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

[Jeremy.Degenhart]

I can't stand this mentality. Instead of complaining about people "learning nothing from El Reno", why not just learn what you can and leave other people alone? It's a free country. It's a hobby with hazards. People will die. The only complaints I have are the chasers that have hit other chasers and drive like total morons. If I get killed by a tornado, so be it. We all know and take that risk willingly. But I'm not OK with morons that shouldn't even have a drivers' license out there wrecking guys that aren't doing anything wrong. Those are the actions that this forum needs to be calling out.

The Monday morning QB mentality gets old really fast. It's mostly people on the periphery of the so-called "chaser community" that want to talk crap, anyway.

TL;DR: Chase how you want. Don't break laws. Don't drive like an idiot.

 

[Dan Robinson]

I just realized this thread has sprouted several branches of topics. It's so hard to say anything without being misinterpreted in these situations, but I'll try here.

I don't advocate intentionally going into a dangerous situation for any reason. I don't go out on chases with a fatalistic attitude looking for trouble or shrugging off death. I don't advocate chasing close to circulations at night, driving blindly into an HP core or playing close to huge tornadoes on days with El Reno-like environments. I personally won't do any of those things, especially the 3rd one now. I've said that before.

Getting to within 1/4 to 1/2 mile of slow-moving, highly-visible small to medium sized tornadoes is not dangerous with good road options, and I WILL continue to do that when I get the opportunity. Mulvane, Bennington, Pilger, etc. I don't want the danger, I want the high-contrast, crisp photo/video. I want to hear the sound. That doesn't mean some extremely rare one couldn't do something unexpected. If that 1 in 100,000 chance happens and I'm the unfortunate one, don't call it a tragedy. But also don't call it ruining storm chasing when I or Reed Timmer do it.

Compared to other things like whitewater rafting, skydiving, mountain climbing, skiing, etc, I find these discussions quite ridiculous sometimes. I posted my whole Bennington chase dashcam footage in the other thread. Can you watch that and honestly say that things like that constitute "ruining chasing"?

 

[Stan Rose]

To be clear, I have zero problem with people doing crazy things so long as it doesn't endanger me. But I'll still call it for what it is--crazy, and usually stupid. I dislike stupidity in general.

 

[Stan Rose]

... not once did I feel unsafe....
...lost my windshield....

Not gonna be a hypocrite, Ben, cause ive lost windshields and sped, but can you reconcile these two statements fro me? Cause the two times I got busted windshields I felt unsafe, and I felt I had made a mistake being in a bad place. Glass can do some serious harm to you when it breaks up in shards. So it's hard for me to understand how you can maintain these two positions.
Are you that good that you can maneuver around the baseballs and just get hit by the golfballs?

 

[Warren Faidley]

Warren, I can agree with you in part. I'm annoyed that Reed is seen as the front-man of chasing by the public and by many newcomers in the hobby, when in reality he's simply doing the same thing that many of us have been doing all along. I always wished that people like Tim Marshall, David Hoadley, et al, would be the world's go-to people when it comes to storm chasing and tornadoes. Reed's just managed to win the PR side of things whereas you and me probably couldn't care less if we ever became rich or famous doing it. I can't speak for Reed, but I'd assume he would still do what he does even if he wasn't rich and famous. I'm one of the happiest guys in the world to have the life I do, even though I drive a Yaris and live in a three-star $500/month apartment in a small Midwestern town.

Where I disagree with you, Warren, is when you say Reed's style of chasing is somehow different, and in particular, that it's ruining storm chasing. I was right with him on the Bennington day, we were passing each other on multiple occasions within 1/4 mile of the tornado (you can see that in my dashcam video here). I consider my Bennington experience to be one of the highlights of my life, not just in chasing. To me, there is nothing as incredible as being within 1/4 mile of a tornado like that. If I had been killed by the Bennington tornado, assuming it would have been a relatively quick and painless death, I would have died a happy man and would not have wanted people to consider it a tragedy.

As someone who has chased as a business for well over 25 years, I have to disagree about Mr. Timmer.

He has dominated the media for over 8 years and he is the face and spokesperson for storm chasing. He’s had multiple opportunities to speak up. He could refund the money he’s begged for and denounce the “getting too close” for research based chasing. He could move on to becoming a top notch and genuine researcher. He’s obviously a sharp, aggressive guy who could do a lot for meteorology.

Don’t hold your breath.

