Tornado Hunter

Like the deadly tornadoes it documents, this potent combination of high adventure and hard science is terrifyingly timely in our era of global warming and climate change. The Weather Channel, now America's most watched programming, has in recent years shown us a relentless series of hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, and eruptions killing thousands, turning millions into refugees, and leaving whole cities in shocked, shattered ruins. Of nature's weapons, tornadoes are among the most unforgiving, and here's an unforgettable portrait of these storms and one extraordinary man who challenged them—and produced the first-ever photographs snatched from a rampaging twister's black heart. Tornado chaser Tim Samaras, working with master storyteller Stefan Bechtel, author of Roar of the Heavens, has created a page-turner with narrative force and scientific substance. In the first of five you-are-there accounts, Tornado Hunter opens with a moment-by-moment description of the 2003 catastrophe that engulfed Manchester, South Dakota. The authors evoke the doomed town and its people; the dark menacing funnel; and Samaras's fearless advance into the whirlwind’s core to deploy the ingenious equipment he devised. They interweave the tornado chaser's passion, the fascinating science of the storms themselves, and six decades of progress in predicting and recording their onslaught—an art beholden to Samaras's own groundbreaking inventions. Tim Samaras's 2004 article in National Geographic became one of the most widely read in the magazine’s history. This powerful book is destined to blast its way onto bestseller lists everywhere.

METEOROLOGY. With climate change and global warming creating more frequent and more violent storms, there is a huge readership for weather disasters such as hurricanes and tornadoes. This book will appeal to the audience for the bestseller "Perfect Storm". This page-turning story of tornado chaser and National Geographic grantee Tim Samaras opens with a chilling, play-by-play description of the F5 tornado that wiped off the map the town of Manchester, North Dakota, on June 24, 2003. Stefan Bechtel, author of the acclaimed "Roar of the Heavens" teams with Samaras to reveal the heart and people of the town, the terror of the descending funnel, Samaras' fearless chase to the tornado's core, and the ingenious equipment he masterminded to record the inner workings of a tornado - to aid in future detection, avoidance, and destruction.

The saga of the greatest tornado chaser who ever lived: a tale of obsession and daring and an extraordinary account of humanity’s high-stakes race to understand nature’s fiercest phenomenon from Brantley Hargrove, “one of today’s great science writers” (The Washington Post). At the turn of the twenty-first century, the tornado was one of the last true mysteries of the modern world. It was a monster that ravaged the American heartland a thousand times each year, yet science’s every effort to divine its inner workings had ended in failure. Researchers all but gave up, until the arrival of an outsider. In a field of PhDs, Tim Samaras didn’t attend a day of college in his life. He chased storms with brilliant tools of his own invention and pushed closer to the tornado than anyone else ever dared. When he achieved what meteorologists had deemed impossible, it was as if he had snatched the fire of the gods. Yet even as he transformed the field, Samaras kept on pushing. As his ambitions grew, so did the risks. And when he finally met his match—in a faceoff against the largest tornado ever recorded—it upended everything he thought he knew. Brantley Hargrove delivers a “cinematically thrilling and scientifically wonky” (Outside) tale, chronicling the life of Tim Samaras in all its triumph and tragedy. Hargrove takes readers inside the thrill of the chase, the captivating science of tornadoes, and the remarkable character of a man who walked the line between life and death in pursuit of knowledge. The Man Who Caught the Storm is an “adrenaline rush of a tornado chase…Readers from all across the spectrum will enjoy this” (Library Journal, starred review) unforgettable exploration of obsession and the extremes of the natural world.

The moment Jessica lays eyes on the wild black-and-white paint filly, she knows it was meant to be Jessica’s life at Wild Hawk Ranch is happy, if a bit quiet. But everything changes when her father and brother drive the latest herd of wild young quarter horses into the pen at the family ranch. There, she spots the most beautiful black-and-while paint filly she’s ever seen. She just knows . . . this is the year, and that is the horse. Her moment has come—she’ll finally get to join her father and brother in the family business of breaking wild horses, if only she can convince her father she is old enough. But after a difficult turn, the family has no option but to keep the ranch afloat by turning it into a dude ranch for vacationing city folk. At first, Jess is thrilled by the idea. It will be fun to have new people around—and maybe the extra work will convince her father to give her Storm Chaser, the beautiful paint. But things get complicated when the guests begin arriving. Will Jess be able to salvage her old, happy life and save Storm Chaser from an uncertain future?

The drama, beauty, terror and aftermath of Tornado Alley...One man's journey into and through one of the most horrific and awe-inspiring storm seasons on record. Join Canada's Tornado Hunter, Greg Johnson, on this deeply personal journey and you too will be Blown Away. In his own words and stunning color photographs, Johnson criss-crosses the 49th Parallel to bring a fresh and intimate perspective to the life of the storm chaser on both sides of the US-Canada border. Travel with Johnson through twelve American states and two Canadian provinces (Saskatchewan and Manitoba) in his quest to not only intercept but document some of the season's most powerful storms on record, like the EF5 tornado that devastated Joplin, Missouri on May 22, 2011. Blown Away is also a look inside the world of severe weather photography. Johnson provides tantalizing detail of his equipment and shot strategies that will satisfy the amateur and professional photographer alike. Through his active social media presence with real-time blogging and chase video postings, Johnson invited amateur photographers to submit their own photos, some of which are included in the pages of Blown Away. Blown Away highlights Johnson's artistic eye and technical precision in photographically capturing a difficult subject...Mother Nature at her most tempestuous.

Each year, at least 1,200 tornadoes batter the United States. While most occur in Tornado Alley--a vast, weather-beaten swath of middle America-in truth, tornadoes can occur almost anywhere. And where there are tornadoes, there are storm chasers. They come in all shapes and sizes, from hobbyists to researchers to professional chasers. There is one, however, who stands well above the rest: Roger Hill. Hunting Nature's Fury tells the story of Roger Hill and his love affair with storm chasing, taking you on a suspenseful and dramatic ride across the Great Plains, into the Deep South, even into the eyes of such recent hurricanes as Katrina. You'll accompany Hill as he braves close calls, makes history, and gains insight into the science of severe weather. This is a story of a storm chaser obsessed with the storms that almost killed him; of resiliency in the face of disaster; and of humility in the presence of the awesome power of nature. Includes eight color pages of jaw-dropping photos taken by Hill showing many of the storms chronicled in the book.

Vivid and personal account of confronting some of the planet's most violent weather.