Those who have seen an episode of “9-1-1: Nashville” might assume that the city is constantly plagued by tornadoes that turn outdoor concerts into scenes of carnage and blow tourists on motorcycles to the top of water towers.
This may be a TV exaggeration, but tornadoes and other dangerous storms do hit the city regularly. When they do, many here turn to Nashville for severe weather.
You can find this dedicated group of volunteers on social media calmly explaining storm movements, advising when to take cover and sounding “alerts.” Will Minkoff, Andrew Leeper and Tom Johnstone’s reporting engages tens of thousands of viewers who interact with them in real time. The service evokes the early promises of the internet, before the rise of influencers.
This happened at a time when many people stopped watching local news and weather forecasts. However, Kevin Trowbridge, who teaches strategic communications at Belmont University in Nashville, said an informal survey of his students found that many were tuning in to Severe Weather Nashville.
“Millennials and Gen Z — and teaching college students, I know this all too well — their source of information is handheld devices,” he said. “It’s not about turning on the TV. It’s not even about looking at the online presence of traditional media. It’s about finding sources that provide them with information quickly when they need it.”
They are “ready and not afraid”
The rise of severe weather in Nashville is a modern case study that cuts across multiple fronts — changing tornado lanes, a changing climate, the popularity of social media and the value of immediate, hyper-local information that can save the world or save a life.
The initiative has grown over a decade from its original Twitter feed and blog. Today, volunteers go live on their YouTube channel whenever Nashville or surrounding counties face severe weather. Because Leeper, Minkoff, and Johnstone all live here, they face the same threats as the audience.
“There’s something about Nash Severe Weather that’s different from amateurs,” Trowbridge said. “I think that’s why people follow them. That’s why they trust them. That’s why they tune in and turn to them. … It’s real.”
Leeper, a church minister with a comforting voice, had a sign on a shelf behind him that read “Be Prepared, Don’t Be Afraid.” He had to leave the stream to wake his family and hide in their safe space. He did so calmly, living up to his motto. After the threat passed, he rejoined the stream.
Catherine Moffatt, executive director of the Tennessee College of Physician Assistants, said local TV weather forecasts can be “a little exaggerated” when a storm approaches. She said severe weather in Nashville is different.
“They’re calmer and will tell you directly,” she said. “They don’t get people overly excited.”
Tornado Alley has moved
The demand for their services has never been greater. Meteorologist John Stone, who joined the National Weather Service last year after 33 years with the organization, said the “tornado corridor” has shifted from the Midwestern plains to states further east.
“The south-central part, especially through Alabama, Mississippi and into Tennessee and western Kentucky, is where the tornadoes are most frequent … and have the highest number of fatalities,” he said.
Michelle Stewart Get all your weather information with Nashville severe weather push notifications on your phone. She found the service extremely valuable during ice storms that left much of the city without power or internet service for days.
“They were very informative, not only about what to expect; How to preparejust to keep everyone informed without getting too scientific. You know, it feels like you’re talking to your neighbor,” said Stewart, a project manager for a medical research company. “They make me very calm during these live events. “
Former Nashville City Councilman Brett Withers witnessed two people die in his district in an accident. 2020 Tornadoes Severe weather in Nashville that killed 24 people in Tennessee has been called a “godsend.”
“We have a lot of people moving to Nashville who might be moving from a place where tornadoes are rare if a tornado happens,” he said.
The popularity of Nashville’s severe weather defies much accepted logic about how to build an audience on social media. There’s nothing fancy or high-level about their live streams. They don’t try to play up the danger or excitement. They certainly wouldn’t try to chase a tornado or run outside in hurricane-force winds.
Their streams are visually controlled by weather radar. Minkoff, Leeper, and Johnstone, sometimes joined by other volunteers, each flow from their homes and appear in small boxes at the bottom or side of the screen. When they have the shape, it looks like it was drawn by a 5-year-old.
Take the beloved “Dry Air Monster,” a stick figure with a giant head and chewing Godzilla jaws.
Nashville Severe Weather co-founder David Drobny drew this diagram to explain how dry air “eats” the snow moving toward Nashville. In small Southern towns, which typically only get a few days of snow each year, many people look forward to this little vacation. The monster’s motto is “No Snow for You.”
Their hyper-local focus allows Nashville Severe Weather to fill the void left by local TV meteorologists who must cover dozens of counties.
“One of the things that Nash Sewell can do that even television stations have trouble doing is really bring it down to the intersection, to the school, to the church level, and let people know where the dangers and threats are,” Johnstone said.
Their coverage goes both ways. Viewers provide photos and videos showing what was going on and leave comments in the chat. Nashville Severe Weather shares this information with the National Weather Service and TV meteorologists. They also try to answer people’s questions while live.
Leeper remembers one day when elementary school students were sent home because of a tornado threat. When a child commented in the chat that he was home alone, his heart sank.
“We just stopped what we were saying on the air and I said, ‘Hey. It dawns on me that we have a bunch of kids at home who are probably on their own. Hey. This is what you do,'” Leeper recalled. “I love those moments when we can put everything else aside and talk to the person who is listening, no matter what their situation is.”
It’s moments like this that help them stay grounded.
In 2023, a tornado killed a mother and young child living in a trailer. Leeper didn’t know them, but he attended the visits.
“When you go to a funeral that’s hurting a family member and you’re covering a weather event, it just creates a whole different emotion,” he said. “It’s not all action and adventure. It does impact people’s lives forever.”
Photo: Nashville Severe Weather Group’s Andrew Leeper (left), Will Minkoff and Tom Johnstone (right) check the weather. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
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