Zachary Borst comes from the quiet community of Putney Vermont. Although Vermont may not be known for its severe weather they get a little bit of everything there from small tornados to severe ice storms.

As a Firefighter/EMT-B in his home town he has seen the damage that storms can cause. Although fascinated by severe weather he had no formal knowledge until he began attending the University of Vermont.

As geography major, he has taken several classes in climatology and meteorology and will continue develop his knowledge while attending school. It is at UVM where he also joined the Shelburne Fire Department.

A rookie and youngest member of the team at the age of 23, Borst joined MESO in 2006 after coming across the website while searching for people to help him learn even more about severe weather. Zack has hosted a Skywarn class on campus and is working on educating and providing opportunities to UVM students to become spotters.

Borst is also the Vice President of UVM Search and Rescue and will be a Program Director at UVM's Living and Learning program where he created an Emergency Service program to allow students who are emergency responders to live and train together while attending UVM.

Nancy Bose, grew up in the Midwest, but has spent most of her life in the Northeast. Nancy was educated at Marymount College, where she was an Art History Major and Psychology minor, and at Lycee Anna de Noailles in Evian, France, where she studied French Culture. Nancy's history with severe weather goes back to early childhood when her community was stuck by what was later defined as an F4 tornado (this was before the Fujita Pearson scale). What we now know as Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome haunted Nancy's early years as a result of this horrific storm, making her fearful of storms, wind, thunder, lightning and most definitely tornadoes. Fortunately, her parents combated these fears with a constant and steady stream of information, facts, and education about severe weather that slowly turned fear into a lifelong fascination with storms and severe weather.

One of the originators of the chase team that was later to become MESO, the original intent was to compile a "dream team" of chasers, and chase storms during peak season in Tornado Alley. This team melded wonderfully, and MESO was born.

Nancy is the editor of our Newsletter, our Vice President, and does numerous presentations to school and civic groups in the area of severe weather disaster preparedness - now also adding a CD for grammar school age kids that MESO can't reach for personal presentations. "Knowledge is not only the key to over coming any fear, but to surviving ANY disaster".

Pulling up stakes and heading for the plains every spring is something her family has learned to live with, and even support. On a road that has taken her about as far from Art History as a person can go, Nancy is now a in charge of Internet Sales at LKQ in Hudson, NY, and in addition to her work with MESO, serves on the advisory board at the local community college, is a Firefighter/EMT in the Union Vale Fire Department, where she also serves as Rescue LT, and President of the Fire Company, and is a certified Fire Investigator. Nancy has written or contributed to many of the articles posted at www.mcwar.org, and has been the Chase Coordinator and Venture Organizer for all team chases since and including the first, in 1998.

Certifications:
NYS Certified Firefighter
NYS Certified EMT
NYS Certified Farmedic
NYS Certified Fire Investigator
NYS Certified Emergency Vehicles Operations
Skywarn and Advanced Skywarn Certified
AED/CPR Certified, 2006 protocols
NIMS certified, IS 100, IS 200, IS 700, IS 800

Wes became interested in tornadoes at an early age when his grandmother told him stories about the tornado that hit her school in Rye Cove, VA in 1929. From that moment on he would watch every television show and read every book, magazine article, and news clipping he could find on the subject.

He also pursued photography as a hobby. During a six-year enlistment in the US Navy, Wes worked on his photographic skills and contributed several photographs to periodicals. After his tour in the Navy was over, Wes worked as an electrician for underground mining equipment while moonlighting as a freelance photojournalist. He contributed photographs to many news outlets such as CBS Sportsline and many major US and foreign newspapers but his primary outlet was Reuters News Service.

Certifications:
NWS Trained Spotter

Allan Detrich is a native of Attica, Ohio, where he saw his first tornados at the age of 11, and has been hooked on weather since then. Detrich attended the Ohio Institute of Photography in Dayton, and crafted his own work-study program, earning academic credits by working as a photographer for the Kettering-Oakwood Times. He then began working for the Xenia (Ohio) Daily Gazette while in college. After leaving school, Detrich joined the Tiffin Advertiser-Tribune as Chief Photographer. From there, Detrich was hired as the sole photographer for the Sunday edition of the Lewiston, Maine, Sun-Journal, where he worked until 1989, when he was honored as New England Photographer of the Year. Detrich then went to work for The Blade, of Toledo, Ohio, and has been there since.

