By KJ Burns, Staff Writer
Growing up in Garden City, I was petrified of severe weather, especially tornadoes.
Some of my earliest memories involve me literally cowering under the coffee table in my living room whenever there was a severe weather warning in my area.
I remember hearing about one weather event frequently throughout my childhood: the 2007 Greensburg tornado.
Everything about that tornado terrified me. I remember seeing the local news air specials on the anniversary of the tornado, and the reports would always include stunning images of the incredible damage it caused.
Hearing stories and seeing documentaries about that storm shook me up. After, anytime a storm rolled through, I would worry that the same thing that happened to Greensburg would happen to my hometown one day.
I was definitely being overdramatic, but imagining that some dark cloud dropping from the sky could change my neighborhood and town forever in a matter of minutes unsettled me to my core.
As I grew older, the fear of storms was still there, but it slowly became more of a fascination. I wanted to learn as much as I could about storms and tornadoes.
I would frequently watch The Weather Channel and YouTube videos documenting tornadoes across the country, and before long, I became obsessed with severe weather.
This obsession became fully realized one day in June 2014. My town was under a tornado warning as a massive supercell thunderstorm towered overhead.
At first, I thought that this was the day I had been dreading for years and that I was going to get taken out by a tornado.
However, when I looked outside and saw the huge rotating “mothership” base of the storm, it was almost like I was in a trance. I wanted to stay outside and watch it.
My parents, of course, ushered me to the basement, and I was pretty upset because I just couldn’t take my eyes off the sky. I was still scared about what was happening, but something about it sort of mesmerized me.
From that point on, anytime there was a storm outside I made an effort to watch it as long as I could.
Eventually, I started watching storm chasers’ videos on YouTube and was jealous that some people were able to drive toward storms while I was stuck at home.
I told myself that the very day I got my driver’s license, I was going to do the same thing.
Fast forward to this past summer: I decided I was going to go on my first ‘official’ storm chase.
Prior to that, I had made it a point to educate myself so that I’d know what to look for, how to forecast storms, and how to avoid getting myself in trouble while out in the elements.
Knowing the potential was there for some rotating storms that could put down a tornado just an hour away from my house, I was off and on my way.
Sure enough, just prior to me getting to the target area, a storm had erupted and quickly began to rotate.
I hurriedly got into position and found a clear, unobstructed view of the storm. The clouds were spinning and moving in ways I hadn’t seen in person before.
I was certain a tornado was going to form at any moment, and I was going to be primed to capture it. There was just one problem:
I was in such a hurry to leave the house that I left my glasses on the counter. Therefore, by the time a tornado materialized about three miles away, I had to strain so hard to see that by the time I realized I was looking at a tornado it was already retreating back into the clouds.
To this day, I’m frustrated at myself for being a bonehead, but, looking back, it’s pretty funny to think about it. However, the adrenaline rush of seeing a tornado for the first time and being out in nature like that stuck with me.
That day showed me that storm chasing was something I was going to continue pursuing as my main hobby in the foreseeable future.
I then invested in a high-quality dash cam, a drone, and some upgraded camera equipment for future chases.
The fear of tornadoes and severe weather is now long gone, replaced not only by fascination but also by a deep respect for Mother Nature.
Nowadays, if there’s any chance of a tornado nearby, more likely than not I will find myself out in the elements.
PHOTO: KJ Burns, Staff Writer
