About

Jeff Gonzales

  • Age: 36
  • Started Chasing: 2005 
  • Tornados seen: 90
  • Largest Rating Chased:EF5
  • Closest distance: 0 yds

Ham Call Sign: KD0NMX 

Jeff is 36 years old, born and raised in San Antonio, Texas. He founded TornadoRaiders.com in 2007. Jeff became interested in severe weather at the young age of 8. It all started when he was playing outside and he noticed a funnel forming overhead…The funnel never became a tornado, but this sparked his interest in severe weather. He then moved to Lubbock, Texas in fall of 2004 to go to school at Texas Tech. Wreck’em. There he began to see the great weather of the south plains. He began chasing in spring of 2005. Jeff graduated in May ’09 with a Bachelors of Science in Geosciences and decided to move to Omaha, NE where he chased a ton for 5 years. Jeff started this site to post his video and pictures of his chases, then turned into a chasing community page of what it is today. Jeff’s work has been featured on WOWT-Omaha, KLKN-Lincoln, The Weather Channel, Weather Nation, ABC Good Morning America, ABC 9NEWS-Denver, NBC Night Line,  and The Discovery Channel.

Jeff then moved to California in 2017 to attend seminary and the TRC chase team disbanded. Jeff is now living in Washington State and is a pastor of a church in Port Angeles. While Jeff doesn’t chase as much as he used to when living in Nebraska, he tires to get out every year to take a chasecation in tornado Alley.

  • Why do you Chase?: “While chasing is exciting and thrilling, I would have to say the main reason I chase storms and Tornadoes is mainly to see the raw power, beauty, and structure that these produce. Seeing this, reminds me and causes me to see how much more beautiful and powerful my God is, who is the creator and sustainer of all. A tornado and storm systems, as well as the rest of creation, are just a glimpse and a small reflection of the many attributes of God. Seeing the intense power and magnitude of these storms make me realize I can’t begin to even fathom on the sheer power, beauty, and Glory of Christ, which helps me to fix my hope on Him” ~Jeff
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