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Community Corner

Spiros Koliopoulos: Storm Chasing Meteorologist

Local weatherman looks for bad weather... and then goes after it.

Ever since Spiros Koliopoulos was little, he has loved bad weather. He remembers looking at weather books at the school library and running straight outside as the skies turned gray.

"There is nothing like seeing an awesome force of nature up close," says Koliopoulos, who at 42 has experienced his share of bad weather. For the last 20 or so years he has been chasing storms. Instead of getting inside when it looks menacing out, Koliopoulos grabs his laptop computer, jumps in his car and drives around.

"I'd love to become a professional storm chaser," says Koliopoulos, who graduated from Northern Illinois University with a degree in meteorology. He worked in the field for several years at a private weather consulting firm in Palatine until he was laid off a few years ago.

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Koliopoulos would prepare weather forecasts mostly for businesses, like construction companies, electric companies and ground crews at sports facilities. He would also provide weather forecasts for newspaper and radio. 

"They expected me to be perfect, of course. When you're wrong, they remember," he said. 

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Having been out of the professional arena of forecasting since 2007, Koliopoulos uses his passion and skills in various capacities. He volunteers for the Aurora Emergency Management Agency (EMA), which at times puts him on the radio to announce bad weather systems (tune in to 1650 AM) and other times lands him in a classroom talking to school children about tornadoes, severe weather and weather safety.

"Kids love talking about bad weather," says Koliopoulos, who would love to write a children's book about tornadoes. 

"I'd love to get back in the weather game," he said. Currently, Koliopoulos makes a living by doing voice-over work. His voice can be heard on many automated phone answering systems, such as the one at Waubonsee Community College.

"I'm the guy who says, 'Thank you for calling. Please hold,'" he said, adding that he'd like to break into radio and television commercials.

Koliopoulos still has the dream of spotting the big one, though.

"I like to think of myself as a struggling storm photojournalist," he said. He's taken about two dozen photographs of twisters. 

He recalls the last big tornado in the region, which was in Plainfield in 1990. It was his senior year at NIU, the sky was crystal clear blue and at noon it turned grayish green. His class raced up to the roof, where huge balls of hail were falling.

"It's an adrenaline rush," he said. 

"High winds don't do much for me. I've got to see a visible funnel cloud," he said. The last tornado he spotted was a couple of years ago near Peoria, Ill. He added that this area isn't particularly good for tornadoes, but family keeps him here and he likes the change of seasons. 

Koliopoulos grew up on the east side of Aurora, graduating from East High School in 1987; he moved to Montgomery in 1990. 

Until he snaps that once in a lifetime photo of a twister that breaks him into the world of storm photojournalism, Koliopoulos says he plans to continue storm chasing by himself—and making sure there is always an escape route.

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