Spring brings severe weather to the Great Plains and with those storms comes stormchasers. One group of chasers captured video and photos of a supercell’s amazing structure as it moved across northeastern Wyoming.
The video, taken by Basehunters, shows the motion of the swirling mass of a low precipitation supercell near Newcastle. Still imagery provides a dramatic view of the storm cell.
When faced with a tornado what would you do? Do the smart thing and drop the camera and seek shelter.
Just as we were wrapping up Severe Weather Awareness Week on ThorntonWeather.com, disaster struck the nation’s south. Dozens of tornadoes brought death and destruction and at the same time Mother Nature allowed us to learn valuable lessons.
Extreme weather events have gotten more and more attention thanks to Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and other forms of social media. Television shows like Discovery’s Storm Chasers and shows on the Weather Channel feed a seemingly insatiable desire to see these events. They give the impression that anyone can stare down major storms with few repercussions but that is far from the truth.
Professional weather watchers, meteorologists and storm chasers cringe at some of what we see when these events happen. People with seemingly no clue of the destructive and unpredictable nature of what they are looking at put themselves in harm’s way for 60 seconds of fame.
The severe weather outbreak of recent days highlights the folly of those uninitiated and untrained in these phenomena. One particularly striking video has emerged of a man in Wilson, North Carolina watching as a tornado approaches, talking on the phone and shooting video.
The video (below) is scary to watch as the man is oblivious to what is coming toward him at 50mph. We implore all ThorntonWeather.com readers to do the smart thing – seek shelter when severe weather. Don’t become a statistic for a photo or a video.
Colorado storm chaser Roger Hill was shown on the Drudge report and that led to appearances on most major TV networks.
Roger Hill is considered quite famous among storm chasers as he has a proven, uncanny ability to place himself right where severe weather will strike. A recent headline on the Drudge Report featuring Hill has now shined the national media spotlight on him and his profession as co-owner of a storm chasing tour company.
Hill is no stranger to the media as his amazing videos and photos have been featured on the Weather Channel, Discovery Channel, National Geographic and all major news networks. For nearly a decade Hill and his company Silver Lining Tours have been showing thrill seekers what it is like to experience severe weather at closer range than what may be possible otherwise. Interest in “storm chasing tours” however has hit a fevered pitch in recent weeks.
Crews from Inside Edition and Nightline then followed by riding along with Hill and Silver Lining Tours as they crisscrossed the Great Plains on the hunt for tornadoes.
The Nightline piece aired this past Friday and gave a good idea of what it is like to be on tour with Hill (watch the video below). From the frenzied pace to the seemingly endless ingestion of fast food and of course the thrill of the tornado chase, reporter Eric Hong experienced it all.
Sean Casey, Josh Wurman, Reed Timmer next to Storm Chasers vehicle, TIV2. (Discovery Channel)
Storm Chasers is the Discover Channel’s hit show that tracks a team of tornado chasers across Tornado Alley as they hunt for twisters. Entering its third season, the season premiere is this Sunday, October 18th at 8:00pm MDT.
This season the team features a number of changes over year’s past. Josh Wurman and his team of scientists manning the DOW (Doppler On Wheels) radar returns but now he is participating in the VORTEX2 project as well. Sean Casey and the TIV2 (Tornado Intercept Vehicle) return as well.
Last season’s new addition, the TornadoVideos.net team with Reed Timmer, join with an impressive new piece of hardware – the Dominator. Lastly, world renowned storm chaser Tim Samaras joins the show as he continues on his lifelong hunt and scientific quest.
Here is a preview video for the coming season. Be sure to tune in on Sunday!
Just announced! The Discovery Channel’s Storm Chasers second season will premiere on Sunday, October 19th. For those that haven’t seen this show before, it is absolutely incredible as you follow a group of chasers trying to – literally – drive into a tornado. As you know, the 2008 tornado season was one for the record books and the Storm Chasers team was right in the thick of it. I will be watching with great interest as they spent a lot of time in north central Kansas right where my family is from.
