| Tim Marshall | |
|---|---|
| Born | October 17, 1956 Evergreen Park, Illinois, USA |
| Fields | Civil engineering and Meteorology |
| Institutions | Haag Engineering |
| Alma mater | Northern Illinois University (B.S., 1978) Texas Tech University (M.S., 1980, 1983) |
| Known for | Tornado damage analysis, wind and hail engineering |
| Influences | Ted Fujita[1] |
Tim Marshall (b. October 17, 1956) 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.[2]
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Tim Marshall was born in Evergreen Park 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 tornadoes.
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.
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 hailstorms, 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.
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.[3]
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 Weatherwise, 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.[4]