A Summer of Storm Chasing

Jamila Simpson spent a good chunk of her summer riding around in a van looking for some of the world’s most dangerous storms.

The trip, a Mother’s Day gift from her husband, was a bucket-list excursion for Simpson and fed her longtime love of big weather. During the 17-day tour, she estimates that she saw eight to 10 tornadoes throughout the Great Plains, from South Dakota and Nebraska all the way to Texas and New Mexico. 

The crown jewel was a sighting of the giant Morton tornado, which made national news when it touched down in Texas on June 5. Her group was able to get close enough for selfies, but not too close.

“It’s far enough away that you’re not afraid, and it’s slow-moving,” she said. 

An atmospheric scientist by training, Simpson was the first African American woman to receive a bachelor’s degree in meteorology from NC State. She then continued on to receive her master’s and doctorate in science education from the university. The storm chasing tour was a big change from her work as the college’s associate dean for college success and well-being, in which she leads initiatives that support the overall health and prosperity of the Sciences community. 

Beyond the tornado sightings, the trip also provided Simpson with an extended taste of storm-chasing life. On most mornings, she and the rest of the group led by Tempest Tours would wake up in a tiny plains motel and look at the forecast. Then they’d hit the road in 12-passenger vans for a full day of storm-chasing that was interrupted only briefly by a stop for lunch. 

Scenes from Summer Storms

Many of her fellow chasers were visiting the U.S. from other countries, and most were on at least their second tornado-chasing trip. She even crossed paths with an NC State meteorology alumnus, Michael Brown, who was following the storms in a mobile radar truck as a graduate student at Texas Tech.

“The thing that you have in common,” she said, “is that you all love the weather.”

They saw more than just tornadoes. The storms amplified the big skies of the Great Plains and produced palettes that aren’t often seen in the rolling hills of the Triangle. There were eye-popping rainbows and giant thunderhead clouds and hail stones bigger than golf balls.

Simpson was well aware that the tour was a different experience from the work that tornado researchers like NC State’s Matt Parker conduct on the plains. And she was thankful that the storms she witnessed stayed away from densely populated areas.

“That’s what you want to see,” she said. “Beautiful tornadoes that aren’t bothering anybody.”

This post was originally published in College of Sciences News.