County Officials Critical of Storm Chasers

[Jake Orosi]

Of course, every single driver in the 300-car "funeral procession", when asked, will insist he's one of the "real" storm chasers who's out to "save lives" with his special life-saving dash cam, HD camcorder, and laptop computer, and it's the rest of them that are the yahoos.

Honestly - how does one allow themselves to become part of a "convoy" of even eight or ten vehicles? I mean, purely from a safety and escape standpoint; that's like chasing on bald tires - deliberately placing yourself in danger. I'm not even going to start about everybody parking together on (or "near") the side of the road and walking out into it.

Yeah okay, so I'm sure there's the one person in front who can't be blamed because everyone else was following him; but that was only one single person. What was everyone else's excuse?

I'm sure everyone gets tired of threads with complaints like these; but...the problems being complained about keep happening.

 

[Andrew Stoller]

From the comments:

"The sentence was not a quote of his. I'm sure he likes seeing them like everyone else does but his job was to be out spotting and relaying information back to the office for broadcast. Storm chasers who shoot film for reality shows got in the way of officials (Mr. Smith being one of those) trying to save lives."

"If it's not your real money paying job to be out there, then you also were in the way. Whether you want to believe it or not, you were part of the problem.
You say you are "trained" in fire/rescue. What does that mean? Did you take a four hour class and get a certificate?
Leave emergency service to the professionals; everyone, including yourself, will be much safer."


So all chasers are now reality TV stars and chasing has to be your primary source of income in order to participate. What a load of bollocks. All it takes is a few bad apples to spoil the bunch.

I'm guessing if the locals that complain so much about chaser convergances figured in the economic benefit to local communities by chasers through fuel, food, and lodging, they might be a bit less hostile to the chaser community. The vast majority of people I saw on Saturday were just regular old storm chasers like me; they weren't "yocals". And it's only going to get more crowded out there as chasing becomes ever more popular.

I must say, the lightbar factor was unreal on Saturday. I couldn't tell some chasers/spotters with lightbars from real emergency magament to save my life. Do you really need friggin lights on your vehicle/truck to storm chase? Seriously???

 

[Andy Jackson]

This day was like that crazy Hennesey convergence in 2010. If it was a weekday would there be less chasers out there? I actually got surprised by the convergence as the storm initially only had a few chasers/LEO on it. I even saw a farmer plowing a field right next to the meso luckily this was before it became the tornado producer it was. I'm not sure if there is any way to prevent this in the future other than to chase the lower prob days. Other than that just let it play out. Maybe the crowds will thin, or maybe it will get to the point of no return. I think inadvertently with the instant connections of social networking today people are getting the chasing bug by exposure through that with most chasers having thousands of followers/friends minimum. This is not a holier than thou/diss it's just the reality of it.

 

[STexan]

Anytime a large swath of the nation is under a high risk 2 days in advance and the major media outlets talk about it endlessly, and that day happens to be on a Saturday, you're not going to be able to keep hordes of people (chasers, photographers, and those with nothing to do and a full tank of gas and a camera) from swarming to hotspot locations, period. But the huge lines that form are a problem and I personally don't see why one would want to be a part of one. I suspect most in a large convoy are those without any means of storm tracking or information processing ability and they tag along hoping "the crowd" mentality will lead them somewhere good. I personally never try and "catch" (or follow) a storm from behind.

Someone needs to come up with an "emergency beacon" that transmits a "request for help" within a 1/2 mile range, and is kept safe by the family leader in the event of a storm outbreak, that is battery operated, and every household has one (especially in rural areas). Trained spotters, chasers and emergency personnel monitor for these beacons when there in the field following a tornados path. I say this because "chasers" can make the argument they provide search and rescue benefits in the wake of a storm, but I rarely see one peel off from a convoy, suspected in a known twister's path, and drive up to a farm house to check on it's status because 9 out of 10 times the residence was untouched and the time lost is too costly.

