Imagine starting out each day anxiously tracking a deadly tornado looming on the horizon. Instead of finding the nearest evacuation route, you set out into the eye of the storm. Your mission: to capture images unlike any the world has seen before.
For the past 10 years, Tornado Hunter Greg Johnson has been doing just that. With a keen eye for weather photography, sophisticated weather-tracking technology and a team of dedicated sidekicks, Greg is deep into the 2012 tornado season.
Since April, Greg has gone head to head with 15 tornadoes and logged 10, 000 miles in his new Tornado Truck – a 2012 Ford F-150 XLT Super Cab with EcoBoost. His purpose is this: give eye-witness reports of tornadoes and collect critical data to improve warning systems and help people adequately prepare for – and survive – severe storms.
Melville Motors in Melville, Saskatchewan partnered with disaster relief contractor Restorex to provide Greg with his truck. Its large cab seats a four-person team comfortably, which is important when you’re travelling with the same people for weeks at a time. The EcoBoost engine keeps them on the road for about 1,100 kilometres at a time.
Jeff Kohnen, owner of Melville Motors, knows the Tornado Hunter is the perfect person to showcase the versatility and performance capabilities of the new F-150. “Extreme weather calls for an extreme truck, and the F-150 has risen to the challenge in each and every chase for Greg and his team.”
Greg has become a symbol for weather awareness in Canada and the U.S. If you follow him on Twitter @CanadoGreg, you can receive minute-by-minute accounts of the most active storms that Greg and his team are following. His website, tornadohunter.ca, gives you some of the most riveting storm pictures you’ll ever see. Greg is a critical resource for media outlets that rely on him for the latest storm information.
Living on the edge isn’t for everyone, but for people like Greg Johnson, it’s the only way to work. His work, as well as the efforts of companies like Restorex, is helping to make the threat of tornados a little less deadly, while lessening the impact on peoples’ lives. We at Ford are happy to support their work.
Thanks to Melville Ford and Restorex, Mother Nature is no longer a Doppler reading.
