You wake up and it’s hot. It’s humid. But it’s a calm morning. You’re outside — it’s a clear day, and getting hotter. The winds pick up. By early afternoon, the skies darken, and the winds barrel in from the southeast. It’s even hotter, so humid, and the air is pulling harder. You see leaves and debris scuttling off to the horizon. It feels like a dragon’s hot breath behind you, pushing harder at your back.
Off in the distance, in a dark sky, an enormous round shape takes form, like some circular mothership in a Hollywood space invasion movie. The wind now is pulling you toward that giant round ship. A low-hanging cloud formation, like a line showing your path into these clouds, trails across the sky to your right. Your destiny predicted in the sky. You struggle to walk as you turn and face the wind. Moving away from the round clouds feels like an instinctual reaction. Larger debris passes by, airborne.
The sky looks pale green now. You turn back to see the clouds reaching high above the central disk. But you also see a tendril reach down from the center of that great circle. You struggle forward into the heat of the dragon’s breath; you’re off balance.
You just now notice another sound through the whipping of the wind in your face. The tendril reaches the ground. The sound of a full-on roar blasts back, overpowering the wind’s voice. Your ears pop, the sound level triples. You are standing directly in the middle of a tornado’s inflow. You turn to face it, its image, like a vast uncoiling spool of barbed wire, smothering your view of the sky.
Could you have known this morning that the tornado was going to happen, buying you time to get out of harm’s way? That’s been the goal for almost 150 years of tornado research. Many have taken it into their own hands to DIY solutions to these problems. They’ve succeeded.
I attended the National Storm Chaser Summit in February and saw the enthusiasm, the DIY creativity, and the future of storm chasing firsthand. It’s action-packed with the maker spirit. It’s a lifestyle, a guiding mission. Not backed by big funding but backed by extreme passion for the planet’s most extreme forces. I’d like you to meet some storm chasers and their tornado observation technology — the tank-like pursuit vehicles, camera rigs, and science probes — most of it hand-built.
A Blind Eye
But, first, tell me … weren’t meteorologists and the U.S. government there to warn people, way back when? They knew about tornadoes, right? Benjamin Franklin drew a picture of one! But throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, weather forecasting was primitive and so often wrong that tornado forecasts were actually banned by the US Weather Bureau for fear they would cause unnecessary panic. This blind eye to the dangers cost many lives. 1925’s massive Tri-State Tornado killed 751 people in Missouri, Arkansas, and Tennessee. The Tupelo-Gainesville Tornado Outbreak of 1936 ended 454 lives across the South.
It wasn’t until a tornado hit Tinker Air Force Base on March 25, 1948, that accurate prediction became a mission for the US government. The Oklahoma air base was ravaged by a twister five days prior on March 20, wrecking aircraft and buildings. Air Force meteorologists Major Ernest J. Fawbush and Captain Robert C. Miller were tasked to predict when the next would hit. When they noticed similar conditions only 5 days later, they indeed made the first successful prediction of a tornado, and science became the focus. The early 1950s saw the advent of radar systems to monitor storm conditions, and a formal warning system followed soon after.
The First Chasers
Flash forward to 1956, when the first “storm chaser” hit the road. David Hoadley was the first to photograph and document the behaviors and characteristics of storms and tornadoes, and was instrumental in helping improve the scientific understanding of such weather phenomena. A self-taught meteorologist, Hoadley packed more real-world experience than anyone at the time. He even started Storm Track magazine in 1977 (published until 2002), becoming a must-read in the chaser community. Hoadley is still active in the community to this day and continues to inspire and teach countless others to follow in his tracks.
Slow and steady was the growth of storm chasing from its inception in 1956. Storm Track magazine was the primary source of information about the chaser community. In 1961 meteorologist Neil Burgher Ward became the first scientific storm chaser, riding along with the Oklahoma Highway Patrol and using their radio to maintain contact with radar operators to observe and document the extreme weather events.
1969 brought the Alberta Hail Studies, where a radar operator would guide drivers to hail-producing areas of storms via radio, based on radar readings. The drivers’ cars were rigged with meteorological sensors and instruments along with hail-catchers, the project’s focus. This marked the first time vehicles carried sensors, which is now a chaser community-wide standard.
The first large-scale storm chase projects came out of the University of Oklahoma, partnering with the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL). Their Tornado Intercept Project (1972-1973) began to define the form and function of a supercell and its possible tornado.