 

[Marcus Diaz]

I was in Warren, OK (small community east of Blair, OK) on Friday. I had just come through the tornado in Blair when I saw the satellite tornado literally 1 mile south of Warren. As I got into town I noticed there were no sirens going off, yet there was a rain wrapped tornado southwest of town. I quickly drove up to a firetruck that was watching the storm, but didn't have any visual on the tornado because of his position. I told him there a tornado just outside of town and it might be headed this way. He seemed a little shocked and repeated what I said, and confirmed. He just said "thanks man" to me and got on the radio and ordered for someone to turn on the sirens. Even though the town may only have 50 people, and the tornado ended up going south, I could hear 1 siren going off as I sat just east of town. It makes me wonder if that tornado had actually moved northeast instead of east...and I had not warned that guy about the tornado...what different story we'd be hearing about the small community of Warren.

 

[Brian Davidson]

I was in Warren, OK (small community east of Blair, OK) on Friday. I had just come through the tornado in Blair when I saw the satellite tornado literally 1 mile south of Warren. As I got into town I noticed there were no sirens going off, yet there was a rain wrapped tornado southwest of town. I quickly drove up to a firetruck that was watching the storm, but didn't have any visual on the tornado because of his position. I told him there a tornado just outside of town and it might be headed this way. He seemed a little shocked and repeated what I said, and confirmed. He just said "thanks man" to me and got on the radio and ordered for someone to turn on the sirens. Even though the town may only have 50 people, and the tornado ended up going south, I could hear 1 siren going off as I sat just east of town. It makes me wonder if that tornado had actually moved northeast instead of east...and I had not warned that guy about the tornado...what different story we'd be hearing about the small community of Warren.

That reminds me of a chase from last year. I was in south eastern Kansas and drove up to a hill that had a great view of the town/incoming storm. I was monitoring radar and live streams of the tornado heading this way. On the hill I parked by a sheriff and I motioned him over. He leaned into my window and I told him what was going on. He said "don't worry, there is no tornado"... I showed him the radar and the live video of the tornado 3-5 miles south west of his town... He said "ohh, I need to go" or something like that, he ran to his car and drove off. The tornado passed SE of town but as I came in behind it, I saw kids playing in the street and what not. When I finally got a visual the tornado was no longer there. The wall cloud passed a mile out of town.

Again, if the tornado stayed on the ground and passed a mile west, it would have been a different story.

 

[Kevin Franz]

I was on this storm as well and part of the 'funeral procession'. I think there are three major factors that have all been said that contributed to the huge numbers Saturday: First, as everyone knows, it was a Saturday. Two, as stated it was receiving a lot of media attention for the days leading to the storm. And thirdly, this was on the ground for quite awhile drawing more and more into the mix. Given the mess that stayed in NE for most of the afternoon there were a lot of people moving southward and while heading that way everyone knew this storm had already produced.

That being said, while I'm relatively new to this still, I do find it hilarious that some want to institute 'rules of chasing' when all we should be doing is abiding by the laws that already exist. It also seems pretty ridiculous to me to get all excited about the big, bad Salina Gazette (or whatever it's called) having any impact what-so-ever on the chasing community. I'm sure they'll be more worried about their upcoming county fair soon enough than worrying about what all of the weather nuts are doing. just my .02

 

[rdale]

That article was picked up by dozens of other sources...

 

[Travis Davis]

Honestly, being on the storm in OK that ended up going through Wichita, traffic wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Towards when the cell went into Kansas chaser traffic did pick up quite a bit though.

The only complaint I had was when some idiot was passing people in the oncoming traffic lane going up a hill. Thirty seconds later and he would of had a head-on as another vehicle was coming from that direction.

 

[Kevin Franz]

That article was picked up by dozens of other sources...

Then I guess it may receive more attention than I would have guessed. I still feel in this 24 hour news world our appetites quickly look for the next big story and Saturdays weather is already old news for those that were not impacted in any way. At the end of the day if you obey the laws you won't have any issues.

