Alumnus Alex Thornton carries Hokie storm chasing history forward

While chasing a supercell across Kansas, members of the Hokie Storm Chase heard a familiar but unexpected voice crackle over the shortwave radio: “Is that Dave Carroll and the Hokies I hear?” 

Students recognized it instantly. Alex Thornton ’16, a Hokie Storm Chase veteran, was nearby.

Thornton, who was on seven chases with Virginia Tech meteorology, is known for sharing his time and expertise with students in the program. Keeping up with the 2025 Hokie Storm Chase through friend and chase driver Aaron Swiggett ’18, Thornton knew the team was near the same storm in Kansas. As the supercell moved east and daylight faded, team members looked for lodging, then met Thornton in Stillwater, Oklahoma, where he arrived in the specially built custom chase truck, the StormCruzzer, the passion project of the late Travis Cruz ’16.

Cruz went on the 2013 Hokie Storm Chase and instantly knew chasing was going to be a springtime obsession. He custom-modified a Chevy Silverado 3500, transforming it into the StormCruzzer, a six-seat vehicle designed for moving in severe weather. 

In 2015, Cruz took Thornton on his first chase, days before Thornton embarked on the Hokie Storm Chase, a meteorology field course in the Department of Geography that offers the opportunity to earn class credit for the time spent studying meteorology on the Great Plains, forecasting storms to get the best vantage point to experience them firsthand. 

Since graduating, Thornton has participated six more times as an alumni trip leader, helping Carroll – Virginia Tech’s first meteorology instructor and leader of the Hokie Storm Chase since 1992 – guide students through the science and unpredictability of severe weather.

The Hokie Storm Chase has been a staple of the meteorology curriculum for more than 30 years and has allowed hundreds of students to experience severe weather up close, gaining valuable insights to meteorology concepts.

Outside the annual two-week chase, Thornton spends 10 to 12 weeks a year driving the StormCruzzer across the Great Plains. Those trips are often guided tours, taking clients on their own chases. Thornton said most of those clients are Virginia Tech meteorology alumni who now have jobs that prevent chasing, so they spend vacation time back on the roads of the Midwest in search of severe weather.

“When I got on with Travis in StormCruzzer, he gave me an avenue to learn more and get experience,” Thornton said. “Now it’s grown into a kind of annual reunion – Hokies chasing together for the love of the science and the thrill.”

When Cruz passed away in 2023, Thornton decided to keep the StormCruzzer rolling as a tribute to his mentor and friend. 

“I’m kind of the caretaker of the truck now,” he said. “Whether it’s chasing or doing outreach at schools, I keep it useful.”

As an alumnus of the College of Natural Resources and Environment, Thornton uses the StormCruzzer for year-round outreach to students interested in meteorology and he continues to inspire young people to explore the science of severe weather with respect and curiosity.

“Virginia Tech’s program is unique,” he said. “The Hokie Storm Chase gives students real-world experience that few schools offer. Besides Oklahoma, I’d say [Virginia] Tech stands out the most.”

Thornton loves taking on the role of chase leader, allowing him a chance to pass on knowledge of severe weather to students who have a thirst for understanding meteorology. He said that the StormCruzzer, inspired by Cruz’s first chase, is part of a chain of teaching that starts with Carroll and continues with the students in each year’s Hokie Storm Chase.

“[Carroll’s] hand is in just about everything. You could argue his hand is in this truck, by way of Travis, because Travis was so inspired by that trip in 2013,” Thornton said.

Now based in Ferrum, Virginia, Thornton keeps the StormCruzzer ready for the next chase – and for the next generation of Hokies ready to follow the storms.