The Chaser of VORTEXpursuit.com Storm Chasing
(Written poorly in 3rd person by Ben Prusia)
VORTEXpursuit.com Storm Chasing is the project of 23 year old Ben Prusia, of Gardner, Kansas. Ben was born in Kansas City, Kansas
in May of 1984 and was raised in Leavenworth, Kansas until 1999 when he moved to Johnson County, Kansas, where he currently
resides. He graduated Blue Valley Northwest High School in Overland Park, Kansas in May of 2002, but is not currently attending a
post-secondary educational institution. He is planning to enroll in Johnson County Community College in Fall of 2008 with an eventual
transfer back to the University of Kansas in the near future with an undecided major.
Ben started storm chasing in 2003 on April 24th with a local chase in southern Johnson County, Kansas. The storm dropped a tornado
near Hillsdale Lake in rural Miami County before moving into Johnson County (See SPC Storm Reports
from 4/24/2003). Though he did not see anything that day, he was hooked!
Even before then, Ben's interest in weather and meteorology stemmed to back when he was a toddler. He was told that he fell
asleep standing up during lightning storms. He was very addicted to the tornado videos that were featured in the Tornado Video Classics series, which of course,
fascinated and motivated him into the world of storm chasing.
Time has progressed since his first storm chase and since then, he has grown from only chasing with a weather radio and the Rand McNally
Road Atlas to chasing with gadgets galore, complete with live streaming video during chases! 2008 marks the 6th year of chasing for Ben Prusia
and his first year streaming live video and recording in High Definition. Also in 2008, Ben became a certified Skywarn Storm Spotter for Johnson County,
Kansas and the Johnson County Emergency Communications Service.
When Ben is not chasing, he enjoys a very simple life as a single father to his two daughters, Samara and Alexis. Samara will be three years old late in
April and Alexis wil be two in early July. Ben enjoys photography, bicycling, hiking, being in the outdoors, playing video games, and more. He works a full time
job working overnights four days a week at Ameristar Casino in Kansas City, Missouri as a Main Banker. He is hoping
for a career change in the near future that will allow him to spend more time with his kids.
