Storm Chasing Thrills and Holiday Danger (Hour 1)

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And now a guy who loves the sin but hates the sinner, T. Chihuahua.

Welcome to Night

Light,

ladies and gentlemen.

I love all people.

And I forgive all sins.

And I have to because I work with Conrad.

How you doing tonight, buddy?

I'm doing good.

A

little chilly out there.

It's a little chilly, but it's Wisconsin and winter.

And you always call attention to the fact that it's cold here.

I find that puzzling.

You know, I was...

I was moving just a couple days, you know, since I got this new apartment.

Yeah.

Yesterday, I went home, grabbed a bucket, tossed some stuff in there, moved it over.

Today, I did the same thing, and I had to park a little far away.

You're using a bucket to move?

Just one bucket.

Do you have like a bin?

Well, it's a huge bin.

I should say a huge bin, but, you know, just moving some clothes and stuff, and it was like,

you know.

Hey, Mike, you got any buckets?

I'm moving.

That is the voice of Conrad Krieger, who is producing tonight's show and working the board.

This is a great, we have a lot of fun plans tonight, folks.

It is a Thursday, which means we're doing the popcorn pick of the week.

We've got text to win coming up.

Really, we just got really fun guests tonight.

It's gonna be a blast.

We've got some funny stories right here in Wisconsin, some stuff that might surprise you too.

And in just a couple minutes, we're gonna talk farts.

And this is not typically on my radar, folks.

I'm not an earthy, like I can laugh at an accidental fart as much as the next guy, but I don't really find that much humor in, I find it's, I don't like the word.

It's like right up there with booger.

I can't, when people say that it's an instant

turnoff.

I disagree.

Well,

I agree with

the word.

I don't like the word booger.

I hate

the word

booger, but the word fart.

Think is a great words,

but the word or the act

both

under dire circumstances

both are great

All right, so we're gonna indulge Conrad and I've got two funny things We can talk about on the heels of last night because what did we say last night about said bodily function?

Do you remember

well are you talking about the video that we were talking about?

Yeah.

Well, the video and then we had, we mentioned it last night, kind of against my will, but we'll talk about it.

We're going to get into that.

We're going to tell you why Wisconsin is dangerous around the Christmas.

And it's high up there on the list.

And I couldn't believe it.

This is a big day to break up with people.

And I'm going to tell you about a guy who used a flashlight for his headlight on his car in Door County.

All of this is coming up tonight.

We got a great question.

And it's great to have you here.

I hope you're part of the show, folks.

The phone lines are always open.

Call us and let us know how you're doing.

If you want to weigh in on any of the things we're talking about, obviously, everything is on the table.

When I left here, Con, last night, I got back to my car.

I was on the phone when I got here, and I was totally distracted.

So I got back to my car, like 805, whatever, and there's two ice chunks on my front seat, and I'm looking through the window going, how did that happen?

Well, the window was open.

I was on the phone and distracted because, you know, you put your window down to use your parking.

Yeah.

And I just forgot to close the window.

I'm lucky, you know, my car didn't get I had two gold bullion plates in the passenger seat.

And luckily they were not.

That's good.

That's good for you.

Yeah.

But, you know, did he just like sit on it and warm, warm up the icicles?

I got

rid of it.

I was still like, how did the ice chunks get in?

But apparently when I rolled the window down, they were leaning, you know, because they melt or whatever.

And they leaned in and they stayed cold because the window was open.

So that was kind of a careless on my part.

I always do you always lock your car?

Oh every time.

You know what people in Marinette do?

They open the door.

They leave it unlocked, but here's this is even weirder.

They leave their car running in a grocery store parking lot and they just go in.

I almost want to steal the car on principle to teach them a lesson.

I haven't yet.

Well, I'll say I'll say this I learned my lesson why not lock locking my car once so I lock it like five times every time I leave my car

like you hit the button like

And I'm like did I hear it?

Did I hear it?

I Make sure it's locked.

I learned

everyone in society has some level of OCD I hit it twice just in case the first one didn't take it twice

which even in Marinette, like I'm better now because there are times I don't lock my car.

There just is not, there are crimes in Marinette, but car theft is not high on the list.

So I'm kind of like, and I have a 26 year old Toyota Land Cruiser.

So I encourage my wife, she likes to drive that because it's got great all wheel drive.

It's awesome car, but it's getting to the point where we got to trade it in.

So I'm like, leave it run.

