County Officials Critical of Storm Chasers

[TrumanBoyer]

Other Modes ?

All this makes me think more about Jim Leonard's idea of waterspout chasing in the Florida keys -- By Boat !!

No traffic, debris, power lines, cops (except Coast Guard) -- basically just go in a bee-line to your target.

Or maybe if I could get one of those Coast Guard all-weather helicopters,
(I wonder who rents them out in the Plains)

I could just leave all the "ground clutter" behind me....

-T

 

[Jake Orosi]

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.

This argument is spurious, for a couple of reasons:

1) The Olympics creates an economic benefit to the community. A G-8 conference. A nerd convention. Events that draw thousands of participants. A few dozen storm chasers don't have a measurable impact.

2) Chasing is a very spread-out event; they spend their chase money in small increments in several places along the route, and the motel room you paid for in Norman could not have contributed to the economy in, say, Salina.

3) Even if 2) was not true and you spent all your money in one place and it's the town whose law enforcement and first responders are aggravated with you, consider that chasers go where a natural disaster is predicted to strike. Every single chaser buying room, board, and fuel in the exact same town do not spend enough money even to blunt the economic loss of one or two buildings. What difference does it make how much money you spent at a motel compared economic impact to that community if the motel is destroyed the next day?

4) Even if 1-3 weren't true, there's an ethical consideration. Dropping fifteen bucks at the town Chevron and grabbing a couple of dollar-double-cheeseburgers on your way out still doesn't make it okay for you to interfere with the authorities' efforts during a disaster. I'm sure the community would gladly sacrifice such an "economic contribution" in exchange for free and clear roads for the emergency services their tax dollars ostensibly pay for.

 

[Gordon Spencer]

I have been following this thread closely and it is my opinion the chaser community is being painted with far too wide a paintbrush . I deal with a lot of professional storm chasers and you could not find a group of people as a whole that are more concerned with the safety of others . They are always striving to find ways to get alerts out quicker so they folks can get to safety . I feel the people causing the problems are not real members of the storm chasing community but the same segment of the population that stand and stare when a house is burning or are drawn to any disaster as a form of entertainment ! If there are members of the storm chasing community that are causing these problems hopefully the more experienced out there can educate them and enlighten them to proper behavior.

 

[Andrew Stoller]

The Star has posted a follow up article this morning here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/04/17/3559752/storm-chasers-in-the-crosshairs.html

"Storm chasers got a bad rap, Lanny Dean said, after the tornado-watching traffic jam that developed Saturday north of Solomon. The legitimate ones have a place, said the former Wichita television reporter and photographer whose Tulsa, Okla.-based business is extremechasetours.com."

WTF is that supposed to mean???

I hate to break it to ol Lanny, but the cat is out of the bag. Storm chasing is here, it is popular, and it's not going away. All I can say is deal with it.

I mean, WTF did the old time chasers think would happen, especially when their work is so highly spotlighted in the media? That people wouldn't want to emulate them? Please. It's utter hypocrisy for ANY chaser to claim legitimacy over others. Didn't every storm chaser essentially start as a yocal trying to see a storm? When you put yourself out there in the media and the photos and video you take, doesn't it become a self fuilfiling prophecy that others might want to do what you do? And then they get pissy about it becoming popular?

 

[Andrew Stoller]

I disagree. I've been in central Kansas a few times where EVERY hotel room was booked by storm chasesr within several hundred mile radius. It adds up. I talked to the guy who owns the Ellis House in and he LOVES storm chasing season. It makes his year.

As to your number 4 point, that is a generalization. You can't create a generalization about the moraility of chasers blocking roads for authorities because it is INDIVIDUAL idiots who do that, and a very small number of them. If anything, the first responder status of storm chasers helping victims certainly outways the small number of idiots who block roadways, speed, and act like asses.

 

[Jake Orosi]

Didn't every storm chaser essentially start as a yocal trying to see a storm?

I'm guessing yes.

When I see reports here of huge traffic jams and amber waves of light bars, it makes me wonder how we expect law enforcement to be able to tell the difference between a True Storm Chaser and a "local" who's chasing a storm. Obviously all those people who paid good money for their emergency auxiliary lighting certainly think they're True Storm Chasers. How do we know they're not?

 

[Jake Orosi]

I disagree. I've been in central Kansas a few times where EVERY hotel room was booked by storm chasesr within several hundred mile radius. It adds up. I talked to the guy who owns the Ellis House in and he LOVES storm chasing season. It makes his year.

