A symphony of storms: How Mother Nature rocks in the ultimate ride
For meteorologist and storm hunter Mark Robinson, music acts as an overture to the curtain of turbulent weather he’s chasing while in his 2025 Mitsubishi Outlander.
An overture is an introductory piece of music usually found in an opera. It sets the tone for the audience’s experience and is performed before the curtain rises. For meteorologist and storm hunter Mark Robinson, music acts as an overture to the curtain of turbulent weather he’s chasing.
“My favourite is soundtracks. I love soundtracks from movies,” he says.
They can include anything from Pirates of the Caribbean to Tron Legacy or Marvel soundtracks, each featuring a dynamic range of thundering orchestral arrangements and subtle interludes, easily drowned out by the ambient noise of the road. But not in his 2025 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV.
When he’s behind the wheel of his Mitsubishi Outlander, music is his personal storm-chasing soundtrack, allowing him to focus on the storm without chasing inferior sound quality. That’s because the 2025 Outlander has eight Dynamic Sound Yamaha® Premium speakers with a Speed Compensated Volume (SCV) function, which instinctively adjusts the volume to counteract road noise at higher speeds.
The Ultimate system features a meticulously engineered 12-speaker sound system strategically positioned throughout the vehicle’s interior. It comprises four tweeters, three squawkers, four woofers, and a subwoofer managed by a Digital Signal Processor and dual amplifiers. This setup delivers an immersive experience regardless of summer conditions, with air-conditioning-compensated volume, where the volume and mid-to-high frequencies automatically adjust based on the cooling airflow from the vehicle’s outlets.
When Robinson drives into sheets of rainfall, and his wipers are set to high, the Ultimate system’s Weather-Proof Sound activates with Rain Compensated Volume, enhancing the mid and high frequencies along with the volume. As his wipers create their beat, he feels every pulse of the music and doesn’t miss a single note flooding from the speakers.
Nature’s Greatest Hits
Mother Nature wouldn’t play the pan flute in an easy-listening ensemble if she were in a band. She would crank the amplifiers up to eleven, standing before a crowd of fifty thousand, and blow their hair back with grooves heavier than the loudest rock concert. A hurricane, for instance, can roar. This occurs due to the high wind speeds comparable to standing near a jet engine or a loud freight train. The intensity of these winds can sustain volumes reaching between 100 and 120 decibels. Add pounding rain and thunder to the mix, and it can become deafening. When Robinson gets close to thunderclaps, they can reach 165 to 180 decibels, sometimes even louder. To put that into perspective, the Guinness World Record for the loudest concert is held by The Who, who hit 126 decibels in 1976 at The Valley in London.
“I’ve been through hurricanes. And if you want to talk about something where you could barely be heard, hurricanes are it,” says Robinson. “It’s so loud we have hand signals so that we can communicate with each other when the roar of the storm gets going. It’s just something else, absolutely incredible. The last big one, I believe, was Hurricane Ian, and the wind speeds in that were 150 miles an hour.”
Robinson immerses himself in every story, feeling every beat Mother Nature can pound out.
“Usually when I’m in the storm, I turn everything off to concentrate on the storm. Everything goes quiet at that point,” says Robinson. When he gets under a storm, the Outlander’s Dynamic Sound Yamaha® system plays a supporting role in the live-action unfolding before his eyes. Where regular sound systems can be overpowered, the Outlander’s is different. “It’s super useful. Because quite often, what I’ll be doing is chatting with meteorologists back at home or chatting with my friends on the phone, and I route that through the sound system because it’s critical to be able to hear. So, it’s super important because storms get really loud. If I get into hail, for instance, even small hail can be deafening inside the car.”
When storms produce giant hail, one of the safest things to do is stop your car.
“Just let it roll over you and get away from the front windshield or whatever side the hail is coming in because baseball hail will take the window out.”
In the Outlander, it doesn’t matter where he sits in the vehicle; he will always have a front-row experience. The Dynamic Sound Yamaha® system is engineered to deliver optimal sound from any seat due to the five different listening position options.
“It’s especially critical because if I’m narrating what I see, I need good audio quality. This speaker system has all these different points where it sounds great no matter where you are in the car.”
When the weather is good, it’s even better with a soundtrack that offers front-row seating for a personal concert. The 2025 Outlander is the perfect vehicle for audiophiles and music enthusiasts, enabling you to adjust the bass, treble, and mids to your heart’s content or select from the available pre-programmed sound types. Different modes let you experience any musical style as it’s meant to be heard.
For Robinson, with his adrenaline peaking, there’s even a relaxing mode, ideal for adding soothing background music to a conversation. For summer road trips, the Outlander’s exceptional sound system ensures that ‘Are we there yet?” will be replaced by song requests.