The TIV-2 in the spring of 2025.
Jim Clash
There are essentially two vehicles which can safely penetrate a tornado’s violent ground funnel: the Dominator, owned and operated by the well-known storm chaser Reed Timmer, and the TIV-2, owned and operated by Ryan Shepard at Storm Of Passion.
Yesterday, TIV-2 joined the elite ranks of weathering the ravages of a large tornado inside of its cone just southwest of Braman, Oklahoma. Storm Of Passion’s live stream of the event presented stunning photos and 360-degree video footage.
To protect Shepard and crew from hail stones – yesterday’s were fairly large – and debris spun at upwards of 120 mph by internal winds, TIV-2 (tornado intercept vehicle) features bulletproof windshields and special steel armored plates. Still, with all of that, TIV’s windows suffered substantial cracks yesterday.
To keep the vehicle from being launched into space, or flipped and rolled, four
The TIV-2 tornado intercept vehicle features deployable spikes to anchor the vehicle inside the cone of a twister, 2025.
Jim Clash
heavy metal anchor spikes, one at each corner of the vehicle, were deployed into the ground. The spikes did their job yesterday. While the vehicle rocked and rolled, it stayed in place, albeit was covered in mud.
Storm Of Passion’s headquarters in Kansas is a key area within Tornado Alley, so staff can easily relocate its vehicle to places where supercells, the huge cloud structures that spawn tornadoes, develop during the chase months of April, May and June. Braman is less than an hour’s drive from Wichita, Kansas, for example.
TIV-2 owner Ryan Shepard, 2025.
Jim Clash
Interestingly, TIV-2 is street legal, too. It weighs seven tons and, with a turbocharged diesel engine of some 600 hp, reaches speeds of 85 mph. As you can imagine, its unusual appearance garners attention everywhere it goes as it did yesterday.
Last spring, after hunting with other well-known chasers, and encountering some impressive tornados from a distance, I met up with Shepard. The plan was for me to get much closer, say within a hundred yards, maybe even enter the vortex like his crew did yesterday. It has been a dream of mine since I was a kid growing up on the east coast.
The dashboard of the TIV-2 tornado intercept vehicle, 2025.
Jim Clash
Although it was a fascinating learning experience to buckle in and barrel into some impressive supercells, unfortunately we found no twisters during my rides in the TIV-2.
If I do go back west this season, I’m hoping to get close enough to hear the freight-train roar from just outside of the funnel, maybe even from inside, like Shepard and crew did yesterday. Who knows? Conditions look favorable for this coming weekend. Ryan, how about a reboot of last year?