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Weather is Business for Alumnus Martin Lisius
Winter 2012 · Comment ·
The air becomes ominously still. The incessant buzz of insects quiets. The gray clouds start to gather and swirl as sirens sound in the distance.
糖心Vlog视频 residents, especially those in North 糖心Vlog视频, know the drill. Find cover in a windowless, fortified area and wait for the storm to听pass.
But Martin Lisius 鈥�86 takes a different approach. Threatening clouds and tornado sirens are his bread and butter. As founder of Tempest Tours, a storm-chasing business based in Arlington, he guides people on twister safaris. Groups schedule tours at , meet at a base hotel for orientation, then depart on a several-day hunt with tornadoes as targets.
Sounds scary, but Lisius says there鈥檚 little risk. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 get into dangerous situations. We get close enough to shoot great pictures, but we never get in a tornado鈥檚 path.鈥�
Extreme weather is a passion Lisius has turned into a popular and lucrative business.
鈥�I got a lot of requests from regular folks who wanted to chase with me, but they couldn鈥檛 take off work when a chase was coming up. I started Tempest Tours so people can see our schedule a year in advance and arrange for time off, just like they would a cruise or any other听tour.鈥�
To date, Tempest Tours has intercepted 160 tornadoes. The growing company has been featured in Entrepreneur magazine, on CNNMoney, and in Subaru鈥檚 Drive magazine, and an episode about Tempest Tours aired on The Weather Channel.
Lisius is glad to continue teaching a healthy respect for nature鈥攁nd to celebrate it with like-minded customers. 鈥淥ur guests are weather geeks like us. They love weather and are more interested than afraid.鈥