Storm Chasing
I yesterday got an e-mail from a Canadian friend with impressive photos said to be from Hurricane Katrina hitting the US Gulf Coast in August 05. “Googling” the source of the pictures quickly lead me to “Snopes.com“, a site about web rumours, telling that these were genuine pictures, however, not of the Katrina hurricane, but of series by storm chaser Mike Hollingshead taken in Nebraska and Kansas in 04. On his site “extremeinstability.com” you find extraordinary shots of tornados, as well as wallpapers, links to videos, DVDs and more. Here is a photo of the May 28, 2004 Highway 12 Nebraska Supercell series. Thanks Mike, for the permission of using.
It looks that chasing storms isn’t that easy. Mike Hollingshead writes that he is driving long distances in hope of seeing cool clouds, often all for nothing: “It is a bit depressing being so far from home and seeing crap storms or nothing at all, then having to start that long drive back, often while extremely tired.” Since 2004 he’s doing it with no other job outside this…
A “tornado” or “storm” is also a metaphor for turbulent situations in life. Normally people don’t like going through these storms, for crises aren’t that cosy. But often these intense times of change bring about the most important transformations.
