Blooming Prairie Native Witnesses 100th Tornado

Don't try this at home. In fact, if a tornado is anyway near your home, dash to the basement or a safe interior room. For Brad Nelson, a meteorologist and storm chaser however, a tornado provides a magnetic draw that he can't avoid. He witnessed his 100th tornado this week during a storm near Dalton, MN.

Nelson stated on his Twitter feed @Brad_nado, "Incredible day to put it mildly! Caught my 100th #tornado near Dalton, Minnesota. Slow moving and well behaved enough that we were able to drive right up to it." (Again, not a thing the average Joe should be doing.) Nelson was working alongside @_TwisterSisters in a video posted at YouTube.

Sadly, Wednesday's tornado around Dalton and Ashby was a deadly one. A Go Fund Me page is set up to help the family of a man killed.

In an archived interview with AM 1390 KRFO, Nelson, a Blooming Prairie graduate, said weather has fascinated him for a long time, "I've always been interested in weather. And it was something I always wanted to do. Coming out of high school I wasn't really sure that that was going to be my goal. But it kind of fell into place and I really enjoyed it. I was lucky enough to get the position with DTN."

DTN is a weather service based in the Twin Cities. Nelson's regular gig is providing on-site weather safety coverage at professional golfing events and collegiate sports among other events.

He told us, "I do chase storms quite a bit. That's really my main hobby, to chase storms and try and find tornadoes and severe thunderstorms and photograph them...It's something I certainly enjoy. Obviously, I don't like tornadoes that cause damage or that lead to any sort of injuries or fatalities, certainly. But I like to see a tornado out over the open prairie, the open farmland that's what I like to see."

Nelson works for Silver Lining Tours that takes people on storm chasing junkets each spring. Check out Nelson's profile on the website.