Chasing Storms for the ‘Thrill of It,’ UVA Alumnus Turns Hobby Into Passion

April 18, 2025

UVA alumnus Isaiah Parr, already a veteran storm chaser, stands tall in his element. (Video by Matt Riley, University Communications; animation by Johnny Utterback, University Communications)

There’s no hiding Isaiah Parr’s passion. While it’s not worn on his sleeve, it’s spelled out on the front and rear of his 2013 Toyota RAV4.

“TOR CHSR”

Parr is a 2024 University of Virginia alumnus with a day job he loves – software engineer at Biocore in Charlottesville – and a nighttime and weekend hobby he can’t live without.

“Twisters” isn’t just a movie. It’s based on someone like Parr, a real-life storm chaser.

“I love the thrill of it,” he said. “There’s nothing like tracking a storm, finding the best spot to see it, and then just sitting there and watching while the lightning flashes and the thunder roars and you’re hunkering down in your car against 60 to 70 mph winds.”

Portrait of Isaiah Parr with his car

You can spot Parr’s fitting vanity plates in Virginia and as far as the Great Plains. His hobby comes with few boundaries. (Photo by Matt Riley, University Communications)

Parr, 23, began this kind of thrill-seeking when he was 16 and now counts spotting nine tornadoes with his own eyes, though he said, “I’ve been closer to a ton more, but I can’t count them because I don’t see them. They’re either rain-wrapped or behind trees.”

Parr – and his sports utility vehicle that he packs with necessities such as water, towels, a fold-up mattress and a Starlink device to enhance radar connection – has chased storms in Virginia and has ventured as far as the Great Plains’ Tornado Alley.

Just last month, as tornado season began, Parr and his longtime partner in squall, nature photographer Peter Forister, captured a twister as part of their spontaneous 2,500-mile roundtrip, long weekend adventure from Charlottesville to southern Missouri.

No matter the location, Parr’s objectives remain the same. If he can’t see a tornado – the main goal – he wants to come away satisfied with his approach. Did he still make a good forecast, pick an accurate location to drive to, and settle in the right spot to witness some form of treacherous weather?

“When I say ‘executing well,’” Parr said, “it means basically just making all the right decisions to put me on the best, most exciting storm of the day.

“This is just a complete hobby to me. I don’t sell footage or video or any of that. Executing a chase successfully, it’s not related to any of that. It’s more just being in the right place at the right time.”

While Parr, a computer science major at UVA, didn’t focus exclusively on meteorology in college, he did win the forecasting contest as part of environmental science professor Kathleen Schiro’s Atmosphere and Weather course as a third-year student. His interest in the topic traces back to the University’s founder.

Thomas Jefferson was a meticulous weather observer, a fact that sparked Parr’s mother, an American history buff who homeschooled her nine children in Charlottesville, to gift Isaiah a weather journal one year for Christmas.

‘Inside UVA’ A Podcast Hosted by Jim Ryan
‘Inside UVA’ A Podcast Hosted by Jim Ryan

“I would write down the high temperature and the low temperature,” Parr said, “and there was a space to fill out what the clouds looked like in the morning and what they looked like in the afternoon, and then just write a few sentences about whether it was rainy or windy.

“I did that every single day for years and years, and I just loved tracking everything.”

Parr was introduced to storm chasing through Forister, a trained meteorologist who graduated from Virginia Tech’s program. Together, whether in Parr’s ride – fitting vanity plates and all – or Forister’s Subaru Forester, they’ve followed their instincts throughout the country.

“There’s definitely a storm-chasing community that’s fairly large,” Forister said, confirming a plot line in “Twisters.” “It’s thousands of people. So, if you’re in Oklahoma or Kansas looking at a storm, you’re sharing that with thousands of others who are out on the road.

“But what Isaiah and I like is when, on the rare occasion, we get the same quality storm here in Central Virginia and we’re the only people to have captured it.”

Isaiah Parr standing on the roof of a car to capture a picture of a storm

Parr captures a storm near Odessa, Texas, on June 1, 2022. (Contributed photo)

These daring exploits naturally come with concern. Parr said his mom still gets nervous anytime he goes out to chase storms. He recalls one close call when he was 17, and a spin-up tornado south of Richmond forced him and his sister to dive into their car for safety. Since then, he’s made a point to stay out of harm’s way.

Parr’s No. 1 rule is to avoid driving amid rain or hail.

“Which sounds weird coming from a storm chaser,” he said, “but I know that’s where accidents happen.

“With tornadoes, I’m comfortable getting as close as possible – as long as I know the direction it’s moving and I have an escape route.”

Parr relies on modern technology – RadarScope is his go-to weather app – to fuel his forecasting, as his once-trusty weather journal is tucked away in storage.

Nonetheless, there’s still a Jeffersonian method to his madness. Even for storm chasers, the learning never stops.

“There’s plenty of instances where I picked the wrong cell to follow,” Parr said. “Or where I predicted an eighth of an inch of rain and we got a whole inch.

“You’re always asking yourself, ‘Why did that happen?’ or ‘Why did that not happen?’ The more I learn, the better I can get.”

Media Contact

Andrew Ramspacher

University News Associate University Communications

Article Information

April 19, 2025

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