Intercepted 69 Tropical Cyclones since 1987. Founder of the H.E.R.V. Hurricane Eyewall Research Vehicle. @TheissTower #WindyPalmsProject
Key Largo, Florida
Joined July 2009
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#WindyPalmsProject results: Wind sensor deployment height 15 feet near Holly Beach, Louisiana. MAX wind gust of 154 mph at 12:33. Lowest barometric pressure of 945mb at 12:36am. Watch the intense deployment during #HurricaneLaura on the new @NatGeoChannel TV series #Category6
I wouldn't miss my son's big soccer game this Saturday for anything in the world. Not even a hurricane chase, the biggest passion of my life. #Isaias would be the 70th tropical cyclone intercept of my career over the past 3 decades, but number 70 will have to wait for now. I wish the timing of landfall were different, but it's not. I guess being a dad has changed my priorities. I never thought there would be anything that would prevent me from intercepting a hurricane. I have missed best friends' weddings, funerals, and many other important life events to chase hurricanes, but it seems I have finally met my match. Good luck to all the chasers going after Hurricane Isaias. Be safe, and trust me: don't underestimate the storm surge that's coming.
UPDATE: Last night was tough watching all the chasers’ live streams and missing a hurricane intercept so close to home. But it ended up being the right decision. Jordan played great today and scored his very first goal in a game and I was there to share this special moment with him. #ProudDad ⚽️
Posting this is therapeutic for me. Turning my back on a hurricane intercept is not easy at all. I will be back out there for the next one with my science equipment to measure the wind speeds that occur in the eyewall. There will be more hurricanes to chase.
It was an absolute honor chasing with you all today. I’ve been following everyone’s work the last few years and have been blown away by some of the epic chases in Tornado Alley and the incredible tropical cyclone footage. Keep up the great work. I’m looking forward to seeing what you produce in the future. Next time we all need to chase an intense eyewall followed by a clean stadium-effect eye.
Couldn’t leave the keys without hanging out with the legend himself @MikeTheiss! Got to spend hours watching a cloud line hearing all of his epic stories and capped the day off with a waterspout near Marathon. Day in Miami tomorrow before heading home. 5 waterspouts in total and lots of memories in between. What a trip. #FLwx @Hoines_ @wxsarahk @MesoMax919
Is 37 degrees a record cold temperature for Key Largo ? @NWSKeyWest
Good Morning #KeyLargo 🥶 The Theiss Tower recorded a low temperature of 37 degrees Fahrenheit at 8am this morning. Look out for those falling Iguanas !!
This has to be the most incredible video ever shot from a Hurricane Hunters flight inside the eye of a Category 5 #Hurricane. Check out this thread of videos from multiple passes inside the eye documenting the “stadium effect” of Hurricane Melissa.
Technology was very different 20 years ago when documenting Hurricane #Katrina. iPhone video and GoPro cams were not a thing yet. I wanted to capture what it looks like inside a building being inundated by storm surge. I custom designed a Hurricane proof housing for a Sony VX-2000 mini DV cam and deployed it in the lobby of hotel we were sheltering in. The footage is a first of a kind from that era. Check it out ! youtu.be/UJjDHxBU49A
Hurricane #Katrina had the single biggest impact on my life still to this day. I learned a lot about Hurricane survival and gained a massive sense of respect and caution for Mother Nature. @jimreedphoto and myself bunkered down in a 5 story building right on the beachfront and documented Katrina’s ferocious 28 foot storm surge rip through our shelter in Gulfport, Mississippi. If you are not one of the 9.3 million people that have already watched our complete time-coded documentation on YouTube, I recommended you do. Remember, history repeats itself and one day there will be another Katrina. youtube.com/watch?v=-Kou0HBp…
Hurricane Wilma slammed into South Florida 19 years ago today, on October 24, 2005. I documented the chaos in Miami Beach and captured extreme wind gusts wreak havoc on the beachfront including flipping vehicles just before penetrating the calm eye. youtu.be/QDFK40UMotc?si=6Sr9…
Hurricane #Oscar just made landfall near Baracoa, Cuba. I intercepted Category 4 Hurricane Matthew in 2016 in #Baracoa and documented the intense aftermath caused by strong winds and storm surge. The calm eye stalled on top of us and we measured a low barometric pressure of 962mb.
Complete destruction in Baracoa, Cuba from a combination of extreme wind and storm surge. Sad situation here. #HurricaneMatthew
Tonight we had a good view of #Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS looking west over the bayside of Key Largo, Florida. The “anti-tail” was not visible to the naked eye but is visible in some of the long exposure photos shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max. #CometC2023A3
Tonight is the second time this year we witnessed the #northernlights in Key Largo, Florida. It’s extremely rare to see the aurora so far south. These photos were taken from Latitude 25°6′24″N
Wow, Wow, Wow !!!! Purple northern lights peaking through the clouds in Key Largo, Florida. Big geomagnetic solar storm in progress right now. Get outside and look up and north #northernlights
Get outside everyone, even Florida !! A strong northern lights event is happening right now. Find somewhere that is dark and look to your north. #northernlights
#aurora SAR arc visible with iphone16 long exposure in Punta Gorda Florida! @MikeTheiss @ReedTimmerUSA
Currently located inside the calm eye of Hurricane #Milton in Sarasota, Florida. We have a barometric pressure of 961mb. Now getting into position for the backside second eyewall intercept.
The highest wind gust measured with the H.E.R.V. during Hurricane Milton was 114mph on the John Ringling Causeway in Sarasota, Florida. The calibrated wind sensor was located at an estimated elevation of 75 feet.
