MARVELING AT NATURE'S FURY; AGOURA HILLS RESIDENT WILL SHARE EXPERIENCES TRACKING WILD WEATHER.

Byline: David Greenberg Daily News Staff Writer

The horrific sight of a tornado roaring across the Great Plains, capable of obliterating homes as if they were made from toothpicks, is more than enough to send most drivers scurrying to safer ground.

But then there is William Reid, a grocery clerk with a master's degree who is never more at peace with himself than when he is at the wheel of his 1988 Nissan Pathfinder, speeding toward the eye of an angry twister.

``The atmosphere can put on the greatest show on Earth,'' he said. ``To me it's just thrilling to watch nature do stuff like that. There is no shelter. The vehicle is your shelter. You just have to be smart enough to stay safe.''

The 40-year-old Agoura Hills resident's fascination with storm chasing began as a child, when his family made annual summer pilgrimages to Omaha, Neb., where Reid's mother grew up and where relatives remain.

The highlight of his vacations was any type of large-scale atmospheric disorder he witnessed staring out of his bedroom window late at night. Most came in the form of thunderstorms accompanied by spectacular lightning.

But Reid did not see one up close until 1988, when he was driving through Sterling, Colo., en route to Omaha and accidentally encountered one.

To support his storm chasing, Reid, who earned bachelor's and master's degrees in climatology from California State University, Northridge, has been employed at Lucky grocery stores in the San Fernando Valley since he was 16.

He began working as a box boy for $2.40 an hour and for years has remained as a grocery clerk, making less than $25,000 a year, plus what he picks up working sporadically for a weather forecasting company.

``I don't want the grocery business to be my field,'' said Reid, who will give a free talk today at Soka University in Calabasas. ``Being part time, my schedule is much more flexible, and I'm able to do these spontaneous chases. If I were a manager, it would be hard to get off the time that I need.''

The 18 tornadoes he has found since 1988 were ones he searched out after learning there is a science to storm chasing.

Tornadoes are often the byproduct of supercell thunderstorms, which evolve from a tilted updraft, surface moisture and strong humid winds from the south or southeast, he said.

``It's a tremendous challenge to be able to forecast a tornado and be there 12 hours later,'' said Reid, who has logged 260,000 miles on his Pathfinder. ``It's like the ultimate wave to a surfer. It's awe-inspiring. And it's rare enough so that it's special.''

While the number of tornadoes recorded annually in this country has tripled since 1953, meteorologists contend the soaring tally is indicative of climate watchers, not changing weather patterns.

Most professional meteorologists never risk sidling up to a tornado, choosing instead to track them by radar.

But because those images can be misleading, the National Weather Service does not record a tornado unless it is reported by an eyewitness, is captured on videotape or leaves an obvious trail of destruction.

From the back yard of the Woodland Hills home where he grew up, Reid charted daily weather conditions for the Daily News from 1980 to 1983, and for the National Weather Service through 1997 once he moved to Agoura Hills.

Since a friend showed Reid a videotape of a tornado in 1991, he has spent up to six weeks each spring and summer traveling between Texas and Nebraska - known as ``tornado alley'' - with video and single-lens reflex cameras in tow, searching for what area residents view as their worst nightmare.

``He's a very unique individual (and) and very observant climatologist,'' said Charles Pyke, president of Continental Weather and Earth Sciences Inc., a small Monrovia-based private consulting and forecasting company, where Reid also works part time. ``He can spot storm patterns thousands of miles away on satellite and radar.''

Using weather maps, as well as Internet reports and storm chaser chat groups, Reid has also encountered about six tornadoes that meteorologists deemed violent - those with winds up to a mile wide and spinning at speeds estimated at more than 200 mph.

The dozen weaker ones had wind speeds between 60 and 112 miles an hour, he said.

``You don't know how strong it is until it hits something,'' Reid said. ``Every storm is different. Some storms are so nasty you want to get as far away from them as you can.''

Fear is something Reid said he often does not have time to think about because he is concentrating on capturing the spectacle on film.

On May 30, 1998, he caught up with the tornado that ripped through Spencer, S.D., killing six of the town's 300 residents.

The photographs he took were published in Time, People and Weatherwise magazines. He also sold video footage to ABC, CBS, CNN and the ``Hard Copy'' and ``Extra'' television tabloid shows, he said.

``People aren't going to put themselves near harm's way unless they have a tremendous interest in tornadoes and other severe storms and have the knowledge as to how close to get to these storms and how far they better stay away,'' Pyke said. ``Some people like to wrestle with beasts - lions and tigers. (Reid) is fascinated by seeing the awesome power of these severe storms.''

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2 Photos

PHOTO (1--Color) ``The atmosphere can put on the greatest show on Earth. To me it's just thrilling to watch nature do stuff like that.''

- William Reid

Amateur storm tracker

Michael Owen Baker/Daily News

(2--Color) Amateur storm tracker William Reid captured this tornado that killed six people in Spencer, S.D., on May 30.

William Reid/Special to the Daily News