Assistant geography professor David Call had studied tornadoes for years, but he had never seen one as close as he did in the summer of 2008 when he led a group of students storm chasing to study their formation.
"I had seen a lot of other severe weather phenomena — winds [higher than] 60 mph, large hail, funnel clouds — but no tornado," Call said. "The experience was great. It was excellent to see one in person."
Tornadoes do not represent the largest danger for storm chasers. Driving 6,000 to 8,000 miles in two weeks and lightning are two aspects storm chasers are careful of, Call said.
"Driving is relatively hazardous," he said. "Since the severe thunderstorms are part of the physical environment and they follow rules [of nature], we could usually keep ourselves pretty much out of harm's way."
Taking the adequate precautions, storm chasing is a unique learning and traveling experience, Call said.
"I enjoy to get out in the weather for a few weeks without other distractions, and like a lot of meteorologists, I'm drawn to it because I get excited about extreme weather," he said. "I learn a lot about how the weather works myself. I teach it, so obviously I've learned a lot, but there is still so much about thunderstorms and tornadoes that we don't know. It's a big learning experience for me."
Call and geography professor Reuben Allen will lead a group of 10 Ball State University students to the Great Plains today for a two and a half week trip in search for severe weather.
This group of students and faculty is part of the GEOG 490 Field Observation of Severe Local Storms class. Unlike with the Ball State storm chasing team, this class gives students the opportunity to earn six credit hours while studying storms up close.
This is the third year Call has led a group of students to study storms. In the last two years, the groups have driven to South Dakota, Texas, Colorado and Missouri, with routes changing according to where they will find severe weather.
The course starts with one week of training in which students learn the basics of how storms are formed; they study maps and atlases and learn how to use weather instruments. The day they depart, they make sure they have everything they need. Laptops, maps, walkie talkies, weather instruments and first aid kits are among the items on their list.
Each morning of the trip, the team looks at the forecast and travels to where it thinks severe storms are more likely. Later in the day, the team picks the storm that looks the most intense.
"Even if [the storms] don't drop a tornado there's a lot of things we can learn about how storms work by observing them in the field," Call said. "The more intense the more the features and the more we learn about the storm."
For some members of the team, such as freshman meteorology major Desiree Alspugh, the experience is new.
Although she does not have much experience studying storms, Alspaugh said the rest of the team is helpful and she is excited to learn more.
On the other hand, for meteorology graduate student Steve LaVoie, storm chasing is not something new. LaVoie traveled to Ohio last semester through the Ball State storm chasing team. However, he has never seen a tornado and hopes to use this opportunity to see one.
"I would like to see a tornado close up. I could imagine it being amazing," he said.
Although he is eager to see a tornado, LaVoie's passion is hurricanes.
"A hurricane struck my hometown when I was 6," he said. "The destruction was enormous, and [tornadoes] just have amazing power."
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