Joshua Morgerman (born January 21, 1970) is an American businessman, storm chaser, TV personality, and field correspondent best known for his multitude of tropical cyclone chases. Morgerman developed an interest in meteorology at an early age after seeing the effects of Hurricane Belle at his home in Long Island at age six. After graduating from Harvard University in 1992, he co-founded the digital advertising company Symblaze in 1999. His storm chasing career began in earnest in 2005 with Hurricane Wilma in Florida.
With no formal education in meteorology, all his experience comes from the chases. In all the years he has been chasing, Morgerman has intercepted 88 tropical cyclones, including Category 5 storms Hurricane Dean in 2007, Typhoon Haiyan in 2013, Hurricane Patricia in 2015, Typhoon Mangkhut and Hurricane Michael in 2018, Hurricane Dorian in 2019, and Hurricane Melissa in 2025. In total, he has successfully entered the eye of 62 hurricane-force tropical cyclones, with the strongest being Hurricane Melissa. Morgerman has also chased cyclones across 14 different countries or territories, but primarily in the United States and Mexico.
Early life Josh Morgerman was born in 1970 and grew up in Huntington, New York—part of suburban New York City. Living on Long Island, he developed an interest in meteorology at an early age; his mother attributes part of this interest to him seeing The Wizard of Oz when Morgerman was four. In August 1976, Hurricane Belle struck Long Island as a Category 1 hurricane, causing significant damage in his hometown, and beginning his fascination with meteorology.
At his father's insistence, Morgerman pursued a liberal arts degree at Harvard University rather than focusing on meteorology. In 1991, while attending Harvard, Morgerman went on his first hurricane chase: Hurricane Bob in Rhode Island.
In 1999, Morgerman co-founded the digital advertising company Symblaze alongside his friend Michael Horton. By 2004, he was living in Prague, Czech Republic, to work with Eastern European clientele.
Personal life Morgerman has no spouse nor kids, wishing to remain unburdened by family responsibilities to pursue cyclone chases. In his spare time, Morgerman often studies historic tropical cyclones. Morgerman moved to Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, during the COVID-19 pandemic in order to make chasing easier during travel restrictions. Morgerman grew attached to the city and the region, and eventually built a hurricane-resistant home in the city, making the city his place of residence.
iCyclone Since 1991, Morgerman has been chasing tropical cyclones. His goal is to "core punch" the storms and record atmospheric pressure and document the experience. With no formal education in meteorology, Morgerman's cyclone chasing is a passion project. All of his experience is in the field, though he advertises himself as an "adrenaline junkie". In an interview with The Washington Post in 2012, he stated this to be the primary motivator for chasing.
He often relies on his instincts backed up by years of chasing cyclones. Morgerman leads the iCyclone chase team. Members include his "right-hand guy" Scott Brownfield who coordinates logistics or assists on chases, meteorologists Adam Moyer and Jorge González who provide forecasting information, and Cory Van Pelt who serves as the iCyclone technician. In 2013, iCyclone expanded their chase region to East Asia, teaming up with fellow chasers James Reynolds and Mark Thomas. They ultimately intercepted four typhoons in one month including Typhoon Haiyan which devastated the Philippines. Since 2014, his chasing has been funded by multiple media agencies including CBS, the Weather Channel, and WeatherNation. In 2017, Morgerman conducted his first and so far only Australian chase, intercepting Cyclone Debbie in Queensland.
Data collection and usage Morgerman collects atmospheric pressure with multiple Kestrel 4500s. The data he has collected has been utilized by the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in multiple instances to refine landfall intensities. 2011's Hurricane Rina's landfall in the Yucatán Peninsula was adjusted in light of his observations. In conjunction with satellite intensity estimates, his measurement of within the eye of Hurricane Ernesto in 2012 was utilized to upgrade the hurricane's landfall intensity to Category 2.
In 2014, Morgerman's measurement of within Hurricane Odile resulted in the landfall pressure being adjusted to from the operational estimate of . His observation of in 2015's Hurricane Patricia, in conjunction with two nearby automated measurements, assisted in more accurately analyzing the hurricane's strength at landfall. Meteorologists at the NHC concluded an approximate minimum pressure of , yielding estimated winds of ; this made Patricia the strongest Pacific hurricane on record to strike Mexico. The record was later surpassed by Hurricane Otis, which became the first Pacific hurricane on record to make landfall at Category 5 intensity, surpassing Hurricane Patricia accordingly.
Morgerman provided the only observed over-land pressure with Hurricane Willa's Mexican landfall in 2018. He observed a value of , corroborating the NHC's landfall intensity of .
In 2016, Morgerman collaborated with meteorologist Andrew Hagen and Mexican researchers Erik Sereno Trabaldo and Jorge Abelardo González to reanalyze the 1959 Mexico hurricane, then considered to be the strongest landfalling hurricane on the Pacific coast of Mexico. Their analysis determined the storm to have been significantly weaker than originally estimated and resulted in its downgrade from a Category 5 to a Category 4. These revisions were later incorporated into the NHC's Hurricane Database. In 2017, Morgerman co-authored an academic paper published by the American Meteorological Society on the intensity of 2015's Hurricane Patricia. He provided in-situ data describing the structure of the storm and allowing for a more thorough analysis of its landfall.
Tropical cyclone chases As of November 2025, he has chased 96 cyclones across Australia, East Asia, and North America. Of his successful core penetrations, six were Category 5, 14 were Category 4, and 21 were Category 3.