This up close stuff is getting out of hand

[cdcollura]

Good day all,

I hear your opinions and getting too close is dangerous whether or not it's intentional.

Last year (2008) I joined the "close-call" club and I still have bad dreams about it from time to time.

Some tornadoes (Quinter in 2008 for example) can have such a strong RFD surge with them you can get hurt or killed within 2 miles of the wedge. Many were lucky as well in Greensburg in 2007, as large wedge tornadoes (Greensburg, Quinter, etc) often have satellite tornadoes going around them that an observer may not even be fixating on.

It would really stink if you are observing a large wedge tornado from 1-2 miles to the SE of it, thinking your safe, and a stove-pipe EF-2+ satellite comes around and takes you out - Keep your head on a swivel!

I STRONGLY suggest avoiding HP storms in poor visibility (remember the "we are IN the tornado" video in June last year 2008 in Iowa?) and especially at night.

Someone getting acidentally killed (God forbid) will give all chasers an unfortunate and bad / careless rap.

 

[AndyGabrielson]

the more I thought about it-- the more I realize what I've learned from this forum. You're not going to change people who don't want to be changed. QUOTE]

Ya know what I have learned about this forum, and please don't take it personal, but 50% of the conversation is people complaining about what someone else is doing. With all that time spent on that I want to know if others are aware of what they are doing? We all know this camaro guy is a moron, that goes without saying, but to criticize people becuase they want to get REAL footage, AWESOME "i want to see that again!" footage, etc etc... is outrageous. Go ahead, get the same old generic tornado video from 3 miles away, you'll find me getting as close as possible.
I also agree with what Verne said...
I respect everyones opinion, hope you can do the same for me, thanks.

 

[Vicky Redwood]

Personal safety and that of those around you is paramount and getting close is great as long as you come out ok. Spare just a fraction of a second and think of your parents / loved ones getting a knock at the door from the law enforcers with their hats in their hand and an 'I'm sorry' look on their face when they've found whatever's left of you from your close encounter.

We all do it, we all push the boundaries, we all want to see the best stuff from however far away, have a great chase, have great stories to tell, some scary moments but remember that we have people that love us that really want us to come home in one piece!

We all love chasing and have the right to do what we want and I don't want to be a complete girl about this, but we are not the only ones in our lives )

 

[James McCormick]

I am fine with people getting as close as they feel comfortable to get their shots. If you are a good meteorologist and a good storm chaser, and you get to your spot in time, to the victors go the spoils. I don't need to tell any good chaser to not become part of the emergency, everybody already knows that.

However, if you need to drive 100+ MPH to get in position because you want to be close... let it go. Get over yourself. Get the distance shot. You didn't do a good enough job to get the close shot on that particular storm. There will always be more storms and more chances. I do worry about the attitude of some who are trying to get as close as they can - the attitude of some that felonies are acceptable in order to make up for bad/inadequate chasing is just ridiculous. People like to blame law enforcement for the anti-chasing attitude that exists in many counties throughout the plains. Chasers have given the cops a lot of reasons to hate us as a community.

 

[Darin Brunin]

Chasers have given the cops a lot of reasons to hate us as a community.

You mean like all of those lightbars on chaser's vehicles?

 

[Joey Ketcham]

Yet again, here we are back on the topic of this public perception of storm chasers that so many of you seem to worry about. Why do so many people worry about what other chasers are doing and their method of chasing? Unless you are being directly effected by how they chase, don't worry about it.

And why do you think that there would be this horrible reaction from the public if a storm chaser died from a tornado? Come on, seriously? If a chaser died from a tornado, I hardly doubt the public will care. It might get a mention on the news, but beyond that I doubt it will be made into a big deal. The public won't suddenly hate chasers because of it and it's not going to prompt law makers to make storm chasing illegal. That will never happen, it would be impossible to enforce and it's not practical.

People die all the time in other hobbies; parachuting, rock climbing, racing, and hunting to name a few. If someone died from storm chasing would it really be that big of a surprise? I think the public would be more surprised to know that no chaser has died as a direct result of tornadoes and severe storms.

It's a non-issue that I don't understand why so many people worry so much. People will chase how they want to, there is no stopping it so I don't know why people stress out so much over it knowing it won't ever change.

 

[Brendon Lindsey]

Haha, well I have had a close call too, last year it was the rain wrapped pigfarm tornado on highway 74 in NC OK I believe. It totally slid my car from one side of the road to the other... it was scary. I got lucky... 30-40 yards ahead of me a a trailer home was destroyed and debris was everywhere. All up in the roads...

I was in the edge of the tornado, and got video, but hey It paid for the whole season.

 

[Brandon Goforth]

Yet again, here we are back on the topic of this public perception of storm chasers that so many of you seem to worry about. Why do so many people worry about what other chasers are doing and their method of chasing? Unless you are being directly effected by how they chase, don't worry about it.

I don't...I only worry about people who are trying to kill me along with other people who happen to be on the road at the same time.

 

[Matthew Crowther]

A central part of thie argument is are you out there there chasing storms, or tornadoes? I consider myself a storm chaser first, a tornado chaser second. In many cases, I am more enamored of incredible "mothership" storm structure and other skyscapes than getting video of tornadoes- my main documenting equipment is my DSLR, not my video camera. There have been quite a few cases where I missed a tornado or was 3-10 miles away and was not upset in the least- because I got some incredible storm structure views/photos. Brady, NE in 2000 is a perfect example- we were about 5 miles from the tornado and saw the awe-inspiring structure and the tornado as well. Others were very close to the tornado and got exciting footage, but I would not change my view of that storm for any tornado footage in the world. The Garden City event earlier this year is another example (wish I was there) where the storm structure FAR outweighed the tornadoes IMHO- miles away from that storm was the place to be.
To each his own I guess, but I still think getting close enough to have debris hit your vehicle is nuts- no thanks, and as someone pointed out above, there is always the chance a strong RFD or satellite vortex will come out of nowhere or an escape route will be blocked, and you will be toast.

