Storm Chaser Tim Samaras sprints back to his minivan after deploying a FITPR probe directly in the path of a tornado near Woonsocket, S.D. (photo by Carsten Peter of National Geographic)

I am both an avid reader and a first-time college student at the age of 33 (currently 34). As my Spring semester has wound to a close, I have found myself taking time to peruse the stacks in my school’s library in search of summer reading material. While I typically go for thriller/mystery type stories, I wanted to find stories that were equally inspiring and terrifying which led me to the Environmental Sciences then Atmospheric Sciences, then Weather section (551.6 for my library nerds). It was here that I found a story titled “Looking Up, The True Adventures of a Storm-Chasing Weather Nerd” by Matthew Cappucci.

To say that I could not stand this book would be an understatement. I didn’t make it far before being drowned by the priviledge that seemed to drip from every sentence. Try as he might, Mr. Cappucci could not convince me that he had anything close to a humble path. I gave up shortly after reading about how he applied to Harvard just so Cornell would have to match their tuition offers for middle-class students and was accepted to both. He chose Harvard (of course) and had to argue for the school to create a special area of concentration just for him so he could major in atmospheric sciences. The teacher he needed to sign off on this argument had been a fan of his weather column in the local newspaper for a long time, go figure.

I thought to myself, “Is an Ivy League education what it takes to be somebody in this field?” Not that I’m trying to be “somebody” in the weather community. From my observations, it seems to be a surprisingly saturated field of enthusiasts.

I returned the book and a week or two later returned to the same section of the library to try again. This time, I would read the inside cover to get a better feel for the book instead of assuming that all storm chasers are humble, relatable folks. I came upon a book called “The Man Who Caught The Storm: The Life of Legendary Tornado Chaser Tim Samaras”. One of the first sentences I read mentioned that Tim had absolutely no college credentials to his name. I had found my muse.

Now, I’ve mentioned Tim Samaras in a past post about the cost of storm chasing. He and two members of his Twistex team (his son Paul and colleague Carl Young) unfortunately lost their lives in the 2013 El Reno tornado when it’s base and the surrounding winds suddenly doubled in size, engulfing their Chevy Cobalt and throwing it end-over-end a half mile.

The memorial to the ill-fated Twistex team was erected in rural El Reno, Oklahoma near the intersection of Reuter Rd. and S. Radio Rd where their mangled vehicle was recovered.

As I read Tim’s story, I couldn’t help but to be inspiried to keep pushing forward with my newfound hobby of weather research. See, Tim wasn’t some secret mathmetician or the member of a family of meteorologists, he was just a man obsessed with knowing how things work. As a kid, he would take apart electronics just to see how they worked and developed enough of an engineering mindset to eventually take on a job testing explosives. Through this curiosity, what started as innocently venturing out to see a tornado form when the forecast showed the correct conditions became a drive to create better in-situ (in-situation or while a tornado is on the ground) probes for tornadic data collection.

After a few years and some very promising prototypes, Tim was finally able to create a small team of chasers and meteorologists to help expand this study. His team included a man named Carl Young, who has further inspired me. Carl had been a bit of a drifter career-wise until a car accident in his early 30’s set him on a clear path. While recovering, Carl placed himself in the Great Plains region of the U.S. to get a better view of passing storms as they formed. He went on to take some classes at a community college before entering a Master’s Degree program and teaching meterology classes as a side gig to storm chasing.

Carl Young (left) and Tim Samaras (right) (captured by The Discovery Channel)

To compare any part of my life to either of these men would be asinine however, the inspiration I have gleamed from their paths is undeniable. Their story (particularly Tim’s) sheds a light of hope on hopelessly under-educated enthusiasts like myself. Though I do not see myself as someone making a significant impact on the field of tornadic research, I have now been shown that it is not entirely impossible to be self-taught and still be a valuable part of the weather community.

I hope to find and hear of more people like Tim and Carl, whose combined passion and thirst for knowlege have driven them on an unconventional path to following a dream.