The Black Wind: When Tornadoes Become Obsession

On May 3, 1999, high school science teacher Craig Walter took his meteorology class from Windham, Minnesota to the National Weather Center in Norman, Oklahoma. The forecast called for a 20% chance of thunderstorms. His principal had explicitly forbidden storm chasing. But when the scientists at the Storm Prediction Center told the students they'd "be able to throw a rock from one tornado to another in Oklahoma," and when the Doppler on Wheels team invited the class to follow them into the field, Craig faced a choice between keeping his job and giving his students the experience of a lifetime. He chose the latter.

The Chase

Craig's obsession with tornadoes was no secret at Windham High. He was the cool teacher who let students make Mountain Dew slushies in his mini fridge, who played nothing but Aerosmith on road trips, who got so worked up during lectures that students couldn't help but pay attention. When he loaded 12 teenagers into two white vans and followed the Doppler trucks into the Oklahoma prairie, he was doing what he'd always wanted to do—and what he'd promised his principal he wouldn't.