What is required to be a storm chaser?

Answer 1

In a way, anyone can be a storm chaser.

There are storm chasing tours, in which people pay money to be driven around in a van with a couple of experts, and they can photograph tornadoes.

Most professional storm chasers, however, have college degrees in meteorology. The reason they chase storms is to study them to make it easier to predict when deadly tornadoes will form. This is done to save lives.

In short, here's a list of requirements for professional chasers:

1. Expertise. You need to know about storms in order to be safe while chasing

2. The Willingness to spend time away from home. Tornado Season Lasts for about 3 months in the United states, from April, until the end of June.

3. Patience. The thrill of the chase is exciting, but storm chasers may not see a storm for several weeks, and most of the time, storm chasers are either sleeping at a hotel, or driving hundreds of long, boring miles between storms.

4. Nerves. When you're standing out in the middle of an open field watching a tornado, you're a prime target for lightning.

5. A Good Sense of Direction. You'll be traveling all throughout Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, and several other states.

6. Equipment. Most storm chasers keep Cameras, extra batteries, computers, cell phones, CB radios, weather sensing equipment, first aid kits, and other stuff with them to keep the chase running smoothly.

7. The Ability to read radar. If you can't read a radar, you won't know which storms are worth chasing.

8. Money. You will have to have a vehicle for chasing, plus you will have to pay for fuel, and all the equipment mentioned earlier. If you want to mount a mobile doppler Radar to your vehicle, the radar can cost from $600,000 and up.

I hope this information helps.