Hurricane chasers take the heat (again)

[Kevin R Burgess]

How many pinocchios do you think Reed deserves ?

 

[Mark Blue]

Probably not as many as some who like to Tweet like it’s going out of style!

 

[rdale]

He blocked me when I asked him to stop posting inaccurate information about severe weather in Michigan so I don’t know how often he does


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[Warren Faidley]

I was not aware of the statements he made regarding "saving lives." I'm really surprised that Accu-Wx would support such behavior and the obvious liability connected to it.

 

[Mark Blue]

I would venture a guess that Accu-Wx is attempting to keep up with the private sector competition otherwise known as TWC. Put a well known face out in the field whose enthusiasm for severe weather is second to none in order to compete with the likes of Cantori, Bettes, and Mike Seidel. The only difference being the channels used to communicate with the end users. Reed leans heavily towards social media whereas the others are on cable TV, but also utilize social media to a lesser extent. I could be all wet but it seems a likely explanation from my viewpoint.

I imagine there is a live feed from Accu-Wx out there via streaming or lesser known TV channels, but I don’t follow them very closely, so my theory could be a shot in the dark. We have an Accu-Wx Channel through Roku, and the streaming apps built-in to modern televisions, but I didn’t watch it during the hurricane season (or much at all in the past) to know whether or not Reed receives or received live air time for his reports. I guess I’ll have to revisit what they’re currently doing in that regard.

 

[Warren Faidley]

There is a growing segment of society that relies almost entirely on social media for most of their weather, news and other information. I know many people personally who do this. Social media outlets are slowly being held responsible for content. Regardless, the legalities of supporting bad behavior still remain. I think TWC learned this the hard way, multiple times. If you are a business connecting your brand or services with idiotic behavior, then be ready to pay for it. I no longer care much about bad chaser behavior as my business model no longer includes sponsors or advertising gigs. The images of (a very few) chasers killing each other, faking science and acting like morons has pretty much killed off any chance of a responsible and informed client to use a "chasing" theme. Loosing a $75,000 contract because of another chasers actions was enough for me.

 

[Kevin R Burgess]

There is a growing segment of society that relies almost entirely on social media for most of their weather, news and other information. I know many people personally who do this. Social media outlets are slowly being held responsible for content. Regardless, the legalities of supporting bad behavior still remain. I think TWC learned this the hard way, multiple times. If you are a business connecting your brand or services with idiotic behavior, then be ready to pay for it. I no longer care much about bad chaser behavior as my business model no longer includes sponsors or advertising gigs. The images of (a very few) chasers killing each other, faking science and acting like morons has pretty much killed off any chance of a responsible and informed client to use a "chasing" theme. Loosing a $75,000 contract because of another chasers actions was enough for me.

I agree 100% Warren... I would have loved to have chased,back in the day's of VHS video tapping

 

[Jeff House]

Tough to compare chasers with First Responders, but they are free to chase at their own risk. Honestly I enjoy watching the coverage from my safe dry living room.

Growing research partnerships between psychologists/sociologists and meteorologists show evidence people act on warnings if they have confirmation and it is a personalized threat. While evacuation decisions for this storm are made before chaser coverage, people do remember chaser coverage from last storm. Rather than encourage chasing, I believe coverage encourages taking precautions. Irma evacuations were large after Harvey. Rita evacuation was ordered after Katrina. (The yes/no decision is another issue.) My point is a verified personal threat moves the public to respond to warnings.

Long as chasers do not complicate the situation for locals (they don't) I think chasing is a positive. Of course something going well does not make good clickbait, lol.

 

[Warren Faidley]

Given enough higher level risk situations, these chasers will eventually be killed or seriously injured. I hope not, but accounting for the magnitude of past stupidly and stunts that nearly resulted in loss of life or serious injury, it's a better than 70% chance. We have already seen chasers killed for various reasons, including negligence. I would say the "luck" factor for a few is amazing. I know from my own experiences what the dangers are and I continue to see chasers push the limits way beyond the safe zone. This year is a good example, as several put themselves in situations where the worse case scenarios did not develop and they relied almost completely on luck.

 

[Jeff Duda]

I liked Reed's reply on Twitter https://twitter.com/ReedTimmerAccu/status/917455038338957312

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Man, that's gonna be a hell of a tweet should a fatal accident from nature ever befall him.