Reaping the whirlwind: Photographer quits his day job to be a professional storm chaser... and the results are truly awe-inspiring These astonishing scenes were captured by a man who gave up his day job as a corn plant worker to become a professional storm chaser. Mike Hollingshead, 37, went after his first storm in 1999 and has been in awe of Mother Natures most powerful phenomena ever since. Growing up, he remembers being driven to the top of a hill near his family home so he could watch vicious lightning storms. These experiences were not necessarily storm chasing but, along with extreme weather videos and DVDs, helped fuel his love of such phenomena. The day of his first solo storm chase, in 1999, Mike managed to successfully chase and catch his first tornado and was hooked. By 2004, he had captured so many storms he was ready to make storm chasing his full-time job. Mike currently lives in an area of America known as Tornado Alley - a vertical strip down the center of America where storms are most prevalent. Across the US, there were 1,037 tornadoes reported in the U.S. in 2012, of which at least 932 have been confirmed. Mike, from Blair in Nebraska, USA, said: I always watched storms from town as a kid, but I didnt set out on my first actual chase until 1999.I got a tornado that first chase and have been hooked since. So often, the crazy-looking type of storms dont last very long. You better be where the storms initiate and then try to stay ahead of them. Sometimes the wild-looking phase may only have been a 15-minute window. What I like most about storms is that they are alive. How you can go from invisible moisture that condense as it rises into a storm, then gets spun by the wind shear, into this 50,000-plus foot tall storm. The anticipation is really enjoyable. You leave home that morning for a long drive to where things look like theyll be best later in the day, just wondering what you will have witnessed by the end of the day. Ive had experiences where I have felt scared. You can be pretty close to a tornado and not feel much of any real danger. But if you are punching through a tornadic storm in the rain, it can be extremely stressful. You need to pop out ahead of where the tornado would be, not just drive into a rain wrapped tornado. With radar on the road via internet you can have a good enough idea how much room you have. Some play that game closer than others.
Posted on: Tue, 26 Nov 2013 06:02:55 +0000
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