In 2011, there were 1,398 confirmed tornadoes in the United States – the most ever on record. The second most active year occurred in 2008, with 1,303 confirmed tornadoes. At the time of this recording, 2024 is currently the third most active year on record with 1,250 twisters confirmed to have touched down. For Ryan Mauk, the word “confirmed” is key.
“If you’ve ever heard the term, ‘confirmed tornado,’ that’s because of us.”
Mauk is a trained storm spotter, and storm chaser. And this summer he’s been putting in a lot of miles on his Subaru Forester, tracking down and filming tornadoes across the Midwest.
“I guess in contrast to most tornado videos that are very quick, sometimes very shaky, because of adrenaline and the chaos of the situation, a quick little clip of a tornado doing this or that, touching down – or even some of the heartbreaking stuff, seeing it go through a town or damage a house – I really wanted to do something more of my own journey with it. I wanted to bring forth a grass roots or home-bred feeling of, this is really what it’s like.”
Mauk grew up in and resides in Fargo. And as is the case with many chasers – his fascination started early.
“I honestly, I think my interest in severe weather is rooted sometime when I was a young kid. I mean, I remember vividly like – I used to go to this daycare center, and I remember there was a tornado warning and there were these clouds out there. I dunno… it might have just been some scuddy clouds, but some severe looking clouds anyway. And I just wanted to be out there and watch it all! They were dragging me inside, like, ‘get in here!’ And I was like, no, no! I want to see! And it’s always been that.”
As a kid, his interest only grew. Mauk says he began carefully following storms once he got his drivers license, and spent a lot of time self-studying meteorology before he started seriously chasing around ten years ago. He remembers his first tornado he ever intercepted, Father’s Day, 2015…
“That was in Bison, South Dakota. It was a pretty decent setup that day where it was looking good for all hazards, but in particular, the tornado risk was pretty high. And yeah, I saw one drop a pretty large cone in just some nature preserve, thankfully. It didn’t hurt anything, I don’t even know what it was rated – I think it might have torn up some shelterbelts or something. That day I actually saw three of them touch down, which is usually how that works.”
The chasing community is comprised of a lot of different ideologies and motivations. Mauk says he chats regularly with around 30 or 40 other chasers locally. Science and research is top of mind for many, but for Mauk, it’s more artistic – and possibly even spiritual. His YouTube series, The Rear Flank, aims to capture the presence of severe storms and the power of tornadoes.
“There’s nothing like it, I mean, when you’re outside the vehicle and looking at just a rip-roaring wall cloud just turning and it finally throws one down – there’s a presence there. I will go to the grave standing on that; there’s just something there. I felt like I wanted to do something different in contrast to most tornado videos, and really get more of a short film format out of it; sometimes you see just awful things out there. It’s the weight of witness, basically. It’s more of a deeper respect to the nature behind it and respect to the people sometimes, that it affects negatively.”
Like many Midwest kids, Mauk says he was affected by the Wizard of Oz, and he reports habitually renting Tornado Video Classics from Take Two Video. But Mauk’s path to The Rear Flank may have begun before he was even born.
“So, my grandfather was a photographer for the Fargo Forum back during the 1957 tornado. He took some photos, some really rather famous photos that won the Forum a Pulitzer Prize for their coverage of the Fargo tornado. I saw photos that no one’s ever seen; he didn’t get photos of the tornado itself, but a lot of the aftermath.”
Mauk’s grandfather was former Forum managing editor Cal Olson – and the aftermath he photographed of the 1957 Fargo tornado included a devastating, iconic image of a young man carrying the body of a little girl through the ruins of a decimated neighborhood. That twister ended up being one of three tornadoes studied by Japanese-American meteorologist Ted Fujita, which led to the development of the Fujita Scale that measures tornado damage. Today, it’s known as the Enhanced Fujita Scale. The Fargo tornado was rated F5, which at the time was the highest and most severe level.
The term 'F5' might sound familiar to mid-90s movie buffs. For Mauk and many other chasers, the 1996 film TWISTER was as inspirational as it was formative – even if it didn’t get everything right.
“When I saw TWISTER when I was like, 16 years old, before I ever actually chased a tornado – I thought it was just the best thing in the world, it was like, oh my god – I can’t wait! And it really had a lot to do with the drive to actually go out and do this with my life. Now, in retrospect, it’s almost like me as an ICU nurse watching Grey’s Anatomy. There’s a lot of cringe, like, oh God, did they really just say that? That’s not how that works! There’s a lot of moments like that. But at the same time, like, TWISTER is such an endearing, great film. I’m anxious to see the next one for sure.”
The “next one” he’s referring to is the highly anticipated and just released summer blockbuster TWISTERS, which is more of a follow-up film than a sequel to the original. Mauk says he fully expects this new film to inspire a whole new generation of chasers, which he says is a good thing. He encourages newbies to take a spotting class, always have an escape route away from the weather – and when picking a vehicle to chase in, choose wisely.
“I’d say, something that’s all wheel drive would be great. Something that’s better on gas, your wallet would appreciate. Before this one, I had this big, huge custom Jeep that was all jacked up and it was armored, and all that – and it was great, but that thing was awful on gas and even sketchier in really windy situations – and it’s not the thing you want to be in amongst high winds. Something economical and all wheel drive, so if you need to get out of a slimy gravel road… something with really good tires.”
And as for why this season has been so active in tornado alley – Mauk says experts claim this year’s exiting El Nino and entering La Nina weather pattern could be the answer. But whatever the reason, Mauk and other chasers are keeping their eyes to the skies for the next pursuit, or as he puts it - a cautious walk amongst the giants.