Twisters On-Screen
A domino effect of media coverage in the late 20th century increased the tiny chaser community exponentially. Leonard Nimoy hosted a TV documentary series called In Search of… that covered all manner of mysteries, from UFOs to historical events. Season 3 Episode 2 might be the show’s most influential episode, simply titled “Tornadoes.” On September 28, 1978, people across the country got a glimpse of the storm chaser experience. It raised awareness of the impact of tornadoes and expanded the chaser community almost nationwide. Around the same time, the development and use of Doppler radar became critical to weather prediction and made it easier for people to predict and find hazardous storms.
When PBS documentary series Nova aired an episode titled “Tornado!” on November 19, 1985, it was a watershed moment for storm chasing, inspiring many. The episode follows the exploits of an eclectic group of storm chasers as they target and intercept storms. This group included Tim Samaras and Josh Wurman, later featured on the Discovery TV series Storm Chasers in the early 2000s.
But they’re not even the most influential people circling this Nova episode — Anne-Marie Martin and her infamous husband, author Michael Crichton of Jurassic Park fame, also seemed to have caught it. The screenwriting couple’s longtime collaborator, Steven Spielberg, asked them to write a movie about tornadoes and storm chasers in 1994. Essentially, the entire concept of the 1996 film Twister was that Nova episode mixed with a little drama and comedy. Both featured a team trying to get a large custom-made instrument pack into the path of a tornado. In both, it’s so big it has to ride in the back of a truck. Both have a group of regular people and scientists who made devices to understand the weather with greater clarity. Both show people risking their lives for that essential data.
Twister was a smashing success of a film, and it made storm chasing a global sensation. No one has looked back since. This movie took the community from maybe a couple hundred chasers to the current estimate in the thousands. I personally know three people whom Twister inspired to enter either meteorology or directly into storm chasing.
There are so many storm chasers on the road now that the term “chaser traffic” was coined from the common miles-long traffic jams surrounding whatever storm has caught people’s eye that day. It’s a huge problem. But with these numbers comes plenty of enthusiasm to push the science forward.
DIY Vehicles at the Chaser Summit
I arrive at The National Storm Chaser Summit in the evening. I approach an unassuming hotel outside Houston, 10 stories in what looks like a forest preserve. Parked just off to the side, in sharp contrast, are two of the most renowned storm chase vehicles, quite possibly the only true active armored storm chase vehicles. These custom-made, handmade tanks have both been inside tornadoes and left unscathed. They are the TIV 2 and Dominator 3.
The TIV 2, or Tornado Intercept Vehicle 2, was designed, welded, and assembled by Sean Casey to capture and produce the film Tornado Alley for IMAX theaters. The goal of the film is to drive the TIV 2 into a tornado and capture footage from the inside. At the time, that was a first, and after many years of chasing that shot, Casey finally got it. The film is a must-watch.
Seeing TIV 2 in person makes me want to drive into a horde of zombies with it. It’s straight out of a post-apocalyptic movie. The somewhat chunky welds have a certain Mad Max appeal, I have to admit. It didn’t always look like the picture here. TIV 2 is now owned by Ryan Shepard (@AStormofPassion). Ryan, along with his president of all things TIV 2, James Breitenbach (@badwxchaser), transformed it from a discolored kludgy mess to the sleek black behemoth you see here. There have been more upgrades and changes than I have space to mention here.
At its heart, it still operates essentially the same. The way it protects itself from tornadoes is by dropping panels on three of its four sides, preventing winds from getting underneath and flipping it. There are also two very large hydraulic spikes on the sides that punch into the ground to anchor it. Its 15,000-pound weight helps there too. It was built on a Dodge Ram 2500 base.
Inside the TIV 2 looked pretty rugged, utilitarian. Levers and switches everywhere gave me flashes of the DeLorean from Back to the Future. I felt like I was in a big pickup truck, which I suppose is what it is. The engine at its heart is a V6 turbo. When I started it, it sounded just like a monster truck from the film Fury Road. Climbing to the back was risky. Lots of pointy metal edges everywhere. In the IMAX turret area, where Casey shot his film, did feel like where you’d want to mount a flamethrower for battling the undead horde. In the end, it looked as cool on the inside as the outside.
