Storm Chasers clog roads in Barber County KS

[Ben Holcomb]

“At one point in time, both sides of the highways were blocked with storm spotters. I actually drove by on my PA telling them to get off the road because they were just congesting traffic that much. If you want to see a storm, you know, watch the news,” said Justin Rugg, Barber County Sheriff.

Read more at http://ksn.com/2015/04/09/storm-chasers-clog-roads-in-barber-county/

 

[Ben Holcomb]

I find it quite ironic that they tell us to 'watch the news' and then link to the same video those very storm chasers captured.

 

[Michael Gavan]

He means, Clogged Uh secondary road.

 

[Jeff Snyder]

The potential for very significant chaser convergence actually affected our decision making yesterday. @Dan Dawson and I originally planned to stay south of KS to chase, which is why we tentatively targeted Woodward with eyes to the southwest. We did end up going N to US64 before stopping and, eventually, turning back to the S, but we discussed several times our desire to avoid the hordes in KS.

 

[Jason Foster]

Video/photos or it didn't happen. That includes you johnny law with your own constitution.

 

[Jeff Duda]

It's kind of a mixed message. The website (not necessarily the LEO who made the comment) is implicitly endorsing the video by showing it on the site. However, they're also consistent with the LEO's message: watch it on the news (that website).

I wasn't there so I don't know how bad it was, but I've seen rampant poor driving behaviors in chase hordes in recent years, so I wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't some point along some road where there were some people stupidly not pulling all the way off the roadway, perhaps even on both sides of the road.

 

[TiffanyR]

I also wasn't there and don't know how bad it was, but I mentioned in chat last night that I was listening to the Barber County scanner feed during the warning. Cops were talking a LOT about all the congestion, at one point joking about 600 chasers and referencing bumper-to-bumper traffic. The bits I heard about poor driving behaviors were illegal U-turns and at least one guy who refused to pull over and get out of the road for anyone. One cop did say most were pulling off the road completely at one point. Again, I wasn't there to see what actually happened...just some commentary on what I heard.

 

[rdale]

A firefighter posted that running lights and sirens they had a chaser pass them. Someone thought it would be a good idea to go to the sheriff's office page and give them the usual crap about "these people are all here to protect you from a tornado so let them do what they want or you'll die" blah blah. That'll do wonders to smooth over any rough edges

 

[Sean Ramsey]

I honestly didn't think it was that bad. I've definitely seen much worse convergence and yesterday just felt kind of normal. I did spend a majority of the chase on muddy dirt roads so that tends to thin out the crowds a bit.

 

[James Gustina]

It's strange that these kind of "stories" seem to mostly be coming out of Kansas, when I've seen way worse convergence in Oklahoma (including yesterday) but I've yet to have a LEO this side of the state line be hostile towards me for chasing. Lyons Co sheriff issues on April 14 2012, Rush Co. LEO/La Crosse Fire Dept. blocking off roads in 2012 and forcing chasers to stop (including myself) as the tornado bore down on the highway, along with smaller associated news stories/comments like this seem to be becoming more commonplace.

 

[Adam R Davis]

More specifically, they seem to be coming almost entirely out of Wichita (The Eagle and KSNW). Of course, they dominate the western KS TV news market so that's not terribly surprising. Anyone who knows of these kinds of articles coming out of smaller markets like Topeka or Dodge City, you're welcome to correct me.

 

[rdale]

...and I'm sure there are issues on both sides... But posting crap like "next time you and your deputies are in your home, and a tornado rips through without warning, don't go crying crocodile tears saying you didn't have enough warning before it hit" is not going to make him (and the citizens of that county) have a good impression of chasers...

 

[James Gustina]

...and I'm sure there are issues on both sides... But posting crap like "next time you and your deputies are in your home, and a tornado rips through without warning, don't go crying crocodile tears saying you didn't have enough warning before it hit" is not going to make him (and the citizens of that county) have a good impression of chasers...

The random "saving lives" BS is back in full swing apparently. Sad that some chasers don't see the disconnect between themselves being out there and a tornado warning being issued.

 

[Stan Rose]

This comment on the story pretty much sums up the anti-chaser sentiment. 15 years ago I would have shrugged this off as random paranoia, now I actually agree with a large part of it, it's kind of scary. I only see this kind of sentiment growing, I can't see how it will improve. (this is in response to Bart Comstock's defense of the chasers)

"Of course they're a problem, the only ones denying the problem exists are the chasers themselves. Slappy the Storm Chaser reminds us that the "experienced" chasers aren't the problem, maybe so, but not everyone sporting a lightbar on their Ford Focus and calling themselves "Extreme Chasers" are in fact experienced. So what does Slappy suggest? Slappy the Storm Chaser says LEOs in the jurisdictions affected should start issuing citations to those that fail to adhere to traffic laws. Traffic infractions are common in the stormchaser community, experienced and inexperienced alike. Just watch a video on YouTube.

So, there you go, start citing lawbreakers. Great idea Scrappy. Everyone knows LEOs; when faced with a severe weather incident, have all sorts of time to stop and issue a traffic citation to some tourist bristling with photo gear...in a Ford Focus sporting a lightbar...and neato decals. Never mind the LEO or Firefighter might actually be responding; or trying to respond, to an emergency directly related to the severe weather incident.

But but, stormchasers are out there to gather information, to report instances of severe weather to the appropriate agency, to render aid to those affected...yeah, no they're not. Those kind of chasers are few and far-between, they exist and those kind of chasers should be applauded, but the majority clogging the roads and presenting traffic nightmares to residents trying to escape, emergency responders trying to respond to the carnage are, you guessed it, inexperienced tourists. Their only aim to to get a photo or video of whatever exists at the moment and achieve fame on YouTube or social media, forget everyone else. You know it, I know it and if you choose to blame LE for their concern over this constant convergence of stormchasing tourists in the polygon, all you're doing is enabling the kind of behavior some of you yahoos decry on social media.

Blame the locals Sparky, everyone knows locals show up on some weather apps as a little dot marking their location for all to see."

 

[David Reimer]

While there was certainly traffic around Medicine Lodge yesterday it certainly wasn't crippling. Then again I tried to stay ahead of the hoards as much as possible. I only had one cop come running code behind me in Medicine Lodge and I pulled over to the right to let him pass. Funny how we only see these stories come out of Kansas. I've seen traffic two or three times as bad in Oklahoma. Imagine if all those chasers hadn't bailed south to the dryline storm in OK.