While at the Blade, Detrich won numerous awards, including the Ohio News Photographers Association Photographer of the Year (POY) award four times, the Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar POY twice, and the National Press Photographers Association Region 4 POY twice. He has also won many national awards, including four Clarion awards, National Headliner awards, several National Press Photographers Association Picture of the Year awards, and New England POY.

In 1998 Detrich was runner-up for the Pulitzer Prize in Feature photography for a five part series "Children of the Underground." an in-depth look at a covert underground organization that hides sexually abused children. In 2000, Detrich was the lead photographer on an investigative project on Beryllium that was a Pulitzer finalist in the investigative series category.

In 2002, a photo of a killer tornado ripping through downtown Tiffin, Ohio earned Detrich a Photo of the Year honor from TIME Magazine - - and many other of Detrich's storm photos have won other photojournalism honors and can be seen at www.allandetrich.com. Detrich has been storm chasing in the plains for over ten years and has also covered numerous hurricanes including Gloria, Floyd and Rita.

Certifications:
National Weather Service Skywarn Trained Spotter

I got my interest in severe weather the fall of 1970 in a thunderstorm in Coffeyville, Kansas. Of course most will know this is the day a record hailstone was found in my hometown. I remember that my bother and I had grabbed our Father's hard hats and our baseball gloves and were trying to catch baseball sized hail as it was coming down! Good thing there wasn't much as neither of us were hit!

From that point, I grabbed everything I could about tornadoes and severe weather. Later I became a Red Cross Volunteer and helped out on a few small tornado hits in surrounding communities. This desire to help would carry me through a long career in Emergency Services of all types. In 1980 I joined the Army as a Combat Medic., I received my Paramedic License in 1983 and also started freelancing some photography. I spent 10 years in the Army and really didn't get to do much with storms though while fixing a radio antenna on our Field Ambulance (really and Armored Personnel Carrier) I experienced my first and only thundersnow! Of course this was in Hohenfels, Germany and it was snowing so hard all we could see was the flash and heard the rumble of thunder. This rekindled my interst in Weather and photography. I went to White Sands Missle Range in New Mexico where I became involved in several Military and Civilian functions. I was the Emergency Room NCOIC, and went on to become the Traning NCO for EMT's. I was the Civilian/Military Liason to the State of New Mexico's Region III EMS Office and also became a First Responder Instructor, 911 Dispatch Instructor and was also named as the EMS Training Coordinator for the Organ Volunteer Fire Department. From here I went on to receive a Wildland Fire Fighters certificate. I should mention that my time in the Military also saw service as a Flight Medic in California and New Mexico. I left the Army in 1989 and found myself in Seattle Washington. Now there's a place with its own weather! I was employed as paramedic for a couple of different ambulance companies and still voluteered with the local fire department. From here I changed sides of the country and went to New Hampshire where I started in law enforcement. I also continued to employ my skills as a 911 dispatcher there and continued to volunteer for the local VFD. It was here that I had my first taste of a hurricane. Even though I was 60 miles inland and New Hampshire isn't really prime hurricane territory, it was enough to convince me that this was some awesome weather!

From New Hampshire I made my way full circle and settled in Ponca City, Oklahoma where I now reside. I am currently employed as the IT Department Supervisor for a large retail chain in a distribution center. I currently am a Weather Spotter for Kay County Oklahoma and local radio station. I've also done some freelance video for one of the Tulsa television stations. My most recent accomplishment was the voice-over narration in many segments of the "Storms of 2006" DVD. I am married and have 3 great kids. I love spending as much time as I can with my daughter in helping her on her way to a singing career.

Joe Falci currently resides with his wife and two children in Cincinnati, OH. Prior to moving to Cincinnati, Joe was a 20-year resident of Fort Lauderdale, FL.

