Uploaded June 2024 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Matt Biddle's MODERATE RISK Chase Highlights | 1994-1995-1996: In the spirit of Hollywood summer blockbusters that involve storm chasers, tornadoes and severe weather both past and present, this original storm chase video highlight production came about a few months after the 1996 action adventure film 'Twister' was in the mainstream.
Produced and conceived mostly by Matt Biddle and Charles Edwards, both participants with the NOAA Project VORTEX field projects in 1994 and 1996, combined with the assistance of many other friends and organizations, 'MODERATE RISK' is a fun, intentionally low-budget storm chase highlight video that was traded and sold in very small numbers via Matt Biddle's now defunct MODERATE RISK homepage. It incorporates on-camera opinions and original interviews with Matt and Charles, along with a running 1996 'Twister' Parody. Matt along with Mark Herndon [also featured reading to his young son] were also hired on as uncredited professional storm chasers that aided the 'Twister' production. Actor Cary Elwes even managed to get in a few actual storm treks with Matt and Mark, despite the overwhelming discouragement of the director, however those moments are not part of this production.
MODERATE RISK and 'Some Fear' [a play on the popular 'No Fear' t-shirts of the 1990's era] were fun "brands" that Biddle created including t-shirts, bumper stickers, iron on logos, hats and a few annual video productions on VHS or SVHS videotape. This one was one of the better attempts and combines several top tornado intercepts during Project VORTEX 1994-95, along with a Doppler On Wheels intercept of Hurricane Fran [near Wilmington] that made landfall at Cape Fear, North Carolina.While the VHS tape copy has degraded in parts, it's still enjoyable to watch. Most viewers of this channel will recognize the close-range June 8, 1995 Allison, Texas VORTEX Probe 3 tornado encounter, of which was a direct inspiration for the big wedge tornado at the end of Twister [1996]. Storm chaser highlight videotapes on a grand scale from the 1990's often had a lot of creativity and video editing experimentation mixed in. This fun and eccentric video is a classic example. It's entirely edited linear style, deck to deck and comes from a second generation VHS tape copy.
Dr. Matt Biddle, originally from the Toledo, Ohio area, was a scientist and storm chaser who earned his PhD in geography with a specialization in natural hazards and specifically tornado ecology. Despite many health setbacks through his life, he was always a very determined, friendly, knowledgable and often highly opinionated individual. He loved the Red Wings! Along with assisting the production of 'Twister' he also aided Tom and Doris Grazulis and The Tornado Project with their Tornado Video Classics III production in 1995 along with other mainstream US and international weather video productions. He passed away on April 10, 2018.
An excellent tribute to Matt about his life written by Dr. Chuck Doswell can be read here: cadiiitalk.blogspot.com/2018/04/a-tribute-to-matt-biddle-my-friend-and.html
Matt's original video productions and raw material from VORTEX 1994-1995 are preserved along with other items from his MODERATE RISK storm chaser website era at Texas Tech University within the Southwest Special Collections Library in Lubbock, Texas.
Video produced and edited by Matt Biddle and friends. ©1996, All Rights Reserved.
Enjoy!
Matt Biddle's MODERATE RISK Chase Highlights | 1994-1995-1996: In the spirit of Hollywood summer blockbusters that involve storm chasers, tornadoes and severe weather both past and present, this original storm chase video highlight production came about a few months after the 1996 action adventure film 'Twister' was in the mainstream.
Produced and conceived mostly by Matt Biddle and Charles Edwards, both participants with the NOAA Project VORTEX field projects in 1994 and 1996, combined with the assistance of many other friends and organizations, 'MODERATE RISK' is a fun, intentionally low-budget storm chase highlight video that was traded and sold in very small numbers via Matt Biddle's now defunct MODERATE RISK homepage. It incorporates on-camera opinions and original interviews with Matt and Charles, along with a running 1996 'Twister' Parody. Matt along with Mark Herndon [also featured reading to his young son] were also hired on as uncredited professional storm chasers that aided the 'Twister' production. Actor Cary Elwes even managed to get in a few actual storm treks with Matt and Mark, despite the overwhelming discouragement of the director, however those moments are not part of this production.
MODERATE RISK and 'Some Fear' [a play on the popular 'No Fear' t-shirts of the 1990's era] were fun "brands" that Biddle created including t-shirts, bumper stickers, iron on logos, hats and a few annual video productions on VHS or SVHS videotape. This one was one of the better attempts and combines several top tornado intercepts during Project VORTEX 1994-95, along with a Doppler On Wheels intercept of Hurricane Fran [near Wilmington] that made landfall at Cape Fear, North Carolina.While the VHS tape copy has degraded in parts, it's still enjoyable to watch. Most viewers of this channel will recognize the close-range June 8, 1995 Allison, Texas VORTEX Probe 3 tornado encounter, of which was a direct inspiration for the big wedge tornado at the end of Twister [1996]. Storm chaser highlight videotapes on a grand scale from the 1990's often had a lot of creativity and video editing experimentation mixed in. This fun and eccentric video is a classic example. It's entirely edited linear style, deck to deck and comes from a second generation VHS tape copy.
Dr. Matt Biddle, originally from the Toledo, Ohio area, was a scientist and storm chaser who earned his PhD in geography with a specialization in natural hazards and specifically tornado ecology. Despite many health setbacks through his life, he was always a very determined, friendly, knowledgable and often highly opinionated individual. He loved the Red Wings! Along with assisting the production of 'Twister' he also aided Tom and Doris Grazulis and The Tornado Project with their Tornado Video Classics III production in 1995 along with other mainstream US and international weather video productions. He passed away on April 10, 2018.
An excellent tribute to Matt about his life written by Dr. Chuck Doswell can be read here: cadiiitalk.blogspot.com/2018/04/a-tribute-to-matt-biddle-my-friend-and.html
Matt's original video productions and raw material from VORTEX 1994-1995 are preserved along with other items from his MODERATE RISK storm chaser website era at Texas Tech University within the Southwest Special Collections Library in Lubbock, Texas.
Video produced and edited by Matt Biddle and friends. ©1996, All Rights Reserved.
Enjoy!
![Tornado Alley... Wichita Falls, Texas 1964 [KAUZ-TV Documentary]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/TOkB0lQlnwo/mqdefault.jpg "Tornado Alley... Wichita Falls, Texas 1964 [KAUZ-TV Documentary]
A destructive tornado was broadcast live on KAUZ television on April 3, 1964 as it moved through the northern portion of Wichita Falls, Texas. Seven lives were lost and over 100 people sustained serious injury. Sheppard Air Force Base, as well as the nearby residential neighborhood of Sunset Terrace sustained significant F5 damage.
Historically this tornado is often cited as the first ever broadcast live on television anywhere in the world. KAUZ-TV was indeed the first TV station to broadcast a tornado, but that event transpired on April 2, 1958 when a deadly F3 tornado struck the city. The news anchor in the 1964 broadcast makes mention of this misquotes the date as 1959. To my knowledge the 1958 live transmission was not preserved or saved. It was common practice in the early age of broadcast video to recycle and re-record over quadraplex videotape to save money. Fortunately six years later, engineers at KAUZ-TV did record and save the 1964 live broadcast, the bulk of it presented in this station documentary made soon after the tornado.
Additional film and news coverage of the April 3, 1964 Wichita Falls, Texas tornado is available via the Texas Archive of the Moving Image: https://texasarchive.org/2012_00678
Video © KAUZ-TV.")