I'm trying to dare people to steal it so we just get some insurance money because I don't want to have to list it on Facebook Marketplace or sell it.

I don't really want to sell it anyway But

I even in my garage right now It's a personal garage right in front of my apartment building.

Yeah, I have my own number slot, you know, yeah, and I close the garage door and I still lock my car

Do you really?

Say I don't do that if I in the garage, I'm like if they're willing to get the garage take the car

I still, it's just... Actually, I learned my lesson twice in Milwaukee.

So, that's...

Speaking of car theft.

That's, I

mean, they didn't... I don't know if I told this, my car got broken into when I lived in Milwaukee.

Twice.

Yeah.

And they didn't take anything really of value.

They took the things that had some level of my name on it.

And, uh... So they took a pair of shoes that I used for basketball in, uh...

10th grade,

okay,

and it said my name on

it and my

number and then they took a kiewaskum high school sweatshirt and then like a pair of workout shoes

so Like the worst thing that could happen is what they'd show up and cheer against you I don't like

it was I was like that sucks, but like my nice sunglasses are still in this

Yeah, that's crazy.

When we lived in LA, I had a Honda Civic that had over 200,000 miles on it.

A lot of my comedy miles.

My wife took it to her school one day.

I don't remember why, but she comes out and it's gone.

And it was stolen and they recovered it.

It was completely stripped.

Everything was stolen.

I had CDs, cassette tapes still.

This was only like 1998 maybe.

So I had to go to the impound lot.

at somewhere, the LAPD in the valley.

And I go there and this guy walks me to the car.

It's on blocks or whatever it was.

There were no tires left.

Everything was gone.

Except a St.

Christopher Medal that I kept on the visor that was up that they didn't see that my great uncle, who used to work on United Jets at O'Hare, gave me, or somebody gave it to me on his behalf after he passed away.

And I was like a traveler.

So I thought, okay.

So I still have that to this day, luckily.

And that was the one thing in the car.

I was glad it was still there.

It had sentimental value.

But I did look at the cop.

I said, so can I just drive this home now?

And he looked at me like I was out of my, like there was no seats, there was nothing in there, no wheels.

Finally I got a laugh out of that guy.

Yeah, you know, I thought this story was going that like Joe, your son took the car while your mom was in it.

We've already covered that.

Hey, let's get to, I'm about to tell you who's on the show and we, this is going to be fun folks.

Popcorn Pick of the Week, Storm Chasing.

and entertainment unions and comedy talk.

That's all coming up.

I'm telling you from who, right after this, but right now we're going to do our nightlight question of the night.

Let's talk about the question.

Okay, question.

Question.

Question.

Question.

Question.

Okay, I have a question.

Questions.

This question.

Domanda.

Question.

Questions.

What is something you just can't get into?

Could be a trend, could be something really popular, but it's just not for you.

I was thinking about this actually have a lot of stuff But for me it's anime I just I appreciate the art form people love it.

I just don't Let's say oh, it's beautiful anime.

I'm like, okay.

It's still not gonna make me watch it, you know

Well, I mean anime is not just you know that form like you know like in Japan type of anime or whatever

right

full animation right and if you watched animation movies you like

Well, it is anime.

I always thought it just pertained to that style of animation.

I do like the Simpsons, and that's nothing fancy.

I mean, because I talked about this with someone too, and they're like, I can't get into those shows either.

Yeah.

And they're like, well, you watch, you know, I watch Family Guy.

Yeah, which is fine

anime.

It's more about the writing and it's funny But I it's that's what I can't get into but let us know what you think folks 8 5 5 7 5 2 4 8 4 2 8 5 5 7 5 civic You can also text us on the civic media app, which is outstanding or if you're watching the radio on YouTube X or Facebook you can drop us a Stream comment and I will read it on the radio

Uh, what do you say, Conn?

What do you,

uh... I have two, actually.

Okay.

And I said one of them on social media.

And it's drinking... having a drink neat.

I can't...

Oh, interesting.

I like... Really?

Everything that I... if I'm at a bar, it needs to have ice in it.

Really?

Even like a good whiskey or scotch or something?

It needs to be

cold for me.

And even with shots, like, if I have a shot with someone, like, can I get that chilled, please?

Can I get that watermelon shot chilled, please?

Not

like that.

Well, what kind of shots

do you do?

Well, see, I mean, depending who I'm with, but the Rumpelmans is disgusting, by the way, but also better cold.

OK.

And I like my favorite thing to have just by itself is bamboo, great rum, and it with ice.

