Storm Watching in Canada: Your Next Great Adventure
Spring brings excitement for Canada’s storm chasers. It’s time to connect with community members all across North America, eagerly make travel plans and swap news as they prepare to head to the United States to capture the terrifying beauty of intense storms. This year, however, they are tracking a different kind of storm—the political kind. And many Canadian storm chasers have finally found a storm they don’t want to be around.
The intense political-economic climate in the United States, combined with a strong sense of loyalty to Canada, has led many storm chasers to reconsider their usual summer travel patterns. It’s a decision they make with a heavy heart, because the real rewards of their hobby are the connections they make with fellow chasers on the road. They’re also deeply worried about the weather scientists and environmentalists whose data and reports they heavily rely on.
These are some of the concerns that Matt Ordower, an Ottawa-based cartographic project manager, has pondered. When asked what makes storm chasing so captivating, he shares that he simply has “loved storms since I was a kid. Always wanted to go chasing.” A 2011 group tour he found online was his introduction to the community; since then, he’s participated in week-long trips in 2015, 2019 and 2023. Now, Ordower shares that he’s looking ahead, and he’s concerned about the future: “Our next anticipated trip would be in 2027, but with the political climate, it will likely be postponed or altered to take place in Canada instead of Tornado Alley in the US”
Mike Orser, a data analyst from Ottawa, is similarly concerned. Orser introduced me to the storm chasing community, quite by chance, at a social event. Admittedly, it wasn’t a subject that I was much interested in at first. Does anyone actually want to be near a storm? I remember a particularly tempestuous rainstorm at Sandbanks Provincial Park, Ontario, in 2013 that reduced my favourite tent from a nylon palace to a heap of snapped poles and shredded fabric. What kind of gadabout would actually seek out a storm? But when I listened to Orser talk about his experiences, it was akin to listening to a poet, not a daredevil. His descriptions about the beauty of a storm-filled sky and that delicate balance between nature’s fragility and strength reminded me of why I go camping (with an intact tent, of course). But despite his love of storm chasing, the political situation weighs on him heavily and has for a while. He shares: “I actually did not go in 2019 because of the then-political climate, which was not even close to what it is today—but I was very against going to the US and spending my money there.”
Part of what makes these decisions so difficult is the prospect of not seeing their American storm chasing friends. “There is a fairly tight chasing community to a certain extent,” says Ordower, who goes on to share: “As with everything else in life, there are kind, caring chasers (some who come from all over the world) who look after each other, and there are more selfish, brazen chasers that are more interested in personal gains. But for the most part, chasers greet each other warmly, exchange information and try to keep each other safe.”
Safety is paramount within the community. I’ll never forget Orser explaining to me that storm chasing is so named because you always want to be behind the storm, and never ahead of it. Point taken! However, nature is unpredictable, and the community relies on each other to share critical information. It also depends on scientists, a profession which is under fire from the current American administration. Ordower shares: “I would say that the greatest change to the chasing world is that the tools for successful and safe chasing may have degraded some because of all of the cuts to science in the US (e.g. NOAA, SPC, etc.). With fewer meteorologists feeding weather information into the computer models and analyzing the results, the computer models cannot be trusted as much and the severe storm forecasts may not be as accurate. This could be a huge issue for the success and safety of storm chasers (along with the public at large).”
Like many outdoor lovers, storm chasers like Orser and Ordower are pivoting to local travel. “I am really hoping to chase around the Ottawa and eastern Ontario area this summer. Just waiting for the weather to cooperate,” says Orser.
Ordower concurs, adding, “If the political climate does not change by the time our next US storm chasing trip is anticipated, we may see if our usual storm chasing partners will meet us in the Canadian prairies to chase there.”
In any case, they can expect some spectacular experiences. While the Canadian prairies don’t have the same volume of storms as the Great Plains of the United States, those they do experience are ones for the record books. “The only F-5 tornado on record in Canada occurred near Elie, Manitoba in 2007,” says Ordower. “The prairies, like the Great Plains, are ideal for chasing because of the flat nature of the land and the lack of trees/structures to block views of the storms.”
