I’m a little behind the curve with regard to Hurricane Dennis. For now, landfall along the United States Gulf Coast looks certain, with special focus from Mobile Bay eastward. Unfortunately, this is the same area ravaged last year by Hurricane Ivan.

My interest in chasing hurricanes is academic at best. Living in Nebraska, a trip to the Gulf or Atlantic seaboard is no easy task, and having never participated in a hurricane intercept before, I’d no doubt be woefully unprepared. Furthermore, getting in and out of evacuation zones has grown more and more difficult over the years. Should local law enforcement find you driving around without proper credentials, you’ll likely end up riding out the storm in a holding cell rather than on the beach.

Major hurricanes are serious business, especially when poised to strike population centers. Placing yourself in harm’s way and expecting everything to magically work out is reckless and irresponsible.

So, why the hell am I going to Japan in a couple of weeks to chase typhoons?

Thankfully, the average typhoon in the northwest Pacific doesn’t amount to much by the time it makes landfall in Japan (Okinawa excluded). Even last year’s Typhoon Tokage - the worst storm to strike Japan in over a decade - only had sustained winds of around 90 mph (144 kph) when it made final landfall in Kochi Prefecture, on the island of Shikoku. Yet, despite being the equivalent of a mere Category 1 hurricane in the Atlantic Basin, Tokage somehow managed to kill 67 people. How the majority of these deaths occurred, I don’t know. My assumption is that storm surge, flooding, and mudslides were the primary culprit.

From a chasing point of view, however, storm surge, flooding, and mudslides are pretty easy to avoid. Furthermore, sustained winds in the neighborhood of 90 mph aren’t too big a deal provided you’ve taken the proper precautions. I’ve experienced stronger and more unpredictable wind speeds at times chasing supercell thunderstorms here in the United States. So, I’m not particularly concerned for my safety.

And should a typhoon like no other strike Japan this year… well, I guess I’ll just be reckless and irresponsible and hope everything magically works out.