Oh, it's fantastic.

But I've had it just as a single like shot with no.

Yeah.

and it just ruins it for me.

It doesn't taste good to me after it, you know?

It's something that I can enjoy when there's ice and I can have sip it, you know?

Sure.

Yeah, so that's one.

And then the other, reading.

Reading?

I just don't,

I can't get into reading.

I've tried

after school.

That's actually like three things, I think you said.

One needs, I guess, is the same.

Yeah, reading, I think a lot of people struggle with these days.

Me too, I just, I can't read anymore.

I used to be a voracious reader too.

It's pretty sad But let us know what you think folks and if you're on Facebook or YouTube or wherever give us a like or a follow We appreciate that the other thing I was gonna say is hockey like I appreciate it as a sport love a game seven.

I just can't Get myself to care and I've tried you can't even watch the

Stanley Cup

and well if it was a game seven I would I didn't watch any game seven But like I remember when the Blackhawks won like three championships in seven years, and I'm that's you know, Chicago's my

Hometown my half my hometown with man up, but I I just I tried you know couldn't do it All right, so there you go.

That's our question of the night.

What is something you just can't get into let us know and We will read it and make you part of the show, which is always fun.

I have to say Let's get to the text-to-win contest too because this is weird people are running out of chances Conrad

We've got two more nights here including tonight for you to be part of our grown-up gift list multi-state civic media text to win contest Really fun contest we could put 200 bucks in your pocket if if you win the daily prize and then you're also automatically enrolled in the The grand prize when there are three of them brand new snowblower a stainless steel cookware set Or a portable air conditioner, that's another thing I can't really get into is cooking I try I want to make something.

It's good, but I don't

I wish I cooked every day.

Yeah, I feel the same

way.

Yeah.

So there you go, folks.

All you need is the app to play.

Text in the keyword I'm about to give you and you will be off to the races.

You only have a few more chances to win in our text to win contest.

It's multi-state.

It's our grown-up gift list.

You can't go wrong.

And kind of tell people what they can do after they get a confirmation link.

Yeah, once you get that, you just go, you follow that link and you can earn three extra entries, which is...

Pretty cool.

And you just subscribe to the civic media today newsletter.

And then if you go to Apple podcast or Spotify, both and follow nightly with each other, you can earn three extra entries there.

So that's pretty cool.

That is a deal.

And our hour one keyword folks that you need to text in on the app is quiet.

C U I E T quiet.

C U I E T. We could all use a little of that.

When we come back, I'm going to tell you why Wisconsin is a dangerous place, second in the country around the holidays.

That's coming up next.

It's Night Light with Pete Chihuahua on the Civic Media Radio

Network.

You're listening to Civic Media.

Stay up to date on the latest news and information for your local community and Wisconsin by signing up for our free email newsletter.

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started.

We've both, we've both misspelled a keyword, this text to win contest.

I still think mine was worse.

Well, I had the sound right.

It's Q-U-I-T, Q-U-I-E-T, quiet, Q-U-I-E-T.

So there you go.

That's this hour's keyword.

Sorry about that, folks.

I, my mind does tend to wander.

So all right, tonight on the show, this is so exciting in about 10 minutes.

Jordan Hall will be here.

Jordan is a storm chaser.

A bona fide actual storm chaser.

And we'll talk to him a little bit about weather and what he does.

Most of you have seen Twister.

That's about as close as I've gotten to storm chasing.

But this guy has been in the eye of a storm.

I've got great questions for him and many.

So he will be here tonight.

We had Mace Michael scheduled, but we tried to reschedule Mace.

So we are hoping Mace becomes a regular part of the show because he does such an amazing job.

But we will keep you posted on when Mace will be on the show.

But Jordan Hall at 535.

Katherine Lake from WMDX in Madison here at Civic Media is here to make the popcorn pick of the week at 635.

And then our pal Rich Talarico.

Very funny guy, key and peel writer, SNL, mad TV.

He's written for all the big shows.

He will be here to talk about a cause he has undertaken regarding entertainment unions and also to talk a little comedy.

So it'll be good to talk to Rich.

Our question of the night is, what is something you just can't get into?

For me, it's anime.

For Conrad, he needs ice in his drink.

He can't drink things neat.

You're probably not alone there.

And then what else?

You had another one.

Reading.

Reading, that's right.

All right, so there you go.

Not much of a reader.

Let us know what you can't get into.

I thought this was interesting.

