This up close stuff is getting out of hand

[Steve Miller TX]

Some more incriminating video just surfaced. Chasers getting too close, actually getting caught and spun in a tornado, driving through fireballs & houses, dodging massive chunks of debris, chasing on on foot, and still getting the ULTIMATE shot of the eye of a tornado! Be warned though, two chasers' deaths are also vividly documented.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwFIEt1Dvuk

(Another warning...this is strictly humor!)

 

[Dennis Sherrod]

Steve, you almost had me convinced that this was a real chaser video until I saw that there was no way it could be real.
There was NO LIGHTBAR!

 

[Joshua Nall]

Sometimes stuff just happens. Keeping 4 wheels on the ground at a good distance from any sort of tornadic circulation is my goal... and not being a danger to anyone else. But you place yourself in the path of enough supercells and sometimes stuff just happens. I've done that numerous times over the past three years, been in the vicinity of several tornadoes, but my first time to witness a tornado was the first Roll, OK tornado of this year. I had lost radar updates to GRL3 for about 30 minutes but knew I was in the right spot as I popped out of the rain... started getting large hail with rotation to my right as I traveled E, saw a funnel start to form and decided I better pull into a driveway to see this thing touch down... it crossed the road right behind me.... I dont know how far, but you can see a vehicle on hwy 33 on the other side of the tornado in one of my shots... I'm assuming it's the TVN guys' armored contraption after seeing their video and where they were.

Had I had radar updates I would have been further E. Never dreamed I would get so close to a tornado and I sure would not try to... What I think about, is if I put myself in the path of enough supercells... no matter how careful I am, sometimes stuff just happens... you lose radar, trees block your view for a while, or 90% or the time if you live around here, etc... Maybe this is getting off topic, but.... If a tornado sucks me up..... what a way to go! Don't feel bad and DON'T start a thread about how STUPID I was. There are unavoidable risks to placing yourself in the path of a supercell. All of those that I can avoid, I will. Some risk it all to get really close, that is their right, even though the right and wrong of it regarding their adding to the potential chaos is debatable.

The real question is the safety of nonchasers due to recklessness, and just the fact that chasers add to the number of vehicles in the area. I'm tired of hearing about how some chaser is going to die. Who cares... some mountian climbers die, etc...

 

[scott r currens]

If some post "To Each His Own" one more time I am going to vomit.

 

[Steve Miller]

To Each His Own

Sorry man, it had to be done...

 

[Connor McCrorey]

Haha Steve you beat me to it by about 10 seconds.

 

[Warren Faidley]

Hey guys, I'm not a moderator, but lets try to keep this conversation open and civil before the mods close it. I think its a very important point to discuss, and it is obvious we have assorted opinions.

W.

 

[Dave Marshall]

I've had a couple unintentional close calls, but many more times I've watched a storm roll over the horizon because I couldn't approach it safely given my road options, and the nature of the storm. That's my personal choice, and its a choice every chaser has to make based on their own willingness to take risks. Though I find it is disheartening and embarrassing how many chasers seem to feel the local laws, and more importantly the laws of statistics and physics, don't apply to them.

My dad and I were talking just a couple days ago, and we both agree that this will probably be the year someone is killed. With Vortex2 (and the associated TWC uberhype), there is an unprecedented number of yahoos on the road, and probably more real chasers than ever before as well. You can't fool statistics. It's gonna happen eventually. I fear for the hobby as a whole when it does.

Anyway, I've been within 1/4 mile of a couple. I had two this year, and it was only dumb luck that kept me from being a hell of a lot closer than that both times. I personally dislike that situation, and I'll adjust my decision making process on future chases with those two 'oh sh**' moments in mind.

1/2 mile is my comfort zone on most storms. That almost always affords a good view, and so long as you're aware of storm motion relative to you, unless its a monster you have no business approaching anyway, it will usually afford enough time to extricate yourself.

One thing I will say, *Many* municipalities, and even some states, are starting to charge people serious money for EMS/Fire/Police responses resulting from blatant carelessness, and you can bet your ass they'll file a storm chasing related injury/accident in that column, whether it really was or not. I can tell you from personal experience, the cost of a medical airlift is $3,000-$9,000.

If you are the person that gets hurt while chasing due to your own proclivities for thrill seeking, don't expect me to start banging the drums to get whatever municipality it is to waive the fees. Nobody throws the skydiver out of a perfectly good airplane, and nobody demands special treatment for the skydiver that goes splat. It isn't *ANY* different for chasers. Personal responsibility is a forgotten concept any more, and because of that, the government has had to adopt this "One person sh*ts their pants, you all wear diapers" mentality.

{/rant}

 

[Terry Kern]

As other people have stated in here, to each his own. But when some of these chasers that do choose to get up close and personal with tornadoes and are asked why, don't give me this 'were doing it for science and research' crap. Shut up.

 

[Jerry Funfsinn]

When I look at this subject from my perspective I see this. Would there be as much uproar to this if the Kirksville storm were more of a classic instead of an HP supercell. The people who
tried to "thread the needle" did it in probably the same way I would have? I'm sure the urban setting may have influenced peoples decisions on position. My experience is this, supercells are
uncommon, tornadic supercells are are less common, seeing a tornado is a rare occurrence. Seeing a significant tornado is something,even for stormchasers, may be a once in a lifetime deal.
My point being that as much as I have invested into this passion of mine, I personally go the extra mile to not only see the tornado, but get the best view possible. I'm not a structure,lightning,
or hail buff. I like tornadoes. Any veteran will tell you that judging distance on a storm is very difficult. My experience is that you are often a lot farther away from features than you think
when you can see it. I along with most, always second guess after a chase that we could have gotten closer.