Every room within a several hundred mile radius, all booked by storm chasers? So then the whole "it's mostly locals causing the traffic problems" thing is just a cop-out.

As to your number 4 point, that is a generalization. You can't create a generalization about the moraility of chasers blocking roads for authorities because it is INDIVIDUAL idiots who do that, and a very small number of them. If anything, the first responder status of storm chasers helping victims certainly outways the small number of idiots who block roadways, speed, and act like asses.

The ones who block the roads and speed are exactly the ones I'm talking about.

I keep reading the articles over and over and I never see the deputies (or whomever) complaining about "all those darn storm chasers stopping and helping victims". I'm pretty sure that if that were the common case, there'd be far fewer complaints. But the deputies seemed to be describing traffic jams on the roads, not in front of victims' houses from all the first-responding chasers.

 

[James Hilger]

Im curious where the media chaser falls into all this. Are we special or in the same boat as far as the public there is concerned?

 

[Andrew Stoller]

I love it; Lanny Dean is in the disaster tourism business and he has the balls to tell other chasers they aren't "legitimate".

Whoever wrote this comment in that article deserves a cookie:

"gpom3

One thing that sort of raised a red flag about Dean's comments right away was the word "tours," in his company's name. Jeez! Disaster tourism! Maybe he can get a used 747 and do Tsunami flyovers!

I bet he gets an ironclad personal injury waiver from his passengers, and wishes he could get one from any tornado victims whose treatment is delayed when an ambulance can't get around his vehicle. "

 

[rdale]

For those not familiar with how the news industry works, I would hesitate to draw any conclusions about anyone's comments based solely by what you read in an article.

 

[Dave Gallaher]

For those not familiar with how the news industry works, I would hesitate to draw any conclusions about anyone's comments based solely by what you read in an article.

Plus 1000 and an Amen. And Rob, personal thanks for installing the word 'rebeat' into my vocabulary via your earlier post.

 

[Jeff Duda]

Im curious where the media chaser falls into all this. Are we special or in the same boat as far as the public there is concerned?

As far as I've ever seen while chasing, some of the media vehicles are among the worst drivers. I don't see how they should be held to any different standard than public chasers.

On a side note, I don't see why media should get any additional privileges for entering damage areas that Joe Public like me don't get access to. Hell, give me a camera and I'll point it at the damage while I walk around if it legitimizes me.

 

[James Hilger]

As far as I've ever seen while chasing, some of the media vehicles are among the worst drivers. I don't see how they should be held to any different standard than public chasers.

On a side note, I don't see why media should get any additional privileges for entering damage areas that Joe Public like me don't get access to. Hell, give me a camera and I'll point it at the damage while I walk around if it legitimizes me.

I meant as far as "they" are concerned. You can walk around all you want. Your still not working for a station. My point being though i bet if it was the weather channel, etc. they wouldn't throw a fit. And while the media "might" be on the air for their community, it doesn't technically give them anymore rights.

 

[Mike Smith]

If anyone is interested, I'll be on KSNW TV (NBC) in Wichita at 10pm to discuss this topic. I also offer some thoughts on my blog here: http://meteorologicalmusings.blogspot.com/2012/04/storm-chasers-friend-or-foe.html

 

[Marcus Diaz]

We're all human. We're all out there to see one thing. We all have that adrenaline when we see it. People can sit behind a computer and say how terrible others are for being dangerous drivers out there in the field when chasing. I myself have screwed up due to the sense of urgency out there a few times, but I'm pretty sub-consious about it. I think Saturday I ran a couple stop signs to get ahead of the convergence. Go ahead, lynch me, I really don't give a rat's ass about what people say about my chasing. I'm out there because I love chasing and everything that comes with it. Yeah I make mistakes while driving, and I apologize. But a lot of crap in this thread just feels like old news. Of course local officials don't like the crowd, that's because they have 1 job; watch the weather to protect the public. Honestly tell me who wouldn't crap their pants when 'ol highway ## has 300 cars bumper-to-bumper with a tornado coming and you're the emergency manager. I think some people are too quick to judge without putting themselves in other people's situations. Some people chase to protect their citizens, some people chase to make money, some people are locals just "wanting to see a tornado", and some do it for the rush. What's the big deal about why we chase? When it comes down to it, we're out there for the same reason; to witness mother nature's worse. What we do when that happens branches off to different topics. But with that many people out there all at once, you don't think mistakes will happen?