As a storm chaser of 13 years, Jason Cooley isn’t easily frightened in the face of heavy weather. On the contrary, it excites him. He says the adrenaline-filled, windswept feeling of standing near a high-speed storm is one unlike any other.Gripping the steering wheel of his white 2013 Honda CR-V, Cooley is one of many tense Cooke County drivers facing Interstate 35 on the evening of May 25.
Cooley is well aware that one mistake could cost him his life. And despite his body giving him every instinctual sign that he should turn back, he presses on.“It was my duty,” Cooley says. “I’m putting myself in harm’s way, but there were other people watching my live coverage that depended on me and my updates. I wasn’t getting right up toward the tornado, I wasn’t exceeding my limits. I was doing my job.
Also like many in his field, Cooley jokes that his pursuit of tornadoes is comparable to an addiction.Throughout his career as a chaser, Cooley has gotten as close as a quarter-mile from a twister. These days, he typically stays farther than a mile away, keeping his safety in mind for the sake of his wife and two children back home.
Today, Cooley is based in Dallas and makes a living from chasing in one of only a few ways a storm spotter can: reporting live for local news stations and selling his videos through a broker to larger networks like CBS, ABC and The Weather Channel. He also works as the social media director and content manager for Texas Storm Chasers, a group whose 10 members chase, forecast and provide active weather coverage about anything and everything storm-related in the state.
Extreme Tornado Tours owner Nick Drieschman likes to think of himself as a lifelong storm chaser. Like Cooley, he discovered his love for weather as a boy, and he began to photograph and document storms and clouds at the age of 6. In the technical sense, he’s been a storm chaser for 12 years and directs and guides tours across Tornado Alley, chiefly in Oklahoma and Texas.
Both Cooley and Drieschman know that there are plenty of chasers who get into the work without understanding the real fundamentals behind storm chasing. Many new and inexperienced chasers easily feed into the thrilling aspects of the chase by prioritizing the quality or extremity of their content over their own safety.