Rant from a long time chaser: No lessons from El Reno?

[Tim Paitz]

There's nothing wrong with chasing after dark, but only from a safe distance to the south of the storm's track. If a supercell is more classic in nature, tornadoes can be highly visible from miles away and some clear photography/video of lightning+tornadoes can be had. May 12, 2004 Anthony, KS; May 4, 2007 Greensburg; April 9, 2011 Mapleton, IA; May 25, 2012 LaCrosse, KS; June 10, 2004 Red Cloud, NE are just a few examples that come to mind.

That said, there's no reason at all to get close in those situations. I do think the issue may not be as bad as it seems due to the factors Tom pointed out. Even so, just being in the path of the hook at all - if only briefly - isn't a good place to be at night.

It wasn't really the case sunday night given that some of them were HP and a couple storms were forming new circulations to the southeast and southwest. NWSchat has an excellent archive for the radar and warnings by the way. As i said before, the road network is pretty bad sw of fort worth. Almost entirely winding back roads.

 

[Joey Ketcham]

I've chased at night on a few occasions over the years, but it wasn't something that I enjoyed. It was generally when I was chasing with someone, and they continued to chase into the night. These days, once the sun goes down, chasing ends.

 

[S Kalka]

I personally don't chase after dark very often. Hell, I have a hard enough time in the daylight. But if someone has the talent and experience, who am I to judge them? As for the others, as a friends late father used to say, "If you're going to be dumb, you better be tough."

 

[Drue Bernardi]

Personally, I call off chasing when it gets dark. That may be from my experience chasing east of the Mississippi where it's hard enough to chase in the day time, but when it comes down to it I like to see what I'm chasing. I was chasing with another crew on 4-9 and when it started getting dark and going HP I called it a chase. I sent a text to them that said "Too dark and too HP for my taste. I'm done for the day. Stay safe." and turned for home.

 

[chrisbray]

I'm pretty much convinced that this is the year we lose one or two who went to a Skywarn class, holding a phone looking for a payday or their fifteen minutes on the Weather Channel, CNN, etc. I'm afraid no matter what we say or do as chasers, we've reached critical mass and people are going to do what they do regardless. All we can do now is act professionally in the field and demonstrate responsible chasing by our own actions.

A problem may be that if someone like who you described is killed by a tornado, no one may ever know that he is a "chaser" as he may just get chalked up as a regular ol' tornado fatality.

 

[David Reimer]

I ended up chasing in Johnson County after dark the other night simply because I'm familiar with the area. I stayed 5-10 miles south of the circulation(s) and ended up evacuating the area as the cells from the west began influencing storm speed. I've seen some folks complaining about the flooded roads and lack of options - what do you expect when a HP supercell sits stationary for 3 hours?

The wall cloud(s) were ground scrubbers and you ended up having to get right under the thing to tell it wasn't 'completely on the ground' with a smaller embedded tornado. That's why I don't fault the 'wedge' reports from Sunday night. What I do fault is those few now calling out the NWS FWD saying it was a wedge and their damage survey is obviously wrong. Those individuals obviously don't know that several forecasters on shift that night have chased before and are some of the best meteorologists in the NWS as a whole. I find those trying to pull the 'you don't listen to chasers' card disrespectful and frankly disgusting.

 

[Ben Holcomb]

How many of you monday morning quarterbacks in this thread were actually out Sunday?

I was definitely one of the closer/more daring chasers on Sunday night and not once did I feel unsafe. Me and Jon Stone had great communication in the car, where we were keeping our "heads on a swivel" and paying attention to what could be seen, and observed. We also kept a very close eye on winds, keeping track which direction we were headed and where the winds were coming from.

What was the point of it? I don't know, really. It wasn't for 30 seconds of fame, or to be cool on facebook. It was a hell of a storm and I had a blast chasing and didn't want to stop at sundown.

I'm also one of those horrible people that lost my windshield and I broke speed limits. Might as well throw me in prison for life.

Sunday was one of the best chases I've had in 2 years at least.

 

[Jason Boggs]

I can't/won't say that everyone who gets close does it for attention, but a fair number do. I know Ben likes to get close because he likes to get close, and that's cool. Everyone chases differently, and at the end of the day, MOST of us are out there for the same reason......for the love of storms.