Today is national, no wait, it's not national break update.

This is the most popular, this is the most popular day of the year to break up with someone.

And you know how it started?

Conrad?

I'm talking to you.

I took a mental powder for a few seconds.

December 11th is the most popular day of the year to break up with a partner, particularly a boyfriend or girlfriend.

It's based on data from Facebook.

It's always social media.

Around 15 years ago, researchers used Facebook statistics to study when people are most likely to change their status from interrelationship to single.

And the day with the biggest spike was December 11th.

Why do you think that is?

I think I have a theory like you're getting close to Christmas and You don't want to break up with someone like on Christmas Eve or even a week before but we're still two weeks out Maybe that's enough.

I don't know.

They don't want you to meet their family or something like that

could be but they don't want to have to buy a gift Maybe there, you

know, I'm wondering about this too.

It's like is this in person?

day or is it like a text day, you know?

Right.

Do you send an email?

Say sorry.

Yeah.

I liked, I liked you, but now I don't.

In an email form.

Thank you sincerely.

Conrad Krieger.

Conrad with a K Krieger.

See, I think that's what, uh, I think that's how my wife would dump me.

She would send me a text while we're laying in the same bed together.

Hey.

A more recent study from the dating app, Flirtini, love that name, found that three in four online daters have experienced a breakup during the Christmas season.

Yeah, that's weird.

It seems like you don't want to be alone.

If you're used to being with someone anyway, anyway, this is considered breakup day.

So there you go, folks.

And we got a text from Brett and Brown Deer.

He said, or things got rough over Thanksgiving and it's a slow breakup.

That's true.

You brought up religion or politics over Thanksgiving and now they hate you.

We've got a couple texts here from last night, if I can find them.

Was it Bud?

Yeah, Bud.

Bud's Overnight Texts are awesome.

He's in the 608, and he listens to the rebroadcast between 4 and 6 a.m., which is fantastic.

He says, hey, Pete and Conrad, what I'd like for Christmas is a supply of, I don't know what that is.

What is it?

Rougiat?

How do you pronounce that?

I don't even know.

You've seen that word before, Bud.

Says love your show Romeo from Jamesville

Is that the

poison that they used?

Wow good good pull Bud continues moments later with a PS just for the record Juliet would not want me to get that that must be what that is love your shoe But but was drunk this morning.

I think he says love your shoe Romeo Romeo where art thou all right bud

Good to hear from you, buddy.

I don't care what but text.

It's just fun to uh, just fun to read bud's text

It is not what I was thinking.

It's it's ed medicine

Rugee it is ed medicine.

That's all I'm getting boy Romeo at like 15 needed that which I'm sure didn't even exist then They might as well.

Maybe that was the poison that he was well.

That's why I was

That made sense when you said that's what he thought the poison would do

Here's another interesting thing and we can talk about this as the show goes on Wisconsin is considered the second most dangerous place or state to be in at Christmas time And they based it on ten metrics the study we saw on the wise brother media it said Metrics like fires crime rates injury rates and how slick the roads are this time of year Wisconsin was number two

The top risk factor is, can you guess it, Conn?

Drinking.

Drinking, yeah.

It means more injuries and more drunk drivers.

So we can go over this list.

There are 10 states and some really weird ones too.

You know, another one for Wisconsin could be food comas.

Food comas, someone trying to drive while eating a big old cheese curd.

Yeah, I don't know.

I guess that's, I like to consider Wisconsin the Christmas state.

I call Marinette Christmas City, USA.

But we do it we do drink here.

Sometimes you drive around Marinette like it's 6 a.m And there are bikes parked outside a bar in the dead of winter and those are guys that lost their license So but their die-hards, you know, they're gonna have their drink whether it's after third shift or they just can't sleep But that's not good we should we should try to lower that because Wisconsin is the Christmas state.

All right storm chasing coming up next folks with Jordan Hall.

I'm so excited to talk to this guest

And we will do that after the news.

It's Pete Schwabba and Nightlight on the Civic Media Radio

Network.

This is Nightlight with Pete Schwabba.

Our question of the night is, what is something you just can't get into?

I say anime.

Conrad says drinking spirits, neat and reading.

And I'm kind of there too.

I wish I still read.

I used to read a lot, but let us know what you think.

8-5-5-7-5-2-4-8-4-2-8-5-5-7-5 Civic.

We've got, I will give a reminder also for the keyword, and I will spell it right this time, coming up later in this segment most likely, so stick around.

