In the modern comfortable world, there are plenty of things people generally run to … Black Friday sales, marathon finish lines, arms of loved ones and discounts on curly kale at Whole Foods.
There are also things we are instinctively programmed to run from … large predators (although fleeing is not generally advisable), falling objects, smothering relationships and detrimental weather patterns…unless, of course, you’re a storm chaser.
Enter Jaclyn Whittal…not only a real-life Lara Croft but also a real-life Helen Hunt of Twister fame. As a meteorologist for The Weather Network and co-star of Storm Chasers she is a regular in Tornado Alley hunting down the tempests that have everyone else ducking for cover in storm cellars and hallway closets.
Wake up for storm chasers is on the early side, with the roosters. Digs are roadside motels and junk food is on the daily menu. You eat when you can. You sleep when you can. When it’s go time, there’s little focus on anything other than the situation at hand. Jacklyn has been chasing for seven years. With blaring tornado sirens as her soundtrack, she touches up her lipstick from inside an armored vehicle before describing to her audience how a once Norman Rockwell-esque town looks like it’s been tossed into a blender. The goal is to let them know before. To outwit mother nature at her own game and learn as much about the patterns of these storms as possible to give people the best chance at surviving them. And then there’s the adrenaline. Not for the faint of heart is in the job description.
According to Jaclyn, Hollywood got it right. There is debris and camaraderie, steak dinners at the end of a solid day of chasing and goofy inside jokes.
Here’s to hoping there is even a good ole fashioned love story happening somewhere on the windswept Great Plains. Who needs a white stallion and a sunset to ride off into when you have an armored vehicle and the tumultuous zephyr of earth’s atmosphere…complete with tunes by Shania Twain. Eat your heart out Princess Bride.
The Tornado Intercept Vehicle (TIV) isn’t Hollywood fodder either…even though it is a visual manifestation of Mad Max and Batman brainstorming a new tank for the military. It’s a legitimate chasing device designed to withstand a direct hit from 200 mph winds complete with bullet-resistant polycarbonate sheets and glass, steel skin and frame and weighing in at nearly 15,000 pounds…for the nicer models of course.
Storm chasing emerging as a daring pursuit can be traced back to John Muir and Benjamin Franklin (remember the kite and key experiment?) but it’s David Hoadley who is recognized as kicking it into high gear as a profession, chasing North Dakota storms in the 1950’s. That passion led to the inception of Storm Track magazine and the formation of a storm-chasing community. Hoadley, now in his late 70s, still roams the Great Plains in search of violent weather patterns.
Explosive is how one might describe a career spent stalking of some of the planet’s most intense mood swings. Winds more than 300 miles per hour are an occupational hazard, but then again, when a three-mile-wide vortex of centripetal force is bearing down on you pretty much everything in sight becomes hazardous to your health. Supercells, thunderstorms with rotating updrafts that spawn tornados, sound like a line from a straight to video SyFy flick, but they’re as real as it gets. The United States leads the global count in tornados, with more than one thousand annually. Canada is second in line. So it seems North America takes the proverbial cake in the winds department. That’s a good deal of chasing. Toss in this year’s crop of back to back hurricanes and you’ve got a lot of steak dinners for Jaclyn and team.
Passion is a powerful driving force for people. How did yours develop and mold who you are and what you do?
JW: I started my career as a professional singer on stage. I toured Europe playing Sandy in the musical Grease. I have recorded two independent rock albums and played literally hundreds and hundreds of shows on stage. Music was my passion. I wanted to challenge my academic side so when I turned 30, I went back to school for meteorology. That led to a meeting with a photographer in the Canadian prairies who asked if I wanted to go storm chasing. One thing led to another and now, seven years later, here I am. I’ve had the opportunity to chase the widest tornado in US history. I also chased hurricane Harvey recently which was the first storm to break the major hurricane landfall drought in the U.S. and produce the most rainfall ever recorded in a tropical cyclone. I never thought I could be passionate about anything other than music. I was wrong.
What does being a storm chaser actually entail? Most of us are now picturing Helen Hunt in Twister.
JW: Honestly the movie Twister really describes what we do perfectly other than it’s a little out-dated technology wise. Helen Hunt is really a lot like me! Twister is a good example of the culture of storm chasers. We’re all good friends out there. We’re like brother and sister, my chase part-ner and I, and we have a ton of fun chasing. That being said, we’re also putting a huge amount of trust in each other’s hands. Driving close to one of mother nature’s most dangerous offerings.
Armored vehicles are very real. So are steak dinners when you “nab” a tornado, and so are storm chaser songs and inside jokes. We use the ham radio to communicate and we stay close in every way. We convoy with our vehicles and make decisions together.
Two tornadoes at once earlier in Minneola, KS @TheWeatherNetUS @StormhunterTWN @georgekourounis pic.twitter.com/ELtAVhJllT
— Jaclyn Whittal (@jwhittalTWN) May 25, 2016
Describe the feeling of being outdoors in the presence of a massive storm using the five senses.
