Another Black Eye For Chasers?

[Evan Bookbinder]

Now, I certainly wasn't surprised that there were hundreds of chasers on the same couple of storms considering the prior week of gorgeous weather and really one small area chase target. However, there were more than a handful of chasers (both solo and in groups) that were breaking a multitude of driving laws on both main and rural Kansas roads. Speeding on a rural dirt road with no traffic...honestly not my beef (of course unless a stray cow is involved) However, we counted no less than two dozen vehicles who were "pulled off" on various roads with portions of their vehicle and/or equipment actually in the road. I realize that most western KS roads have fairly steep drop-offs along the shoulder, but if you find a spot to get your vehicle safely and completely off the road, use your hazard lights and act responsibly, I don't think anyone is going to have a care in the world.

http://online.hdnews.net/content/news/chasers052307.shtml

Evan

 

[Jeff Snyder]

No time to really comment, but this is extremely frustrating:

Ralph Eschbaumer, emergency management director in Graham County, had similar experiences.
“They are a hindrance to emergency services wherever they are,” he said.

It'd be interesting to see what happens when chasers and spotters stop reporting in his area, and some town gets wiped out from a night-time tornado. What, no chasers or spotters to keep track of things? Ooops. Of course, the NWS would be blamed, not some power-tripping local EM official. Grr.

I agree that sometimes things get clogged, and there are always people who don't get the whole "pull ENTIRELY off the road" part, but to clump ALL chasers in a group and say we all get in the way of EM operations is ludicris. Tell that to the chasers that stopped to help out the residents of Greensburg a couple of weeks ago.

 

[John Hudson]

No time to really comment, but this is extremely frustrating:



It'd be interesting to see what happens when chasers and spotters stop reporting in his area, and some town gets wiped out from a night-time tornado. What, no chasers or spotters to keep track of things? Ooops. Of course, the NWS would be blamed, not some power-tripping local EM official. Grr.

Totally agree. This happens every year, and it doesn't look like it's going to get better anytime soon. It is unfair to paint everyone with the same brush; I came upon some rather large convergences this year in Kansas, but I have to say that most everyone I saw was operating responsibly.

The guy in the article mentions the "freelancers" as being especially problematic. Does the fact that you might sell some of your photographic work automatically mean you're going to be a scofflaw? Not likely. There's not that much competition anymore for storm pictures anyhow, as they are a dime a dozen.

Obviously, really large convergences can be a problem, and this is one reason that I enjoy chasing in the Dakotas and Nebraska so much.

Sure, the setups may not be as "solid" as they tend to be in the southern/central plains, but it's far enough north to avoid the the "riff raff" element.

Johnd
VE4 JTH

 

[beaudodson]

From the article

“We had about 200 storm chasers,” said Trego County Sheriff Rich Schneider. “We had to get rough on them to get them to move.”


They had to get rough?

“They seem to think they’ve got special rights,” Schneider said. “I told my deputy if they interfered, to write them up.”

Once that message got passed along among the spotters, they left, he said.

“They just had our highways just plumb plugged up,” he said.

End quote...

 

[Brian Stertz]

The article was poorly written bird cage liner stuff. I never once saw a highway that was "plumb plugged up" That is a bold faced lie and it is pretty sad that an official would spread this sort of garbage to the media. Wow a highway with traffic on it...that don't happen in these parts Gus...I better tell the media that we had gridlock in Graham County. We had to get those emergency people to that wheat field to see if there was a maimed bull snake or two and we could not get there in time. What a bunch of bunk.

 

[mike scantlin]

you making fun of a sheriff doesn't add anything but stupidity to this thread. that is no different than them talking bad about us because of a few people.

 

[Van DeWald]

Here is a screen capture from the Hill City, KS storm, early in it's lifecycle. I've got the spotternetwork.org icons overlayed. Some of these were icons on top of icons, i.e. anywhere from 2 to 4 cars all parked together. And this is just the registered spotters, imagine all of the unregistered spotters out there. Thus, it's pretty easy to see how 200 chasers could converge on the same area, given that this was about the only game in the area at the time.

If someone is breaking the law, I don't have a problem with LE doing what they have to do. Putting yourself in their shoes, I'm sure it can be very frustrating having to deal with not only the storm and its effects, but also having to wrangle with an extra 200 storm chasers who may be impeding emergency services because of the bottleneck.

 

[Greg Stumpf]

I never once saw a highway that was "plumb plugged up" That is a bold faced lie...

