Storm chaser to speak at BC

Extreme storm chaser Reed Timmer will speak at Bridgewater College on Wednesday, Oct. 26, at 7:30 p.m. in the Carter Center for Worship and Music.

The program, sponsored by the Harold H. Hersch Endowed Lecture Series, is free and open to the public.

Timmer’s storm chasing career began at the age of 12, when he destroyed the family’s video camera while being pelted by quarter-size hail during a severe thunderstorm. Ever since, he’s been obsessed with extreme weather and storm chasing.

Timmer pursued his passion by earning a Ph.D. in meteorology at the University of Oklahoma.

After documenting a massive F5 tornado that struck Moore, Okla., on May 3, 1999, Timmer became even more obsessed with extreme storm chasing. Since then, he has driven across the United States many times and has captured more than 250 tornadoes on film. He also documented Hurricane Katrina, one of the most devastating hurricanes in U.S. history.

In 2008, as a star on Discovery Channel’s “Storm Chasers,” Timmer became the first person in history to capture high-definition video inside a tornado. He was also featured on the same channel’s “When Nature Strikes,” which featured his intercept of Hurricane Ike on Galveston, Texas.

Timmer is CEO of Weather Fusion LLC and Extreme Tornado Tours LLC, offering forensic meteorology and consulting services, extreme weather media and storm chasing tours.

In his book, Into the Storm, Timmer takes readers inside violent tornadoes, killer hurricanes and death-defying adventures in extreme weather.

Timmer’s “hands-on” experience with hazardous weather and natural disasters, along with his education in the science of meteorology, have made him one of the world’s most respected experts on severe weather forecasting, safety and survival . He has appeared on ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC and The Weather Channel.