After asking Roger Hill about his favorite storm chases one night at dinner, I, along with the rest of our diners, sat mesmerized as he vividly recounted his June 23, 2003 chase in South Dakota. It wasn't just that the Roger Hill led tour group recorded 16 tornadoes, or that they saw several multivotex tornadoes or even that it included the largest tornado he'd ever seen - the Manchester, South Dakota F4 with winds over 200 mph - that made his recounting so memorable, but it was the passion and excitement he embodied as he recounted that chase day. Listening to him made you feel as if you were right there in that van along for the ride. Having witness over 400 tornadoes, if Roger's greatest skill is finding the elusive twister in a sea of storms, then mastering the art of storytelling would be not far behind.
How wonderful it is now to be able to read about that chase along with so many others in his book, "Hunting Nature's Fury". I found this book, co-written by Peter Bronski, to be a perfect blend of great storytelling and knowledge sharing about the science and history of thunderstorms, tornadoes, forecasting, and chasing. The stories are exciting and the science is delivered in an easily comprehendable form, including a useful glossary of weather terms and chasing slang.
Whether you want to know what ingredients and processes are required for tornadoes to form, or learn fascinating facts about things like the largest hailstone ever recorded (1.67 pounds) or why the word tornado was offically banned from public broadcasts for 65 years, or be able to separate tornado myths (opening windows alleviates tornado pressure) from reality (fish have fallen from the sky), or to imagine what it's like to chase storms with a stormchasing guru, then you'll really enjoy reading this book....likely more than once.