Reed Timmer enjoyed five seasons on TV as one of the central figures in the Discovery Channel’s Storm Chasers series. However, before he ever drove by tornadoes on cable, he did it on YouTube, where he has run the TVN Weather channel since early 2007. The channel’s up close twister footage has been a constant hit, and Timmer is now looking to leave more of a mark on YouTube. In addition to joining up with Collective Digital Studio, he has successfully completed a Kickstarter campaign to raise money for Tornado Chasers, a web series based on his heavy weather adventures.
Timmer’s channel posts regular live streams of his storm chasing exploits, but Tornado Chasers features a cleaner, documentary style, similar to the TV series that provided the meteorologist with his major claim to fame. Thanks to the amount of money he has raised (now over $135,000), Tornado Chasers will include seven additional episodes with behind-the-scenes footage, deleted scenes, and educational content about meteorology. Check out the first episode for yourself; it feels as if the tornadoes are in the same room, except I really hope they’re not since I like being safe and indoors.
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Timmer’s time on the Discovery Channel drew a dedicated fanbase (which helped him in his fundraising quest), and it’ll be pleased by the realness of the web series compared to its cable TV counterpart. “Unlike network television, this independent web series allows us the freedom to present the real experience of storm chasing,” explained Timmer on the Kickstarter page. “All of the chasing action, personalities, relationships, and spectacular storm footage are true to the real events, putting you in the passenger seat for an unforgettable adventure.” Also, tornados are really cool, so that works in Timmer’s favor as well.
