#humanbarometer

Hi, my name is Bill Harding and I’m a storm chaser and meteorologist from the great state of Oklahoma, U.S.A with an extreme passion for tornadoes.

I was born in Muskogee, Oklahoma on May 17th, 1955 to two very kind loving parents as an only child. My passion for tornadoes started at a very young age. My mother said I was 3 years old when I would scribble pictures of tornadoes onto papers. At 5 years old, my father would always turn on the weather channel for me so I could watch the weatherman and I actually wanted to be a weatherman, but it wasn’t until I was 10 years old when I discovered storm chasers (yes storm chasing has been around since I was a kid, specifically starting in the 1950s, it isn’t that new) and then I was like “I’m gonna chase tornadoes that’s what I wanna do!”

I got my very first job as a store clerk (boring I know) in 1970 when I was 15 so I could earn some money because my plan was to get my driver’s license once I turned 16, then buy a vehicle. I specifically had my eye on a new model truck at the time known as the Dodge D-100. I wanted a red one. And I ended up making enough money that year (back then things were quite cheap) because when I turned 16, I got my license and I bought that truck. I then started chasing tornadoes that June.

In May of 1973, I graduated from Muskogee High School and went to Northeastern State University that fall because I decided to get a degree in meteorology. That’s where I met my wife, Jo (@aint-no-love-in-jo-klahoma) who I met that fall on the first day of school. She was in my same weather class. Me and her hit it off and became best friends. We started chasing together in the spring of ‘74 and in July of that year, I made her my girlfriend.

In May of 1978, me and Jo graduated from NSU and continued our careers as chasers. Then on April 10th, 1979 during a chase in Wichita, Kansas, I proposed to her. I didn’t have enough money to buy an actual diamond ring, so I used my class ring. She still said yes :) We then married on May 10th, 1980.

Me and Jo continued chasing and in the 1990s, me and her along with the team began designing an instrument pack for studying tornadoes called DOROTHY, which was a more advanced design of TOTO. The plan was to gather more information than what TOTO did so we could design an advanced warning system. The reason is because back in the 70s, there was only 3 minutes. In the 80s, 5 minutes. Not nearly enough time for people to take cover. TOTO did upgrade the warning time to 5 minutes, but that still wasn’t good enough, so DOROTHY was designed.

However, during the time me and Jo were designing DOROTHY, the stress of it started to tear us apart. We both were extremely stubborn and refused to take accountability for it. I was starting to want a more stable life at that point as well and we just weren’t doing very well. I made the stupidest decision of my life and left her in the fall of 1995, wanting a divorce. I also left the storm chasing business because I again, wanted a more stable life. But I still loved weather, so I decided to become a weatherman. I then met Melissa Reeves and I proposed to her in the following spring, but I ended up reuniting with Jo that spring to try and get the divorce finalized, only to get sucked back into the action when DOROTHY got finished. The crazy thing is that tornadoes brought me and Jo back together…but poor Melissa got traumatized which I will forever feel bad about. She ended up leaving that night and me and Jo basically got back together, but it wasn’t until after we got the DOROTHY deployed into the big F5 tornado when we rekindled our marriage.

After getting the information from the DOROTHY, a new warning system was installed and warning time has been increased to 9.5 minutes. That’s almost 10 minutes which is definitely a lot more time than before. Me and Jo couldn’t be happier either. I’m very glad we’re back together and I will NEVER leave her again. She is my Jojo. My soulmate. My favorite storm to chase. It basically was a happy ending for us ❤️🌪️.

And that’s about me. If you would like to ask me any questions whether they are storm related, about what we do, or about my life, then feel free to do so!

OUT OF CHARACTER NOTE

Hi guys! It’s the same girl who made Severen’s account! Severen Van Sickle and Bill Harding are my two favorite characters by Bill Paxton, so I absolutely had to make one for Bill Harding as well. Plus, I needed another account to be a tornado freak on since I’m obsessed with tornadoes LMFAO.

I will definitely be making a few changes to the story since I personally think that Bill should’ve also seen an F5 before the one in 1996 (not the same way Jo did of course) such as ones in the 70s, 80s and 90s.

I also will be posting actual chasing events happening in the moment. They are not my photos, they belong to actual storm chasers so credit goes to them. I want it to be both realistic and fictional just for funsies. And just because I’m roleplaying does not mean I am downplaying how life threatening the situation is. Severe weather is very dangerous. Please always take a warning seriously.