Arranging a face-to-eye meeting with Gustav
Posted: Sunday, August 31, 2008 9:16 PM
Filed Under:
Hurricane
By Mike Brunker, msnbc.com writer
Most people go to considerable lengths to avoid hurricanes, but Mark Robinson and his chums will drive like maniacs for days to try to arrange a face-to-eye meeting with one of the dangerous giants.
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| Jim Seida / msnbc.com |
| Logos marking his hurricane chases, storm chaser Mark Robinsin is hoping to get video from the eye of Hurricane Gustav. |
Robinson, a 35-year-old meteorology student from Ontario, is a “storm chaser,” an adrenaline-fueled avocation popularized in the movie “Twister.” He and his partners in pursuit -- George Kourounis, 37, and Tim Millar, 35 – bombed down the East Coast almost without stopping in hopes of capturing Gustav’s eye on video when the storm comes ashore on Monday.
Robinson stresses his scientific interest in powerful weather, but there’s no disguising the sparkle that dances behind his wire-rim glasses when he describes filming the eye of Hurricane Katrina as he stood chest-deep in storm surge in a parking garage in Gulfport, Miss.
“Katrina was the most intense experience of my life,” he said. “This will probably be a close second.”
The trio made quite the impression in New Orleans on Sunday as they prepared to deploy southward to the town of Houma, about 50 miles to the southwest. All three vehicles are decked out with the tools of the trade – klieg lights, wind gauges and other assorted gadgets of indeterminate utility, and lots of gas cans.
But Robinson’s ride takes the cake. It’s an old Volkswagen that looks like one of the makeshift machines from “Mad Max” -- with whip antennae, a PVC elbow pipe and an orange strobe light poking out of the roof at odd angles. The door is decorated with five swirly meteorological symbols, representing the hurricanes he’s seen up close and personal .
Robinson also, has chased thunderstorms, tornadoes and virtually every other weather phenomenon, but he prefers hunting down a hurricane “because it’s such a major event.”
He said he and his mates are careful about setting up their encounter with the vast and powerful vortex, looking for a high structure that will keep them above the storm surge while still affording them a clear view of the eye. But he admits there’s little room for error.
“You could totally easily die,” Robinson said. “You’ve got to be careful. We always suggest people start with thunderstorms.”
While the thrill of the chase is clearly the big motivator for Robinson, he can occasionally sell footage to the Weather Network, the Canadian equivalent of the Weather Channel. He also shares some of his most spectacular “kills” with other storm chasers and the curious on his Web site.
When he graduates from York College after completing three more classes , Robinson hopes to find work as a filmmaker or a television meteorologist. In the meantime, he says he’s got to be even more careful than usual as he, Kourounis and Millar load up their gear and prepare to head off for the rendezvous with Gustav.
“I don’t want to lose my car,” he said. “It’s also the car I get groceries in.”
