This Is How Storm Chasers Are Honoring The Memory Of Bill Paxton
After the Emmy-nominated actor died due to complications from surgery, storm chasers honored the movie star who inspired a new generation of extreme weather–lovers.
Storm chasers in the midwest are using their GPS locations to honor actor Bill Paxton — a star of Titanic, Aliens, Twister, and Big Love — who died on Saturday at the age of 61.
Paxton costarred with Helen Hunt in the 1996 movie Twister — which is about a team of storm chasers researching tornados by placing measurement devices directly in the path of tornadoes.
The movie, which was the second-highest-grossing film that year, put storm-chasers in the spotlight.
And had everyone feeling sorry for this cow.
It also inspired a generation of people to take an interest in meteorology, like Jesse Hawila, a meteorologist for a Dallas, Texas TV station.
"From weather geeks everywhere... thanks for the #Twister memories. RIP Bill Paxton," tweeted Chris Bailey of the Kentucky Weather Center.
According to the Associated Press, the nonprofit Spotter Network is responsible for the effort. This is the first time Spotter Network has honored a non-chaser in this way. Each dot on the map represents an individual storm-chaser's GPS coordinates.