Joe has always had an interest in meteorology and South Florida's semi-tropical climate provided excellent opportunities to experience numerous severe weather events firsthand; large thunderstorms, frequent lightning, and, of course, hurricanes -- including the Category 5 Hurricane Andrew in 1992.

After the storm, I drove down to the city of Homestead to pick up my best friend. Homestead was `ground zero` for Hurricane Andrew, and I'll never forget how the damage levels grew progressively worse as I drove the 60 miles south from Fort Lauderdale. By the time I got to Homestead, it was as if an atomic bomb had gone off in the middle of the city - I'll never forget those images.

Ohio, for its part, gets its fair share of extreme weather, and Joe still keeps his eyes to the sky as a spotter for the National Weather Service. Joe also recently earned his private pilot's license and, with it, a chance to attain even more meteorological education... especially in the areas of thunderstorm development, frontal systems, wind shear, and weather data interpretation.

Education:
Associate of Science (Aviation)
Bachelor of Science (Business Administration)

Certifications:
National Weather Service Trained Spotter
FAA Private Pilot with Instrument Rating

Chris Howell was born in Ypsilanti, Michigan on February 5, 1969, graduating high school in June of 1987 and three days after that he was at Navy boot camp in Great Lakes, Illinois.

Howell spent four years serving in United States Navy from1987-1991. The Navy allowed him to see different parts of the world that he would not have seen otherwise. Howell served during the first initial bombardment of Iraq in Operation Desert Shield and our unit got several awards as well as members of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower. Howell earned several Meritorious Unit Commendation medals and is now eligible to receive the Cold War medal.

Once discharged in 1991 Howell became a restaurant manager and enrolled at the local community college to study criminal justice. Howell graduated with an associates degree in criminal justice in 1996, and was also nominated to the Phi Theta Kappa National Honor Society and served them for 3 years.

Howell got interested in weather during the super outbreak of 1974. Howell recalls "Spending a couple hours on April 3rd in a ditch behind our mobile home we lived in. I saw the warnings scroll across the bottom of the television all day. The clouds were very angry that day and that intrigued me. As I got a little older I began to study the clouds and the weather in general and I have been doing so ever since. As the years progressed storm chasers brought us tornadoes on video and ever since then I was hooked on twisters."

Howell joined MESO in 1999 and joined this "collection of strangers". We saw how important it was to interact with the public in educating them about severe weather and soon we hope to be training emergency first responders as well as other candidates who need severe weather training. Howell served many years as Science Officer of MESO, "This has allowed me to teach severe weather in general to the members of the team as well as participate in many articles written on our website. The first time I went out on a chase with this team I knew I found a keeper. Some people may only get to take one dream vacation in their life...I have had 8, and many more to come." Howell has spent the last nine years studying storms in the Great Plains.

Education:
Associate of Art, 1996 (Criminal Justice)

Certifications:
National Weather Service Skywarn Trained Spotter

Darrell Kirk was born and raised in the Chicago area and Northwest Indiana. He was born in Harvey, Illinois and lived in the neighborhoods of South Holland, Lansing, and Dolton. When he turned 12 his family moved to Lake Eliza, Indiana where his fear of tornadoes turned into an obsession with weather.

Darrell was a child living in Illinois when the "1974 Super Tornado Outbreak" took place. It was the worst tornado outbreak in U.S. history with 148 twisters touching down in 13 states. The total loss of life that day was over 330 people and more than 5,000 injured. Darrell still remember the low hanging clouds and dark skies of that day, and how his mother tried to calm his fears of tornadoes. Soon after she helped him put together a science fair project on tornadoes -- 3 pieces of cardboard taped together to form the backdrop for a tornado made out of cotton balls. Facts and figures about tornadoes littered the board as if the swirling cotton ball tornado had caused the destruction itself. What he remembers most about that diorama, however was the little plastic baby that was placed in the middle of the tornado to show the terrible toll these storms took on human life. To this day he still believes the baby in the diorama symbolized himself.

