Jim Leonard in Guam.

Knowledge moved through friendships.

Jim Edds writes that he knew Jim Leonard through National Hurricane Center volunteer Todd Kimberlain in the 1980s. Because Edds had lived on Guam, Leonard asked him what the island was like before undertaking his western Pacific expeditions. That firsthand recollection connects the Guam decision to the same informal advice network that later carried practical hurricane-chasing knowledge from Leonard to younger chasers.

Jim's own account begins.

In his recovered biography, Leonard wrote: “In 1991 I decided to go to Guam.” A contemporary New York Times profile independently reported that in autumn 1991 he left his Florida Power & Light dispatching job and moved to Guam at the urging of Barbara White, an old friend and fellow hurricane chaser. Ravo reported that Leonard hoped to fly to Pacific islands and atolls in future typhoon paths. His accompanying storm record lists Typhoon Ruth on Miyako Jima, Japan, on October 27, followed by Super Typhoon Yuri on Guam on November 27–28. The Yuri gallery preserves stills of storm surge, and the original channel preserves a 1 minute 26 second access copy uploaded in 2007.

Leonard later said in the National Geographic documentary Cyclone! that he had been careless around the fast-rising water while filming Yuri.

Five Guam typhoons in Jim's register.

Leonard's recovered storm list identifies Typhoon Omar (August 28), Brian (October 21), Elsie (November 2), Hunt (November 18) and Gay (November 23) at Guam, with Typhoon Janis recorded on Okinawa on August 7. His biography calls this a record season of five typhoons for the island; the statement is presented as Leonard's retrospective account.

Omar is the best surviving moving-image example. Jim's 2007 upload shows debris and roof failure at Yigo, Guam, while the recovered gallery includes the same sequence and identifies two photographs of Leonard during the storm as © 1992 Bill Lende.