You can thank the lame ass media for drinking the Kool-Aid and their failure to present any other side of storm chasing, e.g., the bulk of responsible chasers and spotters. According to the media, we are all out of control kooks who line the roads and our pockets by deceptive methods. The Weather Channel is mostly to blame. However, they too eventually learned their lesson after their own crew was caught up in the stupidity / invincibility craze that we now see on a regular basis.

The current problem DID NOT stem from responsible storm chaser portrayals or magical unicorns. Some people might be uncomfortable dissecting a hero, but you cannot ignore reality or shift the blame to some other entity. I talk to so many writers and media people who are simply spineless and afraid to tackle reality or the individual who sparked the current problems.

In the course of my work, I'm constantly involved in media, television, Internet media, EMS, Universities (lectures) advertisers, chasers, spotters and the list goes on and on. Many of you are aware of the serious issues I've had with authorities and commercial interests over the years when I was mistaken for Mr. Timmer or when I was somehow lumped into the same group of buffoons. I've lost several lucrative contracts and it's all but impossible now days to find any sponsors or advertising gigs because no one wants to risk a PR nightmare over what they see on television or envision storm chasing to be. I remind everyone that national commercials featuring storm chaser(s) have been pulled from television after they were deemed “insensitive.” To most chasers this does not matter and I fully understand, but the poop is beginning to seep down to everyone and some chasers are becoming detached from history and forget who initiated this mess. This is when people start pointing fingers and blaming each other as we have recently seen in ST discussions

For example: If I indeed had "life saving" research capabilities or data, I would fill my rolling coffin with the nation's top researchers to present my conclusions as soon as possible. I would not fill my vehicle with camera crews, Jim Cantore, girlfriends and buddies. If I thought for a second that the research I've been gathering / claiming with my toy rockets and mystery radar had the potential to indeed save lives, I would focus my entire life on it, not spending countless hours generating income from non-scientific projects. I remind everyone that Mr. Timmer has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars based partially on the underlying premise of such life saving research. He WILL be held accountable for this someday.

So why does all this matter? We have an entire generation of new chasers who are bewitched into believing there is this fantasy world of mouth-watering storm chasing opportunities. They see an unchallenged methodology to deceive the public in order to make money and chase without scrutiny or law enforcement intervention. There is no argument that new chasers are popping up all over who want to use some illogical scientific project to legitimize their pursuits. People are emulating what they have witnessed on TV and think it's legitimate because the media approves it. They are energized and fearless while getting way too close for no actual scientific or heroic purpose. So who does this sound like?

Fake it till you make it.

W.

 

[Ryan McGinnis]

Much of what has been discussed isn't anything new, nor just something that has started in the last few years. Chasing is dangerous, period.

I wonder if this is really true? I mean, there are vary levels of danger, and common sense would make one believe that chasing ought to be dangerous given the nature of what we do. But statistics would seem to indicate otherwise. Chaser fatalities are generally automobile related -- which is to say, driving is dangerous, full stop. Driving in adverse weather is even more dangerous. Driving in adverse weather is something people do all the time, and often for reasons less compelling than trying to find a tornado. The only chaser fatalities related to tornado impact were people who were intentionally pushing the very limits of chase safety. (I am not saying that Tim wasn't a safety conscious chaser, I'm saying that the things amazing Tim was trying to accomplish were extraordinarily difficult and required levels of risk that would make a lot of chasers soil themselves.) After that, lightning is dangerous, though rarely, it seems, fatal for chasers. Still, don't stand next to David Drummond.

I do think that the day is coming, and probably soon, where a whole mess of chasers bunched up on a highway will get to take a fun and fatal tumble through a few hundred yards of farmfield. We are starting to push the limits of common sense when it comes to chaser convergence. But I don't think there is much we can do about other people -- we can only, as individuals, pay really close attention to the chasers around us and try not to get caught in a pack. The problem is that the packs are usually where you'd want to be. Humans, when thinking in parallel, can crack some tough nuts. If all you did was look at Spotter Network and drive to where everyone was bunched up, you'd probably see a lot of tornadoes.

 

[Chip Redmond]

I fully understand the points made @Shane Adams and @Ryan McGinnis. By dangerous, I meant the whole shebang of things, especially driving, deer, ticks, bolts from the blue, flooding, you name it. After all, driving is on the top ten jobs labelled "most dangerous". I didn't mean just meteorologically hazardous. However, when putting yourself in position to see/observe a severe thunderstorm, you are taking a thought out risk (albeit educated or not). If you were avoiding all hazards of thunderstorms, you would be sheltering in place.