 

[Marcus Diaz]

This has been the year of HPs. And this has been the year where I've found myself to be the closest chaser to tornadoes a couple times. I, like Ben, don't do it for fame or attention or even media sales. It's just a blast. But I have my wits about me when I'm playing close. I'm watching which way the tornado moves, and the rain shafts blow. I'm guilty of being a crappy driver (I flew off into a ditch on Sunday doing 60 thanks to hail drifts) but I make sure no one else around me is affected.

And yes, SN is horrible about being super accurate. Sometimes they're off by several hundred yards and depending on the distance of the radar, the couplet isn't accurately showing where the tornado is. This is once again an issue of people caring how others chase when it REALLY doesn't affect them at all.

 

[Brady Kendrick]

Guess in the end it is their choice and style. If they feel comfortable in that spot and feel like they can handle the situation and are prepared to accept the responsibility of their actions or the risk of harm, then whatever, I'm not going to have any lost sleep over it. Ultimately someone is eventually going to get in a bad spot and hurt/killed again and I don't want to see that happen like everyone else......but if someone wishes to pursue that aggressive style and the risk that come with it, not a thing I can do about it and I'm not going to preach at them. If they feel the need to do it, guess it is their choice and responsibility to deal with. While I don’t engage in that aggressive style and prefer to be much further from the cage, I guess if they want to be there, so be it, that is how they are going to chase. I’m sure as heck don’t have room to talk because I have been in a bad spot a time or two over the years. Ultimately those cases are the reason I am a bit more passive in my style but if other people want to play in the cage still, it is their choice. I guess in the end, I worry about myself and let everyone else just do their thing, I'm not going to care either way.

 

[Todd Rector]

I would at least go so far as to say @Ben Holcomb knows what he is doing and could probably chase after dark with relative safety (no comment on the lost windshield). It's the guys hanging out their car windows recording video on cellphone while their girlfriend drives from the passenger seat into the HP unknown that really scare me.

 

[Ben Holcomb]

Why does it scare you, though? Is it because you're scared someone you seemingly admittedly don't know may die? If so, the highway is one hell of a scary place for you I'm sure.

Honestly, as long as they aren't in my way I don't care how people chase.

 

[Jeff Duda]

This is nothing new. There were close calls last year, too. I think some people just don't care at this point...the possibility of Twitter/FB/CNN fame far outweighs the fear of being hurt by being too close and getting mauled by the bear.

Edit: seeing a few responses, I see there are chasers who will admit to it just being plain ol' fun. I don't think you can attack that position at all. If someone is willing to accept the risk of getting that close and at the same time feels comfortable enough reading their surrounding environment, I don't see what anyone can do to stop them, nor do I think they deserved to be chastised or called out.

Of course, should one of them die placing themselves too close, you won't see me lamenting it. Sure, accidents happen, but your chance of having a fatal one goes up the more danger you place yourself in. After the passing of Tim, Paul, and Carl, there's really no excuse for getting killed anymore (not that there ever really was, but most chasers probably didn't think that seriously about it until the day those three died). I won't shed another tear over a chaser death from 1 June 2013 and on.

Add on: I saw one or two posts on FB calling chasers out. They bothered me because I was also playing it pretty close that night. I hook sliced and core rubbed that supercell, not because I was trying to have fun or get "the shot", but because I had pretty much called off the chase, was no longer trying to see a tornado, and was trying to take the highway I was on home. It was the only reasonable route within 20 miles, and backtracking would've 1) cost us at least an hour, and 2) wasn't a guaranteed safe route as there were other tornado warned storms off to the northwest. We had our heads on swivels and were also reading the winds and using lightning to guide us to minimize the chance of something going wrong. So seeing someone I don't know basically calling me out personally irritated me. Kinda made me want to reply to that post: "if you weren't out there being endangered by these chasers, then shut the f--k up about it." (I didn't, but now you all know what I was thinking).

 

[rdale]

Let's compare the number of chaser deaths on the roads in Texas in the past week versus the number of non-chaser deaths on the roads in the past week...

http://accidentdatacenter.com/us/texas

 

[Sean Ramsey]

I have played a couple of storms closer than I normally would (west of Wheeler & Hereford) and a lot of it has to do with slow storm motions and where I felt comfortable as well, especially since they were daytime storms. I usually drop off at night simply because I roll solo and don't really get much from night chasing. I don't blame others for doing it, and many have the experience to do so and that's cool. Is there an increase in the number of chasers who feel more comfortable chasing at night, and are they playing closer than ever? I don't know, but it wouldn't surprise me if there was. There is certainly motivation to stay out and chase closer these days, whether it's worth it or not to us.