The daylight quickly fades to gray, and dark clouds loom from above. Blades of grass sway in the gentle wind. The once busy and bustling streets seem abandoned.
An eerie calm has fallen over the town. Small drops of rain break the silence as they hit the pavement. A storm is on its way.
While most of us hide away in our safe houses and prepare for the worst, storm chaser and National Geographic researcher Tim Samaras braves the storm and gets up close and personal to gather data.
Samaras has worked as an engineer and professional storm chaser, recording information and patterns from tornadoes, for 30 years.
When he was 5, his mother made him watch The Wizard of Oz as a distraction to keep him from deconstructing his parents’ appliances. The infamous “twister” intrigued him the most, and at age 9, he took part in his first tornado chase on a bicycle. He secretly continued to chase storms, a hobby that quickly became his passion.
“I kept it a secret because storm chasing sounds cool thanks to the media, but it wasn’t widely accepted back then,” Samaras says.
Nowadays, each spring, he sets out with a team of trained professionals to track storms throughout the Midwest and collect data. Storm chasing involves a lot of time and a lot of miles, he says, and there’s often disappointment, but he still loves his job.
“People who are so passionate about their livelihoods can’t turn it off when they go home,” he says. “They eat, sleep, live and breathe it. That is what separates the experts and people who are really passionate about it from those who are just punching the time clock.”
The Jeanne B. McCoy Community Center for the Arts in New Albany will welcome Samaras for a presentation Jan. 13 as he shares his discoveries and experiences chasing storms. The presentation will also feature dramatic video clips and pictures.
“I think everybody has a fascination or a story to share,” Samaras says. “Ohio has been raked by tornadoes. A lot of people who have lived in the Midwest have been personally touched by a tornado, a nightmare of a tornado or natural curiosity.”
Alex Wallace is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.
