MINTO – Tornadoes have followed Tom Nickerson his whole life.
Estimating he's seen at least a dozen tornadoes in-person, the Minto stormchaser said he's overwhelmed with excitement, anxiety, fear and an "overwhelming sense of emotions" every time he witnesses a tornado firsthand. That's also the reason he keeps chasing.
"I've just always been kind of a tornado magnet. Growing up as a kid, there were always tornadoes in the background or in the towns we were living in," said Nickerson. "That turned into a personal hobby. I was going out tracking storms just to take pictures of them for myself."
Although he officially started storm chasing in 2016, Nickerson can remember seeing one of his first tornadoes just outside of Hanover in a campground when he was 12 or 14 – cementing a lifelong fascination.
"We didn't think anything of it, we were outside playing and then when we got inside the camper trailer, (the tornado) picked us up about six feet off the ground and dropped us back down," said Nickerson. "It completely destroyed all the jacks and the cement cinder blocks underneath (the trailer) and twisted the frame."
While each chase has its own attributes, one of Nickerson's favourite moments was the first time his girlfriend navigated for him – getting the duo a little too close to a tornado in the Creemore area that later touched down in a field beside the road they were driving on.
"That was when I realized we were a little bit too close. We needed to get out of this," said Nickerson. "The car was completely rain-wrapped. We couldn't see anything. Trees were going sideways."
Other times, stormchasing can be quite boring.
According to Nickerson, a typical day chasing involves driving out, trying to find a good spot in front of the storm to get photogenic shots and then relocating before that storm gets to you or prevents those photos.
It can also be strenuous because updates happen every five minutes and "anything can happen within those five minutes," said Nickerson.
"It's 50/50. Sometimes I'll be sitting at home and look at the radar and get this weird feeling that there's something kind of cool looking that I go for and it may or may not turn into something," said Nickerson. "Other times I'll sit there for hours and hours all day watching radars."
Nickerson created a Facebook group called Tornado Cowboys – Ontario Storm Chasers earlier this year to document his chases and raise awareness about extreme weather events in and around Minto and Wellington County, commenting on the role groups like his had in recent hurricanes in Florida, North Carolina and Tennessee.
This season alone Nickerson has had over a dozen intercepts of storms with tornadic potential- issuing tornado warnings averaging about 30 to 40 minutes before Environment Canada. Warnings were also provided for some storms not mentioned by Environment Canada.
"Giving people the ability to have eyes on the ground, I find helps people understand the magnitude of the storm and the severity of it as opposed to just getting that tornado warning," said Nickerson, who hopes to track his first EF-4 or EF-5 in the future.
He also wanted to "help show the realism of what it actually takes to be a storm chaser" versus what's shown in movies like Twisters- using how close the characters drive to the tornado as an example.
"A person that doesn't know any different, they may think that it's okay to get that close when, in reality, it's actually not," said Nickerson. "Hollywood really downplays the magnitude and the severity of storms...Mother Nature doesn't mess around."
In the event of a tornado, Nickerson recommends going underground or getting to the most interior part of the house. He also encouraged families to make sure they have a plan and supplies on hand- just in case.
"The problem is not a problem until it's a problem," said Nickerson. "When you get that tornado warning on your phone, it's usually a matter of minutes."
Isabel Buckmaster is the Local Journalism Initiative reporter for GuelphToday. LJI is a federally-funded program.
