Born to be wild

Eatonia’s Jenny Hagan is awe struck by storms

By Joan Janzen
joanjanzen@yahoo.com

While most people are hiding out in the safety of their homes, Eatonia area resident Jenny Hagan is braving the elements and enjoying every minute of it. Whether she’s maneuvering deep snowdrifts, hanging out amidst 100 km winds, avoiding being hit by baseball size hail, capturing a lightning strike on film, or chasing down a tornado, Jenny is in her comfort zone.

Much like the classic song, Jenny was “born to be wild” about storm chasing. “I’ve had a passion for storms since I was a kid,” she said. She recalls being picked up in a tent during a plow wind when she was seven years old. That’s enough to scare any kid, but Jenny was “in sweet awe of it all.” She went on to begin chasing storms as soon as she got her driver’s licence, and she’s never stopped.

Weather watching is a shared passion amongst people in Saskatchewan, especially farmers. Jenny noted that research on tornado activity using satellite imagery, showed Canada sees over 200 tornadoes a year, but most of them go unwitnessed in unpopulated areas. But Jenny is making sure she doesn’t miss out on a storm if she can help it.

“Last year, I was out in Alberta and Saskatchewan about twenty times between mid-June and the beginning of August. I put on thousands of kilometres,” she said. Sometimes she is accompanied by a weather team or partner, but “usually, around Kindersley, I’m by myself,” she explained. “There’s not a huge group of us, and we kind of support each other. I’m the only really active female chaser in Saskatchewan.”

Not only does she witness wild weather, but occasionally she comes across something crazy, like frogs - lots of frogs. “After a tornado in Manitoba in 2014, while travelling home, there were thousands of frogs that were all over the highway. For two hours straight, I was driving over frogs!” Jenny laughed.

Other times, Jenny finds herself in some sticky situations. “Last year, I went to a shop in Alberta to pick up some giant cinnamon buns. I took a bite of a cinnamon bun, and a tornado dropped right in front of us!” Jenny said. The cinnamon bun ended up in the back seat, and Jenny had to clean up her sticky fingers in a hurry to capture the event.

Going for a drive during a hail storm can be dangerous, but not for Jenny. “After doing this for so long, I’m pretty comfortable knowing where the storm is moving and knowing what size hail it will produce. For me, the biggest danger is lightning because it can strike miles away from the storm, and you can’t predict that.” Jenny has had a few close calls where lightning has struck so close she could smell sulphur.

Jenny recalls coming home from the lake in 2012 when a storm suddenly popped up. “It turned into a mean-looking storm that went for kilometres,” she said. “I was staying ahead of it, but I only had a quarter tank of gas, and baseball-sized hail was falling from the sky.” Fortunately, her vehicle only sustained a couple of dents, and her windshield remained intact, which is important because “you can’t chase a storm if you’re windshield is gone,” Jenny added.

However, the storm doesn’t present the biggest danger for Jenny; people do. “When storms get going, lots of people in the area are watching. You’ve got to pay attention to what other drivers do because they’re paying more attention to the storm than where they’re driving,” she said.

Storm chasing has opened the door for Jenny to meet many interesting people, and it’s also opened the door for her to start a TV series called “Lost in the Storm.” The first episode aired in early April. “One episode featured winter storms,” Jenny said, which is not surprising since Mother Nature has already generously provided three record-breaking storms this year. Jenny’s TV series shows viewers what storm chasing is all about, including everything from fun to forecasting, and Jenny excels at both.

“I’m a weather spotter, sending warnings to Environment Canada,” she said. “Environment Canada can only see radar, and radar can’t see what’s happening below the cloud base. Without people’s eyes on the ground, they don’t know what’s going on below that cloud base. We send those reports in while we are out there.”

Not only is Jenny a weather spotter, but she is concerned about the safety of others while she is out in a storm. Along with her camera and video gear, she also carries a large first aid kit. “Often, we’re first on the scene if houses are hit by tornadoes. If we come across property damage, we stop the chase and make sure everyone is OK, and call emergency services as needed,” she explained.

Jenny offered some advice to ensure the safety of others. “I would recommend people get together with a trained spotter when chasing a storm if they’re interested in that kind of thing. People out for a drive can put themselves in danger. It’s great to watch, but stay a safe distance from the storm,” she said.

After all, every storm chaser knows you can’t get a good picture if you’re right in the storm.

Photo submitted

Jenny Hagan is one of the few, if not only, active female storm chasers in Saskatchewan