the biggest danger of storm chasing has always been the driving. storm chaser: let s go back. we re going back. we re going back. you tend to judge where the tornado is going, but that doesn t always happen. there are so many people who chase now on some storms that traffic is actually a serious problem. when i m chasing out in the plains, i m apt to see dozens of other chasers. when i began storm chasing, there were no other chasers. tim marshall: david hoadley, whether he likes it or not, is the father of modern day storm chasing. max olson: david hoadley is the first person to truly go out and seek tornadoes, driving long distances, attempting to come up with some sort
the biggest danger of storm chasing has always been the driving. storm chaser: let s go back. we re going back. we re going back. you tend to judge where the tornado is going, but that doesn t always happen. there are so many people who chase now on some storms that traffic is actually a serious problem. when i m chasing out in the plains, i m apt to see dozens of other chasers. when i began storm chasing, there were no other chasers. tim marshall: david hoadley, whether he likes it or not, is the father of modern day storm chasing. max olson: david hoadley is the first person to truly go out and seek tornadoes, driving long distances, attempting to come up with some sort
of geographical features that can lend itself to a lot of tornadoes. the gulf of mexico, that provides the very warm, humid air. then you also get cooler, drier air that s either coming down from canada or off the rockies. there s really no other place in the world that has the exact combination of ingredients like we do here in the united states. storm chaser: zoom in. storm chasing has definitely evolved into this kind of social media era. storm chaser: where are we? northeast nebraska? max olson: and people wanna be seen. they wanna be, you know, the chaser that everybody thinks of, doing the live streams, posts in front of a tornado and whatnot. trent okerson: storm chasing is a double edged sword. it s very valuable when it comes to learning more about the science behind storms, but it can also be dangerous if you re not 100% sure of what you re doing.
max olson: there s a side to it that s almost like a hunter, because you re trying to narrow down where in the country this relatively rare phenomenon is gonna take place. storm chaser: come on. tim marshall: now there are thousands of people who do this. there s even tour groups nowadays, and you can get in a van and go with a group of fellow enthusiasts and drive out onto the plains and see the majestic skies. allison chinchar: in the united states, we average more than 1,200 tornadoes per year. that is number one in the world by a long shot. the second closest is canada, which only gets 100 per year. you could actually add canada, australia, and all european countries combined, and we still see more than they do. tornadoes are most common in the midwest. max olson: we also have another area that s really prone to tornadoes in our southeastern states. harold brooks: the tornado season depends on where