We’re not here to judge how people get their kicks, but there is something just a little unusual about stormchasers’ pathological need to immerse themselves in Mother Nature’s most severe wrath.
With that in mind, the actions of meteorologists Juston Drake and Simon Brewer amid Hurricane Irma raise a few questions: what could two blokes in the midst of the intense storm learn that remote sensors couldn’t? What unconscious part of their brains isn’t telling them to get the hell out of there? And, perhaps most pressingly, how the hell did they manage to stay standing in such insane gales?
Feel free to contemplate the above as you watch footage of Drake and Brewer braving the winds in Key West, Florida, as Hurricane Irma tore its way across the state’s southwest tip.
@JustonStrmRider tearing it up! pic.twitter.com/VhC97GZJBa
— Simon Brewer (@SimonStormRider) September 10, 2017
@SimonStormRider getting wind measurements out in the eyewall as well. Got a 117 mph wind gust. pic.twitter.com/PVEPP8FbtB
— Juston Drake (@JustonStrmRider) September 10, 2017
For all of their daring-do at the edge of Irma’s eye, the pair did actually manage to walk away with some interesting results. Brewer reports that he recorded a devastating maximum wind speed of 188kph, and that number may even be a conservative reading.
Brewer also documented the devastation left behind after the storm surge receded.
Haven’t slept in 2 days, too much work to do, still doing. Please help devastated #FloridaKeys @JustonStrmRider pic.twitter.com/aKJv1snP8W
— Simon Brewer (@SimonStormRider) September 11, 2017
Hurricane Irma is currently tearing north along Florida’s west coast, and is projected to impact Tampa in the next few hours.
Miami has already sustained significant flooding thanks to Irma’s storm surge. Three deaths have been recorded in Florida as a result of the storm, in addition to the 25 confirmed victims across the Caribbean.
