Chaser traffic in 2012 and the "CTI" (Chaser Traffic Index)

[Marcus Diaz]

June 7, 2009 was probably a CIT-4 for us, mainly because we did jump ahead of most of the crowd and crossed the river early. April 22, 2010 was probably a CIT-6 especially on I-40 & HWY 70 south. Also up north of Alanreed.

April 14 wasn't too bad for us. Maybe a CIT-3 for the most part, but that changed when we were near Castleton, KS. Someone had let a red shoe in line and several cars followed, making us come to a stop at an intersection that we didn't have a stop sign for.

Side note...I chase icognito, with no markings or hardly any equipment. I drive a 1998 Nissan Altima with a 5 speed in it, with a screwed up windshield, tint coming off on the rear windows, and headlights that are so dull I just leave the highbeam on. The only possible way of knowing that I was a chaser is already knowing me, the jungle of wires hanging around my face, and maybe the Andy G sticker on the back.

 

[David Drummond]

Just out of curiousity....

How do you identify, or define, or determine, a "real" chaser?

Thanks,
Tim

Well, I know your trolling me here to see if I'll get defensive or go off on a tangent, but I'll clarify what I meant in context of what I was talking about there, I was talking about "real" chasers, being those that had planned and executed to be out before the event has ever even begun, mostly in the case days before. Usually these "real" chasers have some sort of equipment. If their chase vehicles aren't openly overt, you can at least see things like a dash cam, or a laptop or some other equipment that tell you they had planned to chase before the last couple of hours. All the rest were folks who had nothing but cell phones and point and shoot cameras.

Another way I can tell, is when we are parked, watching a wicked rotating wall cloud, and they park next to us, and start taking pictures of....us...or other chasers, or they say stupid things like "so where is the tornado gonna be?". It's not that hard to tell "real" chasers from "chaser for a day" people when you've been out there for a while.

And no, I'm sorry, I'm not one that subscribes to the notion that just because a person decided to jump in the vehicle and hit the road because a tornado warning was issued for their location, makes them a storm chaser.

 

[Timothy Finn]

Well, I know your trolling me here to see if I'll get defensive or go off on a tangent, but I'll clarify what I meant in context of what I was talking about there, I was talking about "real" chasers, being those that had planned and executed to be out before the event has ever even begun, mostly in the case days before. Usually these "real" chasers have some sort of equipment. If their chase vehicles aren't openly overt, you can at least see things like a dash cam, or a laptop or some other equipment that tell you they had planned to chase before the last couple of hours. All the rest were folks who had nothing but cell phones and point and shoot cameras.

Another way I can tell, is when we are parked, watching a wicked rotating wall cloud, and they park next to us, and start taking pictures of....us...or other chasers, or they say stupid things like "so where is the tornado gonna be?". It's not that hard to tell "real" chasers from "chaser for a day" people when you've been out there for a while.

And no, I'm sorry, I'm not one that subscribes to the notion that just because a person decided to jump in the vehicle and hit the road because a tornado warning was issued for their location, makes them a storm chaser.

David,

You and I, we don't know each other so well. So, opening with that, I would like to assure you that there is no trolling of any sort coming from me, and I really hope you didn't take it that way. I'm not attempting to goad you into putting yourself in any sort of compromising position.

However, what you did write was quite enlightening. Being fresh around here, I was truly curious as to a veteran's view on what constitutes a storm chaser.

Unfortunately, I think, from appearances, I may not meet your criteria as a true storm chaser, as my truck is very plain, no lights, decals, stickers, or any outward clues. I do run PYKL3 on my Garminfone, which sits above my rearview mirror. I'm still in process of building my laptop mount, as I feel it is unsafe to just set the computer on the center console.

I did chase both Friday, in Oklahoma, and Saturday, in central KS, and have no illusions, nor any misguided ideas about what I am doing, or my motivations for doing it.

With all due respect, stupid question people aside, you may be judging some of us without knowing the entire story, and by that, possibly judging a book by it's cover.

For what it is worth, I do agree with your assessments. Once again, no trolling intended, and I understand the reason behind the thought given the internet climate, so to speak.

Tim

 

[David Drummond]

I probably took it the wrong way Tim. So much of that "trolling" going on these days a person gets defensive up front about it. LOL

I'm fully aware there are some newer people that either haven't equipped their vehicles, or maybe don't want to, and I may not can put my finger on it, but I can almost always tell when someones is a chaser out there, who set out to be a chaser, and not someone who "just now" became a chaser because it was a high risk day and 15 chasers just blew through town.

On the other hand, I had one guy pull up next to me in a fully decked out truck when me and a couple of long time chaser friends were watching one of the most awesome wall clouds ever, and he strolls up and says, so where should I look for the tornado. Really? I actually told him, if you don't know that right now, you really don't have any business out here. And I mean that. Some basic spotter class knowledge of storm structure is absolutely necessary. So no, I don't think every person with a decked out vehicle knows what they are doing either (in fact I know they don't).

But you can tell, who set out to be an actual chasers, and who set out to chase that day because it looked like a fun afternoon activity and the news said it was going to be a big day.

