Selected records supporting the archive’s historical exhibits. Original material is linked at the point where it contributes directly to Jim Leonard’s documented story.
Jim’s retrospective describes his formative Miami experiences during Hurricanes Donna, Cleo and Betsy, his pursuit of severe weather, and his later years documenting storms around the world.
Nick Ravo’s March 11, 1992 New York Times profile introduces Jim in Miami, documents his 1991 move to Guam, and places him within the small community of early storm chasers.
Pasch describes Jim as a good friend and recalls their shared interest in weather photography, providing direct context for Jim’s relationship with National Hurricane Center meteorologists.
NOAA and the National Severe Storms Laboratory preserve Jim’s photograph of an anticyclonic tornado west of Alva, Oklahoma, on June 6, 1975.
Richard Bedard’s 1996 book profiles Jim’s close-range tornado chasing on pages 146–147. The index confirms the entry on page 162.
“Jim Leonard lying flat across the rear seat. He has pursued tornadoes since 1974.” Richard Bedard, p. 147
Joseph Golden’s federal report describes Jim’s Luquillo videotape, the damaging eyewall conditions it recorded and his digital barometer observation. The scientific chronology presents the exact report page in the archive reader.
Frank recalls Jim and other storm chasers gathering at the National Hurricane Center after storms to compare notes and play field audio. The Jim Leonard exchange begins at 10:14.
Laca’s TropMet profile traces their friendship to a Hurricane Diana videotape he bought in December 1984. It describes Jim bringing his footage to Laca’s home, their first planned chase season, the 1985 Elena intercept with Richard Pasch and Jim’s continuing mentorship.
Archived Cloud 9 Tours and Cyclone Tours pages document Jim’s work as a guide, forecaster and co-owner. The records connect him with Charles Edwards, R. J. Evans, Keith Brown, Mike Theiss, Olivier Staiger and Brad Riley, and preserve a May 27, 2000 tour intercept near Windthorst, Texas.
The University of South Alabama’s SECAPS agenda lists Jim for a 30-minute public-session presentation on Hurricane Ivan and the 2004 hurricane season.
Edds describes receiving practical positioning and safety guidance from Jim during Hurricane Georges, and places their friendship within a wider network of South Florida and Guam chasers.
Edwards traces a friendship that began at the National Severe Storms Laboratory in 1986. His account records Jim sharing storm films with researchers, adapting through successive generations of video equipment, teaching hurricane forecasting and positioning, and freely supporting scientific and public education.
Jim Edds’s Extreme Storms site announced a fund through the Mississippi State University Foundation for meteorology students selected by the Department of Geosciences. The surviving page preserves the fund’s stated purpose and original contribution instructions.
The University of West Florida’s profile of alumnus Jim Edds records his 1998 Hurricane Georges chase with Jim Leonard. Edds recalls Jim’s guidance on choosing a safe position and recognizing the eye through changing winds—practical knowledge shared between friends and chase partners.
The Stormtrack memorial preserves named recollections of Jim as a chase partner and mentor. Jason Persoff describes their shared field work; another contributor records Jim copying and mailing rare tornado footage so the recording would not disappear.
In a retrospective interview, Shane Adams identifies Jim as the first storm chaser he seriously followed and a formative example during his early years. The account documents influence beyond Jim’s direct chase partners.
Storm Track reported Jim Leonard and Barbara White showing videotapes from the May 13 Estelline supercell at a gathering of tornado chasers in Norman, Oklahoma.
Named recollections from Steve Wachholder, Mike Theiss and others describe shared hurricanes, storm-film screenings, friendship and Jim’s influence as a field mentor.
The archive’s searchable directory records surviving uploads, broadcast appearances, oral histories and institutional exhibits.
Cuban and American reporting, the U.S. Weather Bureau’s 1943 account and later aviation research separate hurricane location, meteorological penetration and operational reconnaissance.
A contemporary motion-picture trade report identifies Pathé cameraman Ralph Radnor Earle with film made in the Great Miami Hurricane disaster zone, an early documentary precursor to later independent hurricane field work.
Participant recollections and later interviews document an early bridge from Terry Nixon and Richard Horodner to Jim Leonard, then to a larger generation of meteorologists, camera operators and field researchers.
Official histories from the Philippines, India, Hong Kong and Taiwan place modern chase culture beside older warning networks and later Asian aircraft research.
Institutional records document hurricane instrument teams, supervised student research, NOAA aviation pathways, Taiwan's DOTSTAR typhoon program and related severe-storm courses.
Jim’s contemporaneous account describes recognizing Charley’s north-northeast turn, abandoning an earlier Sarasota plan and repositioning around Fort Myers and Port Charlotte. The account complements the National Hurricane Center observer table that preserves his 950.0-millibar reading.
Bill Reid recalls seeing storm-chasing VHS tapes by Jim Leonard and Tim Marshall around 1990 or 1991. Reid identifies the recordings as the experience that showed him serious storm chasing existed and inspired him to pursue it himself.