Right now, I'm very excited to welcome my next guest.

This next gentleman, he is a bona fide storm chaser, so if you've seen the movie Twister, you've probably been fascinated by what storm chasers do, just like me.

So let's find out for ourselves by, if it,

how close a reality that is.

Let's find that out by welcoming Jordan Hall, Storm Chaser.

Hey, Jordan, how are you?

Hey, how are you?

I'm good.

Is it tough for you to just sit there and talk and not get an adrenaline rush like you do in your profession?

I still get a little bit of an adrenaline dump hopping on these.

I still get the nerves a little bit.

So I think I'm feeling good right now.

You're going to be fine.

This is going to be a blast.

I'm so excited to have you here.

Is there something you just can't get into?

Do you have something like that in life?

That I just can't do?

Yeah, like, you know, whether it's rock music or, you know, jelly cookies, hockey, whatever, just something you could think about it too if you want.

Let me think on it.

Let me think on it.

I'm not a huge, I'm actually, I'm not a huge soccer guy.

I don't like soccer.

Okay.

Yeah.

I can see that.

You're probably not alone there.

All right.

So let's, let's jump right in.

I'm so excited to have you here.

I probably said that 18 times and it could be part of the coffee, the coffee could be talking.

I need

coffee.

How do you you would not need coffee?

I think because what you do you you just have to get your adrenaline going but So I think people see twister and they go oh that looks really cool At least to watch when I was reading about you earlier You actually are a fan of the twister and that kind of got you excited to storm chase So tell us how you got into this line of work

Yeah, so I mean I grew up watching the movie Twister that was my favorite movie when I was a kid and then middle school me and my dad actually watched storm chasers on Discovery Channel and That kind of brought even more of a love for weather into that and being from Montana originally we didn't have a whole lot of crazy weather outside of like Eastern Montana, so Long story short went to college in Shatterin, Nebraska and started skipping class to go storm chasing because there's just there and that's the kind of how it all started

Wow.

Okay.

So Montana, so were you interested in weather before storm chasing or did that happen?

Was it like storms first and now you're fascinated by weather because they cause storms.

How did that work?

Honestly, I think just.

When I'm watching the movie Twister, I was just obsessed with tornadoes is what it's what it started out as was just like, oh my God, tornadoes are fascinating.

Like back when my grandma had like the super slow computer, you know, the original computers, I was probably downloading viruses trying to get tornado photos to pull up on Christmas.

And so I can get all started with the movie Twister and just seeing tornadoes.

And then when Storm Chasers came out, I was just fascinated.

It's like, oh, go out and chase tornadoes.

That's a way to do it.

That's a way to go see it.

just kind of snowballed from there.

Man, you know, it's so, it's fascinating to me, like the movie, how close is the movie?

You know, movies are movies, they take liberties, all that kind of stuff, and they got these crazy gizmos looking for storms.

Is that realistic?

And is what they do realistic?

So there's a lot of realistic stuff.

And then there's obviously you're, you're for Hollywood stuff.

And I think a lot of the journey and like a lot of like everybody getting together and you have a lot of friends and there's like a camaraderie type of thing.

That's real that you see that a lot out there and you see a lot of competition as far as like taking like a regular pickup truck and getting hit directly.

not rolling or rolling and not blowing your windows out and surviving.

And that's kind of a farce.

But there's a lot of there's a lot of real things in the movies.

So that part where Glenn Powell in the second one where his truck kind of those things come down and like pin him to the ground, do those exist?

Is that real?

Yeah.

So I've actually chased in the dominated three with Reed Timmer.

So it's kind of like a dream come true.

Watching it in middle school on TV and then actually being a part of that team was pretty cool.

And in that vehicle, it actually has spikes that will deploy into the ground and hold you.

But it's also got an airbag system that drops down so the wind can't get underneath.

But that's another thing with the movie.

They have the spikes that go down, but nothing is preventing the wind from getting underneath the vehicle.

So I don't think that would actually work.

Interesting.

OK.

That makes sense.

So but it does work if you get if you eliminate the air under there.

That and making sure you're not putting it in something that's too strong to and it all depends on the debris if your vehicle is getting hit with debris or not.

So many factors that go into it.

Wow.

The closest I've come to storm chasing was trying to find a nice warm, gentle breeze.

And I even failed at that.

So, um, I'm kind of in awe of what you do.

It's hard this time of the

year.

So I was reading about you earlier.

You've been a fireman, a volunteer fireman.

