Cochrane’s very own storm chaser, 22-year-old Braydon Morisseau, took some time out of his busy schedule to stop by the Eagle and provide an update on his latest escapades.
The 2010 St. Timothy High School grad became passionate about traveling across Canada and the U.S. “When I got my license and my first little beater truck”.
Since then, Morisseau has joined forces with a like-minded bunch to form the plains-based ‘Prairie Storm Chasers’ team, rounded out by Nevin deMilliano, Matt Johnson and Tom Graham.
The chasers met on Twitter and formed the Prairie Storm Chasers two years ago.
Often paired up, sometimes independently, these self-taught weather forecasters go wherever the wind takes them.
“I saw my first tornado near Okotoks in 2007. I wanted to understand weather better, so I taught myself how to forecast — all of our events we chase, we forecast ourselves.”
Dipping into parts of the U.S., including mainly the central southern plains, but as far east as Iowa and Missouri, south as Texas and most of the Midwest including Kansas and Nebraska, Morisseau said the storms throughout the prairies can be just as fantastic this side of the border as they are down south.
“Life’s short, chase everything,” laughed Morisseau, when asked what qualifies for a storm worthy of being chased. The ingredients for a perfect storm include wind shear, moisture, instability and a triggering mechanism to make it all happen. When on location at a Canadian storm that warrants it, Morisseau live streams to TVNweather.com.
Recent excursions included a May 11 trip to Nebraska, where Morisseau chased two tornados — an EF1 and an EF3, followed by a trip last week to Kyle, Sask. where the chaser, accompanied by deMilliano, took in two supercell thunderstorms.
“What makes a supercell unique from all other thunderstorms is that it contains a rotating updraft called a mesocyclone (a deep, persistently rotating updraft),” he said; these types of thunderstorms are sometimes referred to as ‘rotating thunderstorms’.
According to Morisseau, the art of chasing is a little less commonplace north of the border. In Alberta, there are the Twisted Chasers and the Alberta Storms; across the country, there are only a handful of storm chasers.
“It can be dangerous in the States, where you can see hundreds of chasers at one storm,” he explained, adding that the congestion comes when people are colliding into one another, referred to as ‘chaser convergence’.
As June 1 marks the first meteorological day of summer, Morisseau said this packs in his season of traveling to the U.S. (to avoid chaser convergence) and he will focus his efforts on the Canadian prairies.
“We average 15 or 16 a year and so far, we haven’t had any yet this year,” he said, adding that it’s been quiet for the last three years in this region.
Morisseau said he and his team of chasers are fully equipped with safety gear and go into search and rescue mode when a storm hits a town. They have yet to be on scene for a storm that resulted in casualties.
The best way to keep track of Morisseau and the Prairie Storm Chasers is on Facebook pages ‘Braydon Morisseau TVN Weather Chaser’ and ‘Prairie Storm Chasers’ or on Twitter @PrairieChasers and @BraydonMoreSo.
