shoot still images. My thing was just video taping storms with a cheap camcorder.” says Mike Hollingshead.

“I began storm chasing in 1999, but had always filmed and watched storms from town. I soon saw a few cool skies … and began to show the images on my site.”

“If one ever wants to see amazing storms you’re going to have to drive a lot and often for nothing.”

“Each year I would increase my chases. I’m now to around 40 chases a year. In 2005 I had just over 18,000 miles dedicated just to chasing storms. In 2006 it was around 22,000 miles which ranged from Texas to North Dakota and Colorado to IN.”

“One can become so addicted to something that they lose all ability to view it from an outside angle. It’s hard for me to step back and see how crazy doing this kind of is.”

“I’ve woke up early in the morning and driven to Texas from near Omaha Nebraska, all for nothing, hoping to see cool clouds. To a chaser this does not seem at all crazy.”

“The odds are very stacked against you seeing something very crazy, but we go anyway, often afraid of missing something.”

“I don’t think of this hobby as dangerous at all, as goofy as that might seem. A deer coming through my windshield while driving home at night scares me much more than anything from the storms.”

“Probably the worst part about chasing is some of those drives home in rain.”

A graduate from the University of Oklahoma with a B.S. in meteorology, Eric Nguyen passed away on September 9, 2007 at the age of 29.

He began seriously getting into storm chasing in 1996, oftentimes alone with nothing more than a map, scanner, and a camera.

Eric’s photos have been featured in numerous magazines, calendars, text books, and online government articles.

Storms of Tornado Alley
Highlighting storm chase footage up through 2005.

Check out Mike Hollingshead’s website for a plethora of stories, photos and wallpapers, or contact him by email with any unanswered questions after reading his FAQ. Photos property of Mike Hollingshead.

For a cool coffee table book full of insane storm structures, Adventures in Tornado Alley: The Storm Chasers written by Mike Hollingshead and Eric Nguyen in their pursuit of the sky is available at Amazon, filled with 194 pages of storm images from 17 chases, and a section titled, “The Science of Storms” written by Chuck Doswell, a well known, respected, veteran chaser and scientist.

Sources: Mike Hollingshead and Wikipedia

Tags:bizarre chasers Eric Nguyen hurricanes Mike Hollingshead odd science storm chasers storms thunderstorms tornado twister unusual weird

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