John has been chasing storms since 1997 when he first went out with nothing more than a weather radio to tell him where the storms were. His passion for storms and his love of technology has changed the equipment he uses over the years to having a state-of-the-art setup. He's always looking for cutting edge tools to use while in the field but without losing or ignoring gut instinct and knowledge of the atmosphere in making a chase decision. John's outlook on chasing is from a 'Chase Management' perspective, where he excels in making fast, accurate decisions with limited information to help get into the perfect spot to see the perfect storm. This outlook has netted him an average of more than a dozen tornadoes per year while only averaging two weeks of chasing each season. John loves chasing the northern plains in the late spring and early summer where the crowds are smaller, the sky is big and so are the tornadoes!
Besides chasing, John works as a technical manager in IT for a large school district in Minnesota. He also is very active in the Skywarn severe storm spotter program, having been active in it since his days studying Meteorology at St. Cloud State University. John has been the Coordinator of Skywarn Operations at the National Weather Service in Chanhassen, MN since 2005 and has participated in tornado damage surveys including an EF-4 tornado. He is also currently working on a paper to be published in an international academic journal. John has given numerous presentations at national, regional, and local conferences about severe storms and hosts the annual Minnesota Skywarn Workshop, attended by over 300 people with speakers from around the country.