Chaser(s) Of The Decade

[Matt Gingery]

Who in your opinion has far exceeded the qualifications of the most accomplished storm chaser/videographer/photographer of the period 2000-2009. I figured something like this would pop up eventually realizing we just passed the turn of the last decade, and if something already has moderators feel free to delete the thread. I know there are many accomplished chasers out there, but who has proven themselves on a yearly basis since the new millenium began. Technically the decade ended at the beginning of this year, so this years accomplishments will be excluded from the tally. Be nice. . .feel free to vote for yourself, I consider myself a legend in my own mind as well. Let her rip, lets hear it, rip on me for posting this as well if you like.

 

[Wes Carter]

You know, it's going to be hard to quantify that. There is a core bunch of names we all know just seem to find the storms, others that capture striking footage/photos, and others that just do it and lay low otherwise. But if I had to pick people who just seem to always be there, I notice Verne Carlson, Michael Phelps, Reed Timmer, Shane Adams, David Drummond, Roger Hill, and Jim Reed. But that's just who I notice, I might be far off base.

As far as getting striking footage and photos, I'm really impressed with everything I've seen Mike Hollingshead put out. He just excels in getting the shot. Eric Nguyen did a lot of great photography work in his short time. I'd say we would have had a lot more impressive images if he were still around. Just Googling 'tornado' I see more images (many of which are uncredited but I recognize) from those two than anyone else.

But there are a lot of chasers that impress me, and I don't think I scratched the surface with the ones I named above.

 

[Scott Weberpal]

When I think of a combination of total number of tornadoes and excellent video as well, the only name that pops in my head is Roger Hill. Even since the 5/11/00 Waterloo tornado machine, the guy has been on fire.

Not to mention the guy chases everything, everywhere from the Canadian prairies, to hurricanes along the gulf coast, to monsoon storms in the southeast.

IMO, second place isn't even close.

 

[Andy Jackson]

I'm not sure we need another list of who's cool, I do think a top 10 list of highlight videos each year would be a lot less unbiased.

 

[Rob H]

No popularity vote from me; I'm just thinking of a few people that if they quit chasing today there would be a noticeable gap somewhere.

If you want to base it on execution, I'd probably say Roger Hill. In SD this year, a member of his tour told me "he doesn't like to brag, but he said he's around 600 tornadoes" and I almost spit out my soft drink. I'd heard his name quite a bit, but 600 seemed absolutely ridiculous. He's been chasing 20+ years and bagged a legitimate (from what I can tell) 82 tornadoes so far this year alone. So yeah, it's probably a realistic number. He seems to have the business side of chasing down to a science as well.

Sean Casey and Ronan Nagle got the ball rolling on a successful TV series that will likely inspire chasers for dozens of years to come. The monstrous TIV, the wrong way in traffic incident, V2/Wurman association - the Plains would seem to be missing something if they hung up their hats and quit chasing. I think we'll see not only more chasers because of them, but more chasers turning their vehicles into Armageddon-ready road warriors.

Jon Davies has released a bunch of case studies and papers in the last ten years that I find to be the most interesting research done recently. His case studies, non-supercell tornado envrionment work, parameter threshold analysis and 700mb temperature research (to name a few) all made weather much easier to understand for me.

edit: Adding Hollingshead for getting some of the best pictures of the decade without resorting to excessive HDR or extreme closeness, and releasing the fantastic 'Storm Structure 101' - I'd love to see more educational storm chasing videos.

 

[jcooper]

Reed Timmer,Tim Samaras,Sean Casey,Howie Bluestien,Jon Daviess,Jim Reed,Dave Drummond,and Conner McCrory is pretty good from what I have heard(especially for being so young!)

 

[TaddParris]

Mike Hollingshead and Roger Hill

EDIT: Mike my vote for you is for photography and catching those gems in Nebraska. Your photographs from the past still to this day circulate many email chains and websites. Not saying it is a good thing that your images were used by others without permission, but it goes to show that the desirability of them is very high for many people who see them.

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

It's an interesting thread in that it gets biased towards those that bother posting what they got and keeping an updated site, when perhaps they aren't even in the ballpark in reality(like me for sure). Two names I think get into the hard to outchase category would be Steve Peterson and Chris Lenz. There are some that when they are out they just don't happen to miss the stuff, at least a vast majority of the time. Though for sure Timmer, Hill, and Piotrowski will get hard to top in amazing things seen.

Roger should probably get it because he's doing it while dragging around a bunch of tourists.

 

[Shane Adams]

Depends on what the curve is based on. Absolute results? Success ratio? Style points? Most visible?

Obviously a guy like Roger Hill wins for sheer results in numbers. He chases pretty much year-round, so there's no reason he shouldn't be tops.

If you're looking at success rates, then you have to take that and decide what defines a successful chase VS a bust. Personally, I've always judged success by success rate, not absolute numbers.

A guy who chases 100 times and sees 80 tornadoes on 30 chases in a year.
A guy who chases 15 times and sees 30 tornadoes on 10 chases in a year.

Numbers wise, chaser A wins by sheer totals. Percentage-wise, chaser B wins by success rate, regardless of totals. There's a million ways to decide.

