He Chased the Worst Weather on Earth for Thirty Years : The 2015 Broadcast | ArtBell

Most people spend their lives learning to read the sky so they can get away from it. Warren Faidley learned to read it so he could drive toward it. Thirty years, and he is still here. Faidley is generally credited as the world's first full-time professional storm chaser — not a meteorologist who photographs weather on the side, but a photojournalist who built an entire career out of standing where the storm is. His 1989 lightning photograph, shot in Tucson, became one of the most widely reproduced images of its kind ever taken. He was in Miami for Hurricane Andrew in 1992. He has been inside more supercells than most people will see on television in a lifetime. He also knows exactly what the work costs. In May 2013, the El Reno tornado killed Tim Samaras, his son Paul, and Carl Young — the first chasers to die from the thing they were chasing. It was a wider tornado than anyone had measured, it changed direction, and it ended the argument about whether experience keeps you safe. Two years later, that shadow was still over the field. In this November 11, 2015 broadcast, Faidley talks about the storms that nearly got him, how chasing changed once anyone with a phone could livestream a funnel cloud, what the movies get wrong, and the preparedness side of his work — the part that is less about photographs and more about what ordinary people should do when the sirens start. Art does what Art always did. No mockery, no easy answers. He lets the man tell it, and lets you decide. 📻 ABOUT THIS CHANNEL Archived broadcasts from the golden era of late-night radio. Art Bell took calls from truckers, insomniacs, whistleblowers and the occasional time traveler — first from a home studio in Pahrump, Nevada, and later from Nevada again after his return to the air. New uploads regularly — subscribe and turn notifications on. 🔔 Best listened to after midnight, with the lights off. Original broadcast: November 11, 2015 Host: Art Bell Guest: Warren Faidley Uploaded for historical and archival interest. Claims made by guests are their own and are not presented as fact. #ArtBell #StormChasing #WarrenFaidley #Tornado #Hurricane #ExtremeWeather #ElReno #Lightning #LateNightRadio #ClassicRadio