What It Takes to Be a Storm Chaser
June 19, 2025
Garbed in pajamas, snow boots and his winter coat, 12-year-old Nikhil Trivedi was sitting under the roof of a gazebo in the dark. It was 5:30 a.m. and snow was falling in Washington, D.C. Trivedi’s makeshift weather monitoring station consisted of three simple materials: a ruler, a laptop and a small, metal side table.
Following his own procedure, Trivedi dragged the side table into his backyard, plopped down under a canopy, and measured the snowfall depth on the metal table, recording the time and number of inches each hour. Passion and enthusiasm are both prerequisites to replicate the true Trivedi method
Trivedi brought these qualities with him to UW–Madison, where today he is a rising senior majoring in atmospheric and oceanic sciences. While his tools may have evolved since those rudimentary backyard experiments, his curiosity and passion for research were born in those early days of scientific exploration.
Read the full College of Letters & Science magazine article by Abby Anderson, June 17, 2025