Nowcasters: Commitments & Responsibilities...

[Scott McPartland]

I definitely agree in that you have to dedicate the rest of your day to nowcasting if you plan to keep people safe, and do a good job. The one that sticks out for me was when I nowcasted Jim Edds and several others when Hurricane Charley was making landfall near Punta Gorda, Fl back in 04'. I felt confident in my abilities to do this right, but I gotta admit, I was really nervous with this one, especially when they upgraded him from a Cat2 to a Cat4....this changed the ENTIRE scope of things needless to say!

I literally had two computers going at the same time, I had the desktop going with radar and satellite, and my laptop going with Street Atlas. I didn't have Street Atlas on my desktop at the time which is why I was running both, lol. But I was commited so I dedicated the entire day to just doing this, and that was totally fine with me since I wanted to make sure I did a good job. But everytime I gave Jim and company an update I remember I kept saying, "guys, use your best judgement here cause I can't see what's going on at ground level, if you feel it's too dangerous, please pull back".

But I was told my job that day was simple, and that was to put them in the area where Charley was going to come ashore, and that I did, lol. About an hour before landfall I noticed that jog to the northeast and I felt pretty confident about Charley going in somewhere near Charlotte Harbor. And when Jim called from about 20 miles north of there I told him to go to Punta Gorda....that's when the phone stopped ringing. I didn't hear anything from anyone for like 4 hours! But the news reports started coming in and all I was hearing was "Punta Gorda was destroyed". Man I was scared that I just killed everyone. Well it turns out that THANKFULLY everyone was safe, but Jim Edds did get his car trashed by flying debris, but he was all right along with the others and that's what mattered.

So to sum all this up, I did feel partly responsible for Jim losing his car that day, and I would have been devastated if anyone would have been hurt or worse, afterall....when asked by Jim "do you think I should go to Punta Gorda or not", I said "yes". But in the end, he said in no way should I feel responsible for anything that happened, or could have happened that day. I fed information, but in the end...it's the chaser that makes the decision on whether or not to follow that info. Jim still thanks me till this day even though he lost his car, lol.....he said that it was the most dramatic hurricane video he's ever shot.

Scott

 

[Bob Schafer]

If anyone ever writes a book about nowcasting, George's post should be the forward. Hell, GT should write the book. Great job, GT, and thanks again for all the expert nowcasting help you've provided me over the years!!! I sure hope we'll get the chance to spend some more time on the phone this spring and beyond.

Fabian hits on some good great points, too. If you've personally chased where "your guy" is located on a chase day, it is a huge advantage! Knowing what the terrain is like around the Caprock Escarpment, the Canadian River, and the NE Sandhills are but a few examples, not only for what the chaser's experiencing but also how those orographic features can influence storm behavior. That's not really advice, just anecdotal.

 

[Craig Maire II]

I believe that nowcasters can be an invaluable tool and I have used their services on many successful occasions.

 

[Mike Johnston]

Along the lines of George's experience, I too find nowcasting to be enjoyable in and of itself. Fortunately, as I work from home, I'm often able to monitor a setup during the day and, since my trading day is over by 4:00 ET / 3:00 CT, have opportunities to nowcast for a chaser. Living on the east coast now, of course nowcasting opportunities are more plentiful than actual chasing opportunities. I agree a nowcaster should have his schedule pretty much clear for this purpose. I make a point to let my wife and the kids know when I have committed, so they will understand (as far as possible.)

It may seem trivial, but as noted in a previous post, it is essential to have a road atlas at your side when nowcasting and have knowledge of where your chaser is and what his objective is. As George also noted, presenting a current picture of the available options rather than trying to make decisions for the chaser seems to be the most productive approach.

I must admit I am far more comfortable nowcasting when the target is in an area with which I am familiar - namely Kansas and its surrounding states. As for the safety/legal liability issues, an experience a couple of years ago really made me think about this. I was nowcasting for a lone chaser following an isolated, developing cell out in western Kansas - he was able to get into good initial position and reported a wall cloud. Then...we lost cell phone connection and I wasn't able to reach him until 2 hours later. In the meantime, numerous cells exploded on virtually all sides of his last known position and there were 5 or 6 tornado reports. I was sweating it out and felt completely helpless but was most of all concerned about his safety. Even though I knew it wasn't my "fault" we lost connection, I still had a gnawing sense of responsibility and concern. Fortunately, all turned out well - but I must admit it did get me to think of the seriousness of helping others navigate around a potentially dangerous situation. So, the chaser's safety is definitely something I keep foremost in my mind when nowcasting. I have no idea whether legal liablity would be an actual risk for a nowcaster, but definitely would not want to find out the hard way.