Newspaper article about chasing Nov. 12 Iowa storms

[Ben McMillan]

http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll...18009/1001/NEWS


Article suggests storm chasers are taking too many risks. Thoughts? Suggestions?

 

[Tony Laubach]

I think the article was stemmed from people other than "storm chasers"... using the man in Iowa is an example of a resident who decided to get the best shot as opposed to a chaser. While you can't directly call him a chaser, it does leak back on us a bit cause we are out shooting. Unfortunately the mesh between that type and the real chaser may becoming less and less clear as there are so many of us.

 

[Andy Wehrle]

The article seems to be referring more to people with no knowledge of tornadoes and severe thunderstorms going out and shooting them as they approach way too close. I do disagree with calling those people "storm chasers" which lumps them in with knowledgeable people who pursue storms responsibly.

Nance, who like Newman is not trained to film storms, said he relied on a \"strange feeling\" that he would be safe from the tornado that forced him to hold on while it was coming by the house.

Mother Earth was \"putting out very strong vibes,\" he said. \"As soon as I stepped back on the porch and started filming, it turned right away towards us. It was coming right at us. I stepped back on the porch. It hooked and turned and went away from the house.\"

So I didn't see the tornado that passed a block and a half from my house because I didn't get the right "vibes" from mother nature?

 

[Andrew Khan]

It's a well constructed article, interesting.

 

[Robert Dewey]

Originally posted by BMcMillan
Article suggests storm chasers are taking too many risks. Thoughts? Suggestions?

Yeah, here's a though:

Skydivers take too many risks
Motocycle drivers take too many risks
NASCAR drivers take too many risks
Smokers take to many risks
Drinkers take too many risks...

And finally, storm chasers take too many risks...

My point is - who cares? Everyone takes risks, so if they want to pin risk on a certain group, then that's just ignorance on their part...

 

[Jay Cazel]

Originally posted by rdewey+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(rdewey)</div>

<!--QuoteBegin-BMcMillan

Article suggests storm chasers are taking too many risks. Thoughts? Suggestions?

Yeah, here's a though:

Skydivers take too many risks
Motocycle drivers take too many risks
NASCAR drivers take too many risks
Smokers take to many risks
Drinkers take too many risks...

And finally, storm chasers take too many risks...

My point is - who cares? Everyone takes risks, so if they want to pin risk on a certain group, then that's just ignorance on their part...[/b]

I agree!!!!

Quote "Tim Baker, a storm chaser in Colorado, said chasing nationally has changed from "stuffy-type chasers" in the 1980s and '90s who filmed from a distance, to a modern extreme-sport hobby.

Does anyone know this guy????

 

[nickgrillo]

Hmm... They basically contradicted themselves by making the headline "storm chasers taking too many risks" when themselves interviewed the ONLY guy who was unsafe last SAT. He wasn't a storm chaser. He was a nut with a video camera in his hands at the right(wrong) time. Who were the "amateur" chasers that got themselves too close?

Originally posted by article
tornado-chase experts said.

Who the heck are the "tornado-chase" experts? I would really like to know some of the them experts!

Originally posted by article
Some of these people are letting tornadoes get incredibly too close to them,\" said Patrick Slattery, spokesman for the National Weather Service central region headquarters in Kansas City, Mo.

Yeah, exactly... PEOPLE... Not CHASERS, like the article headline implies. People sitting at home watching TV and going outside with a video camera when a tornado is about to destroy their neighboor's house are NOT chasers. They are the public who can act like idiots. I don't know ANY storm chasers that took a "life threatening risk" last weekend, and were all in relatively safe positions.

Originally posted by article
Nance, who like Newman is not trained to film storms, said he relied on a \"strange feeling\" that he would be safe from the tornado that forced him to hold on while it was coming by the house.

Yeah, a member of the public... Once again, why is the headline "storm chasers"? They should rename it "public getting too close to film tornadoes for money".

 

[nickgrillo]

Originally posted by Jay Cazel+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Jay Cazel)</div>

Originally posted by rdewey@
<!--QuoteBegin-BMcMillan

Article suggests storm chasers are taking too many risks. Thoughts? Suggestions?

Yeah, here's a though:

Skydivers take too many risks
Motocycle drivers take too many risks
NASCAR drivers take too many risks
Smokers take to many risks
Drinkers take too many risks...

And finally, storm chasers take too many risks...

My point is - who cares? Everyone takes risks, so if they want to pin risk on a certain group, then that's just ignorance on their part...

I agree!!!!

Quote "Tim Baker, a storm chaser in Colorado, said chasing nationally has changed from "stuffy-type chasers" in the 1980s and '90s who filmed from a distance, to a modern extreme-sport hobby.

Does anyone know this guy????[/b]

Tim Baker - www.tornadochaser.net ("Tornado Tim")...

 

[Ben McMillan]

You guys have very good points...if willing please share them. The Register is read state-wide in Iowa, and these types of stories aren't the best PR for those of us that will be out on the highways in Iowa next chase season.

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This article was in today's paper, so letters will be timely.

 

[Darin Brunin]

Tornado Tim is at it again I see What a freakin hypocrite. On the front page of his website he has a chase log about a near death experience because he got too close to a tornado. Next time try to get a little bit more publicity Tim.

http://www.tornadochaser.net/oneil.html

I see no relevancy between the article and chasers. I totally agree with Rob and everyone else. What a bunch of B.S.

 

[Robert Edmonds]

All though this article looked at a bad example of poor chasing, since this person wasn't really chasing, it did bring up a few good points. Are more unexperianced people entering into this hobby/field? Yes! However, it is because we as a society are more moble, have a greater ability to information, greater public intrest, and of course simple human curiousity. Does this lead to unexperianced people attempting to chase? Yes! I admitt I was, and may still be, one of them. I did supid stuff even when my main goal at the beginning was just to take pictures of lightning. With time though you gain experiance and become safer. Looking back I wouldn't have done half the stuff I did 3 years ago. What the answer? I don't know, but we as community should atleast attempt to try and help those who have an intest in this area to help them gain this experiance as safely as possible. I have felt at times that parts, not all, of this community has a hard time accepting new comers. Perhaps, it is this attitude which needs to change so that we can make chasers as a whole safer. Another thing would help is that I would love the experianced chasers to talk more, and a few do, but I remember reading here that there is reluctance from those experianced few to enter into converstations with new comers. I hope I'm not turning anyone off by what I'm saying, it just I don't see a way to stop this new influx of chasers, so what else is there to do than to teach these new comers what to do.