Another Black Eye For Chasers?

[Jim Zandonai]

I have never been to a chase event like that where there is hundreds of chasers out there so I cant really give a specific instance or advice. I can say from chasing up here however that although the plains is the place to be chasing around here for years has been great. True storms are fewer and supercells far between but there have been some fantastic storms in this area like the Roanoke IL one for instance that are great chase days..and dont have hundreds of people around there..even on the best days I have never seen more then a few in IL and WI. Again obvoiusly the plains is the place to be but one can always wait for stuff around here if it becomes too much of an issue down there which it seems like it is. Alot of conditions up here on good days get overlooked..sometimes.
Chasing correctly is being smart and courteous and safe. Although in the heat of the moment when going after a cell or watching one its easy to get sidetracked and we do somethnigs that arent smart at times.
When I chase its obviously because I enjoy it but I also do it to report to the NWS if theres something to report as I am a trained spotter, my 'job' is to report.
Be safe...

 

[Paul Knightley]

Well, I must admit it's hard to comment on this objectively, seeing as we fly over from the UK to add to the "clog". All I will say is that we always pull well off of the road, and remain well off of the highway when filming. And another things, we ALWAYS signal when we're either pulling over, or taking another road, something which doesn't always seem to be present in other vehicles (chasers or normal traffic!).

For a lot of the KS chase, we stuck to the dirt roads - much less traffic, and many more photo ops!

 

[Mikey Gribble]

I had problems early in the day on the Hill City storm right after it went up North of Garden City. One of the "scientific groups" caravan cars decided to park their cars (3 of them) in the middle of the road to shoot a scene of two girls jumping in their car. Apparently they are attempting to make some sort of a video. As I approached them doing this some guy was standing behind the cars motioning for me to slow down. I thought that was pretty audacious considering he was the one parked in the middle of the road shooting a movie. Once the storm went tornado warned we never had any problems with traffic because we opted for the back roads, which was a HUGE mistake BTW. Those were some sloppy roads. The whole time we were on them all I could think about was how long was it going to take me to find a farmer and get a tractor to pull me out after I buried my car in the ditch. Luckily that didn't happen.
Then on Wednesday I was on the storm just West of Buffalo and saw one of the worst, if not the worst inconsiderate behavior I have ever seen from a chaser. I was driving down a highway and was going to turn North on a dirt road to get closer to the updraft base, but when I came up on the road I was going to turn on it was blocked by a suburban parked length wise across the road. Apparently they had been driving down the highway and decided to pull off on the shoulder, but instead parked their huge suburban parellel to the highway on the entrance of the county road. They had their tripods set up in the middle of the road on the other side of the car, so it's not like they were just making a quick stop. We had to pull off into the grass to get around them. They stared at us like we were the ones doing something wrong. It was unbelievable. The vast majority of the people on here would know who they were if I called them out (because of a catchy name not because of impressive chasing), but I won't because I am not sure if it was their car or somebody they were with. I am pretty sure it was their car though.
I will be the first one to admit I speed, but you are never going to catch me blocking the road or putting anyone else in danger other than myself. I think the locals are largely responsible for most of the bad behavior, but there are other serious chasers doing some pretty stupid things as well (including myself).

 

[Paul Knightley]

I should just add that on this day, we ended up in Ellis, KS, and as we got some food from the service station, a lot of worried folks who were travelling east on I70 had pulled off at the garage to let the storms move on by. We spoke to some of them, and when they realised we were chasers, they started asking us questions about whether it was safe to move on of wait back...we obviously told them to hold on back for a while...they were ALL very appreciative of the information we had given them, and very grateful.

 

[Brian Emfinger]

I was wondering if all the people following the DOW were with them or just tag alongs? They had quite a following.

 

[Mikey Gribble]

I agree with Jeff's original post on the first page about how these people aren't recognizing chasers for the public safety service we provide. Most chasers are just out there to chase, but there are also quite a few that make reports that find their way back to the public. I would like to think that chasers do a lot more good than harm. Not that that excuses bad behavior, because it doesn't. I don't think it matters a whole lot anyways because there is no way for anybody to ever regulate or stop us from chasing.

 

[John Haas]

Black Eye

So what stage of cancer do you all think we are at now? I can’t say its terminal, but not one of US storm chasers can tell anyone else they don’t have the right to chase storms. It just keeps growing and growing. Shoot, people come in from all around the world to chase. It was discussed in other posts how storm chasers could prove their salt by mandating some type of training or certification. But even if we could, the roads would still be saturated with chasers. It isn’t going to stop. It’s just the way it is.

I don’t believe the sentiment against storm chasers is everywhere, yet. The people of Greensberg, KS or the police weren’t bitching about chasers when we were helping dig the folks out of their basements. However, I’m starting to read the same stuff over and over about the sheer number of chasers on the road and the yahoo’s reckless driving.

I could say I’m and EMT or have a ham radio license or whatever to help with the “Lawâ€. But that still isn’t going to solve the issue of all the chasers who are clogging up the highways and such. I’m not saying this to rant. I’m just saying that more and more people are chasing, and it’s going to get worse. People are in love with weather.

 

[Jason Boggs]

I saw several law enforcement vehicles (and a few chasers - locals) drive right under the rapidly rotating, low, massive wall cloud yesterday near Stinnett. A violent tornado could have dropped at any second. The cops were doing their job to block traffic, although they underestimated the position of the approaching lowering and would have been square and up-close in my video viewfinder if a tornado would have touched down. It would have been very difficult to release that footage.