I try not to consider chaser fatalities/injuries. The very small amount of which have been subject to life/death situations (whether intended or not) has never been statistically analyzed (that I know of) and is likely impossible to do so I'd think.

The consideration of "dangerous" is very subjective - that is just my opinion.

Chip

 

[joel ewing]

I'm with Shane 110% on this. I just don't care anymore, and that's out of character for me. How many more times does this subject have to be discussed? I've seen this country turn into a land filled with whiny-activists....who think absolutely nothing of sticking their noses in your personal business. Look, some chaser(s) is gonna meet with a very unpleasant death by mixing chasing with poor decision making, we all know it. Nothing we say or do at this point can mitigate this, as it's all been said already. Matt, PLEASE don't think I'm calling you out on this. You've LONG been a worthy, intelligent member of our chase community, and a gentleman to boot. I know your heart is in the right place on this.
I love chasing at night. If there's a severe/tornadic storm near me at night, I won't be able to sleep anyway. I have long had the goal of capturing an ass-kickin' night-time / lightning illuminated tornado photo. This photo has eluded me for decades. Now, sometimes our personal chase goals can make us do foolish things. Storm chasing has almost taken my life more than a few times, and I don't say that to be melodramatic. Two incidents immediately come to my mind:
May 16th 1992.....near Creighton, Nebraska (Knox Co.) Well after dark, an elephant-trunk tornado on the ground chased me up a farmer's driveway...a farmer that I had never met! Slamming my chase vehicle into park, I flung the door open and ran thru baseball-sized hail up to his porch. I pounded on his door for seemingly forever, and I could see an old guy and his wife thru the door glass, but they couldn't hear me due to the hail, I guess. With the tornado coming to the edge of their farm, I elected to just barge in. The door flew open and they looked up at me, confused. The old guy in his bib overalls kind of smiled, raised his hand as if to wave, and said "hey...don't I know you??!!. "NO" I yelled, and explained myself. Totally unaware of the tornado, I finally convinced him to dive down into the basement with me. The elderly wife never did come down, because she first "needed to find her knitting before she would agree to come down." Both were very, very senile, and probably in their 90's. The tornado came right thru their field, grinding up their pivot irrigation systems, and narrowly missing hitting the house. I read later in Storm Data it was rated F-2.
About 4-5 yrs. ago I took a direct hit from (my estimation) a low-end EF-1 while parked in the middle of nowhere in north central Nebraska, on the border of Holt and Rock Counties, Nebraska at approx. 11pm. I had a brand-new-never-rented-before Ford Explorer SUV. This tornado flipped a 53foot semi (the biggest ones you see on the highway, usually) that was very close to me. This tornado actually drove pieces of corn stalks, small branches and green leafy vegetation into the vehicle in unbelievable ways. The power windows were completely up and the doors shut 100% when I got hit. The vegetation was somehow crammed past the door jambs and into the vehicle, and all kinds of other stuff was driven past the closed window glass and their "fuzzy" insulation.....and even past the vehicle's tailgate-jambs! I DO have photos to prove this! Once I realized I was getting hit by tornadic wind...I laid down on the seat, still completely seat-belted in behind the steering wheel, and soon felt the vehicle begin to lift up a bit. It raised itself up high enough so that it extended the struts and shocks totally as high as they could go. Ohhhh..I just KNEW that SUV was gonna launch into the air and I would be killed. My emotion at the time? I was exceedingly angry at myself, because I figured that I'd finally made my wife a widow (obviously not the 1st. time I'd "screwed the pooch")....and I had nobody to blame except myself...AGAIN. Mercifully, the SUV didn't become airborne, which was a flat-out miracle in itself. Believe me..... it was hell trying to get it looking like "new" again the next morning before I turned it back into the rental company. OK, so what's my point here?? In these 2 close-calls...it was my LAST evening in the alley, so I gave myself permission to GET GREEDY + PUSH THE LIMITS, over-riding my more experienced judgment. As I said earlier...probably 100% of my "close calls in chasing" have been MY FAULT. I hope that someone reading this might remember my words when faced with a similar decision during their chase season. Please use your head out there in the field, folks.

 

[James Gustina]

The fear of ruining a hobby for everyone else seems to be the continual driving factor in this, along with the fear of the ever-elusive legislation that is likely never going to come. Having opinions are what makes life fun, but trying to project opinions like this is the definition of "telling people how to chase".

