GLYN ELLEN, Ill. – At the College of DuPage, inside the meteorology lab, Professor Paul Sirvatka discussed the formation of tornados with a group of more than a dozen students.

“It’s got to be rotation,” he said. “It’s got to be the mesocyclone, because what’s a mesocyclone? Strong and persistent rotation.”

After 38 years in the classroom, there are changes swirling in his life, too.

“I’m retiring,” he said.

Sirvatka is leaving behind a towering legacy in meteorology. He began to make his mark in 1987 at the College of DuPage.

In 1989, he founded the first undergraduate storm-chasing program in the United States.

“It wasn’t until 1995 about when Twister came out,” he said. “It kind of exposed storm chasing, but until then, we were it. If you wanted to take a course in storm chasing,

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