Brian,

I take it you weren't on Hwy 23 a few miles north of U.S. 83 on 5/23 around 6:15pm then? The highway was blocked by chasers, and I have the video to prove it. So much so that someone on the 55 simplex made a plea for the chasers to get off the roads so that the scientific data collection vehicles (e.g., mobile radars, Texas Tech mesonet and sticknet crews) could get through. I'm growing very concerned about the future of scientific intercepts now (e.g., VORTEX II).

As I said in another thread - to point the blame solely at "locals" or chasers who aren't part of the "social chaser" community is a cop out.

 

[Dustin Wilcox]

Its disappointing that an article like this has to be published in a small town newspaper, the article I am sure will deal chasers a significant black eye as it will certainly alter many of the general public's view of chasers in that town. From what I observed there were a lot of chasers in the area, however compared to other convergences I have witnessed everyone seemed to be behaving, at least from what I witnessed. Much of the chase for me was spent on country roads and the only annoying behavior I witnessed was cars stopped in the middle of a country road during the tornado, and I think they may have been stuck and had no choice. From what I witnessed the article certainly stretched the truth however I suppose areas were I was not present could have been different, there were a lot of chasers yes, but I have a hard time believing they inhibited the "officials" from serving the public in any way.

 

[Jayson Prentice]

The article has some good points in it, the fact that there were probably some 200 chasers out there and I can bet you that there were vehicles pulled over on both sides of the road. Most of the time you can't get your vehicle completely pulled off the road and thus the highway there was likely one lane for the most part. So it is likely that other vehicles were having trouble getting through the area...

But, what I don't like about this article is trying to relate a whole group of people like 'freelancers' into a bunch of idiots that are all over the road. Plus, some parts of the story just don't seem to make sense; starts off about storm chasers and how they were creating a problem then there is this line, "Once that message got passed along among the spotters, they left, he said." Spotters are usually in one spot out of the way and I highly doubt they would just leave?? The story just doesn't make much sense when you read through it and I won't get into the sentence about university chasers and that stuff...

Overall the story definitely isnt' a good one for the chasers. The fact that we have EM's and sheriffs and the such having big problems with us doesn't bode well either. Despite this, the article isn't a very good one as far as how it is put together, maybe I'm nitpicky here, but the thing just doesn't make sense the way it skips around...

 

[rdale]

We keep talking about "the black eye" ever since Twister (sheez, that was a long time ago!) -- but does it really matter? Let's say everyone in this town (how many is that?) reads the article.

So what?

 

[Darin Brunin]

So much so that someone on the 55 simplex made a plea for the chasers to get off the roads so that the scientific data collection vehicles (e.g., mobile radars, Texas Tech mesonet and sticknet crews) could get through.

I find that statement to be pretty ironic since I have heard stories about certain data collection vehicles blocking roads this year.

 

[Greg Stumpf]

I find that statement to be pretty ironic since I have heard stories about certain data collection vehicles blocking roads this year.

My gloves are off!

Actually, I quite agree - the data collection vehicles need to exercise the same precautions. But the point I was trying to make is that if there are road blockages caused by chasers, then scientific data collection could seriously be hampered.

I can remember the days back in Vortex I (94-95) when we discouraged "tag-alongs" by politely asking them to give us some room for our data collection efforts. Those simple days are gone forever. So, one might ask - what would be the suggestion? What will be an effective way to give berth to folks who are really serving scientific needs and the needs of the public (spotters, EMs, first responders), yet balance the desires of the general chase population?

 

[Josh Murfield]

From the article

“We had about 200 storm chasers,†said Trego County Sheriff Rich Schneider. “We had to get rough on them to get them to move.â€


They had to get rough?

“They seem to think they’ve got special rights,†Schneider said. “I told my deputy if they interfered, to write them up.â€

Once that message got passed along among the spotters, they left, he said.

“They just had our highways just plumb plugged up,†he said.

End quote...

Ugh..... I realize it's frustrating to law enforcement in rural areas to have to deal with traffic, but it's ridiculous for them to think they can just kick everybody out of their county if they appear to be watching/chasing storms!

 

[Joey Ketcham]

The article was poorly written bird cage liner stuff. I never once saw a highway that was "plumb plugged up" That is a bold faced lie and it is pretty sad that an official would spread this sort of garbage to the media. Wow a highway with traffic on it...that don't happen in these parts Gus...I better tell the media that we had gridlock in Graham County. We had to get those emergency people to that wheat field to see if there was a maimed bull snake or two and we could not get there in time. What a bunch of bunk.

You may not have seen it personally, but this picture taken yesterday by Bill Hark says it all:

http://www.harkphoto.com/052307chasers.jpg

Look at the amount of people standing in the middle of the road. I can see why that would be frustrating to first responders (police, ems, firefighters).