Timothy P. Marshall
Encyclopedia
Tim Marshall is an American civil engineer
and meteorologist concentrating on damage analysis, particularly that from wind
and other weather phenomena. He is also a pioneering storm chaser
and was editor of Storm Track magazine.
near Chicago, Illinois in 1956 and raised in Oak Lawn
, then in Oak Brook
. Oak Lawn was heavily damaged during the historic Belvidere - Oak Lawn tornado outbreak of April 21, 1967 when he was 10 years old. The F4 "Oak Lawn tornado" touched down about four miles (6.4 km) west of his family's home and killed 33 in town, including some of his classmates. Already interested in meteorology, this experience only strengthened that, and he focused his studies on tornado
es.
Tim attended Northern Illinois University
at DeKalb
, attaining a B.S. degree majoring in meteorology
in 1978. As an undergraduate student there, he and classmates surveyed some tornado damage paths of the 1974 Super Outbreak
during informal travels to the National Climatic Data Center
to collect severe weather data.
Marshall went to Texas for graduate school, seeing his first tornado a few hours after entering the state. In 1978, he began storm chasing in west Texas and Oklahoma. In 1980, he earned a M.S. degree majoring in atmospheric sciences
from Texas Tech University
in Lubbock
, then went on to earn an M.S. degree in civil engineering
from the same university. There, Tim worked part time at the Institute for Disaster Research where he began surveying tornado and hurricane damage. His first official tornado damage survey was in Grand Island, Nebraska in 1980 and his first hurricane damage survey was Hurricane Allen
in south Texas later that same year.
storms, tornadoes, and hurricanes. Some of the famous tornadoes he has surveyed included the F5's
at Jarrell, TX (1997), Bridge Creek, OK (1999), and Greensburg, KS (2007)
. Some of the famous hurricanes he has surveyed include Alicia
in Texas (1983), Hugo
in South Carolina (1989), Andrew
in Florida (1992), Opal
in Florida (1995), Katrina
in Mississippi (2005), and Ike
in Texas (2008). Tim became a Professional Engineer
in 1989.
Marshall still finds time to pursue his hobby as a storm chaser
. During the past 30 years, Tim has filmed more than 200 tornadoes and experienced 17 hurricanes. In 2004, he rode out Hurricane Ivan
in Pensacola, Florida and, in 2005, Tim rode out Hurricane Katrina
in Slidell, Louisiana. In 2008, Tim rode out Hurricane Ike
on Galveston Island. Tim has appeared on dozens of television programs including those on The Discovery Channel, The Learning Channel, National Geographic, and The History Channel
. He was a guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show
twice.
Marshall was selected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
to serve on their Quick Response Team where he has surveyed tornado damage in Alabama and Georgia in 1994, Nashville, Tennessee in 1998, La Plata, Maryland
in 2002, the April 25–28, 2011 tornado outbreak
, and the 2011 Joplin tornado
. Tim was also on the development team of the Fujita Scale Enhancement Project which produced an Enhanced Fujita Scale
to update the original Fujita scale
of tornado intensity. He has been a principle trainer in damage surveys for the National Weather Service
. In 2006, Tim was elected to serve on the Severe Local Storms committee for the American Meteorological Society
. In 2009, Tim was part of the government sponsored VORTEX2 experiment. His job was to deploy pods in the paths of tornadoes.
, Tim has written the following booklets:
He also has made the following DVDs available through Storm Track: 1991 Kansas Tornadoes, 1995 Wedgefest, 1998 Octoberfest, 1999 Oklahoma Tornado Outbreak, 2000 Millennium Chases, 2002 Chase Highlights, 2003 Chase Highlights, 2004 Midwest Mayhem, 2005 Spin Summer, 2007 Tornado Chases, 2008 Tornado and Hurricane Chases, 2009 Inside VORTEX 2, 2010 Tornado Chases, and Tim Marshall's 25 Years of Tornado Chasing.
Civil engineer
A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering; the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructures while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing infrastructures that have been neglected.Originally, a...
and meteorologist concentrating on damage analysis, particularly that from wind
Wind
Wind is the flow of gases on a large scale. On Earth, wind consists of the bulk movement of air. In outer space, solar wind is the movement of gases or charged particles from the sun through space, while planetary wind is the outgassing of light chemical elements from a planet's atmosphere into space...
and other weather phenomena. He is also a pioneering storm chaser
Storm chaser
Storm chaser can refer to:*Storm chasing, the pursuit of any severe weather condition*Storm Chaser, registered US Service Mark for Warren Faidley confirmed by the US Trademark Office as the first, full-time, professional storm chasing journalist...
and was editor of Storm Track magazine.