 

[Dennis Sherrod]

Last week people were complaining because of no storms.
This week people are complaining because there are nuts out driving wild, chasing the storms and getting too close.

 

[Shane Adams]

Nobody getting themselves killed will ever change the fact I will always chase tornadoes. There is no way to police chasing...it will never happen.

From a purely video point-of-view, IMO the stuff from 1/4 mile away or less isn't good video at all. Watch it on mute and tell me what's so amazing about it. The escape is what sells it; the tornado doesn't even have to be in the shot (and many times from 200 yards away you can't see it anyway).

But I'm a fan of the old-school style of video, where the tornado itself is the draw.

 

[Darrin Rasberry]

the more I thought about it-- the more I realize what I've learned from this forum. You're not going to change people who don't want to be changed. QUOTE]

Ya know what I have learned about this forum, and please don't take it personal, but 50% of the conversation is people complaining about what someone else is doing. With all that time spent on that I want to know if others are aware of what they are doing? We all know this camaro guy is a moron, that goes without saying, but to criticize people becuase they want to get REAL footage, AWESOME "i want to see that again!" footage, etc etc... is outrageous. Go ahead, get the same old generic tornado video from 3 miles away, you'll find me getting as close as possible.
I also agree with what Verne said...
I respect everyones opinion, hope you can do the same for me, thanks.

Certainly, but I think the generic videos are by far the best. My top three bookmarked videos from last year are Quinter 2 crossing I-70, the Windsor CO wedge blowing by a golf course with baseball hail landing in a nearby pond, and a 16-year-old's camera footage of Parkersburg before it got too close to her home south of the city. The sole video I bought last year was from a chaser here on the boards who intentionally stays the distance for these "classic" kind of grabs. They're the only ones where the structure of the whole thing can be seen, from the rotation in the parent meso all the way down to the debris whirl on the ground, and that's what I like. Even Reed Timmer, who gets close as much as he can, makes good attempts at angling the camera to capture structure, and that's why I think he's best at "close chasing." As far as witnessing close-range and seeing the action of the tornado up-close, you "close chasers" will always be beaten - by security cameras. As a textbook example, take a look at the Parkersburg bank cams and the one from a southeastern state that shows a direct hit on a parking lot (I think there was a Windsor CO one as well).

Close chasing is your choice, and I respect that, of course. I don't think public perception is going to change, and although there are police out there who don't like us, the three times I've been pulled over while chasing this past two years (once even for a moving violation) have seen the conversation (and ticket situation) switch dramatically toward the positive when I mention I'm out there as a mobile storm spotter. LE's as well as aware citizens appreciate people out there who report storms, and an LE in OK this year even told me (accurately) where to go when he saw my laptop and I told him my data was out of coverage. It would take a major incident of "fiddling while Rome is burning" proportions to have negative action taken against chasers, and even then, it's very hard to prove intent since so many storm spotters (local or mobile) would get harassed.

 

[Michael Ratliff]

After seeing all of the close calls yesterday in MO, and not just from yahoos like that local Camaro jockey, I am fed up with "let's get as close as humanly possible to the rain-wrapped tornado" or "let's chase this cell until 2AM so we might get a glimpse of a tornado for 1 second in the lightning" or let's core punch this storm with 80 VIL and have our vehicle totaled" etc etc etc.
Matt Crowther

Here is my two cents ....I've heard a few veteran chasers state there is no point to chase after dark... So go home get a good nites rest and Ill post video stills and video in the morning to show you the tornado that wipes out a small town and or homes. You see nite time chasing is dangerous but Ill take my odds over nite time chasing or driving home at 2:00 am in okc on a weekend and getting creamed by a drunk driver. MY chase partner and I not only enjoy nite time chasing but we report what we see. Also roads less crowded...see nite critters .. blah blah But whats Ironic is if chasers stop after dark who reports to the nws or law enforcement of a dangerous sitituation heading towards a town of asleep people?? That 1 second lighting flash in lone grove gave us the view of a violent tonado heading towards town. Just saying ....

As for the destroying vehicles, thats not your problem.. Maybe they needed an opportunity to get a new one ???? I on the other hand have built a core punching machine...And if there is no meso detected with the cell ..you bet your A$$ I'll be in the middle of it finding the baseballs,softballs and or volleyballs lol. I love hail just as much as tornadoes or good structure shots! So with that note see yall in the core!!!!!!

 

[Jason Boggs]

Myself, I err on the side of caution. Sometimes it inhibits my ability to get good shots, but I don't care. I get very nervous when I get too close, or have limited road options. I guess that's the survival instinct taking over.

Like a few have said here, I also like to get structure shots from 3-5 miles away. Give me a good mothership and my day will be complete. Like Shane said, its no the close up footage that sells, it's all the screaming and hollering when one gets too close. That's why a lot of chasers do it...because they know it sells.

Like my old adage, tornadoes from a distance are the icing on the cake for me.

 

[Kevin Walters]

In most states if you get a ticket for speeding in a work zone the fine is at least double if not more. It wouldn't surprise me to see something similar applied to storm chasers at some point in the future. If you are caught speeding or driving in a reckless manner while storm chasing you would receive a hefty fine or possibly lose your drivers license.