What about TIV 1? Also built by Casey, it was a great first draft, but it needed work. The TIV 1 didn’t have skirt panels, it used spikes to hold it in place. Its effectiveness against strong tornadoes was nil, and ultimately it was retired. Recently it was offered up for free to the first person to find it. One ambitious individual scoured Google Maps and found it. The new owner vows to get it back on the road someday.
The Specs: Tornado Intercept Vehicle (TIV) 2
- Developed by filmmaker Sean Casey for Discovery’s Storm Chasers series
- Owned by Ryan Shepard, sponsored by Storm of Passion and Live Storm Chasers livestormchasers.com/tiv2
- Dodge Ram 3500 truck with strengthened chassis
- 6.7-liter Cummins turbocharged diesel with propane and water injection
- Armored with 1/8″ steel plate, aluminum, and Kevlar composite on 2″ square tubing frame
- Bulletproof polycarbonate/glass windows 1.63″ thick
- Stereoscopic IMAX movie filming turret
- Hydraulic body skirts to exclude wind from underside
- Hydraulic anchoring/stabilizing spikes to resist wind
- Suspension airbags, two redundant air systems
- 6×4 drive train with front hub lockers
- Intercom with noise-controlled headsets for recording audio
- Siren to warn civilians of tornado danger
- Custom electrical bus, clearance lights, headlights/taillights
- Safety harnesses and roll cage
- Exit door for every seat position
- Commercial anemometer — fails at 175mph winds — working with Bakersfield College robotics students on custom high-speed version
The Dominator 3, as the name implies, is the third version of Dr. Reed Timmer’s storm chase platform. Its angular shapes make me think of some sort of stealth truck you’d expect a Bond villain to step out of. It’s modern looking, compared to the TIV 2. It’s a composite shell on top of a Ford F-150 base, with near-impenetrable Lexan windows all around, and built-in rocket launch tubes for launching probes. Just about every kind of storm-chasing scientific instrument is mounted somewhere on it.
The key concept of the Dominator 3, what makes it so effective against twisters, is the hydraulic system that can lower the entire vehicle to the ground in seconds — this prevents wind from getting underneath. There are also hydraulic spikes under the shell that apparently can punch right through pavement. These keep it from being pushed around.
The Dominator 3 was more posh on the inside versus TIV 2. Again, I felt like I was in a big truck, precisely what it is. However, the viewports felt a little smaller. I was able to activate the hydraulics a few times before draining the tanks. If you were ever in a car that had hydraulics, you know how it felt. A cushy but small movement from the inside – but very dramatic looking from the outside. I didn’t drop the spikes — though I was very close to the switch, trembling with possibility. By the way, the switches to do all this sit directly by your left knee. Not careful enough, and you’ll hit them.
All of this was hand-built by Reed Timmer’s friend and collaborator Kevin Barton. He also built the previous Dominator 1 and 2, both of which saw a lot of tornadoes, too.
If you watch the TV series Storm Chasers and Tornado Chaser, you’ll see the TIV 2 and early Dominators in action. Also, Mythbusters Season 8 Episode 13 (“Storm Chasing Myths”) pits the Dominator 1 against the TIV 2 in a wind test. Spoiler: Dom 1 was sent sliding across the ground (no spikes on that version). TIV 2 stood against every test they threw at it.
As I’m walking away, hearing Will Smith from Independence Day in my head — “I have got to get me one of these!” — a handful of people meander around both storm tanks. I hear one say, “I just punched the Dom.” Well … I had to go back and punch the Dom myself. Surprise, it’s painted with Line-X paint, making the surface insanely ridged. Like punching a stone wall.
In the surrounding parking lot, I can see dozens of “normal” cars and trucks outfitted with scientific equipment. Some more than others. There is something so cool about seeing a car-mounted anemometer, a wind speed sensor, spinning around in the ambient breeze. All the cars had their own style, seemingly correlated with budget. But just about everything looked handmade. Hose clamps. PVC pipes. Wire. Suction cups holding thing on in some cases. Tape.
I wandered further into the parking lot; the storm chasers’ cars were peppering the space outside a nearby overpriced golf driving range. The hand-crafted style was shining everywhere. One car looked extra rugged. It had plexiglass panels bolted to the sides of the doors with little standoffs, like an extra set of armor on top.
