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ABOUT
Francis Lavigne-Thériault
Manager & Founder
Since it's creation in 2014 on Facebook, we have amassed over 50,000 followers across platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Threads. NZP Chasers® is now a registered trademark name in Canada. This organization is mainly comprised of content created by Francis Lavigne-Theriault, the founder & owner of NZP Chasers. "NZP" stands for Near Zero Probability, which is a concept where group members chase every severe thunderstorms, regardless of the probability of seeing tornadoes. Some of our best chases and moments in the field have been low probability days and this is why our motto exists to this day. This attitude and passion has allowed us to witness some of the most intense storms in North America over the last decade logging over 400,000km chasing weather and seeing over 70 tornadoes from EF0 to EF5's.
Over the years, Francis specialized in weather content and developed fundamental skills in photography (including sales), videography (including extensive international licensing) and content creation to the point where, in 2015-2016, weather content creation and sales was his primary source of income. Since then, the market has shifted significantly and so has NZP. Francis continues to adapt his skills as a videographer, photographer and freelancer. Over the last several years, Francis gained professional experience in science communications, social media, media relations, content creation, weather consulting and field research.
Francis has a Bachelor's degree in Geography with Honours from York University and several university diplomas specializing in GIS, Remote Sensing and Digital Communications. He worked as a Research Associate at the University of Western Ontario where he conducted and led wind damage surveys across Canada and specialized in UAV research. In 2022, he became the first Field Coordinator for the Northern Hail Project, where he managed to recover Canada's new record hailstone in size/weight near Markerville, AB on August 1st. Francis and his team are still the record holders to this day.
After attempting a Master's Degree in Engineering Science, Francis left academia to pursue other career goals, but remains actively engaged with the weather enterprise. In the past, Francis held a certification as an Environmental Professional in training (EPt) by ECO-Canada and Remote First Aid with the Canadian Red Cross. He has served on several committees at the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society (CMOS) and has presented his work at international conferences. He is a licenced advanced drone pilot with Transport Canada and has a Part 107 sUAS certification with the FAA (United States).
More recently, Francis is working as a professional meteorologist and is doing a Master of Earth System Science specializing in Arctic Systems on a part-time basis at the University of Athabasca.
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