Opinions regarding Reed Timmer from within the chaser community?

[Andrew Clope]

I was wondering this the other day while watching all of the speakers give lectures/discussions from ChaserCon earlier this year. It seemed that the overall impression and opinion of him and his teams aren't the greatest. Just curious if I was reading into that correctly? And what the general consensus is of him and his operations.

I was asking because I met him earlier this year in North Platte, NE and he seemed like a really cool guy. Down to earth, took time to stand and talk for a bit, just overall seemed like a decent guy.

BTW, not trying to start anything, just asking a legit question.

 

[Raymond Mason]

I like Reed Timmer a lot. I mean he contributed a lot I would imagine to understanding tornadoes with his tornado intercept vehicle. Not to say the TIV time didn't get just as much data as Reed did. It seems like he contributes a lot to the field of meteorology. I mean I heard rumors of him getting speeding tickets, that doesn't mean his a bad person. No one is perfect. I think Reed just found his niche that he is good at. He does really insane things though like getting close to tornadoes.

I think we really should discourage people from thinking getting close to tornadoes is a good idea. For all we know someone might think "Wow, chasers get really close to tornadoes so it must be safe". I am not saying the vast majority of chasers do this..but it really is an unsafe thing that is being popularized though.

I would personally like to meet Reed sometime.

 

[Joey Ketcham]

I mean he contributed a lot I would imagine to understanding tornadoes with his tornado intercept vehicle.

What exactly has he contributed to better understanding tornadoes? As far as I know, there are no reputable scientific journal's that contains any information regarding "data" that he has collected which helped in better understanding tornadoes. Can you cite a specific scientific journal that back's that claim that he has contributed to understanding tornadoes? I would love to read that and see the data he has collected.

 

[Raymond Mason]

What exactly has he contributed to better understanding tornadoes? As far as I know, there are no reputable scientific journal's that contains any information regarding "data" that he has collected which helped in better understanding tornadoes. Can you cite a specific scientific journal that back's that claim that he has contributed to understanding tornadoes? I would love to read that and see the data he has collected.

Honestly the only data from his intercepts I just found on his website. F4 tornado intercept data, and some other thing here.

I also just literally read that one time he threw his driver out in the middle of no where. :/

 

[Marcus Diaz]

Lmao this thread will be getting ugly pretty quick. But honestly he's a good guy. I met him pre-Discovery Channel and he was approachable. He gave this newb a crash course on a developing tornado. I also know people say he's annoying and egotistical. Thing is there's a lot of chasers like that. He does get some of the craziest footage out there and has grown a company from scratch. The fact that he has a lot of followers is just a result of exposure. It's no different than any other big named celebrity.

 

[Rob H]

It's funny that the community will rally to any number of lesser chasers but are quick to throw Reed and Sean Casey under the wheels at a moments notice. The few times I've talked to either of them away from the crowds and the cameras they both came off as relaxed, cool people with a passion for weather.

It's strange because while Storm Chasers is probably a large factor in some of the negative things in this hobby, it never explicitly showed anything that I would consider egregious. At some point you need to hold individuals responsible for their behavior and not blame the "celebrity" chasers.

In contrast, there are pseudo celebrity chasers that really kick up the glamorizing of the extreme aspect and do stupid things. Everyone on Storm Chasers was involved in academia or research to some degree and has done public outreach. You can't say that for the pseudo celebs.

 

[Sean Ramsey]

I haven't met him but I have a positive view of him overall. He seems like a genuinely nice guy, and I admire the passion. He has taken what we all love and made a career of it and that's pretty remarkable.

Other than that, he's a chaser just like the rest of us only with a brighter spotlight and a sturdier vehicle.

 

[John Olexa]

It's strange because while Storm Chasers is probably a large factor in some of the negative things in this hobby,

At first that is all I knew of him, from Storm Chasers. I'll be honest I thought it was a little cocky acting. After reading his book though, I took back a lot of those thoughts I had about him.

 

[Joey Ketcham]

It's funny that the community will rally to any number of lesser chasers but are quick to throw Reed and Sean Casey under the wheels at a moments notice.

Despite how my post came across, I actually have no ill feelings towards Reed. I've never met him, but I'm sure he's a great guy and he is a great chaser and I'm sure he has contributed in some fashion, but I've not really seen much of any data he's collected published anywhere.

 

[rdale]

I've not really seen much of any data he's collected published anywhere.

A few years ago he said that his radar data would be published... Still waiting...

The issue I have is that he watches radar from wherever and then when he sees a red pixel next to a green pixel a thousand miles away he tweets all about the big tornadoes coming. People take him seriously and then it gets spread faster than a cat picture.

 

[Rob H]

A few years ago he said that his radar data would be published... Still waiting...

The issue I have is that he watches radar from wherever and then when he sees a red pixel next to a green pixel a thousand miles away he tweets all about the big tornadoes coming. People take him seriously and then it gets spread faster than a cat picture.

The only difference between him and dozens of other chasers is that he has 605,000 followers on Facebook. The question then becomes: does Reed have added responsibility or obligation when capturing the attention of that many people?

It was just 300,000 a few months ago, so I'm wondering if they paid Facebook for ads that got served to the like farms. I doubt the legitimacy of that number.

 

[Warren Faidley]

Despite my strong disagreements with Timmer's chasing ethics, claims, behavior and how the current "face of chasing" reflects on the rest of us, he is a nice guy.

The few times I've exchanged emails with him, including those following the death of Tim and crew, he was very kind and surprisingly professional. I also believe he contributes to severe weather awareness.

If he'd drop the research, saving lives claims, etc... that make him appear disingenuous to many people, and just admit he's a "chaser / producer out to make a profit," it would go a long way to help the chasing community and truly make him a better Ambassador of chasing. He's also a sharp guy and it's too bad he does not devote the same promotional energy to actual research with a major institution.

W.

 

[Jake Orosi]

I'm ambivalent about Reed Timmer. He likes weather, the way I do, and I hear he's personable; but I just can't really relate to him a whole lot. He's a celebrity. He does commercials for windshield wipers. He uses this big giant special vehicle and tries to get tornadoes to run over him. He's got a professional "rivalry" with another person like him. He makes a big deal of collecting data. Really, I'm just some guy with a truck who likes to watch storms; I don't find very much in common.

 

[rdale]

The only difference between him and dozens of other chasers is that he has 605,000 followers on Facebook. The question then becomes: does Reed have added responsibility or obligation when capturing the attention of that many people?

Absolutely... The other difference is that people "know" him. Most of the other social mediarologist pages are hosted by kids who nailed the 8" snow forecast once last year and now gets shared by friends of friends.

 

[James Hilger]

I used to not like him because of the way he "seemed" to be on the show. After realizing the truth I went to his house and personally apologized for things I had said publicly. He was friendly as can be. I've seen him while chasing several times but was always too rude to talk cause of my personal ignorance. He's drove 4 hours one way just to help us with charity events and offers to help our station from time to time if needed while in the area. Free. I'm a little hesitant about the science aspect but I respect almost any chaser that puts in the time he does chasing, so he's up there on my list as most respected.