Brad Goddard
Hello everyone,
My name is Brad Goddard, I am a storm chaser from Rock Island, IL. I am pretty new to any kind of organized chasing, 2009 being my first season. My interest in severe weather goes back quite a ways however. At some point in my childhood, not sure when exactly. This interest formed out of a solid fear of thunderstorms. I can even remember having reoccurring dreams about tornados. Eventually that fear turned into a fascination with the weather. I was always the one out in the front yard watching a storm come in and then glued to the window once it hit.
There were two events in 2008 that took my interest in the weather to the next level. the first being the Parkersburgh, IA tornado on May 25th. I was traveling back home from a hiking trip in Minnesota when I nearly unknowingly core punched this tornadic storm from the north. The only thing that stopped me was a state trooper blocking the road about a mile from the damage path. I witnessed the largest hail I have yet to see taking some good hits from some 2″+ stones.
The next event was on July 21st, 2008. At 6am I was startled out of bed by an extremely severe deracho packing 100+mph winds. I watched this out my kitchen window as my neighborhood was destroyed. I saw several trees get knocked over but the biggest surprise is when I opened my front door and realized my 4′ diameter oak tree was laying on my neighbors house. The entire Illinois Quad City’s area sustained a lot of damage that morning with the worst of it right in my neighborhood.
Oak tree on my neighbors house
It was really this event that sparked my research into severe weather. I started by reading up on derachos and have not stopped since. The following winter I read everything I could get my hands on and by December I had decided I was going to try stormchasing for myself. That kicked off another whole round of reading and learning that was only accelerated once spring hit and I got out and started learning first hand.
I would consider my first season of chasing hugely successful with 15 chase days, about 8,000 miles driven, 7 states, 1 confirmed tornado on April 26th, and 2 probable tornados on May 13th and June 21st. I am looking forward to getting out there again in 2010 and hope to learn even more.
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