Storm chaser thunders through Sudbury streets

While there were no storms to chase, local brothers Cory and Kyle Holmes still enjoyed their experience in a tornado interceptor vehicle.

The two had the chance to cruise in the vehicle used in the Tornado Alley Imax film after winning tickets from NorthernLife.ca.

“It was good,” Kyle said. His favourite part about riding in the “torn-apart car” was the looks other drivers gave the tank-like machine while driving through South End streets.

“We looked like a tank, so when we were driving around, everybody was acting all weird,” he said.

Sean Casey, who built the vehicle from a Dodge truck body, is more used to driving into storms than along city streets, but managed just fine. Even though Casey has seen hundreds of storms from the driver's seat of the vehicle, his “tank” has only been in six tornadoes so far. Casey said “rare circumstances” are required to trek into the eye of a storm safely.

Adjustments to the vehicle make it “about 96 per cent tornado safe.”

Still, once inside a storm, it's a rough ride.

“It's kind of what you'd expect,” Casey said. “It's really, really windy.” The pressure, he said, is comparable to holding “your head right next to Niagara Falls.”

Casey and his tornado interceptor vehicle will continue to travel throughout North America, visiting centres showing the Tornado Alley Imax film.