That said, I don't personally find nighttime chasing or getting into the notch objectionable. If I'm not there sitting next to the guy 1/4 mile from the mesocyclone then I'm not going to pass judgment on what the situation is and what his plan is as the meso approaches. Everyone has a different cup of tea when it comes to how they go about chasing severe convection, but I've yet to see any proof that there's a wrong way to do it.

 

[Matthew Crowther]

OK, several replies were 'I know what I am doing'. Gee, do you think Tim Samaras and crew knew what they were doing?

 

[Warren Faidley]

I have nothing against night time chasing, especially given I started my career from shooting lightning. I generally turn to spotter mode at night if I'm near a major city like AMA.

This really comes down to experience and love of life. The biggest problem is that nighttime chasing usually involves multiple storms that initiated earlier in the day, so getting around safely involves experience and using radar in a constructive manner. My closest calls have been at night. Not because I was trying to get stupid close, but because the visual part of chasing was lost. I once waited in Shamrock, TX too long based on (ancient) radar and was blasted by rock-filled inflow while exiting east on I-40 with a tornado just behind me. Some close shaves are part of chasing and cannot be eliminated unless you want to chase from 10 miles away. The difference is placing yourself in danger because you don't give a S#!$ and want to push the limits for hair-brained reasoning and thrills vs. the times naturally occurring events happen because of unplanned events like equipment failures, road issues, splitting storms, etc.

W.

 

[Ryan McGinnis]

OK, several replies were 'I know what I am doing'. Gee, do you think Tim Samaras and crew knew what they were doing?

I imagine they did -- they knew they were doing things that almost no other chasers were doing. Really dangerous things. The number of people who make a regular habit of trying to get within 45 seconds of being run over by a rainwrapped wedge are a very small segment of the chase community.

Knowing what you are doing matters a lot -- but also knowing that knowing what you are doing matters logarithmically less the closer you get to the HP rain-wrapped tornado probably matters more. Still, it seems like an exercise in futility to stamp feet and shout at the clouds because other people do this. Yeah, it's pretty risky. So is trying to climb Annapurna I or fly to the ISS, but hey, guess what, people are going to do it.

 

[Matthew Crowther]

It is a matter of what your chase goals are. Mine is solely to get great storm images. So if a storm is HP, I almost always do back off a few miles knowing I might miss a tornado, but for example with the last situation in TX, to my mind the most striking images by far were the ones that captured the incredible multi tiered structure, I would take that view any day of the week over a closer encounter with a poor-contrast wedge, especially if it is at night. When not chasing and watching live streams I am constantly thinking hey why are you still driving???? That structure is amazing, pull over and enjoy it!

 

[Stan Rose]

I imagine they did -- they knew they were doing things that almost no other chasers were doing. Really dangerous things. The number of people who make a regular habit of trying to get within 45 seconds of being run over by a rainwrapped wedge are a very small segment of the chase community.

Knowing what you are doing matters a lot -- but also knowing that knowing what you are doing matters logarithmically less the closer you get to the HP rain-wrapped tornado probably matters more. Still, it seems like an exercise in futility to stamp feet and shout at the clouds because other people do this. Yeah, it's pretty risky. So is trying to climb Annapurna I or fly to the ISS, but hey, guess what, people are going to do it.

I hear you Ryan--but there is a significant distinction. The people in the ISS or climbing Annapurna (a dream of mine BTW as I used to peak-bag) only affect themselves or partners with their actions. If the person who wants to get close to the EF-5 drives like a maniac down the wrong side of the road and passes me or cuts me off at 100 mph to get to their 'goal'--that's affecting me.

 

[Kevin Rimcoski]

I hear you Ryan--but there is a significant distinction. The people in the ISS or climbing Annapurna (a dream of mine BTW as I used to peak-bag) only affect themselves or partners with their actions. If the person who wants to get close to the EF-5 drives like a maniac down the wrong side of the road and passes me or cuts me off at 100 mph to get to their 'goal'--that's affecting me.

Yes but it doesn't have to be driving towards a tornado. If there's no storms, people are still driving like that.

Maybe one day soon I'll have a dash cam and throw a video or two up of some of the craziness you see in Tucson.

 

[Ben Holcomb]

Not gonna be a hypocrite, Ben, cause ive lost windshields and sped, but can you reconcile these two statements fro me?

Our definition of safe is different I guess. Bubble boy safe I was not - on the edge of death or serious injury? Not even close. On the flip side, I'd feel less safe riding a bicycle down the side of a road wearing a helmet. Something that some do for health reasons.