Early life and education
Tim Marshall was born in Evergreen ParkEvergreen Park, Illinois
Evergreen Park is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 25,044 at the 2009 census.-Geography:Evergreen Park is located at . The suburb is surrounded by the city of Chicago on three of its sides, while Oak Lawn and Hometown border it on the west...
near Chicago, Illinois in 1956 and raised in Oak Lawn
Oak Lawn, Illinois
Oak Lawn is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 55,245 at the 2000 census.Oak Lawn is a suburb of the city of Chicago, located southwest of the city...
, then in Oak Brook
Oak Brook, Illinois
Oak Brook is a village in DuPage and Cook Counties, in Illinois. The population was 8,702 at the 2000 census. A suburb of Chicago, it is the headquarters of McDonald's and Lions Clubs International.-History:...
. Oak Lawn was heavily damaged during the historic Belvidere - Oak Lawn tornado outbreak of April 21, 1967 when he was 10 years old. The F4 "Oak Lawn tornado" touched down about four miles (6.4 km) west of his family's home and killed 33 in town, including some of his classmates. Already interested in meteorology, this experience only strengthened that, and he focused his studies on tornado
Tornado
A tornado is a violent, dangerous, rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. They are often referred to as a twister or a cyclone, although the word cyclone is used in meteorology in a wider...
es.
Tim attended Northern Illinois University
Northern Illinois University
Northern Illinois University is a state university and research institution located in DeKalb, Illinois, with satellite centers in Hoffman Estates, Naperville, Rockford, and Oregon. It was originally founded as Northern Illinois State Normal School on May 22, 1895 by Illinois Governor John P...
at DeKalb
DeKalb, Illinois
DeKalb is a city in DeKalb County, Illinois, United States. The population was 43,862 at the 2010 census, up from 39,018 at the 2000 census. The city is named after decorated German war hero Johann De Kalb, who died during the American Revolutionary War....
, attaining a B.S. degree majoring in meteorology
Meteorology
Meteorology is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the atmosphere. Studies in the field stretch back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not occur until the 18th century. The 19th century saw breakthroughs occur after observing networks developed across several countries...
in 1978. As an undergraduate student there, he and classmates surveyed some tornado damage paths of the 1974 Super Outbreak
Super Outbreak
The Super Outbreak is the second largest tornado outbreak on record for a single 24-hour period, just behind the tornado outbreak of April 25–28, 2011...
during informal travels to the National Climatic Data Center
National Climatic Data Center
The United States National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, North Carolina is the world's largest active archive of weather data. The center became established in late 1951, with the move into the new facility occurring in early 1952....
to collect severe weather data.
Marshall went to Texas for graduate school, seeing his first tornado a few hours after entering the state. In 1978, he began storm chasing in west Texas and Oklahoma. In 1980, he earned a M.S. degree majoring in atmospheric sciences
Atmospheric sciences
Atmospheric sciences is an umbrella term for the study of the atmosphere, its processes, the effects other systems have on the atmosphere, and the effects of the atmosphere on these other systems. Meteorology includes atmospheric chemistry and atmospheric physics with a major focus on weather...
from Texas Tech University
Texas Tech University
Texas Tech University, often referred to as Texas Tech or TTU, is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas, United States. Established on February 10, 1923, and originally known as Texas Technological College, it is the leading institution of the Texas Tech University System and has the...
in Lubbock
Lubbock, Texas
Lubbock is a city in and the county seat of Lubbock County, Texas, United States. The city is located in the northwestern part of the state, a region known historically as the Llano Estacado, and the home of Texas Tech University and Lubbock Christian University...
, then went on to earn an M.S. degree in civil engineering
Civil engineering
Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including works like roads, bridges, canals, dams, and buildings...
from the same university. There, Tim worked part time at the Institute for Disaster Research where he began surveying tornado and hurricane damage. His first official tornado damage survey was in Grand Island, Nebraska in 1980 and his first hurricane damage survey was Hurricane Allen
Hurricane Allen
Hurricane Allen was the first and strongest hurricane of the 1980 Atlantic hurricane season. It was one of the strongest hurricanes in recorded history, one of the few hurricanes to reach Category 5 status on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale on three separate occasions, and spent more time...
in south Texas later that same year.
