Story gets weird. Weather? Unless that thing came apart, the pilot should still be attached to it. If weather is bad enough for an airplane then that parachute ain’t going to make it.
This sounds so far like a made up story.
‘The Man Who Rode The Thunder’ by William H. Rankin Lt. Col., USMC.
His F8U flamed out at ≈50,000 ft over a thunderhead. Took him 40 minutes of falling through rain, hail, thunder and lightning to get back to the ground...