scud and wallclouds and now another thing to worry about
Interesting thread
Just because people say they are storm spotters and/or stormchasers,and have "the training" , does not necessarily mean they can differentiate scud vs a wall cloud, funnels, tornadoes. It is one thing to show a slide show at storm spotter training sessions and to think, now they know it all since they have had the training and can now do it all. It's also another thing to internalize all the visuals that may look like tornadoes, wallclouds but are not.
During my classes each summer, I use my resources so students gain a better understanding of the differences. Many would rather maybe look at the tornado footages etc, but I have structured the learning situation so that they will come away with knowing more about what happens in tornado alley. It seems that through feedback, they appreciate and understand the differences and will be better off in the future if they see a dangerous storm or tornado. I hope it never comes to that but they need to be prepared and just watching the newscasts doesn't cut it.
Unless you are a very seasoned veteran and seen it all ( I will have to say I have not seen everything -I've chased in earnest since 2000- hey I am a teacher too!) , there's still more to learn under almost any situation. The two guys that I chased with , we quickly found such a situation in our encounter with the Kirksville tornado (see my slide show on my blog 5/13/2009 thread ).
But we knew we wanted to be say and played it that way.
I was really peeved when that Chaser had his tornado encounter splashed all over youtube ( I forgot was that the Kirksville tornado?). Not only was he way too close, his blathering and his inaccurate observation (close but he was not in a tornado) just too get himself some fame was dangerous and ridiculous. I am glad his video was pulled.
Last year, I heard spotters on the air claiming there were wallclouds in the area but many were probably looking at scub or wallcloud wannabees. Both can be tough to decipher and analyze. Gustanadoes and landspouts are also confusing (jury is still up with many people consider them tornadoes or not as I last heard or saw noted on Stormtrack).
All in all, it seems that precaution now really has be taken in earnest even more , to watch out for not only the weather, storms and tornadoes but to watch out for other chasers, spotters (Tornado Tim or not) camera crews or etc who drive too fast, don't look where they going, filming etc etc. And that also means even if you are with a group chasing or alone (which many seem to prefer but I do not).
That is another thing I have learned (from this thread!).
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Well you've got to realize, a ton of people out there can mistake a scud from a shelf cloud as a tornado. I'm basically the only storm chaser at school, and just about everybody knows. Anytime there's a hint of severe weather outside, people come screaming TORNADO!! and asking me if it is a tornado, always a scud.
I don't listen to media unless it's a chase team from a television station. Even still, I listen to NOAA and Skywarn with my scanner over all that other stuff.
Steve, I love the camaro's. We've got a '72 Z28 355.