You've done search and rescue rescue.

You're a drone pilot.

Are those good preparatory things for storm chasing or what's the best training?

You know, honestly, I think being a volunteer firefighter for the few years that I was in college and growing up in a first responder family has helped me the most because as far as storm chasing goes, whether it's tornadoes or even just hurricanes, wildfires or anything, we're usually the first one to arrive.

on scene to anything that happened usually before the cops before the firefighters so having that experience with first aid and knowing how you know not to move somebody or you know how knowing how to render and help people and just talk to people has made is this probably been the most important thing that's carried over to storm chasing.

That's so cool.

My guest is Jordan Hall.

He is a bonafide storm chaser and he joins us here on nightlight for the first time I have a question for you because I've never really gotten a good answer And I've asked friends who were weather people, but they probably don't know as much about tornadoes as you do I was staying in Madison, Wisconsin once at the concourse hotel right downtown and They called everybody down.

They said we're having a weather issue.

There are tornadoes in the area

Please come down to the lobby.

And I had my 12 year old son with me at the time.

So we went down there.

Not everybody did.

But I swear, I saw these like whirling dervishes outside between the buildings that seem

like

they never touched down.

What did I see there, Jordan?

Because some of us were talking about it.

And it's like, is there just not, it's not like Tornado Alley.

Like they can't just touch down with all these buildings.

Is that, is that the problem?

I mean, you can get tornadoes in town.

That definitely happens.

You're probably seeing little eddies.

They're called.

So when you get when that goes between buildings, they can tend to spin and kind of spin and twirl.

But as far as like getting a tornado around big buildings, it definitely happens.

It just comes down to the storm and the timing and just everything kind of has to come together.

But buildings don't necessarily prevent tornadoes from happening.

So why don't

you hear more of them though in the sit?

Like.

It's not like Illinois is flat.

I used to live

in

Chicago.

I live in a small town now in Wisconsin, and I just don't see them.

Is it just the luck of the draw?

Honestly, I think it's definitely a luck of the draw because you need a tornado to form, which mind you, a tornado is a very, very small part of the storm altogether.

I mean,

it can be 100 yards wide.

So for that tornado itself to actually hit

the metro area or hit one of those big buildings.

I mean, it's it's like a needle in the haystack for it to happen.

It does happen, but it's very rare.

Like Oklahoma City is buried in tornado alley and they have still yet to get one right through downtown.

So

I

think it's going to happen.

I still don't know when

I'm sure you'll be there.

What is the most freaked out you've ever been when it came to a storm or a tornado, some type of weather

event?

Honestly, I think the most freaked out I've ever been was a few weeks ago in the Philippines when I was doing a super typhoon out there.

I got

asked

about that.

Yes,

and you said you were in the eye you were you were in the Philippines and You were caught in the eye of the storm.

I mean, I've seen that in the movies, but how does that happen?

So going out there, I was actually targeting the storm, trying to get into the eye with a, it's a hurricane.

It's basically like a hurricane, same thing, but how the typhoon over there.

And my goal is to get right in the center of the eye because in the eye, it's usually calm.

You can see all the way up and it's just, it's just a really tricky to do, especially in another country.

So went out there, went to a remote area, a little village, um, and got stranded actually because the road got surged out.

like 12 hours beforehand, the water ripped the road out.

So as I was there, the water, the storm surge was coming in so full way higher than I thought it was going to be.

I was genuinely concerned about the building.

Wow.

So I mean, I know I sound like a big geek here, but like what

How do you get in the eye?

Isn't it like treacherous?

Like can't the storm rip you apart while you're trying to get in the eye?

I always saw people like got in the eye of a storm accidentally and it's like, oh crap, how do I get out of here?

You know what I mean?

You voluntarily entered the eye.

Yeah, so with tornadoes, they're a little different because it's so chaotic and it's...

Very many like it's a small thing where it's like a hurricane.

It's such a huge system You can kind of you have time to kind of pinpoint where that eyes going and it's still tricky But yeah, no getting into the eyes really difficult because that means you have to go through the eye wall

Especially on hurricanes, it's all straight line wind, which is a little different than tornadoes where it's always every which direction and it has more of that ripping motion.

Hurricanes, it's all straight lines.

So it's all blowing in one direction, but your most intense winds are usually on the northeast side of that eye wall.

And that's where you can see like with a strong one like Hurricane Melissa and Jamaica this year, that's where you see sustained winds at like 160 plus miles per hour, gusting to 200.

at

times.

