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

[Jake Orosi]

The "blocking the road" idea has serious flaws, filled with danger. Who makes this decision? Blocking a road could turn hundreds of chasers and non-chasers into the path of a more dangerous storm.

Hmm, I don't follow this logic. All other things being equal if the choice is between letting people drive into a storm which is already known to be dangerous, and diverting them in a direction where it's possible at some point in the future they could hypothetically encounter a more dangerous storm, the correct option seems obvious to me...?

 

[Andy Jackson]

The more I read, the more I'm beginning to doubt this is a true "chaser" problem. Unless you screw up and are way behind the storm (which happens to the best of us from time to time, but not always), you're not going to be in the damage path getting in the way of responders. Chasers are normally right on the storm or slightly ahead of it, where there is nothing yet for responders to respond to! If they are responding from the east, they'd be going the opposite direction of chaser traffic! Maybe this is why I haven't encountered the problem yet. Sure, if you're 15-20 minutes behind a tornado and try to drive through a damage zone, there will be traffic. How often do most of us get into that situation unless we've really blown it in terms of positioning? If you make some bad calls and end up falling behind, maybe just flanking the storm to the north or south will avoid the problem, instead of just pressing ahead to the east. Am I oversimplifying this? Seems like the SN followers and locals would comprise most of the damage zone traffic where the responders are trying to reach. As a chaser, if I'm stuck back in the damage path 20 minutes behind the tornado, I'm not doing too well in executing my chasing strategy.

Good points, but I think it's more than just being behind the storm. Correct me if I am wrong but there was an area of rotation just above the chaser traffic zone on 5/19 (at the gas station). Most likely this scenario will never happen again though.

 

[Mike Johnston]

Good points, but I think it's more than just being behind the storm. Correct me if I am wrong but there was an area of rotation just above the chaser traffic zone on 5/19 (at the gas station). Most likely this scenario will never happen again though.

It's more than just a simple east/west directional factor. Many factors involved. For example, what if a number of chasers are in the "stair stepping" strategy of following a northeastward moving storm by stepping east, then north, then east, etc.? Now, suppose there is damage reported and the main source of emergency responders are located to the southeast of the impact and must utilize a north/south state highway to get there? They could very well get trapped behind chaser traffic headed north, who aren't necessarily 'behind' the storm but just below it.

 

[Patrick Marsh]

Hmm, I don't follow this logic. All other things being equal if the choice is between letting people drive into a storm which is already known to be dangerous, and diverting them in a direction where it's possible at some point in the future they could hypothetically encounter a more dangerous storm, the correct option seems obvious to me...?

We don't have the skill to know how a tornado is going to move. Take the case of the tornado emergency for Conway Springs last weekend. The tornado never hit Conway Springs. It turned north and missed the town to the west. A second tornado developed south of town and missed the town to the east. Imagine if the roads into Conway Springs were blocked because authorities were told the tornado was going to hit the city. The people sitting on the roads east and west of town would have been sitting ducks.

 

[cedwards]

The "blocking the road" idea has serious flaws, filled with danger. Who makes this decision? Blocking a road could turn hundreds of chasers and non-chasers into the path of a more dangerous storm.

I couldn't agree more. On Saturday, the police blocked the road away from the tornado and let traffic drive north on the road where the tornado was just about to cross.

 

[Jake Orosi]

We don't have the skill to know how a tornado is going to move. Take the case of the tornado emergency for Conway Springs last weekend. The tornado never hit Conway Springs. It turned north and missed the town to the west. A second tornado developed south of town and missed the town to the east. Imagine if the roads into Conway Springs were blocked because authorities were told the tornado was going to hit the city. The people sitting on the roads east and west of town would have been sitting ducks.

Yes, but simplify the argument here: you're saying the authorities should avoid trying to keep people out of the path of a tornado because they might end up in the path of a tornado. It's six of one or half-a-dozen of the other.

 

[Jon Strebler]

I couldn't agree more. On Saturday, the police blocked the road away from the tornado and let traffic drive north on the road where the tornado was just about to cross.

This happened on the storm I was on near Halstead, Ks. The police blocked the road going east and kept the road going north open and the tornado crossed just to the north.

