What makes a storm chasing vehicle?

[Michael Towers]

Money paid, papers signed, plates transferred, and new all-weather tires installed as of this afternoon. The best storm chasing vehicle for me is now a 2002 Toyota Camry.

That should serve you well and provide you with one of the most important requirements for a chase vehicle, reliability. My Camry just passed 300k miles, has started every time and has always reached my destination. I could always rely on it during a chase and to me that is the most important thing, especially if you’re an aggressive chaser and take chances. Even if you chase very conservatively a breakdown can ultimately put you in the path of danger, you might be safe from the cell you’re on but a sitting duck for the next one down the line. For a chaser vehicle failure can prove deadly so maintaining a reliable vehicle is in my opinion an essential aspect to chasing.

My current chase vehicle is a Highlander which gives me the same reliability as the Camry but also 4x4 ability and thus better accessibility. I once came damn close to getting stuck in the muck and in the path of a trailing supercell and that harrowing experience ultimately motivated me to go to a 4x4. I still won’t go on mud but now I feel much more at ease taking gravel and will take roads I’d previously been likely to avoid. Lastly it’s a comfy ride and while not as important to me as reliability and accessibility it sure makes it a lot easier to bear those long marathon chases.

 

[Jason Russell]

I

Why do you have right of way? And you sure as heck should not be running red and blue. Unless you are police, fire, EMS, or EM and in your jurisdiction.


Brett Conner
COMT
Director of communications
Multi-County Fire Corps
www.okfirecorps.com

I have ROW when I'm going down a two or four lane road (or such) and do not have a stop or yield signal/sign at an intersection. Around here, the average driver won't even pay attention to the fact that there is an oncoming vehicle if there is a weather event.

If you notice, I did say NO red or blue; it aggravates the heck out of me when I see other non-official uses of the colors as well. In Louisiana you can run amber and white to notify other drivers of a hazard they should be aware of (loosely worded), aka me stopped on the side of the road or rolling down a road at less than the posted limit. Construction and "approved vehicles" can utilize red and amber alternating flash. I was also a little overzealous in my description of an ideal vehicle- mine has a minimum of roof-mounted strobes currently. Eventually I will have a push bumper equipped with amber LED strobes, but for right now I make do with amber LED turn signals with a flasher.

I agree my previous post wasn't well worded on the matter, the sentence construction I used could well lead to Mr. Conner's interpretation. Hence, my clarification.

And thanks to Bob for explaining earlier, it is true that chasing is and will always be a secondary priority for me (and only a hobby at that!), the primary being search & rescue or emergency assistance where possible. If it's beyond my ability or the scale is simply massive, I would have the make a decision then whether to notify the proper agencies and tackle it, or notify the proper agencies and move on. There's a variety of things I don't have or haven't learned, such as Jaws of Life or treating a critically injured person, so once responders take control I can make myself scarce.