So you have to be in a place that you trust isn't going to collapse to.

And that's another issue there.

I

can't even imagine.

Have you ever seen a storm or tornado where you're just like, nope, no thanks.

That's too intense.

Has that happened?

Yes, there's been a few times with that.

Earlier this year, there was a tornado in South Dakota.

He's Gary South Dakota, one of the most photogenic tornadoes I've ever seen in my life, but by far probably one of the most violent tornadoes I've ever seen in my life.

And I actually was, normally I get right up on tornadoes.

I get as close as possible without, you know, getting hurt, usually within a hundred yards or so.

This was one I actually had to sit a little further back from because it looked like you had

Somebody was playing a video right in front of you and like a time lapse like it was fast forwarded But it was actually happening that fast and that was it was pretty pretty scary as it's intimidating when you see something like that.

I can't even imagine Aside from an area or region like tornado alley Where are tornadoes most likely to hit like worldwide?

Is there one region that is more susceptible to them?

Or one region where you can't explain where they happen more

So the United States is I'm pretty sure one of the leaders in tornadoes.

We are just like the hot tornado hotspot.

But another place that gets them quite frequently is South America and even Africa.

Just the way the troughs go and the topography.

It's really unique, though, because everybody, I'm sure you've heard it.

Everybody says, oh, tornado alley is shifting east.

Have you heard that?

No.

It's a big thing.

tornado alley, you know, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, everybody talked, you know, 10 years ago, there's tornadoes all the time.

And the last 10 years has been pretty, pretty dead.

And there's been a lot of tornadoes down in Mississippi, Alabama.

So everybody's been saying, Oh, it's moving east.

It's leaving the plans.

And it's like, well, no, it's not actually happening.

It's more of a

The more people are seeing them, we have technology, we have more radars.

And now all the tornadoes that were happening down in the trees, down in like Mississippi, Alabama that you would have never seen, are actually starting to get reported.

And that's why we see those numbers go up.

Wow, his name is Jordan Hall.

He is a bona fide storm chaser.

He is joining us tonight for the first time.

We'll have more with Jordan after a short break right now.

We've got on the stream, Bud says, I taught middle school science for 15 years and used some storm chaser YouTube videos to inform my students, maybe prepping future storm chasers that will one day get to meet Jordan.

I'm sure they'll be thrilled about that, but we'll talk more to our new friend, Jordan, after this very short break.

It's Peach Waba and Nightlight on the Civic Media.

You're

listening to Civic Media.

Find the latest news, information, and archives of all your favorite shows on the Civic Media website, civicmedia.us.

Great to have you with me tonight, folks.

It is Thursday night, the Christmas Eve of weeknights.

We are doing the popcorn pick of the week at 6.35 with WMDX's Catherine Lake and Key and Peele SNL and Mad TV writer Rich Talarico is here at 7.20 tonight.

Right now, my guest is Jordan Hall.

He is a storm chaser and we are talking to him about what he does and it fascinates me.

But before we get back to him, I'm going to give you the keyword again.

This hour's keyword in our grown-up gift list, text to win, multi-state...

contest here at Civic Media.

You need the app, text it in on the app, and you're eligible for 200 bucks.

And you also will be automatically enrolled in our grand prize giveaway, which is a brand new snowblower, a stainless steel cookware set, or a portable air conditioner.

But this hour's keyword is quiet.

Q-U-I-E-T.

That's tough, those three vowels.

That's what Janet jammed up the first time.

Quiet, Q-U-I-E-T.

Good luck, everybody.

So there you go.

All right, we're talking to Jordan Hall here.

Jordan, you seem like a very normal guy.

My question is, I guess, how dangerous is this?

Like, you seem like a guy who likes life, who had a fairly normal upbringing, but this is a thrill-seeking profession.

How dangerous really is it?

I mean, it has its dangerous aspects.

Obviously getting the closer you get, the more dangerous it is.

That's why it's important to be prepared.

But honestly, something most people don't think of, the most dangerous part of storm chasing is honestly the driving and driving to target areas.

We do almost, I do over 80,000 to 100,000 miles of driving a

year.

Yes.

So what, what do you mean?

Like just you're more likely to get in a car accident than be swallowed up by a tornado?

Is that?

Absolutely.

No kidding.

Yes.

So, um, obviously you could, you watch the movies and you see the videos and you're like, Oh my God, tornadoes are scary.

And look at this video, but getting close to tornadoes is actually extremely difficult.

