I've been fascinated by tornadoes ever since I saw one form above me in person when I was a kid at the state fair in New Mexico. We were watching the funnel descend from the sky when they forced us into a concrete shelter nearby. My 10-year-old self was disappointed...I wanted to see what happened!

This video has been getting played everywhere today. It's ridiculous how much danger these tornado chasers put themselves into!

One of my wifes co-workers is a professional storm chaser (and has been for years). He still holds the WORLD record for the lowest barometric pressure (100 millibars) drop ever recorded within a violent tornado that destroyed the town of Manchester, SD June 24th 2003. This guy does this kind of stuff all the time, and his DVD is scary to say the least. The things those guys do in the name of science (or insanity) is simply amazing.

Wow, Napster, that's awesome! For anyone that doesn't know about the famous Manchester F-4 tornado, see this frightening (and R-rated) snippet. Is the co-worker you know associated with these guys?

Heh. If you think THAT is scary, you HAVE to get the DVD "Driven by Passion' by Tim Samaras (pronounced sa-mare-is). It's a 2 DVD set and well worth the price. (Tim autographed mine.)
He works for the scientific company Applied Research Associates, here in Colorado.

His footage of that F4 (and the ohers) is truly terrifying. You will think you are watching the movie 'Twister' for a few moments, then you'll realize those are real houses, barns, trees and buildings being shredded to toothpicks right before your eyes.

Wow, that Manchester footage was amazing. That tornado was huge! I'll have to look up that DVD that Napster recommended.

Storm chasing seems crazy, but we learn so much from the data they collect.