Career
In 1983, he was hired by the leading Texas firm Haag Engineering. At Haag, Marshall travels a great deal surveying storm damage across the United States. He has conducted more than 100 damage surveys since 1983 of hailHail
Hail is a form of solid precipitation. It consists of balls or irregular lumps of ice, each of which is referred to as a hail stone. Hail stones on Earth consist mostly of water ice and measure between and in diameter, with the larger stones coming from severe thunderstorms...
storms, tornadoes, and hurricanes. Some of the famous tornadoes he has surveyed included the F5's
Fujita scale
The Fujita scale , or Fujita-Pearson scale, is a scale for rating tornado intensity, based primarily on the damage tornadoes inflict on human-built structures and vegetation...
at Jarrell, TX (1997), Bridge Creek, OK (1999), and Greensburg, KS (2007)
May 2007 Tornado Outbreak
The May 2007 Tornado Outbreak was an extended tornado outbreak that started on May 4, 2007, affecting portions of the Central United States. The most destructive tornado in the outbreak occurred on the evening of May 4 in western Kansas, where about 95% of the city of Greensburg in Kiowa County was...
. Some of the famous hurricanes he has surveyed include Alicia
Hurricane Alicia
Hurricane Alicia was the costliest tropical cyclone in the Atlantic since Hurricane Agnes in 1972. Alicia was the third depression, the first tropical storm, and the only major hurricane of the 1983 Atlantic hurricane season...
in Texas (1983), Hugo
Hurricane Hugo
Hurricane Hugo was a classical, destructive and rare Cape Verde-type hurricane which struck the Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe, Montserrat, St. Croix, Puerto Rico and the USA mainland in South Carolina as a Category 4 hurricane during September of the 1989 Atlantic hurricane season...
in South Carolina (1989), Andrew
Hurricane Andrew
Hurricane Andrew was the third Category 5 hurricane to make landfall in the United States, after the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 and Hurricane Camille in 1969. Andrew was the first named storm and only major hurricane of the otherwise inactive 1992 Atlantic hurricane season...
in Florida (1992), Opal
Hurricane Opal
Hurricane Opal was a Category 4 hurricane that formed in the Gulf of Mexico in September 1995.Opal was the ninth hurricane and the strongest of the abnormally active 1995 Atlantic hurricane season...
in Florida (1995), Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
in Mississippi (2005), and Ike
Hurricane Ike
Hurricane Ike was the second-costliest hurricane ever to make landfall in the United States, the costliest hurricane ever to impact Cuba and the second most active hurricane to reach the Canadian mainland in the Great Lakes Region after Hurricane Hazel in 1954...
in Texas (2008). Tim became a Professional Engineer
Professional Engineer
Regulation of the engineering profession is established by various jurisdictions of the world to protect the safety, well-being and other interests of the general public, and to define the licensure process through which an engineer becomes authorized to provide professional services to the...
in 1989.
Marshall still finds time to pursue his hobby as a storm chaser
Storm chasing
Storm chasing is broadly defined as the pursuit of any severe weather condition, regardless of motive, which can be curiosity, adventure, scientific exploration or for news professions/media coverage....
. During the past 30 years, Tim has filmed more than 200 tornadoes and experienced 17 hurricanes. In 2004, he rode out Hurricane Ivan
Hurricane Ivan
Hurricane Ivan was a large, long-lived, Cape Verde-type hurricane that caused widespread damage in the Caribbean and United States. The cyclone was the ninth named storm, the sixth hurricane and the fourth major hurricane of the active 2004 Atlantic hurricane season...
in Pensacola, Florida and, in 2005, Tim rode out Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
in Slidell, Louisiana. In 2008, Tim rode out Hurricane Ike
Hurricane Ike
Hurricane Ike was the second-costliest hurricane ever to make landfall in the United States, the costliest hurricane ever to impact Cuba and the second most active hurricane to reach the Canadian mainland in the Great Lakes Region after Hurricane Hazel in 1954...
on Galveston Island. Tim has appeared on dozens of television programs including those on The Discovery Channel, The Learning Channel, National Geographic, and The History Channel
The History Channel
History, formerly known as The History Channel, is an American-based international satellite and cable TV channel that broadcasts a variety of reality shows and documentary programs including those of fictional and non-fictional historical content, together with speculation about the future.-...