The worst that could have happened is that all my windows blew in and glass was everywhere. I had safety goggles in the car and actually put them on (@Adam Lucio can be heard making fun of me in his video) when shards of glass started falling in. Did I feel unsafe? Nope. It's a calculated risk. I could have easily pulled over to the side of the road, put my car in park and gotten under the middle of my roof between my seats if all the windows smashed in and hail was falling into the car. Maybe I ended up with bruises or even broken bones, but that'd be a hell of a story.

There will always be outlier cases. You can be prepared to climb mount everest beyond a doubt, but there's always risk - Look at this past week. Large earthquake causes avalanche and it kills people. I would liken that to May 31, 2013 in the chaser world. Everyone was not prepared for what the beast could do. Same with Everest. If I hit a fringe case like that and die, so be it. You can go to your boring job and come home to your fat annoying wife and kids you hate and have to sit through their stupid baseball games and do it over every day until you die living the "American Dream". I'm going to get out there and do things. If one of them happens to kill me, at least I lived a good life.

I will still agree with Shane that driving is the most dangerous part. Look at the late Andy Gabrielson - Guy was close to every tornado it seemed like, and yet he died because some jackass driving drunk down the Turner Turnpike smashed into him head on at 80 MPH. So you enjoy your boring no risk taking lives, I will live on the edge.

 

[Kevin Rimcoski]

^ exactly my point and what I've been telling my mom and fiance, Ben

Everyone has different styles of chasing and what works with one person, it may not work with another. They'll find it irresponsible, dangerous, crazy, stupid, you name it. We've seen it in this thread
Some like to get up close to the tornadoes. Yes anything can happen as we've seen a few years ago even if you think you know what you're doing. Some people chase solely for lightning and structure. ..everyone's just got their own thing. It's nobody's business to tell someone else how they can or can't do something. You have your life to live, they have theirs. Don't go in and tell someone how they can or can't live. It's not anyone's place

And like you said Ben, I agree with you. If you die doing something you love then it's just that. Paul Walker even said himself that of speed kills him one day don't cry as I was smiling the whole time. That was what he loved, he loved his cars, he loved speed, it's sad he died especially since he wasn't even driving, but he had fun. He was doing what he loved

 

[Ryan McGinnis]

I hear you Ryan--but there is a significant distinction. The people in the ISS or climbing Annapurna (a dream of mine BTW as I used to peak-bag) only affect themselves or partners with their actions. If the person who wants to get close to the EF-5 drives like a maniac down the wrong side of the road and passes me or cuts me off at 100 mph to get to their 'goal'--that's affecting me.

That's fair enough, but then that's not so much a chase risk that comes from being too close to the Finger of God's Suck Zone as it is a typical "driving near douche-bags" risk. And I'm all for recognizing the driving risk -- unless you climb mountains or radio towers or rush into burning buildings on a regular basis, driving is by far the most dangerous activity most of us will ever do in our lives, and we do it on a daily basis. (Unless you count smoking, not exercising, eating lots of sugar, and being obese as activities -- but I think of those kind of things as being more lifestyle choices than activities, and the risks are cumulative, not sudden.) Getting up in the notch doesn't put other chasers in any danger, it's all personal danger that you are assuming yourself, and statistically it's a pretty small danger, considering that in 50 years of chasing getting up in the notch has only killed one crew. Maybe if there is a convergence in the notch there could be a danger to others, but that's kind of a self-selected danger, and one you can usually see happening before you are in it if you watch Spotter Network. See 30 dots on a one lane rural road in the notch? Think really hard before you drive into that. And know that if you do, you are as much part of the problem as a victim if things go south.

 

[Jeff Duda]

OK, several replies were 'I know what I am doing'. Gee, do you think Tim Samaras and crew knew what they were doing?

I think this comment alone could spin-off an entirely separate thread. To an extent, I think they did know what they were doing. In fact, I think they were among the most experienced and intuitive of all storm chasers. However, I think they did make a mistake by continuing east when they suspected they were north of the tornado and when they experienced very poor visibility. They probably knew that they were taking a huge risk, but were willing to accept that risk for the chance of popping out of the rain just northeast/north of the tornado to get a great view and perhaps even make a play on obtaining some sort of observations. So in that sense (knowing that there is considerable risk but accepting that risk), I think they knew what they were doing.

If you want to delve into semantics of what it means to truly "know what one is doing," that's fine. I'm sure we would get a range of opinions on the matter. However, I don't think that question is a "yes or no"/"black and white" issue as it sounds like you were phrasing it to be.