 

[Olivier Staiger]

on the other hand , stormchasers can be there to un-clogg a road and facilitate traffic. I experienced it in person. I was chasing with Gene Moore on the day of Yazoo City 2010.
we were a few miles east of Yazoo City on highway 432 , shortly before arriving on interstate I-55 , and suddenly we found our road, highway 432, completely blocked by one tree that had fallen across the road, taken down by the rather strong inflow winds. It was impossible to drive around it. So Gene pulled out a towing-rope and we tore on that tree. It took us about 20 minutes to clear it from the road. Meanwhile, traffic was blocked in both directions, and they all waited patiently till we would be done, and some came out and helped. And finally we cleared the tree from the road... and as we continued towards the I-55 , what did we see speeding in the other direction, towards Yazoo City ? an ambulance ! Thanks to us stormchasers the road was cleared and that ambulance could reach Yazoo City much faster !

and I have video I shot with the cellphone
http://www.kyte.tv/ch/klipsi/tree-blocks-road-east-of-yazoo-city/p=lpw&c=9038&s=878424&l=2507

right then and there we did not know what had happened to Yazoo City, it was only later during the day that we heard about the disaster.

anyway, we missed seeing the actual tornado, but we felt kinda proud having taken that tree off the road just before the ambulance arrived.

 

[Christopher E. Kincaid]

Out of curiosity, where does the 2009 Oregon, MO storm fit in?

It would be interesting to try and figure out the number of SN-using chasers / chasers / locals. Does anyone have a screen cap of the Salina area SN icons at peak congestion?

Here is a screen grab that I made while I was stuck in traffic:

 

[Jake Orosi]

Here is a screen grab that I made while I was stuck in traffic:

Wow, look at all those locals who were thoughtful enough to sign up at SN and broadcast their positions live after they heard the weather report and just decided to hop in the car and have a look.

 

[Dan Robinson]

That map represents probably an average number of chasers on a Plains storm. The wide view makes it appear more dense, that's a one mile road grid on that map. There could be 30 cars in between a lot of those icons.

 

[Jake Orosi]

That map represents probably an average number of chasers on a Plains storm. The wide view makes it appear more dense, that's a one mile road grid on that map. There could be 30 cars in between a lot of those icons.

A good and fair point, and important, of course.

Another thing the map seems to indicate: all except a handful of those chasers are in the town and behind the storm; not east-north-east-northing ahead of it, or southeast and keeping pace. So I would say the notion that "all the experienced chasers" would be out of the area and therefore could not interfere with aftermath relief efforts is not necessarily true (unless all those folks on the map are just noobs).

 

[Christopher E. Kincaid]

Actually Jake I was there. The road was blocked by a police car so we were stuck. I was able to find an exit and drive through town. Had the road not been blocked I would have stayed with the storm and I am sure the others would have as well. There were many more cars there than what is represented by the SN dots in my screen grab and most had KS plates.

 

[Joshua Nall]

Wow, look at all those locals who were thoughtful enough to sign up at SN and broadcast their positions live after they heard the weather report and just decided to hop in the car and have a look.

If those dots are representative of all chasers then I’d say there wasn’t much of a problem. Have you ever chased on the plains? I’m guessing that you have not. I never show up as a dot and I know there are others that aren’t on SN either. Without a question there were many more cars on the road because of the storm than shown by those dots, and from what I saw elsewhere many were local lookers. I don’t have a bit of a problem with that by the way, cause if I lived there I’d be out looking also. Both contribute to the numbers. It’s hard to come on a forum for chasers and be critical of chasers without many of them just tuning it out. This is coming from a guy that is rather critical himself of some stuff that goes on.
I've only been making trips 5 years or so, but I think you would say things differently if chasing was a part of your life and you had experience on the plains.

 

[Jake Orosi]

Actually Jake I was there. The road was blocked by a police car so we were stuck. I was able to find an exit and drive through town. Had the road not been blocked I would have stayed with the storm and I am sure the others would have as well. There were many more cars there than what is represented by the SN dots in my screen grab and most had KS plates.

It is Kansas; one would expect most of the plates in the area to be KS plates. We must consider the fact that not all those cars were "chasing", even if they were stuck in the middle of all the congestion; a lot of these locals were doubtless just going about their business (they live there after all), or are out on the road to evade the tornado, or are en route to check on the welfare of relatives and/or friends.