Photo: Universal Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures, and Amblin Entertainment
“WE DROVE INTO A TORNADO!!!” announces one of the most popular videos on storm chaser Jordan Hall’s YouTube channel. (“IM IN IT!!” a graphic on the still adds, in case you were wondering.) The video alternates between terrifying drone footage of a giant tornado cutting across Nebraska and the sounds of the folks in the truck clamoring to buckle up and roll up their windows as the wind and rain overtake them. The Oklahoma-based, 27-year-old Hall has been chasing storms since his senior year of high school; it’s a fascination borne out of a childhood obsession with the 1996 Jan de Bont film Twister. On the precipice of Lee Isaac Chung’s not quite sequel, Twisters, in which Glen Powell’s character plays a Youtube storm chaser named Tyler Owens, we spoke with Hall over Zoom to talk about the realities of modern-day storm chasing, competing for content, and how likely it is to see twin tornadoes out on the road.
How did you first learn about storm chasing?
I got obsessed with tornadoes and severe weather when Twister came out when I was a little kid. It was my favorite movie. Then as I got into middle school and then high school, I watched a lot of the Weather Channel stuff with Jim Cantore, who I always thought was cool. When I was a senior in high school, my town of Baker, Montana, actually got hit by a tornado, and I went out chasing it. I met another storm chaser that day who was driving through, and that’s when I realized people actually go all over the U.S. to chase them. He was from Oklahoma, and he drove all the way to Montana to chase it. I was like, “That’s crazy, but it’s awesome.” When I went to college in Chadron, Nebraska, me and my buddy started skipping classes to go chase tornadoes, even though we had no idea what we were doing.
Did you study weather in college?
I went to school for criminal justice because I didn’t think there was actually a career path in storm chasing. It’s not like there’s a job application for it. I always figured it would be something I’d do on the side. I really credit my mentors and chase partners; they not only taught me how to storm chase but showed me how to work the media side of it. If you shoot crazy videos, you can sell them and make money. I’m like, “Well, if you can sell enough of it, you can make a living.” That was kind of my motivator: “I just gotta shoot crazy videos.”
In both the original Twister and Twisters, storm chasers drive around with teams. When you go out, how many people do you chase with?
For a while, it was just me and my chase partner, Scott. And then it was just me for a while going out there and doing it solo. For the past year and a half, it’s been me and my girlfriend, Sierra —
Oh wow!
She storm chases with me a lot. Starting last year, I teamed up with Reed Timmer — he was on the TV show Storm Chasers back in the day with a tornado tank, the Dominator 3. I’ve jumped around and teamed up a little bit, but overall I try to do things myself and make my own name.
Did you and your girlfriend meet through storm chasing?
We met on Twitter, but she’s studying meteorology.
What’s your dynamic when you go out chasing together?
If we’re out chasing, she’ll run the computer, looking at forecast models and looking for road options, and then sometimes she’ll shoot video as well.
What kinds of traits make for a good storm chaser?
The best trait is just being able to be on the road nonstop, consistently, not needing to stop and go to the bathroom every 30 minutes, and being willing to live off gas-station junk food for a while. I think we’ve done over 48,000 miles this year alone already. You’re almost on the road more than a truck driver is. It’s like car camping.
Do rivalries develop between storm chasers out on the road, like what pops up in Twister and Twisters?
At the end of the day, a lot of people are going out because they love weather. We’re all united on that front. But we all compete, too, because everybody wants to get the craziest shot. When someone else gets crazy footage, you’re like, “I’m so mad at you … but I’m happy for you at the same time.” The competition helps push people to shoot better footage, but it has its risks, obviously.
I watched your video where you drive straight into a tornado.
That was in the Dominator 3, yeah.
How do you know when it’s safe to do?
That vehicle was fully designed to go into a tornado. Our mission for that was to find a photogenic or a condensed tornado, preferably in the middle of nowhere so there’s no debris flying around. That’s one of the biggest threats, getting hit with something like a tree or someone’s house. That day just worked out perfectly in Nebraska; we were in the middle of nowhere. You can look at the tornado itself and you can tell whether it’s violent or if it’s too strong. You can tell by the motion. The motion will give it away. With a strong tornado, you’ll start seeing more of a vertical, throwing things straight up in the air. It’s almost like digging a trench or picking a flower out of the ground. When it’s a wispy or weaker tornado, there’s more of a spin to it, blowing things off to the side. That tornado was definitely strong, and we were being risky on that one but we ended up making it work.
The storm chasers in these films have a real sense of what a tornado might do based on the feel of the air or the look of the clouds. How do you develop that instinct?
You really learn to look at what’s called surface observations or mesoanalysis, and you gotta look at your dew points. When you’re stuck between multiple storms and you don’t know what’s going on around you, wind direction is a huge key because usually the wind will end up leading you to where the tornadoes are. It’s more helpful to have a general idea of where you are on the storm’s path, versus the tornado’s location itself. If the air is really hot and humid, that’s healthy for a storm, but if I was to hop out and all of a sudden I’m getting cold air thrown at me, the odds of that being a tornado producer are very low. Cold air means it’s outflow dominant. The storm is pushing out all its recycled air; it’s not breathing. Knowing how to key in on certain things like that helps a lot, especially if you get into sticky situations when you’re chasing at night or in the rain.
There’s a big set piece in the new film when the storm chasers witness two tornados splitting apart into twins almost. Is that something you’ve seen out on the road?
I’ve seen tornadoes have a big satellite on them. It’s usually anti-cyclonic, and you can see them kind of revolve around each other. It’s very rare to get tornadoes that split off into separate directions, but it does happen. This year on April 26, we didn’t see twins — there was an old tornado occluding as it was coming back north and then a new tornado was forming just to the east of it. So we saw those two tornadoes, but one was weakening as one was getting stronger. Still, seeing two tornadoes simultaneously for about two minutes is pretty cool.
Are you excited to see Twisters?
I am so excited.
What do you think it was about the original that you loved so much as a kid?
I have never been asked that question! I just remember watching it and first thinking the music was really good and then I was like, “It’s crazy it’s so flat there,” because I had never been to Oklahoma. I was a Montana kid. Everybody in that movie looks like they’re having a good time when they’re out on the chase. Going up and seeing tornadoes up close is so beautiful and scary at the same time. I just felt like I wanted to see more of that. And the romance between Bill and Jo is so good. I can watch Twister over and over. My girlfriend complains because any time we watch it, I literally quote the entire movie word for word. So it’s funny. It’s just my favorite movie. It’s perfect. It has the perfect blend of CGI and regular theatrics, and it still just looks really good. Obviously, there are some inaccuracies in it about storm chasing, but it’s still one of the most realistic tornado movies out there.