JW: The tornado looks like a tall building that is moving close to use. You can see the debris being tossed about in the power column of air. You can see the condensation cloud, but sometimes you can’t see it. You can see the twister changing shapes and sizes.
You can hear the “freight train”…and it does sound like this. You can hear steel being crunched, bent and tossed around. You hear the wind picking up and whistling loudly. You can hear the winds at the surface blowing the grass into the inflow of the thunderstorm. You can hear the rain shaft in the distance. Trucks going by. Traffic.
You can smell the earth being churned up when you are in a damage path after a tornado. You can smell wood, insulation. You can smell gas when gas lines are down. Worms, mud and moisture. Mold and warm rain. You can smell manure.
You can taste organic matter in the air. You can taste the bits of road snacks from the local gas station you ate a few minutes ago. You can taste the smoke from a local chaser that is smoking next to you.
You can touch the sharp nail that has been blown into your tire on the side of the road. You touch the cold hailstones as you gather them in the field. You touch the steering wheel again even though you’re tired of driving. You touch the car door as you can barely push it open against the wind.
How do you prep for and stay safe on a chase?
JW: We usually stay together in a group, especially in a hurricane chase. When it comes to tornado chasing the best thing that can keep you safe is your eyes…watching what the storm does and how it moves in front of you. The shape of the clouds, the base of the storm, the motion of the storm. Radar is a very integral tool to use so keeping your cell phone, tablet or laptop charged with lots of data is also something that can really be the difference between being safe or putting yourself in a dangerous spot of the storm.
Any close calls?
JW: El Reno, Oklahoma. We were only about a mile away from what became the largest/widest tornado in North American history. It grew to a very large wedge tornado at a size of 4.2 miles wide in a matter of seconds. We almost got caught, we almost didn’t get away quickly enough. Three chasers died that day a half a mile up the road from us as the tornado caught up to them.
What’s your end of day routine after a big storm chase?
JW: Usually we are either driving to another county or state to get into position for the next day. If we’re not driving we usually like to go out for a nice dinner. It will be a steak dinner if we saw a tornado that day (to celebrate…and only if it didn’t do any damage). If not, it’s usually authentic Mexican food in the central plains. Usually a margarita in there too.
What’s it like to be a really successful woman in a relatively male-dominated space?
JW: Honestly it’s more about keeping up with the guys than anything.I say that in a tongue and cheek kinda way. I have never met a guy in the field that has ever tried to make me feel like I can’t do as good a job as they can, which is awesome. Really it’s more about learning to have guys around you that burp, fart and tell dirty jokes, etc. My chase team, particularly my chase partner Mark Robinson, treats me with utmost respect.
Most people would be terrified to do what you do. So what terrifies you…if anything?
JW: Spiders, snakes…things like that! In all seriousness, I think earthquakes and the result of a tsunami would probably be the most terrifying type of natural hazard one could ever experience. The idea of a tsunami coming at a town where you live is something that completely terrifies me. Also, underwater diving/ scuba diving makes me feel nervous. I feel very claustrophobic when I am under water in the ocean…not a pool though. (I will take you diving in the ocean anytime! – Kinga)
What future life and career goals do you have?
JW: I would really like to become a good horseback rider and own a horse one day. I also wish to live in a different part of the world, probably somewhere in the Mediterranean with my husband. As far as my career, I’m really not sure what is next but I do believe that every person has three careers in them. I heard that once and like that plan. Next career? No clue!
What other hobbies do you have that people might not expect?
JW: I’m a marathon runner and newbie biker. I have switched because of a hip injury. I love gardening and I am a newbie horseback rider. I have learned to trot. Cantering is next. I really love home decor…I’m not sure that I’m any good at it but I really love doing it.
RACE READY!!!!! @RachelSchoutsen @Bayracerun #atb2017 #30Km pic.twitter.com/NQVoDuLhqw
— Jaclyn Whittal (@jwhittalTWN) March 26, 2017
Everyone has a message they put out into the world through their words, actions and lifestyle. What is yours?
JW: I feel that the world is much smaller now. I think we waste too much time worrying about trivial issues in our day to day lives instead of exploring the world and doing more meaningful things in life. It took me until now to realize this. I turn 40 next year. You only get to go around once.
Advice for anyone looking to get into something like storm chasing?
JW: Learn the meteorology. Know your stuff before going out in the field. There are a lot of chasers out there now that think they know how to read radar or read model data…but maybe they really don’t. It really could be the difference between saving your life or not.
Surround yourself with trustworthy people and get rest when you can. Also, eat when you can. In a disaster zone, you never know when you may be able to eat again.
Answer this for me and anyone else out there doing the same thing. I grew up in Oklahoma. I’m very familiar with twisters. Our protocol was to put a mattress over us in the bathtub when the sirens went off. Is this advisable or do you have a better suggestion?
JW: A storm shelter is always the best spot to be during a tornado in Oklahoma. If you do not have a storm shelter then yes, the most central point of your home, particularly a bathroom in a bathtub, is a very safe spot to be. I have seen many people live through major tornados taking these actions.
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