Overall though, I think the most important factor is visibility. I'd argue there's guys out there who have bested even Hill for pure success rate, but who have zero internet/TV presence. Kinda like the Academy Awards; you gotta be nominated before you can be voted "best".

I'll just say that, if given the same opportunity and resources, there's probably 100 chasers you could throw a hat on for "best".

 

[MatthewCarman]

It seems like we have had this thread many times before. I think the question should be who has seen the most tornadoes in the 2000-2009 period? Who has had the least amount of busts? That person would probably be the most accomplished in terms of a storm chaser. That person probably has a lot of free time on his hands or does it for a living.

I would not say Sean Casey is an accomplished chaser. Sure he has his own show but how much can he really chase on his own? In the show he always has someone else guiding him to the storms. In my opinion if you can't make your own forecasts and targets then your not a successful chaser. I could be wrong and Sean just uses other people to help him out.

 

[Jim Saueressig]

Depends on what you really want to judge someone on.... For stills I think Mike has always had the lead in my opinion but for videos it would be a different ball game. I think some of Mike Umschied's, James Langford and a few from Dick McGowan over the years has also been quite impressive.

 

[Jeremy Ludin]

I'd have to agree with Roger Hill for chaser of the decade based on success/results. If this were chaser of 2010 I'd have to give that award to Andy Gabrielson. He was everywhere I wanted to be this year.

I'm sure there are others out there who are just as successful but stay "under the radar", for lack of a better term.

I agree with Shane on rating curves. If we were to break down the list I'm sure it would vary quite a bit. I know some chasers out there who have great success but do not document their chases well at all while others don't do THAT great but really sell themselves.

 

[Matt Gingery]

I'm not sure we need another list of who's cool, I do think a top 10 list of highlight videos each year would be a lot less unbiased.

Great! I encourage you to start that thread. I would definately be interested in participating.

 

[Rob H]

It seems like we have had this thread many times before. I think the question should be who has seen the most tornadoes in the 2000-2009 period? Who has had the least amount of busts? That person would probably be the most accomplished in terms of a storm chaser. That person probably has a lot of free time on his hands or does it for a living.

I'll get flack for this and never make it into the cool kids club, but to hell with it. This is an attitude in chasing that bugs me - I don't think success needs to be about numbers, especially in comparison to other chasers. If all storm chasing is to you is ratio of tornadoes to days chased then you might as well go play a sport instead. If I'm ever that obsessed with statistics and ratios, I want someone to pull me out of my car and beat me with an anemometer.

I would not say Sean Casey is an accomplished chaser. Sure he has his own show but how much can he really chase on his own? In the show he always has someone else guiding him to the storms. In my opinion if you can't make your own forecasts and targets then your not a successful chaser. I could be wrong and Sean just uses other people to help him out.

What part of Sean's chase career indicates that he's not accomplished? He's had a tremendous impact on chasing, and who knows how good he is at forecasting - he went out for years on his own, and he picked Greensburg as a target in Season 1 which leads me to believe that he's not entirely clueless. It's not using people when they're your friends and teammates. His #1 goal is to get the shot and when you're worried about forecasting, nowcasting, navigating, driving, etc. you don't always have time to make sure the camera is ready. I could be wrong too, but I'm at least willing to give him the benefit of the doubt without any counter evidence.

If you're looking at success rates, then you have to take that and decide what defines a successful chase VS a bust. Personally, I've always judged success by success rate, not absolute numbers.

Did I see a storm? Did I see something cool? Did I learn anything? If yes, then that's success. Maybe not for some chasers, but I don't chase for them.

 

[Jason Boggs]

I'll get flack for this and never make it into the cool kids club, but to hell with it. This is an attitude in chasing that bugs me - I don't think success needs to be about numbers, especially in comparison to other chasers. If all storm chasing is to you is ratio of tornadoes to days chased then you might as well go play a sport instead. If I'm ever that obsessed with statistics and ratios, I want someone to pull me out of my car and beat me with an anemometer.



What part of Sean's chase career indicates that he's not accomplished? He's had a tremendous impact on chasing, and who knows how good he is at forecasting - he went out for years on his own, and he picked Greensburg as a target in Season 1 which leads me to believe that he's not entirely clueless. It's not using people when they're your friends and teammates. His #1 goal is to get the shot and when you're worried about forecasting, nowcasting, navigating, driving, etc. you don't always have time to make sure the camera is ready. I could be wrong too, but I'm at least willing to give him the benefit of the doubt without any counter evidence.



Did I see a storm? Did I see something cool? Did I learn anything? If yes, then that's success. Maybe not for some chasers, but I don't chase for them.

I agree...Myself, I have never counted the number of tornadoes I got, or tried to compete with someone else. I go out for the pure enjoyment. Sadly, chasing is becoming more and more competitive all the time.

I also agree that Sean Casey is not an accomplished chaser. Yeah, he's on a tv show, but put him on his own, could he really do as well as most of the veteran chasers? I don't think so. I might be wrong, but I doubt his forecasting and chasing skills are that great.

In my opinion, Roger Hill and Reed Timmer are the top dogs as far as success in the field in the last few years.