A voice behind me (I could tell they had a cigar in their mouth) growled, “Those will rip right off in a strong breeze.” I turn to face that cigar. A tall, stocky fellow stepped through the smoke to talk more about how some cars are just for show. This chaser went by the name Jon The Storm Guy (aka Jon Dougherty, @jonthestormguy). He went on to show me his car, a regular sedan with a roof rack, and a red PVC pipe frame holding the instruments he uses. It made a rather mundane car look quite capable. All the instruments connect to an onboard laptop inside, something like what a police car would have.
Next to Jon, also puffing on a stogie, was a lanky older man dressed in black-and-white cow print garb. Tactical pouches and harnesses cover his body like a Rob Liefeld superhero. I noticed one larger pouch on his back waist had a small dog in it; the man seemed to pay no notice. “Lemme show you something,” he said with that gritted cigar way of speaking. He reached into his SUV, and cameras and lights on gimbals start moving like they’re targeting something — tracking me, apparently. This SUV is something an adept survivor of a zombie outbreak would drive. Just about every spot on the vehicle had something of significance on it: camera hood mounts, push bar, lights everywhere, LED scroll panel in the window saying something or other about the weather, a roof mount camera that belongs on a tank, radar dishes, boxes, bins, Keurig coffee maker, and an expensive bottle of whiskey. Inside, the car looked like it was from the future. Screens, interfaces, and camera feeds from all around the car. Calling it a mobile command center doesn’t do it justice.
His name was Kenny (wegotcows.tv). Storm chasing was not just a job. It was an inseparable aspect of the man himself. He went on to tell me that last year, his SUV beat the TIV 2 for the most battle-hardened storm chase vehicle over in Wakita. Yes, Wakita, Oklahoma, the place where Twister was filmed. This SUV’s build was hand assembled by Kenny himself. “It does the job and does it well,” Kenny let me know after the tour. The backpack dog was looking at me silently.
Around the area, I see cars and trucks with logos and words that are hard to read at a distance but obviously say something about storms. I read: tours, research, videos, university, stream — just a few of the random words I remember.
Many of the cars had a sort of texture to the paint job, like they were covered in that paint that looks like rocks. Touching it and pushing on the car’s panels showed it was like a rock! Zero flex. Turns out, it’s the type of protective “bed liner” coating that makes just about anything near indestructible. That’s what the Dominator 3 was covered in, I realized. There are a few brands of this kind of coating: Line-X and Rhino Liner, I was told. Hail, flying debris, hammers and exes can’t do a thing to what’s covered in that paint. Too bad there isn’t something like this for glass. Most of the chase vehicles I saw had cracked windshields.
Another car caught my eye; it had a single device on the top of the car. I went up to it. I took quite a bit of time to look it over, trying to figure out what it was. I jumped a little; a voice from the depths of the car’s interior said, “It’s a Tempest.” The owner, Kenneth Schneider (@ChaserKenneth), was there the whole time in the passenger seat. He said the Tempest is a weather station you can buy, that measures wind, rain level, pressure, and lightning strikes, among other things: “I adapted it to mount on top of my car. I want to see if it’ll work out.” The Tempest is meant to be bolted to a fence or a roof and left there. I told Kenneth to let me know how it goes. The simplicity of it was a stark difference from the surrounding Erector-sets-on-wheels.
The second day begins. I’m dressed like Philip Seymour Hoffman’s character Dusty from Twister. I have to say, it’s quite an accurate re-creation, in my opinion. Everyone wanted me to say Dusty’s intro line, “The extreme! IT’S THE EXTREME!”
Despite the grand showing in the parking lot, the summit was more intimate than I expected. It felt nice, like everyone was part of the same team. Despite the number of active storm chasers in the world, many didn’t attend the show. Just 4 miles away this same day, a small tornado touched down in a farm area. Dozens of chasers photographed it. Chasers that didn’t attend the show, it seemed. Throughout my time there, I’d hear people say they wished their friends and other chasers were there.
