Skywarn Class Off Limit to Public

[Tim Stoecklein]

On the contrary here in NE KS, the NWS folks really praised the chasers in their presentation in our county. Most of the pictures used in the presentation came from our local chaser crowd like Darin, Dick, Mike P, and others...........It's all wide open to the public, the more the better.

 

[Joe Nield]

It's probably to keep chasers out so they can't defend themselves when the NWS rips them in front of all those spotters. I think it's wonderful how the NWS always asks for our reports then runs us down at SKYWARN meetings.
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As an NWS met who has taught about 10 spotter classes, I find this extremely perplexing. Granted, I can't speak for my brethren out west, but neither I nor anyone else at Indianapolis disparage chasers in any way. Where did this come from?

Note to mods: I just realized what forum this is in. The topic threw me, and I thought I was still in W&C. In any case, as one of the B&G scarlet letter folks from the X2 upgrade, my apologies, and go ahead and delete if you feel necessary.

 

[rdale]

"Where did this come from?"

I think the fact that we know who posted it without having to look at the author line means something...

 

[John MacKay]

Yeah, Tim, that was something that I noticed was the people that I knew from this board with video and/or pictures at the presentation. I just happened to look at Scott Currens' website about a day or two before the meeting and saw the same video on his website at the meeting (and Jennifer Starks mentioned the tornadoes he saw in January). It was a very good presentation with some of our finest providing some of the tutorial.

 

[Tim Vasquez]

This topic belongs on Weather & Chasing... I'm moving it out there.

 

[Damon Poole]

I've been certified in storm spotting since 1988, that's 18 years, and I'm always still learning something. I've also seen plenty without going across the country to do so. Many spotters like me, also have other advanced training and field experience, and many like me, also make our own analyses and forecasts. I have a minor in Physical Geography as well as a TV weather internship under my belt.

I'm not here to flame anybody either, but while there are spotters who may see only 2 or 3 storms a year, I personally don't see where that makes them inferior to a chaser. The fact that chasers are more mobile and chase more storms doesn't mean that they are necessarily any more or less knowledgable or experienced than other trained spotters. There are also a few chasers who have very little if any training in meteorology or spotting, and they also make mistakes. A few have even lost their lives. My point is that there are extremes in both groups, but all of us can and do make valuable contributions.

Damon Poole,
Certified SKYWARN Spotter,
Guy, Arkansas

 

[David Drummond]

While there are spotters who may see only 2 or 3 storms a year, I personally don't see where being a trained and certified spotter makes anyone inferior to a chaser. The fact that chasers are more mobile and chase more storms doesn't mean that they are necessarily any more or less accurate than spotters. There are also a few chasers who have very little if any training in meteorology or spotting, and they also make mistakes. A few have even lost their lives. My point is that there are extremes in both groups, but all of us can and do make valuable contributions.

Damon Poole,
Certified SKYWARN Spotter,
Guy, Arkansas
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Damon, you have to realize that spotters like yourself, that DO take a deeper interest in the workings of the atmosphere, that DO take a shot at their own forecasts, etc etc are rather rare. In my experiences, there aren't MANY that do that, but maybe one or two in each area. The rest of the folks that will jump in and participate in the nets most of the time aren't even aware that severe weather is looming until they hear the net come up or the NOAA tones go off or they hear thunder. The awareness factor varies by area of course, with Oklahoma probably having the highest from what I can tell listening to various nets across the plains. This can easily be evidenced by the stations that key up and have to ASK net control if there is any threatening weather in their area, even though the net has been up for an hour.

Seems most of the time those few that do have the deeper interest often find they aren't satisfied with whatever comes roaming around their home territory and cross over to the CHASER side to go to the storms instead of waiting for them to come to them.

As for experience, in any activity, a person that does that activity MORE and thus has more experience at it will naturally refine their skills and be better at it than a person that only occassionally gets to participate in it. The old saying, practice makes perfect. Obviously anything is far from perfect in weather, but a person that is observing 100 storms per year is naturally going to hone their skills and be better at it than a person who only sees 2 or 3 storms per year, chaser or spotter tags aside.

As for chasers that have made mistakes and lost their lives chasing.....that's news to me??? I know of two "chaser" deaths due to hydroplanning, neither of which were on an active chase, but on their way home.

 

[Joey Ketcham]

A few have even lost their lives. My point is that there are extremes in both groups, but all of us can and do make valuable contributions.
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Please elaborate. There has only been two deaths as a result of hydroplanning, not due to lack of experience and knowledge. I do not know of any other storm spotters or storm chasers that have died or been injured during an active chase.

 

[Damon Poole]

David and J.

First, you both are correct, those chaser deaths were due to hydroplaneing. I wasn't trying to link the deaths to storm chasing. The sentence about the chaser deaths was a separate thought. If I implied otherwise, it was simply my written error, and for that, I stand corrected. The point I was trying to make is that we all make mistakes, regardless of experience, training, or labels.

Second, I wholeheartedly agree with you on most of your points. Experience does come with practice. I am not knocking anybody who chases and spends the hundreds of hours and dollars to chase storms across state lines. More power to everyone who regularly does so, whether for education, research, business, or hobby. However, I stand by my point that education is still education, and, experience is still experience, regardless of whether one sees only 2 or 3 storms, or over 100 per year. This also is true whether it is gained in the plains, or in one's own neighborhood. Again, as I said in my original post, there are extremes in both spotters and chasers, good and bad, and both groups make valuable contributions.

Respectfully,

Damon Poole