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co-production lead DVD and web page designer May 22, May 29, June 12 |
Jim loves all sorts of interesting weather, except maybe droughts. He is currently employed by the National Weather Service (NWS) at the Warning Decision Training Branch (WDTB) in Norman, Oklahoma. His job is to develop training materials for forecasters relating to NWS warning operations. He works as a bridge between research (e.g., NSSL) and the operational community. Jim has enjoyed working at WDTB for almost 10 years, however, he as also worked at the National Environmental Satellite and Data Information Service (NESDIS) in Washington DC right after graduating with a MS degree in Meteorology from the University of Oklahoma. In his 15 year career, he has chased all sorts of weather including hurricanes, tornadoes, and winter storms. He's probably just as home on a pair of skis in a blizzard as chasing a supercell. Part of his chasing and work life has included participation in various field projects including VORTEX, IHOP, and STEPS as well as presenting lectures in the US and elsewhere. He can often be found playing with digital imagery just as often as being outside hiking, skiing, kayaking and traveling. He often shares his activities with his wife, Daphne Zaras, a respected chaser herself and NSSL employee. |
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co-production lead Musical scoring May 22, 24, 29, June 12, webpage content May 22, May 29, June 12 |
Greg is a University of Oklahoma meteorologist who is contracted to work for the National Weather Service (NWS) to research and develop innovative severe weather warning decision making technology including Doppler radar algorithms. He is stationed at the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) in Norman, Oklahoma, and works with NSSL scientists to help transfer this new technology into NWS operations. Prior to this position, Greg served as an NSSL group manager responsible for warning application R&D. Throughout his 16 year career, he has had opportunities to participate in a number of special research projects, including several storm intercept programs (VORTEX, subVORTEX, SWAMP, and STEPS), as well as NWS warning decision proof-of-concept tests at about 12 WFOs nationwide. He holds a Master of Science degree in Meteorology from Colorado State University, and is becoming a world-renowned expert in warning and radar applications and theory, and has lectured in the Czech Republic, Austria, Brazil, and Australia. He has also chased storms as a hobby in the Great Plains since 1987, and has witnessed uncountable severe storms and tornadoes (over 110 tornadoes in 18 chase seasons). |
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Martin Lisius
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June 10, 11 |
Martin Lisius began his storm chase career in the mid-1980's. He is founder of Prairie Pictures , a film and video production company and StormStock , the world's premier storm footage library. In addition, Martin founded and chairs the Texas Severe Storms Association (TESSA), a national non-profit dedicated to severe weather education. Martin produced, directed and wrote several television programs relating to severe weather including "Chasing the Wind" (1991), "Beneath Stormy Skies" (1994), and "The Chasers of Tornado Alley" (1995). He directed, co-produced and co-wrote "StormWatch" for the National Weather Service, which employs it nationwide as their official storm spotter training video. And, he photographed the first-ever violent class tornado on 35 mm motion picture film on May 30, 1998 in Spencer, South Dakota. In 1999, Martin teamed with Chevy Trucks to help create their "Storm Chaser" commercial for S-10 pickups. Member of the legendary "Spencer 4." |
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May 24 |
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May 12 |
Dave Lewison is a New York native, currently working as a mechanical engineer in the Mid-Hudson Valley. Even though his degrees are in engineering, he has always been interested in weather and photography. Throughout childhood, he would videotape the furious winter nor'easters down by the Long Island beaches, or drive after summer thunderstorms near home in Westchester County. A college graduation gift in 1997 gave him his first real taste of Great Plains storm chasing, as a guest on one of the storm chasing tours. He learned as much as possible about forecasting and intercept skills alongside veterans like Jim Leonard and Charles Edwards. In 1999, he and his chase partner found success chasing on their own, and both have been doing so every year since. |
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May 29 |
Gene Rhoden carried his initial interest in severe storms in the early to mid 1970s in the DFW metroplex to an actual proactive stance in 1981 when he began pursuing these fascinating storms by automobile. He worked as a student research assistant at NSSL from the late 80s through the early 1990s and became a professional weather photographer and photography consultant by starting WeatherPix Stock Images in the mid 1990s. In 1995 Gene starred in a television commercial for Volvo motorcars which involved the worlds largest free-standing man-made vortex machine developed by Reelefx . This commercial entitled "Twister" won top honors by receiving a coveted Gold award at Cannes Film Festival and several Clio awards among others. Gene has worked on and contributed to numerous documentaries including several NOVA specials and a National Geographic Society expedition involving instrument deployments in the paths of tornadoes with Tim Samaras et. al. Gene was also the principal guide for the National Geographic/NSF Imax film "Forces of Nature" which was released earlier this year by Destination Cinema . |
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