The summit was back-to-back classes and talks in the main expo hall, and people talking about their experiences. A class about how to eat healthy while chasing, which is a major problem. A crash course on reading radar. Tips and tricks shared. One emotional panel retold the events of the 2023 Rolling Fork tornado, by the people who survived and those who helped that night. The pageantry and adrenaline of storm chasing seem to be so unimportant in the midst of their story. A mother holding up an entire wall, roof, and an industrial-sized freezer by herself with a broken leg, saving her daughter and a friend. Inside the freezer were four people, and the only way to save them was to use a battery-operated drill and a bit to core out the hinges on a large walk-in freezer on the other side. The exact tools they needed miraculously appeared near the first responders like divine intervention. It was quite a story. Many of the shows from the summit can be streamed now; if you watch anything, listen to their stories from that night.
People presented the ideas and products that they wanted to push. Dan Wallace (@wallaceds77) talked about using the LoRaWAN network to send communication between chasers. LoRaWAN (Long Range Wide Area Network) is a type of wireless communication technology designed to connect battery-operated devices over long distances. It works by having small devices, like sensors, send data wirelessly to nearby gateways using low-power signals. These gateways then relay the data over the internet to a central server — from there to wherever it needs to go. It’s low power, long range, and anyone can set these networks up. Typically, on chases, you have limited access to the internet and cell networks due to remoteness or due to so many chasers and people using it in an area. He wanted to use the theoretically worldwide LoRa network to send communication within the storm chase community.
This was an idea I had a while back when thinking about storm chasing: What if we blanketed rural areas with weather sensors using LoRaWAN? To learn more, I strolled over to the summit’s vendor room. I saw Dan Wallace and beelined over. He talked a bit more about the idea. That’s what it was mostly: an idea. Something he wanted to see happen someday. He showed me a demo of a message being sent. It’s a work in progress, for sure.
The rest of the room, about 15 tables, was a collection of those who wanted to sell you of their efforts. Just about everything was hand-crafted to some extent. One of the more prominent tables had a few screens showing tornadoes, floods, and other disasters in a constant loop. Aptly named Severe Studios. Turns out, Severe Studios might have the lockdown on extreme weather content. Most of what we see on the news probably comes from them. The owner, Kory Hartman, told me he employs many storm chasers. He didn’t give me a solid number but implied … a lot. These chasers record some of the best content out there, and in turn, Severe Studios demands a high price. It’s worth it to the chasers; it’s worth it to the buyers.
Kory showed me one of Severe Studios’ most unique tools, a camera box you can drop off in extreme weather to record and live stream the video right from it. He wouldn’t let me see inside, but he described it: a “weatherproof” box that holds batteries, action cameras, some other mysterious development boards — and an old iPhone. That’s the key element in this clever project: the iPhone is the device’s internet connection for streaming the footage. That’s probably the cheapest solution I could ever think of. He also said that the extreme winds still pushed water inside the “weatherproof” boxes, so they also packed it with other water protection techniques — which remain nameless.
Close by is the “Storm Chasing Octogenarian” — yes, Brent E. Scudder is indeed in his 80s and he wrote a book all about how he got into storm chasing. The passing of his wife was the initial impetus. His book documents his journey, shares his observations about chasing, and reveals some techniques. It’s delightfully old school; to order some of his books, send a letter.
A few feet away were some of the youngest storm chasers in the place. Their booth had a big sign that read “Twister Fanatics,” and that was a good sign they were fun. On their table were stacks of custom stickers, shirts, and their photographs in frames for sale. I spent quite a while looking over the wares. The woman behind the table, “Zoenado” (@twister_fanatics) explained some of the photographs. “That’s my red Dodge Ram I’m rebuilding. I have a yellow Jeep J-10, too.” I know exactly what those are: the main vehicles in the film Twister. ” talks about plans to get her dream trucks perfect. She looks a bit like Helen Hunt from Twister.
Coincidentally, later that night, she won the joke award from the summit for “best celebrity lookalike in a tornado movie.” She makes and sells all these stickers and things mainly for fun. She also compiled a photo book of all the filming locations for Twister in the town of Wakita. A new edition just launched as I am writing this.
She complimented me on the Dusty costume I put together. As I was pridefully explaining how I turned a pull-on sweater hoodie into a full zip, I noticed someone filming us talking. They’d been there for a while, I realized. The camera person said, “Hey, can you act out some scenes from Twister for my film?” We okayed … and acted out the dinner scene at Aunt Meg’s. Shocking that I remember so much of it at a moment’s notice.
