I’m a real life ‘Twisters’ storm chaser in apocalypse-proof Dominator truck – I survived the biggest tornado ever
WHAT started as a way to overcome a fear of tornadoes has turned into a passion for storm chaser Edgar ONeal.
The former entertainment manager has been chasing storms for the past 11 years after he experienced his first tornado in Oklahoma in 2013.
He said: “It just happened to be the biggest tornado in history.
“It was like two and a half miles wide.
“At the time, I didn’t know anything about storm chasing or meteorology or anything like that, and it was coming towards our house, and I had to run with my family.
“It was a big ordeal.”
He added: “Everything turned out fine, and our house did not end up getting hit. But that experience was so scary that I was like I need to learn more about this if I’m going to live in Oklahoma.
“So I asked my wife if she had a friend or knew anyone that storm chased, and she pointed me in the direction of another storm chaser, and I went out for one ride along, and I was hooked.
“Instantly.”
Edgar said he didn’t realise how hard it was to forecast storms and how to get out in front of them.
He said: “I didn’t realise that all these skills were needed.
“It was cool to see mother nature and just how beautiful it could be, and also how devastating it could be.”
“Fast forward to 11 years later. It’s now my career. It was an interesting journey to get here.”
Inside the eye of the storm
Just this year alone Edgar has been inside eight different tornadoes, describing the experience as “exciting”.
He said: “The first time I experienced being inside a tornado kind of threw me off a little.
There’s a pressure drop so your ears pop, kind of like you’re in a plane.
After the fact, you almost feel a little confused, almost like you have concussion symptoms.
“But inside during a tornado, it’s honestly so exciting.
“You can’t understand how fast the wind and debris are moving until you’re inside of one of those and you see how powerful it is.”
He added: “I have those moments all the time after 10 years of chasing of being like “oh my god, I can’t believe what I just saw”.
“Not many people have got to see the inside of a tornado.
“It’s chaotic inside of a tornado. It’s really hard to describe it unless you’re inside of it.”
A career change
Before becoming a storm chaser, Edgar worked in the entertainment industry and used to manage and tour with bands.
Despite the career change, Edgar said being on the road chasing storms was similar to touring.
He said: “It’s a lot like being on tour. You start like, you know, mid to late February, that’s when the tornadoes start and severe weather starts cranking up.
“We start chasing and we might be gone for, you know, 10 – 15 days at a time, come home for one day, go back out for 10 more days.
“It depends on the setups.
“A lot of the time we’re driving to them, but sometimes we can’t make the drive. So let’s say one day there’s a chase in, you know, Omaha, Nebraska, but the next day there’s a chase in New Orleans.
“So we’ll chase all day, get a flight that night or early in the morning, fly to the next city, get a rental car and chase that day.
“It’s a lot of travel. I always joke, because when you tell people you’re a storm chaser, they just think about all the exciting, crazy stuff that you do.
“They’re like, “Oh my god, your job’s crazy”, but it’s also full of, 10 to 11 hours of driving and travel every day for two or three hours of excitement.”
Edgar has even managed to combine his bachelor’s in entertainment business to run Team Dominator’s social media accounts.
He said: “Team Dominator is 100 per cent self-funded.
“There’s not a lot of grants for storm chasers and the type of science we do. So we are usually responsible for raising all of our own money.
“We do all of that through our social media, and that’s kind of my job
“I do the short-form social media. We have other people who do long forms. I also run the live streams.
“We live stream these chases on YouTube every time we chase, with a full multi-camera experience.
“We also have a series that we put out.”
Edgar added that he didn’t plan to become a storm chaser.
He said: “I posted a couple of videos on Tiktok and the next thing I knew it was blowing up. And I was like I can make a career out of this.”
Riding in the Dominator 3
Edgar has teamed up with Dr Reed Timmer, a meteorologist and storm chaser who is the team lead for Team Dominator.
The Dominator is storm chasing machine built to withstand tornadoes.
Describing the vehicle, Edgar said: “It weighs about 14,000 pounds and it’s armoured all the way around.
“When we get inside a tornado, we airbag suspension where we can go flush to the ground, and it even has spikes that we can drill down into the asphalt, keep us in place when inside a tornado.”
The vehicle also has a probe with sensors on it, including rocket launchers.
Edgar said: “We have rocket launchers on top of the of the Dominator.
“It launches rockets into tornadoes with little miniaturised sensors.
“They get taken up to record data.”
Search and Rescue
While collecting data is part of the job, Edgar is also one of the first people to respond to any situation.
He said: “A lot of the time”, the storm chasers are the first people there after a tornado hits.
“I’d say it’s part of storm chaser ethics; that if you’re going to chase and you come upon people’s homes that are damaged, you’ve got to switch focus.
“You’re no longer chasing that tornado. You’ve got to get in there go through the rubble, try to even just prepare for first-responders.
“Try to figure out where people are trapped, if they’re in a place where you can safely get to them. I know plenty of chasers who perform life-saving CPR.
“When we come up on a site and people need help, you have to snap into action.”
He added: “It can be a tiny bit of an emotional roller coaster
“It’s so hard to put into words what a disaster scene is like right after a tornado.
“It’s almost just like people walking around like zombies and being confused and disoriented because nothing looks the same.”
Real life “Twisters”
The one thing Edgar wants is to see storm chasing on the centre stage.
He said: “We’re the real field scientist out there.
“Storm chasers are a wide variety of people, from the hobbyists up to the professionals.
“I hope that we can continue to grow. I think movies like “Twisters” are building the excitement up again.
“I think it is an important role, and with social media, it’s even more important.
“When we’re out there live storm chasing during a tornado, we’re performing what the news used to do, but we’re on the front lines of the weather science.
“We provide a useful service to the community and we want to keep spreading that information and letting people know that we’re out there and we can help.”
Factfile of worst storms in history
There have been 15 tropical cyclones in the 21st century so far.
- Cyclone Daniel. When: September 2023 Where: Mediterranean Libya, Egypt, Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, Israel. Death toll: More than 5,951
- Very Intense Tropical Cyclone Freddy. When: February 2023. Where: Mozambique, Malawi, Madagascar, Zimbabwe. Death toll: 1,434
- Intense Tropical Cyclone Idai. When March 2019. Where: Mozambique, Malawi, Madagascar, Zimbabwe. Death toll: 1,593
- Hurricane Maria. When: September 2016. Where: Puerto Rico. Death toll: 3,059
- Typhoon Haiyan. When: November 2013. Where: Philippines. Death toll: 6,352
- Typhoon Bopha. When November 2012. Where: Philippines. Death toll: 1,901
- Severe Tropical Storm Washi. When: December 2011. Where: Philippines. Death toll: 1,257
- Typhoon Fengshen. When: June 2008. Where: Philippines and Chine. Death toll: 1,371
- Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm Nargis. When: April 2008. Where: Myanmar. Death toll: 138,373
- Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm Sidr. When: November 2011. Where: Bangladesh. Death toll: 3,447
- Typhoon Durian. When: November 2006. Where: Philippines, Vietnam. Death toll: 1,500
- Hurricane Stan. When: October 2005. Where: Mexico, Central America. Death toll: 1,668
- Hurricane Katrina. When: August 2005. Where: United States of America, The Bahamas. Death toll: 1,392
- Tropical Depression Winnie. When: November 2004. Where: Philippines. Death toll: 1,593
- Hurricane Jean. When: September 2004. Where: The Caribbean, United States of America. Death toll: 3,037