Warren

I can also attest to this wall cloud and traffic being blocked in Stinnett. In my opinion, the police didn't block traffic into Stinnett soon enough. I also saw people driving into town right under the 1st tornadic wall cloud. I was thinking to myself, boy if these people really knew what they were driving under, they would get the heck out of there. Like Warren, I also thought that a large tornado was about to develop right in town. When the 2nd tornadic wall cloud formed and went towards Stinnett, the road finally got blocked. I was actually relieved because it could have really been bad news if a tornado had formed with people driving into town. Stinnett dodged two bullets yesterday within 15 minutes apart.

Not saying that I'm better than any of you, but I think it definitely helps that I chase for a TV station. Except for the Brice incident, I have been treated very well by local authorities because they KNOW that I'm out there to help save lives. I know most of you are out there to enjoy what you do and save lives also. But there are some people who never call in reports because they think someone else will or has already done so. I got a Media Pass from the police department here in Amarillo and it has definitely helped. Yesterday in Stinnett, the road was still blocked when the wall cloud was well out of Stinnett. I went to the road block and told the police that I was with the media and showed her the media pass and she let me through because she KNEW that I was there to help save lives. Again, I know most of you call in reports and are there to save lives also, but in the eyes of SOME LE agencies, we are just a nuisance and in the way. I know that 90 percent of the chaser community follows the chaser ethics, but like many have said, it only takes a few spoiled tomatoes to ruin the whole crop.

 

[Dave Ewoldt]

Didn’t see much in the way of stupidity on the Hill City event. Saw a few idiots in the Texas Panhandle.

I think that people are looking way past where the blame lies here. It’s actually very simple... law enforcement. They seem to have forgotten the meaning of "enforcement". For chasers the rule should be play right or pay up. Easy as that.

My message to anyone that may read this that is a member of law enforcement... do your job. If you see someone out there - chaser or otherwise - who is doing something that is a hazard to others.... WRITE EM! You have the power to change things. I’m sure if big number of "$150 welcome to our county" notes were handed out... people would be watching what they do a little more.

If I get one handed to me, I’ll be glad to put my "X" on the bottom of it.

There doesn’t need to be any "witch-hunts" or anything.... just watch and write people who are causing a hazard for others.

Problem solved.

 

[Brandon Goforth]

Then on Wednesday I was on the storm just West of Buffalo and saw one of the worst, if not the worst inconsiderate behavior I have ever seen from a chaser. I was driving down a highway and was going to turn North on a dirt road to get closer to the updraft base, but when I came up on the road I was going to turn on it was blocked by a suburban parked length wise across the road. Apparently they had been driving down the highway and decided to pull off on the shoulder, but instead parked their huge suburban parellel to the highway on the entrance of the county road. They had their tripods set up in the middle of the road on the other side of the car, so it's not like they were just making a quick stop. We had to pull off into the grass to get around them. They stared at us like we were the ones doing something wrong.

I believe I came across this exact same incident yesterday with the storm that developed a lowering over Rosston, OK. I was driving west on highway 64 to catch up after the first storm fell apart over Buffalo. I tried to turn north on a muddy county road to get into better position just a couple of miles east of Rosston when I found that the entire road was blocked by 2 chase vehicles and there were 2 women on the other side filming. I had to swing way off into the grass to get around them, and yes, it was very frustrating. I believe there were 3 other chasers that had to do the same thing to get around, one was Channel 4 news I believe, then a darker vehicle, then us, and I believe there was someone behind us. Anyways, I'm assuming you were part of the convoy trying to get around the ridiculous mess scattered across the intersection.

 

[Matthew Crowther]

I I ever see ANY chaser blocking the road, I do the following- lean on the horn, then if necessary stop, get out and tell them politely but very firmly to get the &%$#@#$ out of the road!

 

[Mikey Gribble]

It sounds like you saw the same two women (that get attention for their catchy name instead of their accomplishments as chasers; hint, hint) doing this that I did Brandon. I wasn't with any other cars when I went around them though. There wasn't anybody around us at that point, which just goes to show that they either did this multiple times or these two women stayed parked at this same location blocking the road even after other chasers had to go through the grass to get around them.

 

[Jay Cazel]

All the chasers that I saw were off the road, or 2 to 3 miles west from 283 on dirt roads. I did not really see that many chasers on the Trego Co storm compared to the number on the Nickerson storm, (4-24-07) or the 5-5-07 storms south of Great Bend. The radar pic I have shows 14 on that storm, granted that is spotter net. I did see the sherriff's talking to a few chasers but for the most part everyone was doing what they needed to do. There is always a few bad apple's out there.

 

[Tony Laubach]

I find the biggest issue with all the chasers is getting a damn hotel room after dark! LOL

As for the chaser convergence and numbers... anyone here going to quit chasing anytime soon?

*waiting*

I didn't think so... welcome to the new chasing world. Just don't be idiots!

 

[Jeremy Lemanski]

you know, i have been spotting/chasing for about 6 years now and two weeks ago was the very first time seeing another person "Chasing" a storm. This person, i talked to him for a little bit, was in Evansville In. during the deadly tornado a couple years ago and he shot a roll of film of the tornado. he said he sold the prints for $3200. Now, he goes and looks for the tornado. He really doesn't know what to look for, from what i could tell, but yet he is out there.

Now, i just can't even think about an extra 100 of these types of people on the road. Not only does it create traffic problems, but i fear you could have a blind leading the blind situation.
What if one of these people happens to be spotted by another, and they decide to follow, then you have two people, and since if there are two people doing something, it must be right so you get another to follow. Now, you have a dozen or more people following who they think knows what they are doing, but really they are just as "lost" as the rest of them. This could lead to a huge disaster if one of these groups happen to drive into a rainwrapped tornado, park under a rapidly rotating wallcloud and have it drop a tornado, etc. It would make headlines: "Death toll at 10 as group of storm chasers are killing by tornado", when really these people were not storm chasers at all, they were average joes who thought they could drive around with no knowledge and have a thrill.