Things I have noticed so far this year

[Mark Sefried]

Hey all,

Just wanted to share my thoughts as to what I see happening so far this year as to years past.

1). What is up with chasers getting stuck in the mud and going into ditches this year? Granted most of the supercells this year so far seem like they are fast moving hp's that end up developing in a poor road network area. It's common sense to stay on paved roads as much as possible especially if the dirt roads are a muddy mess from either the storm you are chasing or from heavy rains from the day before. In the midwest its perfectly fine usually to stay on the dirt roads because even in heavy rains they don't turn to mud as they seems to do in the plains.

2). Experienced chasers and newbies are getting way too close to the action at night. There have been several occurences that I know of so far where chasers have been nearly hit by a tornado or even hit by one. This may be happening because of the advances in chasing technology such as having live radar at your fingertips in you vehicle and one might think that they can safely do it. For me once nightfall comes around the chase is over because of the safety risk factor. Granted there are times when it is safe to chase at night such as you have a perfect intercept route on a major "paved" road such as a state route and or U.S. route. Also, with the price of gas for me it is not worth it to try to get a 1-2 second glimpse of a tornado between ltg strikes.

3). I have noticed a lot of vehicles with broken windshields due to core punching. Granted most of the supercells have been hp's and you have to get really close to the action to see anything. Just be sure to appraoch from the inflow notch on radar from the east side of the storm as to avoid the gorilla sized hail as much as possible.

4). There are a ton more chasers this year than years past it seems. So far I have noticed that it is like a freakin circus out there at times with chaser convergance. I have yet to see that across the Midwest thankfully.

All I can say is that everyone stay safe out there and use some common sense!!

 

[Shane Adams]

The trend I see is fewer and fewer chasing "individuals" and more and more chase "teams" or research parties. It seems about half the people out there now are stringers and have agendas way beyond just documenting events on video for personal posterity. The cool thing about this is, it's becoming so easy to blend into the background now, because if you don't have a radar dish strapped to your roof, or a camera crew following your every step, people just think you're a bystander

I also foresee myself becoming very famous in the next few years, being the only active chaser who's never been hit by a tornado.

 

[Paul Knightley]

As our trips are limited to 2 weeks' worth of chasing, we don't get to see everything which goes on - however the huge increase in the number of chasers since I started coming over 10 years ago is noticeable, as is the much greater number of tours/uni vans, etc. We have no aerials or dishes on the rental car, and are very comfortable in blending into the back ground! We have no agenda other than our own personal interest as meteorologists to see/document storms, and forecast them.

 

[Bill Hark]

Although I have noticed a general increase in the number of chasers, I have also noticed more cars with 2 or more chasers. Maybe due to the higher gas prices. Instead of carpooling to work, we have "chasepooling."

Bill Hark

 

[Jeff House]

I believe a lot of what Mark writes about is caused by people chasing too aggressively. Putting safety first does not take away from the thrill of the chase. If one keeps a comfortable distance, not influenced by other chasers, the chase is more enjoyable and much safer. The tornadoes I've seen from two to five miles away were just as incredible and awe inspiring as ones I've been closer to.

Happy Chasing!

 

[cstrunk]

I think it just depends on what kind of risks a person is willing to take and their personal preferences to their chasing style. People will have different opinions on how close they want to get, what kind of roads they are willing to take a risk on, or if they are willing to chase at night.

It's the same theory as when talking about busts. A bust to one person may mean not seeing a tornado, but to someone else it may mean a blue-sky bust.

 

[John Erwin]

I think the "vehicles getting stuck" thing is just proportionate to the number of people out there chasing, which I think everyone will agree is on the rise. It's always been an issue otherwise.

Personally I think the more and more reality type TV shows that occur will only bring more folks to the fold; good in one sense but bad in the other in that only a small percentage of these have the attitude necessary to take all the aspects of chasing seriously.

 

[Dustin Wilcox]

I think the "vehicles getting stuck" thing is just proportionate to the number of people out there chasing, which I think everyone will agree is on the rise. It's always been an issue otherwise.

That and the fact that the majority of this years big days have been in areas where roads are meager at best. The roads in NW KS are not very forgiving...

 

[Paul Redmond]

After reading this I dont feel so bad. Here I was feeling sorry for myself with the chase season so short down here and being over so soon. However I never once got stuck, suffered no hail damage, and was only in potential danger once. My two "core punches" were never really core punches as I never even got near the cores. I was going to slow because of ponding on the roads to get near the cores. Actually I do have to give myself credit I have been carefull when I really had to be. Thats one of the advantages of getting old.

 

[Steve Bottkol]

I believe your seeing this because a number of chasers want to be as close as possible, and that usually entails using secondary roads. One other reason I see is that 06 & 07 were relatively slow chase years due to lack of tornados, but this year, for the last 2 weeks it's been one day after another...maybe chasers are trying to catchup from the slow years. I personally have noticed chasers tying to go down muddy/washout roads in vehicles that have no business being their. Face it, 4 wheel drive is really needed, but even 4WD vehicles get stuck. Kansas has been hit over and over with HP storms and the roads just can't dry out. Oklahoma has this crazy clay/mud that is difficult to navigate thru. Just my .02

 

[Chris Nuttall]

I don't think it's so much that more chasers are doing these things or getting caught in these situations, I just think you're hearing about it more often. Just a couple of years ago (2005-ish), ST used to be a fairly small circle of chasers. Everyone pretty much knew everyone. Especially in the last year, there has been a large influx of new members. Some were already chasing and are new to ST...some are new to chasing and to ST.

When I was in college (2000-2005), I saw plenty of people chasing on dirt roads and getting stuck. But back then, not every chaser had a blog/website where they posted their entire experiences.

I pretty much equate this to the "increase" in ACL injuries in professional sports (mostly football). It's not so much an increase in frequency (could be), but we are definitely hearing about them more....especially after several injuries to high-profile players.