Storm chaser Dave Patrick was in the right place, at the right time last Saturday evening when he captured video of a tornado touching down just west of here.
“I was tweeting this storm as it developed,” the Fergus resident told the Advertiser on Monday morning, two days after recording the tornado at around 8pm on June 1.
When he spotted storm activity that indicated a tornado was possibly in the process of forming, he tweeted Environment Canada meteorologists with his photos. Environment Canada immediately issued a tornado warning for the area.
Patrick followed the tornado from when it formed until it dissipated. He said it landed a couple of times in a wooded area at around 8:15pm.
“I saw a couple of bursts of dirt come off it,” he said.
He added the fact there was heavy rain prior to the event meant the tornado “couldn’t pick up a lot of dust.” No damage was reported.
Patrick has been a storm chaser for about 20 years, a hobby he said can be costly and challenging. He has followed twisters around the area, including the one that hit Centre Wellington in 2005 and others in Mildmay and Shelburne. He has also made trips to the United States.
“I’ll go down to the states and chase in Tornado Alley,” he said, of the area across the American midwest known for its tornadoes.
He said serious storm chasers can spend thousands of dollars and travel thousands of miles in their storm pursuits.
Patrick said he met two of the three storm chasers killed by a tornado last week in central Oklahoma.
Veteran chaser and documentary producer Tim Samaras, 55, was killed by a tornado along with his son Paul Samaras and Carl Young in the Oklahoma City suburb of El Reno.
“I met them a couple of times last year. They were really nice guys,” Patrick said.
He noted the elder Samaras was known for not taking risks in tornado areas.
“I was surprised,” he said of the victims. “Something drastically went wrong that they got caught in it.”
The local storm chaser acknowledged the dangers related to chasing tornadoes.
Environment Canada rated the Kenilworth tornado a low end EF-0 with maximum wind speeds at the ground reaching 90 km/h.
