Franniversary: My Hurricane Fran Storm Chase

Twenty years ago this week, the World Wide Web had just begun. I was one of the only people reporting live online about the storm (other than major national news outlets). I posted updates, radar images, and maps about Hurricane Fran, then decided to meet the storm head-on. This is my story.

SEE ALSO: Franniversary: 20 Years After Hurricane Fran

On the evening of September 5, 1996, as Hurricane Fran approached the North Carolina coast, I embarked on my first-ever hurricane storm chase trip (map above shows Fran's track in red, versus mine). That original "live blog" account (years before the word "blog" was even coined) is contained here, along with newly-digitized video highlights and a "word cloud" created from the chase story.

I drove from Raleigh to Wallace, North Carolina, videotaping the event on my VHS camera. I made it to about 30 miles from the coast before it got too dark (no power) and too dangerous (too many trees down). I turned around and drove back to Raleigh, and Fran followed me back, bringing trees down all over the city with winds of nearly 80 mph.