The camera person came up to tell me what he was up to. He was wearing a “Brody Storm Tours” hat that seemed familiar. He said he’s shooting a documentary about storm chasers. That wasn’t the first time I heard that at the summit. Jon The Storm Guy, a handful of college kids, a member of Team TIV, and a few other chasers I spoke to all said the same thing: “I’m making a documentary about the storm chase community.” I hope they all get made. It’ll be fun to see all the different perspectives.
Brody Storm Tours! “Hey, that’s from the movie Supercell!”
“Yeah, I’m the director.” It was Herbert James “Jamie” Winterstern. We talked about his 2023 film Supercell. It was almost all practical effects and real tornado videos; there was only one CG scene, he said. It sounded like the whole film was a DIY masterpiece. I asked about the McGuffin of Supercell, a device that detects the heartbeat of a storm sonically. Jamie said it was real! I looked it up when I got home a few days later; it is indeed a piece of wonder. It gave me a whole new appreciation for the film. Go watch it yourself. I would say it sits at #2 below Twister. See it now!
Jamie did a talk on the main stage later that night. He gave a complete rundown of how he made Supercell, the challenges, and the devices he made to overcome them. All of his tornado videos for Supercell came from his co-host for the talk, Pecos Hank, a musician and avid storm chaser. Pecos Hank makes some of the comfiest storm chase videos out there.
As I continued walking around the vendor room, I passed the Canon camera booth showing off their multi-thousand-dollar cameras. The best storm-related videos and pictures come from their gear. I can’t help but wonder if there is a cheaper way to get by.
Another booth was advocating their brand of wireless internet for the field. It covers most cellular bands, they claimed. However, the price is a little steep. I feel this hurdle is why I was seeing people rigging up Starlink satellite internet adapters on their chase wheels. Others had zip-tied other devices, like wireless home internet, to various parts of their cars. I even saw large satellite dishes on some, but I never did ask how that worked for them. All in all, it was exciting to see everyone’s DIY internet solutions and their maker spirit.
The Girls Who Chase booth was right next door. Founded by science communicator Jennifer Walton, Girls Who Chase set out to showcase women in the very male-dominated activity of storm chasing. Jennifer runs a podcast, workshops, training sessions, talks, and, of course, merch sales to spread awareness of the women out there chasing the same twisters as everyone else. Having listened to the podcast and attended talks, I can say that girls who chase face plenty more dangers than you’d expect. The podcast also shows how women have contributed so much to the storm chase industry. They deserve even more awareness. I bought a sticker of the Girls Who Chase logo, designed by Jennifer herself — originally on a napkin. She said she hopes someday that the term “female storm chaser” will just be “storm chaser.”
As I left the vendor room, I passed a silent auction of tornado and storm images, large prints captured by the late Paul Samaras, son of Tim Samaras — yes, one of the affable storm chaser from that 1985 Nova documentary episode. The auction is for the Paul Samaras Scholarship at Oklahoma University, awarded to a young storm chaser who’s active in the community. The scholarship was started in 2023 and will be a part of the Storm Chaser Summit for the foreseeable future.
Unfortunately, Tim, his son Paul, their TWISTEX team member Carl Young, and fellow chaser Carl Henderson were all killed by the El Reno tornado in 2013, the largest ever recorded. The storm chase community has never really recovered fully from their passing. Their lives are a benchmark and a warning of the dangers of storm chasing. Tim and his team’s impact on the community is seen everywhere. TWISTEX were pioneers in droppable probes, sensors, cameras and more — many attempt to imitate and follow their work. Their technology is still inspiring chasers to this day. Their names come up often in conversations at the summit. I put in a bid on one of the images.
Tornado Science Probes
One of the last presentations of the day really stood out to me. Dr. Reed Timmer, owner of the Dominator 3, spoke about shooting a sensor into a tornado and getting a scientific paper written and published about it. Listening to Reed is a universal joy in the storm chase world. He is like the emissary of storm chasing. His enthusiasm and boisterous personality are legendary at this point. On stage, that intensity is 100%. He talked about how he and his team created a probe that was launched from the Dominator 3, circled around the tornado a few times, and shot off into the upper atmosphere — 30,000 feet or so. The rocket probe, dubbed Project Skyfall, not only recorded the data but also streamed it. It was trackable and recovered in the field. It survived, too. The results were never seen in the weather community before. By the way, Reed’s scientific gear was built by his friend and Team Dominator’s lead scientist, Mark Simpson (@ChasinSpin), who hails from Canada. Reed told me it was a shame he wasn’t at the show. I agree.