Darrell left Lake Eliza, Indiana in 1981 and joined the United States Marine Corps as a Basic Diesel Mechanic. After 6 months of training, he was immediately sent to advanced Diesel Mechanic school for another 6 months of training. He worked with Motor Transport Maintenance Battalion on Camp Lejune, North Carolina for about a year in support of his unit serving in Beirut. Darrell then requested a transfer to Okinawa, Japan where he was placed with the 3rd Force Service Support Group on Camp Kinser. He attended Central Texas Community College soon after for a Photography class and to his surprise was later recommended by his instructor to Brigadier General Robert R. Porter who was looking for a personal photographer. Darrell got the job with General Porter and to this day is the only personal photographer to a Marine Corps General. For his duties, Darrell received the Navy Achievement Medal, Navy Unit Accommodation Medal, Sea Service with 3 stars, and Good Conduct Medal.

After leaving the Marine Corps in 1986, Darrell traveled throughout recently-opened China and Tibet to photograph the people of these countries. He then moved to Seattle, Washington to attend the University of Washington for a degree in Sociology to aide in his documentary photography skills. Upon graduation, he was approached by a professional in the apparel industry and was immediately made President of Kitzbuhel Apparel. Putting photography on the back burner, he worked the next 15 years in the apparel industry as an independent Manufacturer's Representative. Darrell continues to pursue his documentary photography and uses profits from the sales of his photos to fund the "Nelson Mandela, Grasa Machel Scholarship", a scholarship he set-up upon the visit of the two to his Alma mater in Seattle.

Currently, Darrell is the Host of "Tornado Witness Radio" www.tornadowitness.com and is Publisher of "Coffee News Seattle" www.CoffeeNewsSeattle.com

  
Education:
Art Institute of Seattle (Associates of Applied Arts, Commercial Photography)
Seattle Central Community College (Associates of Arts, General Studies, 1989) 
University of Washington (Bachelor of Arts, Sociology, 1990-1992)
  
Certifications:
Amateur Radio Operator (License KB7ZTK)
St. Louis County Trained Weather Spotter (Spotter Number M189116)
University of Washington (1 Year Certificate Program, Screenwriting, 2002-2003)
University of Washington (1 Year Certificate Program, Writing the Modern Memoir, 2003-2004)

Brian McNoldy was born and raised in Reading, PA, an average-sized city of 390,000 people about an hour northwest of Philadelphia. He grew up with an interest in every facet of the natural world. He went to Lycoming College where he double majored in physics and astrophysics, but still had a big place in his heart for severe weather and hurricanes. Between his junior and senior years of college, he held an internship at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center where he worked one-on-one with a mentor studying tropical convection in the western Pacific. He wrapped up his senior year in college presenting two seminars: one on characteristics of tropical convection and the other was based on the culmination of his honors project on planetary atmospheres.

Immediately following college, he went on to graduate school at Colorado State University... this time for atmospheric science. He earned his Master of Science degree and then found employment at the same department as a research scientist. Research topics have recently included tropical cyclone inner core dynamics, binary vortex merger, the North American monsoon, and experimental fluid dynamics.

Brian has always had a deep-rooted passion for severe weather. Shortly after learning to walk, his mother would find him either on the front porch or right up against the front window during severe thunderstorms (much to her dismay!). Before learning about these from books, lightning and thunder taught him how fast sound traveled, and slicing open hail stones taught him that thunderstorms must be home to strong vertical winds. There are rarely tornadic storms in southeast PA, but tornadoes were alluring and intriguing phenomena that he longed to experience first-hand.

After his senior year in college, Brian sought out others with this calling, and came across a small group, not really a team as such, but a collection of strangers who met online. They all met up that May in the Great Plains and chased tornadoes for 10 days. Following that dream vacation, MESO was born, and he saw the need for storm chasers to interact with the public in an educational capacity. Brian has served as webmaster for MESO since its inception, as has held the offices of Science Director (1998-1999, 2006-2008) and President (2000-2005).

