The Kansas Tornado Chaser


1996	1997	1998	1999	2000

2001	2003

First some information about me. I was born in Wichita Kansas January 18th 1972. When I was a kid I was very afraid of tornadoes. I think the reason, was because my teachers and my parents reacted so serious to these storms. It's hard to explain to someone how it feels at a young age to go into the hallway (no basements in schools) of your school and set there with your head between your knees while the tornado sirens go off. All you can think about is a tornado might be getting ready to hit your school and there is nothing you can do about it. It's scary enough to an adult, so you can imagine what a child is thinking. If you've lived in Kansas your whole life you learn to respect the weather, and you get a knot in your stomach every time the tornado sirens go off, even when they are being tested on the first Monday of every month. But like all things in my life when something confronts me that makes me afraid I confront it back, and learn.

Just like other Kansans, I got interested in the how's and whys of weather at a young age. One of the first weather things I remember doing was when we used to make Pet Tornadoes out of a Mason jars, a little soap, water, and a marble. I would also read everything I could find on tornadoes, and became very familiar with Kansas tornado history. While I was in middle school, I kept reading more and more on the subject. I couldn't get over how little was known about tornadoes. This on top of Kansas not requiring schools to have basements, just blew my mind. In my last year of middle school I took a photography class and really started getting in to it. By the time I was in high school photography was my hobby. One day after school (March 13th 1990) I was setting at home watching TV when the severe weather tone went off on the TV. The weather guy said that there was a severe thunderstorm warning for Reno county. This was one of the first storms of the year, and I thought that photos of the big storm clouds would be great for a photography class. So I grabed my camera and jumped in my car and headed toward the severe weather.

Now at the time I had no training in severe weather, had know idea of what I was doing, and had never heard the word storm chaser. I was driving up 96 Highway toward Hutchinson taking photos of a very large supercell, when I heard that there was a tornado on the ground a few miles SW of Haven. I thought for a moment and said I'm only a few miles from there and that would make a great photo for class. Like the yahoo I was at the time I headed toward Haven to get this photo. While I'm driving I look down the road and remember thinking that is sure was raining hard around a mile in front of my car. Well the closer I got I started noticing that this rain was not falling it was rotating. I hit the breaks and froze. I had found what I was looking for and had almost drove right into it. This was the most incredible site I had ever seen in my life. A huge tornado, almost a mile wide, I couldn't move, I just couldn't believe what I was seeing. Thank God it was moving from my left to the right. After the tornado crossed the road and disappeared into the storm. I started TRYING to drive back to Wichita. I was listing to KFDI 101.3fm track this tornado along with other trained spotters as this tornado headed toward the town of Hesston. I will never forget the KFDI mobile unit guy screaming over the radio for the town of Hesston to take cover. The terror that was in his voice was awful. I almost had to pull over and get a grip on what was going on. I kept driving and listening to the radio as this massive tornado plowed into the town of Hesston and destroyed everything in It's path. Once I was home I set down and my dad asked me if I had heard about the tornado that hit Hesston. I said I didn't just hear about it I just saw it. After that I deiced to put up the camera and start getting my training as a weather spotter so I would understand even more about these storms and help the community at the same time. As they say in the books, the rest is history.

As you can see, the chase vehicle (KTC 3) is equipped with everything we need for a chase. Including a lap top computer hooked up to a cell phone for access to the internet, so that we can get current radar. There is also a anemometer for measuring wind

speed, and GPS unit hooked to the laptop with mapping software, that lets us know where were at by placing an arrow on a map the points in the direction we are moving, and also lets us know how long it will take to get to our target. The chase vehicle is a Toyota 4X4, which gets great gas mileage , and NEVER breaks down (I know, never say never).

Now some information on the page. I created the page on March 13th, 1996 after I was searching for information on the Hesston tornado, and could not find any information on it, or any other Kansas tornadoes. The page is here to educate the public, and to be a resource to SKYWARN spotters/chasers on the subject of severe weather & tornadoes, and give them the tools they need to survive and report these deadly storms, in hopes of saving more lives in the years to come.

This page is a way for me to give something to the community. If it can give just one person the knowledge they need to save their life or the life of a loved one then it's worth the years of hard work putting it together.

More info on me...... I'm a Police Officer (DO NOT CONTACT ME AT WORK OR I WILL SHOOT) which I enjoy very much (thanks Greg!, and still chase every chance I get. This is one Kansan you'll never hear say that Kansas is such a flat boring state. Kansas is one of a few states that I know of that can have a tornado warning in the Southeast part of the state, and have a winter storm warning in the Northwest part.
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