 

[Kevin Rimcoski]

In those 50 years of chasing, that storm was also its own breed
How many of you were expecting the tornado to suddenly expand that fast and that wide? Obviously even twistex didn't becaise they wouldn't have been there. The tornado didn't act like what you're all used to seeing, that's for sure.

 

[Stan Rose]

Our definition of safe is different I guess. Bubble boy safe I was not - on the edge of death or serious injury? Not even close. On the flip side, I'd feel less safe riding a bicycle down the side of a road wearing a helmet. Something that some do for health reasons.

The worst that could have happened is that all my windows blew in and glass was everywhere. I had safety goggles in the car and actually put them on (@Adam Lucio can be heard making fun of me in his video) when shards of glass started falling in. Did I feel unsafe? Nope. It's a calculated risk. I could have easily pulled over to the side of the road, put my car in park and gotten under the middle of my roof between my seats if all the windows smashed in and hail was falling into the car. Maybe I ended up with bruises or even broken bones, but that'd be a hell of a story.

There will always be outlier cases. You can be prepared to climb mount everest beyond a doubt, but there's always risk - Look at this past week. Large earthquake causes avalanche and it kills people. I would liken that to May 31, 2013 in the chaser world. Everyone was not prepared for what the beast could do. Same with Everest. If I hit a fringe case like that and die, so be it. You can go to your boring job and come home to your fat annoying wife and kids you hate and have to sit through their stupid baseball games and do it over every day until you die living the "American Dream". I'm going to get out there and do things. If one of them happens to kill me, at least I lived a good life.

I will still agree with Shane that driving is the most dangerous part. Look at the late Andy Gabrielson - Guy was close to every tornado it seemed like, and yet he died because some jackass driving drunk down the Turner Turnpike smashed into him head on at 80 MPH. So you enjoy your boring no risk taking lives, I will live on the edge.

Hmmm...fair enough Ben, thanks for your response. Are you aware of who you are addressing though, when you refer to their "boring" risk-free lives? Is it your loved ones? I scuba dive, hang glide, mountain climb, and chase and even I found that a bit much

 

[Warren Faidley]

The age old problem with those who want to chase like morons for absolutely no legitimate reason is that people forget that they are doing it on public roads, not a closed course. I like watching extreme sports like the X-Games because it's a crazy pursuit in a closed arena. If someone wants to drop a snowmobile on top of them, so be it.

This is about the other people who use the highways (like your family and friends) and the public servants who have to risk their lives to come and haul you to the hospital or the morgue. I'm at a lost trying to understand any argument supporting such negligent behavior.

W.

 

[Kevin Rimcoski]

Ya but the same can be said for those who sky dive or rock climb. They enjoy it whatever their reasoning is. If their parachutes don't open or get tangled, slip off the climb and die someone still has to go get your body. The only difference is there's no cars involved

 

[Adam Lucio]

What did we learn from El Reno? Not a damn thing. There wasn't anything to learn. Anyone who didnt already know that tornadoes are unpredictable, can change size/shape/speed and kill you shouldn't even be registered on this forum let alone out in the field pursuing severe weather. El Reno was just a bitch-slap of reality. Anything that gets learned from that will be the result of years of meteorological studying, and have to do with the actual meteorology of the event, not the storm chasing culture. So when i hear "didn't you learn anything from El Reno" I get a twitch in my eye. No, I didn't learn squat from El Reno.

I was also one of the chasers doing the tango in the hook for most of Sunday. I saw structure, awesome hail and some HP tornadoes that many others didn't. It's not about one-upping anyone. It's about my strange obsession with violent weather and wanting to experience it, as well as being the best chaser I can be. Plus, actually BEING there, it was apparent the storm was having trouble getting completely organized in the low levels beyond a large wall cloud, all the tornadoes were weak. Those uber duber scary radar velocities you are looking at are over 1000 feet high in the storm. What we were seeing on the ground was entirely different.

That being said, chasing at night is pretty lame overall, I got bored with squinting to see things between lightning flashes quicker than some, and decided to just punch the core out of there and head for food, but if other people find enjoyment out of it hey its a free country, chase on.

Oh, and @Ben Holcomb looks ridiculous in goggles.

 

[Warren Faidley]

Hello fellow Tusconian... Not so. A skydiver or rock climber is likely to only kill themselves. EMS and LEO's are often required to drive through very hazardous weather to rescue people in a storm, usually with much less knowledge of the actual dangers than most chasers with experience and radar. El Reno was a good example when crews had to respond to TWC accident with additional storms moving in.

W.