About Find The Tornado

Storm Chaser - Andy Gabrielson

Founder of "FindTheTornado". Born on February 19, 1987, I grew up in Luverne, MN on the family farm. I have daughter who was born on November 19, 2008 and am very proud dad. I relocate to Oklahoma City, OK for spring storms however I will go back to the family farm during the summer months as the storm pattern changes, eventually returning to Oklahoma in the fall for some fall action!

I have storm chased since 2003 but my passion for extended long before that, dating all the way back to 1993 when my dad (Greg) and myself witnessed a tornado roughly 2 miles west of our home. Since then I have had a passion to learn more, study, and document the weather. Which leads me to where I am for 2011 with live streaming video coming to my site from SevereStudios.com where I am an associate chaser and greatly value that opportunity. During my life I have witnessed over 150 tornadoes and have chased in 24 states and covered over 180,000 miles.

I have captured some of the most extreme tornado footage in the past few seasons and it has been a pleasure meeting some of the best people in the world while doing so. I have stock footage in full HD quality, I have an arsenal of HD cameras including the HC-7, HVR-V1U, and FX-1000...In 2011 I was one of a few select chasers to be a part of The Weather Channel's "Great Tornado Hunt".My footage has been shown world wide on several occasions, March 8th Hammon, OK, August 7th Wilkin County MN to name a couple of those. I have been interviewed by Anderson Cooper, Reynolds Wolf, Jim Cantore, and so many others! FOX News, MSNBC, CNN, The Today Show, TWC, and multiple local networks, it's incredible to be able to talk with some of the most talented and professional news anchors in the country on a variety of shows, I am truly honored to have the opportunities I have had. This year I was truly honored to have won a Regional Emmy® Award!  Sharing that honor with Jonathan Wachter and Shawn Cable two very talented people in their field as well with a store called "Way Too Close" which featured by August 7th, 2010 Wilkin County tornado video. Thank you so much for those of you who have followed along for the ride of twitter/facebook/or right here at FindTheTornado.com

Some of my past work and life experience includes graduating from high school in 2005 from Southwest Minnesota Christian High School in Edgerton, MN. I have worked and helped on the family farm for many years and plan to continue to work in the ag related field for some time. I also worked a part time job as an on-air talent at the radio station here in Luverne in 2006. Outside of Storm Chasing I am attending college for a major in business. I plan to continue my education after that by attending more advanced schooling for media or agriculture. Making a career out of storm chasing has been a challenge however things are going along fairly well and the business training has helped alot along with support from my family and friends. You might even catch me racing an IMCA Stock Car periodically yet, I have raced on and off since 2003! Thanks everyone!

About "FindTheTornado" from Andy - "When I was thinking about starting a website back in 2007, I was trying to think of clever website ideas or something easy to remember. I kept my goal in mind which was obviously to chase and track down tornadoes. Finding the tornado is the ultimate goal on any chase day for me, so I came up with FindTheTornado.com as my website. Since the early stages the goal has sort of morphed from just capturing a tornado, to capturing a tornado up close. Extreme tornado video from within 100 yards is my goal now, and although I love seeing a tornado from a mile or two away and doing timelapse, the up close is really intense. I certainly do not suggest anyone get that close to tornadoes, its extremely dangerous, thats all I can really say about that. Moving into the future I hope that FindTheTornado is something people enjoy visiting, we hope to offer a good product that speaks volumes, if we can do that, we are continuing to be succesful."

Thank you for taking time to learn more about myself, below is some of the friends who I have met through the storm chasing community. They are independendent and represent themselves. FindTheTornado (AGP LLC assumes no employment or responsibility for the above or below individuals actions. The only member fully representing to Find The Tornado is (Andy Gabrielson). Thanks again and hope you enjoy the other things that are offered here at Find The Tornado.com.

Independent Storm Chasers

Storm Chaser - Tim Purginton

I was born and raised in the Twin Cities. Growing up in Minnesota gives you the opportunity to experience almost every weather condition possible. From tornadoes to blizzards.

I saw my first tornado when I was fifteen years old in Garrison, MN. From then on, I have kept an eye on the sky. I started chasing storms in 1992. I figured since I was already following the severe weather, why not help the public. I attended my first Skywarn class in 2002 and became a trained spotter for the National Weather Service. I continue to go to training classes yearly.

I currently live in Hammond, WI with my loving wife and two boys. I am glad to have the opportunity to work with FindTheTornado and SevereStudios and hope to capture some incredible video as the storm seasons unfold.

Storm Chaser - James Skivers

In the blizzard of February of 1980, James Skivers was born in Kansas City, Mo. Raised on a farm in Tonganoxie, Ks where he lived until age 6, awareness of severe weather was distilled into him, even at this very young age. Throughout his life, he rcalls his family’s farmhouse being struck by lightning and burnt to the ground, as well as frequent visits to the tornado shelter with his family, without incident.

By age 17, James had attended his first NWS held Spotter-Talk in Kansas City, Ks. He had already decided that he was interested in storm chasing for the purposes of serving warnings to the public.

James achieved this by learning to read the sky while receiving radar updates from his friends via cell phone throughout high school. Upon graduation from Shawnee Mission Public schools, he had already landed a full-time job as a Systems Analyst in the school districts IT dept., making him the youngest district employee in SMSD history.It was during this time he was able to take his studies of severe weather seriously by attending yearly spotter talks, as well as self-study.

