''Tornado Chasers'' is an American documentary series that premiered on September 19, 2012, on TVNweather.com. The program follows

Reed Timmer Reed Timmer (born March 17, 1980) is an American meteorologist and storm chasing, storm chaser. He is known for starring in the Discovery Channel reality television series ''Storm Chasers (TV series), Storm Chasers'', as well as in the documentar ...

and his team of

storm chasers ''Storm Chasers'' is an American documentary reality television series that premiered on October 17, 2007, on the Discovery Channel. Produced by Original Media, the program follows several teams of storm chasers as they attempt to intercept to ...

as they attempt to intercept

tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...

es in

Tornado Alley Tornado Alley is a loosely defined area of the central United States where tornadoes are most frequent. The term was first used in 1952 as the title of a research project to study severe weather in areas of Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Kansas, So ...

in the United States and Canada. Season 2, funded largely through a successful

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

campaign, commenced on September 30, 2013. The series is a two-time

Webby Award The Webby Awards are awards for excellence on the Internet presented annually by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a judging body composed of over two thousand industry experts and technology innovators. Categories include ...

Honoree, once for Best Documentary Series in 2013, and again for Best Editing ("Home, Part 2") in 2014.

Overview

''Tornado Chasers'' was filmed each year during storm season in Tornado Alley, using Timmer's

Norman, Oklahoma Norman () is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Oklahoma, with a population of 128,097 as of 2021. It is the largest city and the county seat of Cleveland County, Oklahoma, Cleveland County, and the second-largest city in the Oklahoma C ...

, home as a base. Contrary to previous series about storm chasing, ''Tornado Chasers'' takes a more personal approach, conveying the chronological, authentic storm chasing experience. During the 2012 season, Timmer's team mainly consisted of Dick McGowan, Chris Chittick, and Terry Rosema. For the 2013 season, Timmer reconnected with Joel Taylor, joined the

KFOR-TV KFOR-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside independent station KAUT-TV (channel 43). Both stations share studios in Oklahoma ...

NewsChannel 4 Oklahoma City severe weather team, and welcomed broadcast meteorologists

Jim Cantore James D. Cantore (born February 16, 1964) is an American meteorologist. He is best known as an on-air personality for The Weather Channel. Career A native of Beacon Falls, Connecticut, who was raised in White River Junction, Vermont, Cantore g ...

and

Ginger Zee Ginger Renee Colonomos ( née Zuidgeest; born January 13, 1981), known by her pseudonym Ginger Zee, is an American television personality. She is the chief meteorologist for ABC News, after having been the network's weekend meteorologist. Earl ...

as guest chase partners. He also introduced the new Dominator 3, the largest of his armored intercept vehicles.

Dedications

The episode titled "Home, Part 2" which debuted on December 5, 2013, ends with a dedication to all who lost their lives in the Moore, OK tornado of May 20, 2013. The season 2 finale titled "Nemesis, Part 2" which debuted on January 23, 2014, ends with a dedication to

Tim Samaras Timothy Michael Samaras (November 12, 1957 – May 31, 2013) was an American engineer and Storm chasing, storm chaser best known for his field research on tornadoes and time on the Discovery Channel show, ''Storm Chasers (TV series), Storm C ...

, Paul Samaras, Carl Young, all of team

TWISTEX TWISTEX (a backronym for Tactical Weather-Instrumented Sampling in/near Tornadoes Experiment) was a tornado research experiment that was founded and led by Tim Samaras of Bennett, Colorado, US, that ended in the deaths of three researchers in th ...

, as well as amateur chaser Richard Henderson, all who lost their lives in the El Reno, OK tornado of May 31, 2013.

Episodes

Season 1 (2012)

During the 2012 season, which consisted of 12 episodes, Timmer continues chasing during the year following the final season of

Discovery Discovery may refer to: * Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown * Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown * Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence Discovery, The Discovery ...

's ''

Storm Chasers ''Storm Chasers'' is an American documentary reality television series that premiered on October 17, 2007, on the Discovery Channel. Produced by Original Media, the program follows several teams of storm chasers as they attempt to intercept to ...

''. Joel Taylor left the team. Team members for the 2012 season included Dick McGowan (Dominator driver), Mike Scantlin (driver/shooter), and Chris Chittick (shooter).

Season 2 (2013)

In late February 2013, TVN launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund a second season of ''Tornado Chasers''. The campaign was enormously successful, almost doubling the original goal. Production commenced on April 5, 2013. This season saw the return of Joel Taylor (albeit briefly) to the team, and Reed became a field correspondent for the KFOR-TV storm team in Oklahoma City. A new Dominator vehicle, "Dominator 3," joined the fleet and featured the latest vehicle intercept technology. Jim Cantore from

The Weather Channel The Weather Channel (TWC) is an American pay television channel owned by Weather Group, LLC, a subsidiary of Allen Media Group. The channel's headquarters are in Atlanta, Georgia. Launched on May 2, 1982, the channel broadcasts weather forecas ...

also joined Timmer in the Dominator for some of the bigger tornado events, and Ginger Zee from

ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...

joined Timmer's team for the May 20, 2013, Moore tornado event. The TVN team also runs into

, Paul Samaras, and Carl Young days before the multiple-vortex tornado took their lives.

Season 2: Ultimate Tornadoes (2014)

After the completion of the second season, seven supplemental episodes were produced. These episodes featured extensive content, such as an extended "tornado cut" of the season, behind the scenes, and educational material. These episodes premiered on February 18, 2014.

Release

The entire Tornado Chasers series is available from TVN On-Demand. Season 2 is also available on Hulu and Amazon Prime. The second season is also available on Blu-ray. An ebook titled The Making of Tornado Chasers: Behind the Scenes of the Groundbreaking Documentary Series was released on August 20, 2014. It was written by executive producer Ken Cole, along with a foreword by Reed Timmer, and features journal-style remembrances from the production.

References

External links

* * {{IMDb title, tt2949316
TornadoVideos.Net

Storm Chasers on YourDiscovery.com
Storm chasing 2012 American television series debuts 2014 American television series endings 2010s American reality television series 2010s American documentary television series