Education:
Bachelor of Arts, 1998 (Physics and Astrophysics)
Master of Science, 2001 (Atmospheric Science)

Certifications:
National Weather Service Skywarn Trained Spotter
Colorado All-Season Spotter Team

I've been fascinated by weather as far as I can remember. I have always been obsessed with convective storms and all of their different behaviors. As a child, I would watch storms from my house and via radar religiously. Particularly memorable events from childhood include severe flash flooding, a tornado, meeting Ted Fujita, watching the 65,000 ft high Plainfield F5 tornado- producing supercell pass to my west, along with many other incredible events. From watching NOVA programs in the 80s, I dreamed of someday actually chasing storms out in the plains. In high school, I decided to pursue a career in meteorology and I took a great interest in general math and science, which are essential subjects to know for conducting successful atmospheric research. College and graduate school were dedicated to learning about atmospheric research. My interests include the practical and the theoretical - I like forecasting and observations just as well as I enjoy theoretical meteorology. Also, during my university education and to the dismay of my professors, I made my dream of chasing come alive by purposely heading out after potential tornado events. Every chase, including any chase that one would label a bust because of a failed forecast or because of different modes of convection besides supercells, is always thrilling and I learn a lot from it. I hope to continue this hobby during my free time. Now I am in a postdoc position doing hurricane research and I hope to continue a career studying convective/mesoscale activity for the rest of my life.

Education:
Bachelor of Science, 1999 (Mathematics and Atmospheric Science)
Master of Science, 2002 (Atmospheric Science)
Doctor of Philosophy, 2007 (Atmospheric Science)

Liana Sain was born in the Los Angeles area, but has lived the majority of her life in the desert towns of Yuma, Arizona and Blythe, California. She can remember being fascinated with weather as early as the fifth grade, when Tropical Storm Kathleen hit Yuma; she begged for permission from her father to crack the garage door open so she could lie on the floor and peak out to watch the action.

When Liana was 14, her younger sister was struck by lightning while riding a bicycle and suffers from related effects some 26 years later; being a part of MESO allows Liana the opportunity to share lightning safety awareness to others. Lightning, flash floods, and dust storms are the biggest weather hazards during the monsoon season in her area, and she is passionate about educating others about these dangers.

2007 marked Liana’s fifth year of storm chasing in the Midwest, where she spends the majority of her vacation time. She enjoys learning about the atmosphere, and is rapidly (and proudly) becoming a 'weather geek'. All this has led Liana back to college at the age of 40, where geography and natural disasters are her courses of choice.

The Greensburg tornado on May 4th, 2007 would serve as the mechanism that brought Liana to the ranks of MESO. She was chasing the same storm that night, and it ultimately led to her meeting Nancy Bose; Liana is thrilled to add to the “girl power” on the MESO team!

Certifications:
National Weather Service Skywarn Trained Spotter

Michael Sutcliffe was born in Baldwin Park, California , where the weather is rarely exciting. However, at eight years old, he had to quickly get used to a traveling life when his mother married an Air Force NCO. At the age of twelve, he spend a very short eighteen months in Topeka, Kansas, during which he saw his first "green sky" and heard his first tornado siren. His family moved from Kansas to Biloxi, Mississippi, where his step-father was attached to unit of Hurricane Hunters, and the thirteen year-old felt fortunate to meet another, much larger kind of storm. At nineteen, he moved to England and worked as a boilermaker, welding inspector and industrial photographer, and was once awakened at 3am by the "Great Storm of October 1987". Four years later, after having spent more than half of his life in Europe, he returned to Texas to finish his formal education at the University of Texas at Austin , served as a Russian translator in the US Army, and eventually joined the Austin Fire Department in 1996, where he met Randy Denzer. In 1999, he volunteered with a ragged bunch of firefighters at Black Rock City, Nevada, a.k.a. Burning Man, where he is now Deputy Chief of Operations and Hazmat. He finally graduated from UT Austin in 2004, with a BS in chemistry. His continued interest in weather phenomena prompted him to join MESO in 2005 and he is considering studying meteorology at the graduate level after retiring from AFD. Current projects and those for the immediate future include becoming more fluent in Spanish and obtaining his free-fall parachuting and single engine pilot's licenses.