Not your average field trip

For a group of students at St. Cloud State University, a fun Saturday night would be to pile into Nick Corbett's 2004 Chevy Blazer, drive several hundred miles over strange rural roads, search for Internet access and eat a lot of lousy food, all for a chance to get caught in some really bad weather.

Plan B would involve the same thing, but in Katie Klarkowski's '99 Blazer.

"It involves a lot of sacrifices, but those couple of minutes are worth it," said Klarkowski, a meteorology student and president of the student Storm Chase Club, apparently the only student club of its kind in Minnesota and one of a relative few in the nation.

Founded in the spring of 2009, the club has attracted dozens of students, most of them in the school's meteorology program, the only such undergraduate program in Minnesota. The goal, of course, is to get in the presence of the holy grail of storm chasing -- a tornado.

Corbett and other members did that in June, taking dramatic photos of an EF-3 and an EF-2 tornado in Nebraska during a 950-mile, 18-hour round trip. On June 17, 2010, working on three days' advance notice from the national Storm Prediction Center, they zeroed in on Wadena, Minn., photographing the massive black EF4 that flattened nearly a quarter of the city's homes and businesses on a day when a record 48 tornadoes pummeled Minnesota. They stopped about 2 miles away from the powerful wedge.

"We could see the suction vortices. As soon as it touched down, it was a monster," Corbett said. "I love the weather, and it's great to see what we're learning in textbooks in action."

Members describe the club as bringing severe-weather lovers together to learn more and pool funds to support what Klarkowski called "an expensive hobby." Gas near $4 per gallon hasn't dampened their enthusiasm, but Corbett said he's currently worried that the wheel bearings in his Blazer might need replacing.

Getting going

A typical chase might start to take shape with members comparing forecasts on the club's Facebook page, then planning how to meet and hit the road. Ideally, several will ride together -- one driving, one watching radar and other Internet sites and communicating on CB or ham radio, and at least one other looking left, right, forward, back, and even up to spot funnel clouds. Someone is also expected to take photos or video.

"There's a lot of would'ves and could'ves," said Klarkowski, a meteorology student who's minoring in Rhetorical and Applied Writing. "When the adrenaline's going, it's hard to keep a clear head and multi-task."

Corbett confesses to being "an adrenaline junkie," but co-founder Michael Stanga said that's not what the club's about. A former Eagle Scout who graduated with a degree in earth science and geography, Stanga is now working in insurance and continues to chase storms, providing photos and videos to KARE-11 television. He said the club was intended to be as much about safety, education and public service as about encounters with funnel clouds. Driving into the core of a storm, for example, is strictly prohibited, and helping injured people is encouraged. In April, club members arrived only minutes after an EF3 tornado destroyed half the buildings in Mapleton, Iowa, and aided in the door-to-door search for residents. It was a "sobering" few hours during a two-day, 1,300-mile chase, Klarkowski said.

"Seeing a tornado is very difficult and very uncommon," Stanga said. "Many chasers feel the field is oversaturated, especially with thrill-seekers. We're not training people to be yahoos. We're trying to be responsible, model citizens when we're chasing, and helping people at other times. And the Weather Service can always use more spotters."

Similar clubs have operated on campuses in Minnesota in the past, but have been short-lived. At St. Cloud State, during much of the regular school year, when tornadoes aren't likely, club members meet to discuss forecasting techniques, communications, spotter reporting, emergency response and safety. The club is also a driving force behind an annual conference of Minnesota storm chasers.

Several other colleges and universities nationwide offer storm chase classes, offering credit for chases that are perhaps 10 days long but scheduled so far in advance that participants might never see a cloud. Many departments have students and teachers who might organize impromptu chases. The Storm Chase Club at St. Cloud State is somewhere in between. School affiliation provides some money for equipment (but not gas), but otherwise members are on their own time and their own dime, and assume liability for any accidents.

And the point is?

"Very few careers are based on storm-chasing," said faculty adviser Rod Kubesh, an associate professor of meteorology who added that he prefers to admire severe weather from his front porch. "But some of them can develop a very good practical [forecasting] ability from it."

A lot of time and driving

Noted tornado researcher Joshua Wurman, president of the Center for Severe Weather Research in Boulder, Colo., said that while a storm chase club can help with both education and expenses, it also allows students "to experience some of the most awe-inspiring natural phenomena firsthand."

St. Cloud State club vice president Barry Windschitl said chasing has helped hone his forecasting skills while learning patience.

"It takes a lot of time and a lot of driving," said Windschitl, who recently left his home in Motley, Minn., at 3:30 p.m. for a solo Saturday chase across western Minnesota, acting as driver, navigator and forecaster. He returned at 10:30 p.m., skunked. "There's a lot of sitting around and hoping something happens with the atmosphere." Simply being able to provide accurate severe weather warnings, he added, "would be a pretty rewarding thing for me."

In other words, the Storm Chase Club is not like the movie "Twister."

"It isn't like that at all," Klarkowski said. "There's a lot of hurry-up-and-wait, and bad food. The overall goal is to see some sweet weather. But we're also out doing a service, reporting what's out there to the Weather Service. They need those eyes in the field to confirm what's really going on."

Added Corbett: "It's all about the mystery of why that little bit of sky comes to the ground. The fact that it's so rare makes it that much more rewarding."

Bill McAuliffe • 612-673-7646

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