Wild weather buffs got a treat on Saturday with a special screening of the summer blockbuster Twisters, along with a video presentation and talk by real life Tornado Hunter, Greg Johnson. Johnson made appearances at both the 2 pm and 7 pm screenings at Reel Attractions.
Johnson’s work appeared on the Netflix series Tornado Hunter, and as a freelance reporter and photographer, he’s been a media presence for over a decade. Johnson shared background into his own experiences as a weather chaser, and he tied events directly into the movie, saying that while Hollywood often takes liberties with science and storytelling, the screenplay of Twisters is anchored in truth.
“The producers of the movie wanted to base it on actual events that had taken place,” Johnson explained in the preamble. “It turns out that some of the events portrayed in the movie are based on events that I actually witnessed first-hand, from 300 yards away, and I have photo and video of it.”
Johnson took the audience through a video sampler of the 250 or so tornadoes he’s witnessed and captured in photography and video. One of them explored the phenomenon of “twins,” two tornadoes produced by the same cell near to each other. The experience was represented in both the 2024 film and its 1996 predecessor Twister.
Johnson was clearly impressed when it came to the representation of the scientific forecasting, tracking storms and isolating tornado potential and activity.
“It’s a Hollywood movie with a love connection and all of that, but the one thing they got right is the weather science,” Johnson affirmed. “If you’re a weather nerd like I am, being able to see the actual movement of the wind reflecting what it really does do in real life was great to see.”
Johnson took the audience through his catalogue of impressive stills and videos along with startling images and discussions about the aftermath of some of North America’s most destructive storms over the last 15 years. He also showed stills of his laptop displaying Doppler radar images and wind speed graphics, all of which appeared in the movie. He explained what he looks for in interpreting the track of a storm, and the telltale “hook” that forms where tornado activity is in play.
The climax of the movie is based on an actual tornado that decimated parts of the city of El Reno, Oklahoma, just west of Oklahoma City in 2013. Johnson was, in fact, caught in that tornado and captured video of incoming debris damaging his truck and sending trees and pieces of buildings hurtling through the air along its path. He explained that the tornado set a record with a width of 2.6 miles (4.2 km) at its peak.
Producers of Twisters decided to acknowledge that devastating event. It was one of the instances where Johnson’s life intersected with the world of the silver screen.
“The last scene of the movie takes place in El Reno, Oklahoma, and that was by design because of how important that event was in the world of meteorology. The part that really shook me in the movie is that all the scenes used as inspiration, I had been at. They could have picked lots of tornado events; I just happened to be at a few that were really key.”
Johnson shared the wonder of his partner, Leah Madsen, in seeing her first tornado on a chasing trip to Nebraska. The short video chronicled their attempt to approach the formation on an intercept route with their road. The evening wrapped up with a Q and A about the science, strategy, and life of a storm chaser.
Reel Attractions was packed as the audience stayed for a meet and greet with Johnson following the film. Find out more about Saskatchewan based storm wrangler Greg Johnson at TornadoHunter.com.
Twisters' final night of its return to Humboldt is this Thursday, September 12.