Storm chasers honor “Twister” star with GPS tribute
The Associated Press - February 27, 2017 9:08 am
Nearly 200 storm chasers are paying tribute to the late actor Bill Paxton by spelling out his initials using GPS coordinates on a map depicting the heart of Tornado Alley.
The effort, coordinated Sunday by Spotter Network, spelled out “BP” to honor the leading man in the disaster movie “Twister,” which inspired a generation of storm chasers.
John Wetter, the nonprofit’s president, says storm chasers have spelled out the initials of fellow chasers four or five times before but never a non-chaser.
Most people participating did not travel, but they instead entered GPS coordinates manually to spell the letters on a map centered around Wakita, Oklahoma.
In the movie, Paxton plays a storm chaser who’s researching tornados during a twister outbreak in Oklahoma.
Paxton’s death at age 61 was announced Sunday.