"And if someone is killed, the bad publicity will affect all of chasings."

It may get short term interest but I recently asked co-workers, friend and family the same questions just out of curiosity. I named off well know chasers, veterans and current "stars",
as well as things like the TIV, DOW, all the different probes. The common answer was that no-one knew who or what I spoke of. My take on that is that they know I chase storms but could
give two sh*ts about all the people or projects in the chase world. If you don't think so you can run your own tests. I think people need to look at the chase world from a laymans
perspective sometimes to gauge how we are perceived if at all. I think the layman could spout off the latest viral video on youtube than TVNs latest tornado intercept.

"One thing I will say, *Many* municipalities, and even some states, are starting to charge people serious money for EMS/Fire/Police responses resulting from blatant carelessness, and you can bet your
ass they'll file a storm chasing related injury/accident in that column, whether it really was or not."

I disagree with that statement. If that were the case,the people on the idrivedrunkeverynight.com forum would be in an uproar that they may be charged heavily for there latest accident. Once
again, no-one gives two sh*ts about stormchasing except people in there stormchaser bubble.
All truth be told, back in the 90s I did not see or hear about the irresponsible behavior of well known veteran chasers playing chicken with tornadoes. I loved those videos and still do. This
is certainly not the first occurrence nor the last.

 

[joel ewing]

I do believe the day is approaching when all of this is going to come to a head, and individual states will attempt to formulate legislation addressing the concerns that we are discussing now. I can envision the day when perhaps it starts by requiring any who chases a storm need to be a certified Skywarn Spotter. And they will need to be annually certified spotters. To expand on this..one possible legislative scenario might be.... only those "certified" spotters that live in the county where the storm is occurring would be exampt from being ticketed. In otherwords, even though I'm from Arizona...and am an "official" Skywarn Spotter....I wouldn't be legal to be on a storm anywhere else but in Pima County, Az. to be exempt from being at odds with the law. Now I know what everybody is thinking..."how in the hell could they ever enforce that?" Well, perhaps they can't enforce it up front...until said chaser is involved in an accident, has a tail light out, runs off the road, blocks traffic, etc. during a storm, is lit up and pulled over. The "non-legal chaser" law could be tagged onto the "back-end" of the initial infraction... perhaps elevating the initial infraction to where one now has the penalty of "double-fine...double-points".
Another thought....once potential legislation aimed at chasing begins to loom large...I think that it would be most unwise if our so-called "chaser-community" wasn't at least somewhat organized, so that we could develop intelligent counter-legislative talking points for use at hearings and in especially the media. IMO, to take away one's freedom to do something so benign as chasing a storm is nothing short of oppression. Please don't think that these kinds of laws simply cannot be made into reality.

 

[Jacob Ferden]

I think I've already said this once, but I will say it again: laws against storm chasing are unenforceable. People on this thread have mentioned only skywarn spotters being allowed to chase storms. If police were allowed to ticket anyone else, any local resident who just happens to drive down a U.S. highway toward a storm and past a cop could then be ticketed, whether they were chasing the storm or not. It will never happen.

 

[Joey Ketcham]

I think I've already said this once, but I will say it again: laws against storm chasing are unenforceable. People on this thread have mentioned only skywarn spotters being allowed to chase storms. If police were allowed to ticket anyone else, any local resident who just happens to drive down a U.S. highway toward a storm and past a cop could then be ticketed, whether they were chasing the storm or not. It will never happen.

And if storm chasing were to be made illegal, I would love for a cop to prove that I am storm chasing. The ham radio means nothing, it's a hobby. The laptop means nothing, I work in IT and need to have it around in case I need to VPN into work for some reason. My camera gear is always with me. So I would like to see how a cop could prove that I am storm chasing.

As you said, there will never be laws or regulations that prohibits storm chasing.

 

[Scott Olson]

There is absolutely no bar, test, aptitude, or any other level upon which someone achieves before they can call themselves a storm chaser. The idea is anyone can be a storm chaser, if they so desire it. Anyone can drive around, steal a kids lollipop, block roads and do any number of things all while their car reads 'storm chaser in big letters'. Not everyone may have the patience to drive thousands of miles to seek the weather but a small percantage of everyone becomes storm chasers when presented with the oppurtunity.

I reliaze that it's sensitive, it's what we do and what we are. Unfortunately, there is so little we, as a body of those who are lives revolve partially around the weather, can do. If a chaser dies (and by chaser what does it really mean?) then that person as an individual human being, took a risk. Are we concerned that someone is going to die, or that the media publicity is going to make our acts of storm chasing sound more dangerous and more reckless? I'm less concerned with the implications for the term 'storm chaser' as the contations will always be worse to me than the general public. There are too many people out there who can carry the name and the flag and drive around severe weather to carry the burden of there particular levels of risk, reward, carlessness, disregard or intentions.

 

[Brandon Goforth]

I think I've already said this once, but I will say it again: laws against storm chasing are unenforceable. People on this thread have mentioned only skywarn spotters being allowed to chase storms. If police were allowed to ticket anyone else, any local resident who just happens to drive down a U.S. highway toward a storm and past a cop could then be ticketed, whether they were chasing the storm or not. It will never happen.

The only way would be to ticket people for loitering while a severe storm was in the immediate area...but even then it's doubtful.