 

[Jacob Ferden]

Judging someone's chasing credibility based off the appearance of their vehicle is ineffective and asinine, IMO. I'm in my fourth year of chasing and have logged over 20,000 miles on solo chases, all of which in plain Jane sedans with front wheel drive, and the first of which with no traction control and a rusting door handle. No decals. No antennas. FWIW.

 

[David Drummond]

Judging someone's chasing credibility based off the appearance of their vehicle is ineffective and asinine, IMO. I'm in my fourth year of chasing and have logged over 20,000 miles on solo chases, all of which in plain Jane sedans with front wheel drive, and the first of which with no traction control and a rusting door handle. No decals. No antennas. FWIW.

I think you missed either my point or my follow up post.

 

[David Drummond]

and I'm betting neither one of you are pulling up next to other chasers, with a rotating wall cloud ahead of you, and rather than watching that you start taking pictures of the other chasers.

 

[Jacob Ferden]

Caught the follow up after the fact, David. I wasn't intending to totally go after you, I'm just a little defensive at the moment when I've seen stuff coming from multiple directions (media, EMA, etc.) talking about looking for antennas, laptops, etc. when judging the people they see out there. I don't chase the way I do by choice, I chase the way I do because it's either that or not get out there at all. Just because someone's a little lower on the financial totem pole doesn't mean they don't have a passion for something.

Again, it wasn't you specifically, I'd just seen enough where I felt like I had to say something.

 

[David Drummond]

It's all good Jacob. My early chase vehicles were pretty unassuming as well. Like I said, I can't either put my finger on it, or explain it well, but I can almost always tell. Maybe it's how they are acting/reacting in the situation, idk. I did see a large amount of people that were acting more like chaser groupies than storm groupies though.

 

[Joshua Nall]

Did someone say they were out there with everyone and their “grandma� Or... did they say they had their grandma out there? I did see an elderly white haired lady standing outside a car with a group of people watching one of the storms I came upon. I’m being serious. I don’t know if they were real chasers or not

I think we all understand what was intended.

Some people got on a storm and stuck with it. Some people stair stepped this event. I probably stair stepped to a greater degree than most. The worst I encountered was CTI 2, maybe 3 briefly, and that was with most cars going in the opposite direction. The worst of the traffic was almost always to the southeast of the meso and many were even behind the storm….for the most part looked to be small cars and suvs with 18-22 year olds. I bet I didn’t drive over 15 miles actually chasing a storm. And I hit 5 or 6 storms. This can be effective if initiation works out right, and you hit them right, which I didn’t this time really. Mainly it’s just a lot more laid back way of chasing, especially if you go solo. Of course it is not nearly as effective if you get on a tornado machine and stay on it like the tail end storm on this event. I’ve found that a storm really has to moving at less than 30 miles an hour for me to actually enjoy chasing it. What I am is a storm ambusher. Don’t anyone steal that cause I’m going to make a big sticker for the rear window of my truck, lol.

Anyone can do it anyhow they please, I’m just saying there are different ways to do it. If you stair step and set up to where the vault area and couplet are coming right at you…. and especially if you are good at setting up right ahead of where the couplet is maxing out… :0 you won’t have a problem with chaser numbers. This can be a bit unnerving, but I try to assure myself it’s better than dodging cars.

I could use a little more courage.

 

[David Drummond]

I didn't see anyone that looked like a grandma, but I did see more than one vehicle loaded with the entire family, including some very, very young children.

 

[Andy Jackson]

Anyone can do it anyhow they please, I’m just saying there are different ways to do it. If you stair step and set up to where the vault area and couplet are coming right at you…. and especially if you are good at setting up right ahead of where the couplet is maxing out… :0 you won’t have a problem with chaser numbers. This can be a bit unnerving, but I try to assure myself it’s better than dodging cars.

I could use a little more courage.

Good point, that really is the key, but the road network isn't always gonna provide for this. I think I made only 1 true mistake that cost me the wedge on Saturday. Has this ever happened to anyone? I learned a tough lesson luckily it's still early in the chase season.

 

[David Drummond]

Good point, that really is the key, but the road network isn't always gonna provide for this. I think I made only 1 true mistake that cost me the wedge on Saturday. Has this ever happened to anyone? I learned a tough lesson luckily it's still early in the chase season.

I'll be honest....I've blown plenty of high risks due to a tactical error. I really don't like chasing them all that much to be frank, they are very stressful to me. In fact, I was not going to chase this one, as I was going alone and didn't want to handle the stress of it alone. My friend Jay McCoy decided to come and bring his friend and I felt better about it, but it was still pretty stressful. I may blow off future giant days, we'll see.

 

[Tim Supinie]

My roommate (David Gagne) wrote a quick Python script that downloaded the locations of people on Spotter Network and plotted their density on a map. The attached map was created at about 3:00 PM on Saturday. I think he said the reds are ~30 spotters per 0.5° x 0.5° block. Granted, not everyone on the road has a Spotter Network account, but it's still kind of an entertaining map.



EDIT: Just realized that I didn't pay attention to the date when naming my image file. My naming convention suggests Friday, but the picture is from Saturday.

 

[David Drummond]

Part of that spotter network beaconing problem is you have 4 chasers in a single car, all beaconing their position, which is unnecessary IMO. SN folks know about it, I'm sure they'll figure something out.