I guess I don't see why there's any concern. The suggestion that maybe they will block off portions of counties or highways as warned storms pass is ridiculous (couldn't tell if it was meant as a joke or not, hopefully..) and probably somewhat illegal. What if I live in the area they are attempting to block access to? They certainly cannot keep me from going to my home no matter what the weather situation is.

There are idiots who chase storms, there are local idiots that follow storms, there are idiots at the gas station, at the grocery store and in everyone's local, state and federal govt's. Why are we wasting time talking about them. The fact that they're idiots means they do not learn from their mistakes and won't change. So why waste the time focusing on it?

 

[Adam Simone]

Anyone else hoping now that the Storm Chasers show on the Discovery Channel was cancelled that maybe the popularity of storm chasing will decrease? I think it will take some time but I think this could decrease the popularity of it. I'm not blaming the show for it because I actually enjoyed the show but I do think that's one reason storm chasing is so popular now a days, that and the movie Twister.

 

[rdale]

No, because there really was no indication that any one show caused a jump in local yahoos and that is where the problem is.

 

[Adam Simone]

No, because there really was no indication that any one show caused a jump in local yahoos and that is where the problem is.

Yeah your probably right it just seems like a lot of people I know never even heard of storm chasing before they saw the TV show so I was hoping maybe that would help.

 

[Dan Robinson]

I did not chase in the Great Plains in 2011 mostly because of the fiasco of May 19, 2010 and the threat that chaser numbers (of which I was just as much a contributor to) seemed to be presenting to the activity. Upon hearing many accounts from other chasers that traffic did not seem that bad in 2011, I decided to test the waters again with this past week's trip. I have a blog post planned on this subject based on my experiences, but in a nutshell, I did not encounter any traffic problems that indicated a crisis anywhere close to what happened on 5/19/2010. I did not find any difference in chaser numbers on April 12-15 than I remember seeing in all of my previous years. There were many chasers out, but not enough to cause serious problems with chase strategy/execution nor block emergency vehicles. The only problems I had were a few times where most of the available pull-off locations were taken.

Then again, my trip may have given me three anomalous low-chaser-traffic days due to various factors, given the reports of massive hordes in Kansas on Saturday. On 4/12, I chose the triple point target in NW KS when most chasers seemed to favor the dryline to the south. On 4/13, my long drive from Colby that morning prevented me from reaching the OKC area where it appeared most chasers had ended up. On 4/14, again I was in a more 'secondary' target when most chasers, it seemed, were in Nebraska or Kansas.

I really don't know what to make of the situation. All three days this week featured setups with many potential targets to spread chasers out, which makes me surprised to hear about Kansas on 4/14. I would have expected any hordes to be in Oklahoma as all of the OKC area crowds were drawn to the storms in NW OK. After this week, I was ready to conclude that big outbreaks might still be morally safe events to chase without the fear of contributing to a public menace, due to the sheer number of targets and storms to spread chasers out.

I agree that the long lines of slow-moving cars are a real threat to the public and are unacceptable. It doesn't take bad behavior to contribute to that menace, simply *being there* does. Personally, I would deviate from the route at the first available opportunity if I find myself in that situation. I'm not going to be able to keep up with the storm or get any good shots in that kind of a mess, why stay in it? At the very least, you can deviate to another storm or try circumventing the crowds by taking a north then east road.

 

[Seth Price]

In the end, the worst thing they can do is draft legislation. What do they define as storm chasing? Taking pictures of tornadoes? Most people will take a picture if they see a tornado, regardless of whether they are chasing. The burden of proof must fall on the accuser. Maybe I'm a vacationer who happens to see a tornado as I cruise through the Plains. Maybe I'm visiting a friend (maybe a former chaser). Prove that I'm not. Unless the police are going to start locking people up without a real charge, I will still chase. If they are going to start locking people up without legitimate charge, we've lost more than our ability to chase.

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