Tom Pastrano's fascination with weather began in the first grade. He would draw pictures of storms and tornadoes, so much that his teachers thought he might be having problems at home. By the time Tom reached the fourth grade, he began to take a deep interest in the weather after his school was hit by a severe storm. Tom's parents would often times have to bring him down off the roof before a thunderstorm. His interest grew dramatically in the 5th grade after watching a PBS documentary on storm chasers. Ever since the 5th grade, he knew that he wanted to become a storm chaser.
Tom began his storm chasing career in 1992 while chasing storms in the San Antonio, Texas area. In 1993 he moved to Norman to pursue a degree in meteorology at the University of Oklahoma. While at OU he earned a B.A. in Geography.
As you can imagine, Tom has seen a lot of storms, from the infamous 1988 Hurricane Gilbert, to the 1999 tornado outbreak that affected Oklahoma City, and in 1995, his truck was beat by baseball sized hail in the Texas Panhandle.
Tom has come close to many tornadoes, coming as close as 1/4 mile to the May 3 1999 tornado outbreak, "It was so close, you could hear the roar," Pastrano said.
Having been featured on many local news affiliates, as well as CNN, Tom is actually a native Texan. Having graduated from Antonian College Preparatory High School in San Antonio, Texas, Tom interned at KMOL-TV during his high school years, where he learned a lot about TV weather. In 1995 he was hired as a StormTracker for NEWS 9 where he is currently employed.
When he's not out chasing storms Tom enjoys movies, traveling, cooking, social gatherings, watching OU Football and Fishing.
StormTracker Tom Pastrano
StormTrackers Tom Pastrano and Rob Satkus frequently team up to track storms in Oklahoma.
