Dan Robinson
EF5
I see a persistent sentiment within the chase community lamenting the traffic issue, and I'm still quite puzzled. My take is that many are conflating 1.) a personal annoyance that they don't have the roads/storms all to themselves any more and 2.) *actual* problems worthy of concern (that is, traffic that is impactful to chasing and/or locals). Those who are experiencing the first item above are equating it with the second, which is distorting reality and giving the outside detractors impetus to criticize (with anti-chaser articles, presentations, etc).
So, in addition to the video links I've been collecting, I thought I'd add another item of empirical data to the arsenal: let's make a list of every high-chaser-traffic event we know of. Hopefully this might bring more perspective.
Here are the ones I know of:
Problematic events and their causes (CTI 6+)
6-7-2009 - Oregon, Missouri (limited Missouri River crossings, limited roads on the MO side)
5-19-2010 - Hennessy, Oklahoma (VORTEX2, Discovery show, High Risk in mid-May near OKC)
4-14-2012 - Salina, Kansas (Well-advertised-in-advance High Risk on a Saturday)
5-31-2013 - El Reno, Oklahoma (Chasers and locals chaotically fleeing south)
5-10-2017 - Eldorado, Oklahoma (All chasers forced onto one road due to limited Red River crossings)
Elevated traffic, but orderly/no real problems (CTI 4 or 5)
5-27-2001 - Crosbyton, Texas
5-10-2010 - Wakita, Oklahoma
5-11-2010 - Vici, Oklahoma
5-21-2014 - Deer Trail, Colorado
4-8-2015 - Barber County, Kansas
5-16-2015 - Tipton, Oklahoma
5-24-2016 - Dodge City, Kansas
If you have pictures/videos from events to support classifiying them as problematic, that would be helpful.
Some of you may remember my previous position on chaser traffic - I was in the "sky is falling" crowd like many others after seeing the May 19, 2010 fiasco, even choosing not to chase the Plains at all in 2011 so as to not contribute to the problem. However, after looking at the evidence, I changed my mind in 2012, and see no reason that I was wrong in doing so. Here is my blog post back when I was a "chaser traffic crisis believer":
http://stormhighway.com/blog2011/march411a.php
In a nutshell, I would like to hear from anyone who still thinks traffic is a major problem in chasing to explain why that is, when the evidence shows that truly problematic events are very rare (once every 2 years or more on average). By "problematic" I mean creating actual obstacles and safety issues to chasers and locals, not just disturbing one's personal desire for solitude and open, empty roads.
So, in addition to the video links I've been collecting, I thought I'd add another item of empirical data to the arsenal: let's make a list of every high-chaser-traffic event we know of. Hopefully this might bring more perspective.
Here are the ones I know of:
Problematic events and their causes (CTI 6+)
6-7-2009 - Oregon, Missouri (limited Missouri River crossings, limited roads on the MO side)
5-19-2010 - Hennessy, Oklahoma (VORTEX2, Discovery show, High Risk in mid-May near OKC)
4-14-2012 - Salina, Kansas (Well-advertised-in-advance High Risk on a Saturday)
5-31-2013 - El Reno, Oklahoma (Chasers and locals chaotically fleeing south)
5-10-2017 - Eldorado, Oklahoma (All chasers forced onto one road due to limited Red River crossings)
Elevated traffic, but orderly/no real problems (CTI 4 or 5)
5-27-2001 - Crosbyton, Texas
5-10-2010 - Wakita, Oklahoma
5-11-2010 - Vici, Oklahoma
5-21-2014 - Deer Trail, Colorado
4-8-2015 - Barber County, Kansas
5-16-2015 - Tipton, Oklahoma
5-24-2016 - Dodge City, Kansas
If you have pictures/videos from events to support classifiying them as problematic, that would be helpful.
Some of you may remember my previous position on chaser traffic - I was in the "sky is falling" crowd like many others after seeing the May 19, 2010 fiasco, even choosing not to chase the Plains at all in 2011 so as to not contribute to the problem. However, after looking at the evidence, I changed my mind in 2012, and see no reason that I was wrong in doing so. Here is my blog post back when I was a "chaser traffic crisis believer":
http://stormhighway.com/blog2011/march411a.php
In a nutshell, I would like to hear from anyone who still thinks traffic is a major problem in chasing to explain why that is, when the evidence shows that truly problematic events are very rare (once every 2 years or more on average). By "problematic" I mean creating actual obstacles and safety issues to chasers and locals, not just disturbing one's personal desire for solitude and open, empty roads.
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