The first Friday of every month is testing day for the tornado sirens. For scaredy cats like me, it serves as a reminder of how destructive tornadoes can be—like the one that killed five people in Lake Township four years ago.
But for avid storm chasers, the tornado sirens literally are their calling. Like emergency first responders, tornado trackers prepare for the moments when these sirens are real-life warnings.
One local group, the Toledo Tornado Trackers, founded in 2009, includes storm chasers Brandon Copic, Valerie Haworth and Aaron Rigsby. They use the latest technology and weather models to forecast storms a week or more in advance, targeting a city to base their chase while follow ing the storm’s entire life cycle.
Copic is gaining experience working for Live Storms Media, an Alabama-based media brokering business for freelance storm chasers that sells footage to the Weather Channel, CNN, and Good Morning America.
Work with local media
Toledo Tornado Trackers also has a working relationship with 13 ABC meteorologists Jay Berschback and Ross Ellet, giving them updates from the field during severe weather events.
“To get some ground truth to what we see on the radar is always helpful,” said Berschback, who uses Toledo Tornado Trackers’ Facebook page to get reports of damage.
Copic, a Whitmer High School graduate, has been chasing storms since he got his driver’s license at age 16. Now entering his fifth season of storm chasing, he credits WNWO’s chief meteorologist Norm Van Ness for helping him get started.
“He definitely was a great influence and I always talked to him,” Copic said of their email exchanges when he was still in school.
Haworth has been interested in weather since she was 13, and is in her second season of chasing storms. Now boyfriend and girlfriend, Haworth and Copic met when he invited her to ride along with his fellow storm chasers in Nebraska.
Of course dealing with Mother Nature’s force is serious business. Last year in El Reno, OK, a multi-vortex tornado killed three seasoned storm chasers.
This past December, Toledo Tornado Trackers had a close call in Jonestown, MS, when they were alerting drivers to pull over and seek shelter from an approaching twister. The tornado came so close to them it lifted the front end of their vehicle and shattered the back window.
Ready to help
Copic is ready to go beyond the duties of typical storm chasers, having been trained in first aid response. He and his partners have directed an EMS crew away from a tornado, as well as given first aid to those in need.
“It really does hurt you and haunt you when you are the first responder to tornado damage,” said Copic. “It hurts when you see somebody’s home destroyed.”
By next spring, Copic and Haworth plan on launching BV Storm Tours, a Toledo-based storm chasing tour company that will offer tours for those interested in experiencing storms and tornadoes firsthand.
More information about Toledo Tornado Trackers is available on their Facebook page, www.facebook.com/BVStormChasing, and their website, www.bvstormtours.com.
