A colleague with a special hobby: Mikal is a stormchaser.

The art of stormchasing.

Mikal is a stormchaser: someone who actively searches for severe thunderstorms, supercells and sometimes even tornadoes. His fascination with storms took him deep into America, but also inspired to develop his own stormchasing app that helps him and other storm chasers better navigate among the complex weather models.

Stormchasing is about more than chasing storms. It is an intense interplay of meteorology, experience and intuition. Mikal hunts supercells: impressive storm systems in which cold and warm air uniquely meet. Tornadoes can form in those systems. For storm chasers, it is the ultimate mission to experience, record and understand the power of nature up close.

"You prepare days in advance. You dive into weather maps, study model runs, and compare data points that update every hour. And yet, it always remains uncertain, that’s exactly what makes it so fascinating. You can never fully predict it," Mikal says. "Conditions are constantly shifting: where is warm, moist air forming? How is the wind changing at different altitudes? Where do all the ingredients come together?"

Storm chasing, therefore, requires not only courage but also expertise. Mikal enjoys diving into meteorology and analysing data to pinpoint where unusual weather phenomena are most likely to emerge. "You constantly have to make decisions: do I stay here, or head to the next storm cell? The models provide guidance, but in the end, you also rely on what you observe in the sky at that very moment."

From fear to passion.

As a child, Mikal was terrified of thunderstorms. One evening, just after he moved to Oldenzaal, he watched from the living room how an impressive thunderstorm complex extended over the eastern part of the Netherlands. From Germany, the thunderstorm passed visibly over,  with branched lightning that seemed to crawl slowly through the air. He was only nine, but that storm did not leave him.

His mother had always taught him to look up. To the sky, to the clouds. It brought him peace, but also wonder. Where there was once fear, a deep-seated fascination grew. For Mikal, thunder went from something threatening to something he wanted to understand and follow. Through Facebook, he got in touch with other storm enthusiasts and in 2012 he went on his first chase in the Netherlands. During that first chase, he immediately saw a tornado, an experience that convinced him once and for all. Since then, he has been chasing both in the Netherlands and America, where the storm season is notorious for the strength and scale of the storms.

Pentecost 2014.

One of his most impressive experiences was during Pentecost in 2014, a day that entered the history books as one of the most violent storm days in the Netherlands. While major damage was done in Düsseldorf and later in the Netherlands, Mikal stood in the middle of the spectacle. But he also collected unique memories in America, such as in Nebraska where he came face to face with a giant supercell. "A structure several kilometers high, hailstones as big as tennis balls, and you see that whole mass of clouds spinning around. Unreal."

Building his own storm-chase app.

What Mikal noticed is that storm chasers worldwide rely on dozens of different websites and it took a lot of time to check them all manually. This could be done smarter. With his developer background, he built his own stormchasing app: a centralised place where he compiled all weather models, radar images and satellite data.

The app enables lightning-fast switching between models, instant filtering on relevant areas and constantly working with the most up-to-date data. While chasing, Mikal adjusts the app as he goes: he adds new sources, removes outdated sites and keeps fine-tuning. "It started as a tool for myself, but other storm chasers are now enthusiastic about it too. Everything in one place, without hella long bookmarks."

Download: iOS

Download: Android

Learning and challenging within the Cube team.

At Cube, Mikal gets the space to take his hobby seriously. That sometimes means longer periods off, such as during the US storm season, or days when he adjusts his schedule based on the changing weather. Mikal's experience as a developer at Cube also played an important role in building his own stormchase app. Within the development team, everyone constantly challenges each other to get better. Not only in writing smart, scalable code, but also in coming up with clear structures and efficient work processes. This goes beyond technology. 

Simplicity in complexity.

In the team, there is a lot of collaboration, sparring and testing to make applications ever more user-friendly and powerful. The knowledge and mentality within the Cube team proved valuable for Mikal's stormchase app: smart structuring, modular building and always looking for simplicity in complexity. These are skills he applies daily in his work as well as in his hobby.

Seen on national TV.

Mikal's passion did not go unnoticed. In an episode of Ewout (RTL) about stormchasers in America, he and other Dutch stormchasers were followed while hunting for supercells. In that episode, it became clear how different stormchasing in the Netherlands is compared to America, and that his hobby is not without its dangers. Whereas many American stormchasers collect scientific data for universities or research projects, Dutch stormchasers are more focused on visually capturing the natural phenomena.

View Mikal's photos.

The meteorological hub.

With the group Mikal went out with, he was the meteorological lynchpin: determining where the odds were greatest, which routes were safest and how to get as close as possible to the storm heart without taking unnecessary risks. The broadcast gave a nice insight into how serious storm chasing is: it requires speed, cooperation and continuous switching based on live data. Within Cube, there is a lot of interest in his hobby. "Some may find it a crazy activity, but many colleagues also find it incredibly cool. The fact that I was on TV with Ewout did help to explain exactly what stormchasing entails."

For those who also want to start.

Mikal dreams of seeing even more unique storms and visiting special places. He follows with admiration projects such as The OTUS Project in America, where drones are used to measure tornadoes from the inside. For those who would like to start stormchasing themselves, Mikal has one key piece of advice: "Don't do it alone. Join experienced people, learn from others and start close to home."

Mikal hunts storms. Not without a plan, but with home-built technology that helps him predict where the force of nature will strike. A unique blend of passion, meteorology and development. What started as a child learning to look at the sky has grown into a passion that combines technology and nature. In the sky or in his codebase: Mikal keeps looking for what moves, surprises and challenges.