By Susan Spencer
The Telegram & Gazette
UXBRIDGE, Mass. — As a firefighter for 28 years, Uxbridge Fire Chief William T. Kessler has had his share of adrenaline-pumping emergencies. Few have revved him up as much as having a massive tornado roar less than 300 yards behind him down a highway in Colorado.
Chief Kessler, 54, usually doesn’t get that close to a tornado’s path. He’s seen plenty of dramatic atmospheric displays over the last decade, however, as a storm chaser and van driver each May and June for Silver Lining Tours, a Colorado-based company offering storm-chasing and photography excursions across the plains from Texas to North Dakota.
His storm-chasing hobby is evident in his office at Uxbridge Fire Department headquarters, where photos of storm supercells from various trips -- including a two-day period in 2010 when he spotted some 41 tornadoes in South Dakota and Minnesota -- take up more wall space than the usual fire-service documents.
“I remember as a kid, driving on the Ohio Turnpike, I’d get into trouble saying, ‘Oh yea! We’re going to go through a thunderstorm!’ ” Chief Kessler recalled.
The Connecticut native continued, “It’s always been on the bucket list to see a tornado.”
In 2005 Chief Kessler made his first storm-chasing trip to the Midwest, but came up empty with no tornadoes. Same thing in 2006.
In 2007, he saw seven tornadoes and said, “I was hooked.”
He started driving in 2008 with Silver Lining Tours, whose co-owner Roger Hill is in the Guinness Book of World Records for having spotted the most documented tornadoes, more than 800. It’s not a paid gig, but he gets his hotel and meals covered and gets to chase storms for free with one of the world’s finest, instead of paying the regular tour price of roughly $2,500 to $3,500.
The tours take typically six to 20 passengers in three vans, starting in Denver or Oklahoma City. Over usually 10 days, tour guides teach participants about storm systems and how to forecast tornado targets.
“We go where the storms are,” Chief Kessler said. “We’re constantly looking at the weather models to see what the weather will be doing.”
The trip Chief Kessler returned from two weeks ago was during a relatively quiet storm season, but some years have been jam-packed. Two years ago, the group started on the Texas-Oklahoma border and by the next afternoon were hundreds of miles away in southern Minnesota.
Tornadoes form when there’s the right mix of wind shear, lift from elevation or an incoming cold front, instability from warm air and moisture in the atmosphere. The four factors combine in an acronym, SLIM. Without those, according to Chief Kessler, chances of seeing a tornado are slim.
Geography plays a big role in shaping atmospheric conditions. Tornado Alley, including Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota, is the center for much of the storm activity in the United States because of its moisture feed from southerly winds off the Gulf of Mexico, the Rocky Mountains to the West and a downward-sloping terrain from west to east, according to Weather Underground.
While seeing tornadoes was initially the goal for Chief Kessler, he became drawn by what most people consider fly-over country. “The more I was out there early on, it’s the beauty of the Midwest and the beauty of the supercell,” he said. “It’s actually very intriguing and you see a lot of different geography in the land.”
Chasing violent storms has its risks, as anyone who has seen the 1996 movie, “Twister,” which Chief Kessler called “sensationalized,” can attest. The chief said there have been three times, including the close call in Colorado, when he was nervous.
Silver Lining’s tour guides are meticulous about plotting storm data and GPS location as they travel, overlaying roadmaps on their laptops so they know where their escape route is. Even so, storms can change direction and tornadoes travel up to 60 miles an hour, so being in the wrong place at the wrong time can be disastrous.
Chief Kessler recalled another hair-raising experience when he and a friend, not on a tour, inadvertently got close to a fast-moving storm. When they came to a river on their escape route, they found the bridge was out. The tornado passed over them but the next day they found nearby storefronts collapsed and trees snapped.
The risks are increasing with more inexperienced people chasing storms, sometimes clogging narrow roads and getting in harm’s way, according to Chief Kessler. The draw includes the desire to be part of the photo-sharing social media and weather broadcast world.
In the past, only experienced storm-chasing photographers would sell their images for publication. With ubiquitous photo and video capabilities in smartphones now, inexperienced storm chasers are shooting images they can upload to sites such as The Weather Channel.
“Now people are taking more and more chances to get that great video,” Chief Kessler said. “More people will die, we’re afraid.”
Chief Kessler said his tour groups emphasize respecting local residents and being sensitive to the destruction storms leave in their wake. They don’t return the next day to take photos of others’ misfortune.
The storm-chasing crew is also part of the National Weather Service’s spotter network, relaying information from the ground.
Chief Kessler used his tornado skills locally too, on June 1, 2011, when then-Fire Chief, now state Fire Marshal Peter J. Ostroskey came to him and said something big was going on in Springfield. The storm, which spawned four tornadoes between Springfield and Charlton, reaching EF3 strength, was on track to pass by the Uxbridge-Northbridge line and straight over Milford Regional Medical Center.
Then-Deputy Chief Kessler warned the hospital to prepare, but thankfully the storm lifted. Three Uxbridge Fire Department staff took an ambulance to help with search and rescue in Brimfield.
Trading firefighting for storm chasing for four weeks on his vacation each spring has been relatively easy for the chief. His children are grown and his wife is “really good about it,” he said. And the fire station runs smoothly with two deputies who each have 27 years’ experience.
“I don’t have a problem leaving here,” he said.
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(c)2016 Telegram & Gazette, Worcester, Mass.