It was his own encounter with one of the most incredible twisters in recent American history that sucked in TikTok storm-chaser Edgar O’Neal. In 2013, the U.S. state of Oklahoma was struck by the widest tornado ever recorded to the south of the city of El Reno, measuring at a staggering 2.6 miles wide. Eight people were killed, including three storm researchers—the first recorded deaths of chasers on the road. The U.S. National Weather Service called it “the most dangerous tornado in storm observing history.” That it missed more densely populated areas of the state, and as such the death toll was limited, is enough to inspire faith in the greatest of non-believers.
O’Neal, then working as a state social worker, had just moved to Oklahoma. “Me and my family had to run from [the El Reno tornado],” he tells GQ over Zoom. “I didn’t know much of anything about how to read radar, or anything, and it scared the heck out of me.” Some time later, he would face his newfound fear head-on. “I went on a ridealong with someone my wife knew was a storm-chaser. The first time, I was like, Oh, this is what I want to do eventually.”
Twister thundered into the box office back in 1996, becoming the surprise second-highest grossing film of the year behind world capital destruct-o-thon Independence Day. That it so convincingly tore the roof off poses the question of why it has taken 28 years for a sequel to appear, ready to swallow up Oklahoma anew in its swirling, cow-filled vortex. But now Twisters has arrived. With it will no doubt come renewed interest in a pursuit that some find cool, and others insane: storm-chasing, with all of its death-defying mythos.
For some it’s a job, others it’s a hobby, but it’s exactly what it sounds like: the pursuit of freak weather events, like tornadoes and hurricanes, for the collection of scientific data, adrenaline-pumping thrills, and increasingly in the present moment, content for live-streamed entertainment.
Storm-chasers have carved out a special place for themselves on TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, and other social media platforms, turning a niche pursuit into a viable full-time career for the most committed chasers. Such is how O’Neal stormed into the game. After that initial ride-along, he continued his storm-chasing journey with “chase-cations,” in which amateur chasers hit tornado hotspots to witness the beasts firsthand. Eventually, the internet enabled him to take on chasing full-time. “I was one of the first storm chasers on TikTok, and I started [on] that platform early on,” he says.
Last year, he reached out to meteorologist and storm-chaser Reed Timmer and joined his storm-chasing group Team Dominator. (Timmer took Twisters writer Mark L. Smith out on the road while Smith was writing the script, and “most people assume” Glen Powell’s character is based on Timmer, per O’Neal.) “I have seen over 62 tornadoes this year,” O’Neal says. He has been inside seven of them, in an armor-clad truck known as a Tornado Intercept Vehicle, to gather vital meteorological data straight from the source, such as we see in Twisters.
