Storm Tracker Von Castor Rolls Into Adair County for a Night Rocky Mountain School Won’t Forget
A famous truck, a kindergartner’s golf question and two hours of storm safety — family night at RMS delivered.
Rocky Mountain School sits in a rural corner of Adair County where nearly half the community identifies as Cherokee or Keetoowah Cherokee and more than one in five families lives below the poverty line. Thursday night, April 30, the school gym filled up anyway. Parents came in from work. Kids came ready with questions. Von Castor came with a truck full of storm chasing equipment and nearly 40 years of Oklahoma weather on his resume.
Castor has tracked severe weather for KOTV News On 6 in Tulsa since 2003. Librarian Jackie Sparks brought him to Rocky Mountain School after reaching out to the News On 6 marketing staff.
“As a Title I school we are required to have family engagement nights,” Sparks said. “These engagements have to be educational so I thought inviting him would cover education and bring our families together and the RMS staff. They worked it out and made it possible.”
Before the presentation started, the crowd got a look at the Storm Tracker 6 vehicle in the parking lot. Castor walked them through the cameras and monitoring equipment that allow him to live stream from the field while a storm is moving. The cracked windshield drew its own questions. Hail from a recent chase put it there. Castor said it was roughly the 18th windshield he has had replaced.
Castor opened with his story. He got his start chasing storms alongside his brother Val, who was studying meteorology at the University of Oklahoma. The two went out together. Val eventually landed at KWTV News 9 in Oklahoma City. Von landed at KOTV News On 6 in Tulsa.
He said Thursday night was one of the few times he had presented to adults and students in the same room. He welcomed it — and the crowd gave it right back.
The science came next. Castor walked the room through what causes tornadoes, how they form, and what a person should do when one is coming. He ran video — some of the biggest storms he has ever chased and some of the smallest. The gym stayed quiet for all of it.
Then he got to the part that hit closest to home.
In Adair County, many students go home after school to empty houses — parents still at work, or away for one reason or another. Cell coverage is inconsistent. Broadband is unavailable to nearly 3 in 10 households. When the sirens go off, there is no teacher to direct them and no designated safe room to walk to.
“When they’re at school, everything’s great because the teachers know what to do,” Castor said. “But a lot of them don’t have a safe place. They don’t know what to do when they get home.”
Three steps. Bottom floor. Center of the house. Cover up with whatever is within reach.
The question-and-answer session ran long and earned every minute. Castor recommended three apps — RadarScope, Weather Front, and the Oklahoma Mesonet app, the mobile companion to a statewide monitoring network operated by the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University. He added one condition: radar apps only help if you know how to read them.
Rocky Mountain School serves pre-kindergarten through 8th grade and enrolls roughly 200 students, 81% of whom are classified as economically disadvantaged, according to federal education data.
When Castor revealed he roots for the Texas Longhorns, horns-down hand signs went up across the gym. The crowd let it go — mostly.
Then a kindergartner named Emma raised her hand. She wanted to know Castor’s best golf score. The room had its answer for what counts as essential information.
Rocky Mountain School Superintendent Alicia Ketcher closed the evening by presenting Castor with a set of Rocky Mountain School gear.
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