ESTEVAN — Chris Chittick is no stranger to southeast Saskatchewan.
The storm chaser has been in the region on numerous occasions in the pursuit of severe weather. And he has also spoken to various groups.
Chittick was back in the Energy City March 6 to speak to students at Spruce Ridge and Hillcrest Schools about his experiences as a storm chaser, as well as to inform students about how severe weather forms and the different types of storms.
“In the offseason, which is right about now, I focus on different school districts in the three Prairie provinces. So, I go out and do school talks, speaking about education, safety and what to do,” he said after the Hillcrest presentation.
Previous stops on his Saskatchewan tour took him to Davidson, Outlook, Kyle, Moosomin and Carnduff.
Chittick has a degree in business, but his love is storm chasing, which he said he found in 1998.
“I saw it was a lot of fun. I fell in love with it … that nomad lifestyle. You’re not knowing where you’re going to end up, what you’re going to eat, what you’re going to see.”
He reported documenting 651 tornadoes, and has seen even more, but didn’t take pictures or videos of them. He added he has been in 15 “major” hurricanes, although he hasn’t handled one since the COVID-19 pandemic, since he has been focused on his family.
“My wife is amazing to let me go storm chasing, but hurricane season is right after tornado season, so sometimes I have to bite the bullet and be home,” he said.
Chittick witnessed the world’s widest tornado in Oklahoma in 2013 and twin tornadoes in Nebraska in 2014. Among the notable storms from the Prairies for Chittick include one in Manitoba that he showed early in his presentation.
He has also suffered broken bones, has almost lost an ear and once broke 10 toes due to storms.
In the past, he has chased with Ricky Forbes and famed Saskatchewan-based tornado hunter Greg Johnson, but now he has his own crew with a man and a woman from London.
Chittick said he enjoys school presentation because young people get into his speech, photos and videos.
“If we hit them with too much science, you can see you’re losing them a little bit,” he said. “And then you hit them with a cool video, and it brings them right back into the conversation and into the presentation. Just seeing the kids’ reaction is great.”
The talk for students includes basics like warm and cold air, the life cycle of a severe thunderstorm, different types of tornados and information on wind shear, which he said is important.
“Sometimes I switch it up every year. Sometimes I put the ingredients you need for storms to form together. One year I’ll talk about storm dynamics, but I bring it down a little bit for the students.”
His other presentations are to businesses, community events, library talks and even politicians. Kids are the best, he said, because they are creative in their questions and will even stump him sometimes.
“Through my presentation, obviously it’s safety and education when it comes to storms, so they can have an idea of what to do and what not to do, but also follow your dreams. Nothing is unattainable. You just have to put in the work and put in the time, and you can get there.”
