• After witnessing the continued decrease of involvement in the SpotterNetwork staff in serving SN members with troubleshooting issues recently, I have unilaterally decided to terminate the relationship between SpotterNetwork's support and Stormtrack. I have witnessed multiple users unable to receive support weeks after initiating help threads on the forum. I find this lack of response from SpotterNetwork officials disappointing and a failure to hold up their end of the agreement that was made years ago, before I took over management of this site. In my opinion, having Stormtrack users sit and wait for so long to receive help on SpotterNetwork issues on the Stormtrack forums reflects poorly not only on SpotterNetwork, but on Stormtrack and (by association) me as well. Since the issue has not been satisfactorily addressed, I no longer wish for the Stormtrack forum to be associated with SpotterNetwork.

    I apologize to those who continue to have issues with the service and continue to see their issues left unaddressed. Please understand that the connection between ST and SN was put in place long before I had any say over it. But now that I am the "captain of this ship," it is within my right (nay, duty) to make adjustments as I see necessary. Ending this relationship is such an adjustment.

    For those who continue to need help, I recommend navigating a web browswer to SpotterNetwork's About page, and seeking the individuals listed on that page for all further inquiries about SpotterNetwork.

    From this moment forward, the SpotterNetwork sub-forum has been hidden/deleted and there will be no assurance that any SpotterNetwork issues brought up in any of Stormtrack's other sub-forums will be addressed. Do not rely on Stormtrack for help with SpotterNetwork issues.

    Sincerely, Jeff D.

Question about Roger Jensen

  • Thread starter Thread starter Joey Ketcham
  • Start date Start date

Joey Ketcham

I have a quick question, is Ronger Jensen the first person known to chase storms? Just wanted to make sure before I referenced him in a document I'm writing up on storm chasing.
 
He is recognized as the first "modern" person to chase storms. There is the story about Benjamin Franklin chasing a "whirl" through fields on his horse so it could be debated. Maybe someone else knows more about this story.
 
Articles depicting "stormchasers", go all the way back to the early 1980s I believe. I saw one once in an archived copy of Weatherwise magazine.

Was Roger Jensen friends with Neil Ward? That name goes back a ways too.

Dr. Doswell could answer your question - he's on the agenda for the Denver Convention.
 
Originally posted by jketcham
I have a quick question, is Ronger Jensen the first person known to chase storms? Just wanted to make sure before I referenced him in a document I'm writing up on storm chasing.

According to Tim Marshall, "[Roger Jensen] is recognized as one of the first chasers in the industrial age who traveled the back roads of North Dakota and Minnesota just to photograph a thunderstorm." (November 1996, STORMTRACK)

The article that the above quote came from can be found on a page I put together in rememberance of Roger Jensen after his death.

http://www.onthefront.ws/jensen.htm

Several other comments from chasers about Roger and the kind of person he was can be found there as well.

Jason
 
Yes, Roger Jensen was the first storm chaser, in the modern sense of the word. He started chasing in 1953. David Hoadley started in 1956. Neil Ward began sometime in the late 1950s. It should be noted that all of these people did start taking storm photos at earlier dates.

Roger Jensen made it to the 1997 Stormtrack party at Bobby Prentice's house, and it always bothered me that he was kind of ignored there. I wonder if word simply didn't get out about who he was. He also came to the 1998 party at Tim Marshall's house, however I can't remember any details... if my memory is correct a group of younger chasers got to talking to him for a long time.

Tim
 
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