Cause you have to know, you gotta find the road.

You got to forecast where it's going.

And in that whole process, the driving is the most dangerous part because especially close to storms, because people are panicking in the moment that, you know, there's a tornado and if you're in a city or like a, a more of a metro area, people are running red lights, blowing through stop signs.

And so it's very, that, that's, that's honestly the most dangerous part is the people around you.

And also the long drives, like if I have a.

tornado chase in Oklahoma and I got to get to Iowa the next day.

I chased all day, then I got to drive all night and then I got to get there to Iowa.

So all the long drives that up.

That is fascinating.

I was not expecting that as an answer.

So all right, I have to say most of my life is spent and I have a pretty boring life compared to you, but most of it is spent avoiding.

like, oh, I climbed up the ladder, I went too high and lost my balance.

What was I thinking?

Drove too fast on ice and hit a patch, joined the Navy SEALs, whatever it might be.

How many moments like that have you had where you were like, oh no, this is an OCRAP moment?

I've had quite a few.

There's been a few times where I've gotten a little too close to tornadoes and didn't have enough time to hit my escape route and got mowed down a few times.

Uh, gotten way too close, had debris slam in the vehicle.

Pretty like, oh crap, like this is not

good.

And when, when you were like that, was it like you just made a mistake and got careless or greedy or, or, or what?

It was a mix of being greedy of wanting to be a little close and also just being.

I thought I had an escape route.

I looked at maps.

I glanced at maps and I was like, oh, quarter mile.

I go east, quarter mile north, east again, I'm good.

This thing's coming at me at 60.

Joke was on me.

I didn't look at it close enough.

And when I

decided to bail, when I hit that north road, it was two miles, not a quarter mile north.

And that just that little type difference there, I actually got hit, sideswiped by it is strong tornado in Oklahoma during a high risk last year.

Thankfully, I managed to stay on the road and get out of it, but like I was getting almost blown off the road.

People behind me got blown into the ditch and we were getting hit with debris, but little things like that.

That's why it's very important to always have an escape route and usually having a chase partner helps a lot with that too.

Is it tough to get car insurance in your line of work?

No, because you don't technically tell them what you do.

I'm a weather man.

I don't make any claims.

I don't

claim anything.

So when you say safe spot or have an escape route, what is that?

You're in tornado alley.

You got a tornado.

You got to get your ass out of there.

Where are you going?

Yeah, so with tornadoes a little trick trick of the trade if you ever get caught in front of one Yeah, you can tell which direction they're moving if you stop and stare at them give them like five seconds That's moving left to right.

It's gonna cross likely in front of you.

That's moving right to left It's probably gonna cross behind you and if it's just getting bigger.

It's coming right at you.

So

Uh, in that situation, I always look at what, what my storm motion is on the day.

Is it moving northeast?

And I look at the road network and okay, if the tornado is going to be moving this way, how can I get out of the way?

And do I have an option to get out of the way?

Am I, am I going to hit a dead end?

So there's a lot that goes into it into the moment.

Um, while you're trying to look at a tornado,

that's a lot to read.

Conrad, you do write all that down.

Yeah, you know I took a memo I would

panic if I had to go over notes in that situation.

I don't think I could do that So All right, can we keep you through the news just for a few more minutes.

I'm really

enjoying this I still

have Okay, so one more question for you before we have to do the news.

What what is your day like your storm chaser?

That's the exciting part, but you do this full time What does full time mean like how much what are you doing when there's no storms?

How much prep and what's that like?

So when there's no storms like right now, it's just pretty blah unless I want to go cover snow I'm sitting at home probably going through a lot of my archive registering stuff with the copyright office and then I also work with severe studios and We manage everybody's copyright.

I broker video for media sales and all sorts of stuff there So I'm always trying to keep myself busy whether that's work

So then when I do go out, I can go out and enjoy it.

Where can people follow you or where can they learn more about you?

Can you steer them somewhere here in just about

30

seconds?

Yeah, Storm Chaser, Jordan Hall on Facebook and YouTube.

And then Twitter is Jordan Hall WX.

OK, fantastic.

All right, Jordan Hall is here.

He's going to stick around for a few minutes, folks.

We're going to do the news.

We'll come back for act two and we'll read some of your texts.

Tonight's tonight's question is what?

Can you just not get into?

And you cannot say storm chasing.

We're coming right back for Act 2.

It's Pete Schwabba and Nightlight on the Civic Media Radio

Network.

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