A meteorologist and risk analyst proposed to his boyfriend Tuesday as a tornado in Kansas lingered in the background.
Joey Krastel, who works for the Maryland Emergency Management Agency, has been captivated by natural disasters since he was a child after he saw his first tornado when he was 4 years old.
“It was at that moment where I knew everything I wanted to do from then on out,” Krastel told NBC News. “Every meteorologist has a weather story from when they were little that defined their path.”
Krastel, 27, also is a storm chaser and tracks down various storms to document them. In fact, he connected with his partner Chris Scott, 23, after Scott reached out and asked him about chasing tornadoes. Before they started dating, the couple had followed each other on Instagram, and so Scott saw Krastel’s pictures of storms.
“That’s why it was always in the back of my mind to get engaged during storm chasing,” Krastel said. “I felt like it would be this perfect way to seal the deal.”
The couple headed to Salina, Kan., this week and followed the tornado to Tipton with two of their friends. Krastel proposed in Tipton with the tornado in the background as his friends caught the moment on camera.
Krastel posted on social media with the caption: “The 2 loves of my life.”
[Also read: ‘Large and dangerous’ tornado causes widespread power outages in Ohio]
The 2 loves of my life pic.twitter.com/Cv4eviechZ
— Joey Krastel (@NimbusStorms) May 29, 2019
Krastel said that during the proposal the tornado traveled toward them and that the picture doesn’t accurately reflect how close they were.
“I called to my friends to get back in the car,” Krastel said. “I was just so emotional just because it was my happiest place, being with him next to the storms.”