During his 20’s, he became a father of a beautiful daughter who now shares the same niche for severe weather as he. On May, 4th 2003, he witnessed his first tornados during the tornado outbreak of Kansas City. He carries a Certificate of Participation from the “Advanced Spotter 1 – Introduction to Radar and Its Applications”, a class held by Leslie Lemon, the godfather of the WSR-88D radar network widely used by the National Weather Service. He is also certified as an emergency first responder through the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) backed by FEMA and the Olathe, Ks Fire Department. James also carries a Ham Radio license for the purposes of providing warnings to emergency management as well as relaying the ground truth to the NWS.

When he is not spending time with family or out documenting weather. James enjoys off-road mountain biking, spelunking, writing/performing music, and working in the IT/Security field.

Storm Chaser - Will Wilkens

Will's passion for weather has been part of his life since childhood, and growing up in Southern California has had its unique challenges with weather. But El Nino, Monsoons, and Santa Ana Winds provide exciting times when they occur. Every aspect of weather including watching lightning from monsoon storms looming over the nearby mountains and desert, torrential downpours of El Nino, pounding mountain blizzards, and the howling 100mph Santa Ana Winds, has fascinated him.

Will has been storm chasing for over 20 years, and chases extreme weather in Southern California all year, severe weather and tornadoes in the Plains during spring, and the monsoons in Arizona during the summer. He has experienced countless significant weather events around California including funnel clouds and waterspouts, as well as tornadoes in the Plains.
Will currently resides in the Inland Empire region of Southern California.

For more information about Will, please visit his website at Southwest Sky

Storm Chaser - Keith Strang

Hello my name is Keith Strang.  I was born in California, lived most of my life in central Minnesota and just got done with college at the University of North Dakota (UND) in Grand Forks, ND where I earned a degree in Electrical Engineering with a minor in Mathematics and an Aerospace focus.  While attending UND I worked heavily with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and hope to continue this work both as a hobby and professional career. 

A few years ago I was awoken to the fascinating subculture known as “Storm Chasing” and without a doubt in my mind I knew I was already a member before ever officially chasing a storm.  I spent literally every spare moment I had learning everything I could about severe weather and the art of chasing.  One does not realize the drive (and luck) that is needed to become a successful chaser.  I found myself studying various weather trends, climatology, long-term forecasting through various models and model parameters, short-term forecasting through surface observations, how to decipher radar products,  the necessary ingredients needed to produce a healthy supercell and ultimately tornadoes, recognizing storm structure and an unbelievable amount other background knowledge.  With all I’ve learned, I still feel I have a lifetime of learning left to further my understanding of these amazing earthly phenomena we call thunderstorms. 

In a nutshell, I chase because I honestly believe a good thunderstorm is the greatest show on Earth.  Sure you can watch them on TV or browse through sweet tornado vids all day on Youtube, but there is no substitute for actually being there.  Actually feeling the warm inflow winds on the back of your neck as you watch a wall cloud drop, getting pelted by rain droplets as you get run over by a powerful rear-flank downdraft, or when a rush of adrenaline is pumped through your body when you’re lucky enough to witness the incredible power of a tornado… there is just no substitute to actually being there.  I’m not a hippie, nor an adrenaline junkie… I just think Mother Nature can be pretty amazing and I love being there to see it.

I want to say thanks to Andy, without much dispute… the best storm chaser out there for welcoming me to the “Find the Tornado” empire he’s worked so hard to build.  Also, please make an effort to pay attention to the skies around you, especially when there is ample warning.  We don’t need anyone getting hurt now!

Hometown: Sauk Rapids, MN

Twitter: sevenboarder

Storm Chaser - Corey Johnson

I'm Corey Johnson, from Luverne, MN I was born on May 4, 1984 to Marcia and Randy Johnson. I started chasing in 2009 with Andy Gabrielson of FindTheTornado.com and hope to continue doing so as much as possible in the future. I think we work well together when we are chasing, and hope we can continue to work even better together the more chases we are on. We had alot of success in a short period of time, seeing over 50 tornadoes in under 2 full seasons of chasing.  My favorite chase has to be the Campo, CO tornado on May 31, 2010. I remember hanging out the passenger window with the video camera and having the tornado pass maybe 100 ft. in front of us. That was one of the most exciting moments I have ever experience and it's something that I will never forget. 

I think the main thing that keeps me interested in storm chasing is the adrenaline rush it's just so intense when your driving right next to a tornado. Andy has also taught me how valuable we can be, and simply making a phone call to report a tornado could help save someones life. These are great feelings and I just don't think anybody can honestly explain how it feels to be in that position, doing something that is really intense and exciting, all while being a help to the public. Outside of chasing I have girlfriend Amanda who is very supportive of everything I do even if she doesn't always agree with it! I also have a 6 year old daughter Hailey, and I try spend as much time as I can with both of them. I grew up and have spent most of my life in the Luverne area. I also have 1 older brother Chris and 1 younger brother Cole who are both in college. I also am Interested in most types of auto racing, football, and hockey. I do construction for a company and for myself most of the time when I'm not chasing with Andy.

FindTheTornado (AGP LLC assumes no employment or responsibility for the above or below individuals actions. The only member fully representing to Find The Tornado is (Andy Gabrielson). Thanks again and hope you enjoy the other things that are offered here at Find The Tornado.com. FindTheTornado, TornadoChat are represented by A. G. Productions LLC. Tornado. They are responsible for their own actions, and their opinions and actions are not an official statement