Reed went on to talk about how difficult it was to publish the paper inside the USA. Peer reviews were not letting it get through the system. He implied it would have been impossible. So, off he went and published it in Europe.
Reed Timmer’s New Show: Twisters IRL
Storm chaser Dr. Reed Timmer has gone independent of any news agency for his latest chasing endeavors and his brand-new YouTube show, Twisters IRL. Each episode features condensed footage of real chases that happened during the ongoing chase season, plus facts and information about the storms they’re chasing and about the weather in general. If you liked the Discovery show Storm Chasers, you’ll love this one. (It’s said they based the big chaser character in the new Twisters movie on Reed himself!)
However, you can also watch the Team Dominator live streams when they go out and chase, which is almost the entire time they’re out. In other words, hours and hours of driving, stopping for gas, food, etc. But, honestly, every moment is entertaining. You’ll hear the team and support team talking about the chase, their lives, or just random thoughts. There is something pleasant about watching a first-person view of driving in the Dominator 3 or whatever car. When they approach a storm, it gets intense. You might see large hail cracking windshields, dark and ominous clouds, and, of course, the star of the show … tornadoes.
After speaking to so many people at the Storm Chasing Summit, something was perfectly clear. There is no money in storm chasing. Even some of the bigger names, like Dr. Reed Timmer, have trouble making anything. I’m told most people have regular jobs and chase on the side. They have a real passion to be able to pull off the duality. Their willingness to spend the money to deck out and build their vehicles shows the activity’s powerful draw. They are willing to spend the time. They DIY everything, doing it for the love of nature and the chase.
OUTBRK: Video Game Tornado Chase!
Video games featuring tornadoes, or any extreme weather, are surprisingly few. Battlefield 2042 features both but only in scripted events. The Roblox game Twisted attempts to re-create storm chasing; it’s fun to drive all the Dominators and TIVs, Doppler on Wheels, and the Dodge Ram from Twister, but the blocky Roblox environment isn’t for everyone.
This month, the modern-graphics, realistic storm chase simulator OUTBRK finally debuts on Steam, featuring one of the largest playable maps in video game history (625 square kilometers). In OUTBRK you can analyze weather data to make a prediction. All the weather generated in the game is based on real-world weather data. Your goal is the same as real chasers’: intercept the tornado, take pictures, place weather probes in its path, and report it.
From my own experience, the game gets pretty close to actual chasing. The only difference in OUTBRK is you can put the pedal to the metal and drive as fast as you want, ignoring traffic signals and signs — what you’d really like to do on a chase! I have not intercepted any good tornadoes in the game yet. I thought I did, but I got sucked up and died. No joke.
Next Generation of Chasers
I saw the next generation of storm chasers in Houston, the sparkly eyes of young kids eager to hit the road someday in the near future. I even saw a kid wearing a cardboard TIV 2 costume. He made it. He’s Remy, he’s 9, and he has a YouTube channel called Remy Storm Spotter (@remystormspotter). Daily weather reports, emergency broadcasts, education episodes, and the occasional storm chase to intercept a small pocket storm. TIV 2 is his favorite storm chase vehicle. He asked, “Do you think I could drive the TIV someday?”
Okay, truth time — Remy is my son. He’s the reason I went to the summit. I suppose I was tagging along with him the whole time. He’s wanted to be a storm chaser since he was 4; that’s 5 years of unwavering commitment. When he was 6, I edited my copy of Twister to remove all the swear words; FYI, there are many. (Remy also wanted the movie fixed so that no one died in the story, so when the character got sucked up in a funnel, they’d come back down.) We’re working together on some weather sensor projects and a mesonet for my Prius right now. We’ll see how this goes. I don’t see much of a difference between the DIY enthusiasm of a 9-year-old and the passion in the storm chase community.
Another potential milestone moment for storm chasing is coming in July 2024, this week, in fact: the movie Twisters, the sequel/reboot of the seminal Twister from 1996, releases on July 19. I suspect it will add to the exponential growth of the storm chase community. Reed Timmer’s motto is “Never stop chasing.” Remy Storm Spotter’s is “Weather never sleeps.” Twisters brings us, “If you feel it, chase it.”
I’m only on the sidelines, and I feel the fever — the uncontainable desire to chase.
