How I Became A Storm Chaser
Sometimes, it's hard to remember how you began.
And that's definitely true for long-time chasers. We sometimes forget how hard it was for us in the beginning. And when I started, I was really bad at it. So I thought it might be helpful to tell how I became a chaser
For me, it all began in 1990. On May 15th, a powerful F3 tornado struck my hometown, Stillwater, OK.
After the tornado hit, I became fascinated with tornadoes. Trouble was, I didn't know where to find information about them. My mom suggested that I write the local weatherman, Gary England, to see if he might be taking his tornado safety talk to town.
To my surprise, Gary wrote back. His letter arrived 3 weeks after I sent mine. He said that, sadly, he wouldn't be coming to Stillwater that year. But he gave me a copy of his book "Those Terrible Twisters and the Weather of Oklahoma"
That was when my obsession truly began. The book that Gary gave me had it all: tornado pics, dates, locations -- everything. I literally read it to shreds.
Years passed, and then a big storm chase culture moment hit in 1996. Of course, you know what it was. Yup, Twister. And when it first came out on VHS, I faked sickness so that I could watch it over and over again.
But then, I wanted to see tornadoes in real life. Trouble was, I wasn't old enough to drive. So I begged my dad to take me chasing. I finally got my opportunity on June 8, 1998 near Chickasha, OK.
The only thing I knew then was to drive to the southwest side of the storm. Other than that, we had virtually no idea what we were doing. In fact, I'm pretty sure we drove under a circulation that day.
Then the next year, I asked my dad to go to chasing again. The date was May 3, 1999. But since we had moved to Norman by then, my dad was worried that the big F5 would come into town. So we didn't go.
I was obviously sore about that. So, to make it up to me, he offered me a "Storm Chaser Certificate". I redeemed it in March 2000. We still didn't know what we were doing. So we chased a media car for a few miles. But they sped so fast that they lost us.
For the next 3 seasons, I didn't see a tornado. And it's not like I didn't try. In fact, I tried a lot - it was super frustrating. But finally, on September 18, 2002, I saw my first one near Blackwell, OK.
So all that to say: If you're just starting out, and it's not making sense yet, hang in there. Storm chasing is not easy. But you get better at it with practice. And when you do, it's totally worth all the trouble.
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