. He was a guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Oprah Winfrey Show is an American syndicated talk show hosted and produced by its namesake Oprah Winfrey. It ran nationally for 25 seasons beginning in 1986, before concluding in 2011. It is the highest-rated talk show in American television history....
twice.
Marshall was selected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration , pronounced , like "noah", is a scientific agency within the United States Department of Commerce focused on the conditions of the oceans and the atmosphere...
to serve on their Quick Response Team where he has surveyed tornado damage in Alabama and Georgia in 1994, Nashville, Tennessee in 1998, La Plata, Maryland
Midwest to Mid-Atlantic United States tornado outbreak of 2002
The 2002 Midwest to Mid-Atlantic United States tornado outbreak of April 27, 2002 and April 28, 2002 was a widespread outbreak that moved from west to east over a Saturday and Sunday...
in 2002, the April 25–28, 2011 tornado outbreak
April 25–28, 2011 tornado outbreak
An extremely large and violent tornado outbreak, the largest tornado outbreak ever recorded, and popularly known as the 2011 Super Outbreak, occurred from April 25 to 28, 2011. The outbreak affected the Southern, Midwestern, and Northeastern United States, leaving catastrophic destruction in...
, and the 2011 Joplin tornado
2011 Joplin tornado
The 2011 Joplin tornado was a devastating EF5 multiple-vortex tornado that struck Joplin, Missouri, USA late in the afternoon of Sunday, May 22, 2011. It was part of a larger late-May tornado outbreak sequence and reached a maximum width of in excess of during its path through the southern part of...
. Tim was also on the development team of the Fujita Scale Enhancement Project which produced an Enhanced Fujita Scale
Enhanced Fujita Scale
The Enhanced Fujita Scale rates the strength of tornadoes in the United States based on the damage they cause.Implemented in place of the Fujita scale introduced in 1971 by Ted Fujita, it began operational use on February 1, 2007. The scale has the same basic design as the original Fujita scale:...
to update the original Fujita scale
Fujita scale
The Fujita scale , or Fujita-Pearson scale, is a scale for rating tornado intensity, based primarily on the damage tornadoes inflict on human-built structures and vegetation...
of tornado intensity. He has been a principle trainer in damage surveys for the National Weather Service
National Weather Service
The National Weather Service , once known as the Weather Bureau, is one of the six scientific agencies that make up the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States government...
. In 2006, Tim was elected to serve on the Severe Local Storms committee for the American Meteorological Society
American Meteorological Society
The American Meteorological Society promotes the development and dissemination of information and education on the atmospheric and related oceanic and hydrologic sciences and the advancement of their professional applications. Founded in 1919, the American Meteorological Society has a membership...
. In 2009, Tim was part of the government sponsored VORTEX2 experiment. His job was to deploy pods in the paths of tornadoes.
Personal life
During his early years in Texas, Tim met his future wife, Kay, at a concert. Kay is a natural history museum exhibit designer as well as ornithologist. She sometimes accompanies Tim on storm chases. Tim played music as a youth and enjoys mountain climbing.Publications
Marshall has authored and coauthored numerous scientific publications in the realm of meteorology and civil engineering. In addition to editing and writing for Storm Track (1986-2002) and writing various articles for WeatherwiseWeatherwise
For the energy services company WeatherWise, see Fixed billWeatherwise is a magazine founded by David M. Ludlum and was published by Heldref Publications but now is published by Taylor & Francis Group...
, Tim has written the following booklets:
- Storm Chase Manual (1986, 1998)
- Storm Talk (1995)
- Tornado Talk (1998)
- Tornado Forecasters Workbook (1998)
He also has made the following DVDs available through Storm Track: 1991 Kansas Tornadoes, 1995 Wedgefest, 1998 Octoberfest, 1999 Oklahoma Tornado Outbreak, 2000 Millennium Chases, 2002 Chase Highlights, 2003 Chase Highlights, 2004 Midwest Mayhem, 2005 Spin Summer, 2007 Tornado Chases, 2008 Tornado and Hurricane Chases, 2009 Inside VORTEX 2, 2010 Tornado Chases, and Tim Marshall's 25 Years of Tornado Chasing.