Meet real storm chasers this summer at Evergreen Drive-In

Have you ever wondered what storm chasers do and how they do it? Find out this July by attending the Evergreen Drive-In Theater in East Huntingdon.

Hosted by PA Storm Trackerz, the drive-in will present “Meet The Storm Chasers Night” on Friday, July 19 and Saturday, July 20 – during the opening weekend of the “Twisters” sequel to the hit 1996 film.

PA Storm Trackerz is a family team of local storm chasers: Joshua Brinker, his mother and his father.

Brinker, 25, of Scottdale, said nine pursuit teams from the area and several states will be at the drive-in to show off their equipment and chase their vehicles before the movie. Teams will explain to participants how they chase storms and talk about what they have observed.

“(We will) explain safety and how people can get involved in reporting severe weather to the National Weather Service,” he said.

Storm chasers who will participate in the meeting include:

• PA Storm Trackerz
• Landon Danovitch of Delmont
• B. Dean Berry of Keystone Prime in Butler
• Justin Selig of Eastern Pennsylvania
• Logan Eschrich from Northern Pennsylvania
• Davey Jones and his mother Ann from Virginia
• Paigeyy from Missouri
• Jason Garrison from Ohio
• Alasdair Hicks of Allegheny Stormfront of West Virginia

After observing severe weather, Brinker said storm chasers usually alert the National Weather Service. However, storm chasing teams are not affiliated with the National Weather Service at all, he said.

“We travel across the country and document these storms,” Brinker said.

PA Storm Trackerz is working to become a full-time operation, he said, but for now his family is content to chase storms when they can. His family streams a lot of live videos on YouTube, he said.

“(I’ve) been interested in it forever — one of my first words was lightning,” Brinker said. “I do it as much as I can with my free time.”

For now, he said the drive-in doors will open at 7:30 p.m. both nights and the new movie “Twister” will begin at nightfall. It will be displayed on one of the drive-thru’s three screens.

Brinker encouraged those interested to arrive as soon as the doors opened.

“Get there early,” he said. “From what I hear, it’s going to be a sellout.”

There is actually a very large community of storm chasers, Brinker said, as there are hundreds of thousands around the world. Some will travel to different countries depending on the season, he explained.

“Come and meet us,” he said. “(See) how we actually do it.”