Why do people drive into tornadoes on purpose?

As a child, I use to ride my bike into the center of large dust devils. As an adult, I have been very close to two, slow-moving, land-spouty, weak tornadoes and it was very exciting. They were over open fields with little or no chance of debris. I was alone and endangering no one but myself. The risk was minimal. Would I do this with a well-developed supercell capable of producing a violent tornado.... no.
 
I have been in land-spouty, weak tornadoes four times, each time unintentionally. I don't want to do again, either. IMO, It just goes to demonstrate how easily one can get into a dangerous situation even while trying to be careful. I have always tried to be careful while chasing.

e.g., I was driving I-35 into Emporia KS on May, 21, 2011 and drove under a storm that didn't seem particularly threatening. The base was rather high and there was no funnel that I could see, but as I passed under it the wind blew like hell from the south, then it blew from the north. Soon after there was a tornado, and I exited on highway 99 and filmed it.

On June 4, 2015 while chasing the Pilger CO storm a very similar thing happened, and that circulation became the anti-cyclonic tornado.
 
I have been in land-spouty, weak tornadoes four times, each time unintentionally. I don't want to do again, either. IMO, It just goes to demonstrate how easily one can get into a dangerous situation even while trying to be careful. I have always tried to be careful while chasing.

e.g., I was driving I-35 into Emporia KS on May, 21, 2011 and drove under a storm that didn't seem particularly threatening. The base was rather high and there was no funnel that I could see, but as I passed under it the wind blew like hell from the south, then it blew from the north. Soon after there was a tornado, and I exited on highway 99 and filmed it.

On June 4, 2015 while chasing the Pilger CO storm a very similar thing happened, and that circulation became the anti-cyclonic tornado.

This I understand, it's the people who knowingly and deliberately drive inside the tornado in a non-armoured vehicle that confuse me
 
Brian: Could it be that when you hear a chaser scream on a video that they are inside the tornado, they aren't really inside the tornado, because they would be flying, or flipping many times? I believe this is the case most of the time.
 
As others have said, adrenaline, footage, or attention seems to be the obvious reasons to do such things.

Like any other 'extreme' activity, there is a wide spectrum of motivations and of levels of risk taking. For example skydiving in general is safe statistically and provides some thrill, but the average person doing it follows strict rules, has no wish to test fate and do things that change the statistics toward dangerous. For them, it is enough to enjoy within limits. Others, for example the extremists within the wingsuit community who shoot mountain gaps, are almost guaranteed to be killed eventually and many even admit they know this in interviews, etc.

Some people fill themselves up with this stuff and don't seem to have any reasons to be restrained. One commonality seems to be that the very most extreme of risk takers can't enjoy without pushing further and further or getting attention/ego boosts from the activity constantly. They universally think they can control something that in the end, statisticaly, they cannot. It really comes down to some psychology going on where people have motivation that puts safety lower in their priorities. I think in some of the cases of killed chasers and near misses, clearly this type of thinking was a factor. I am sure they felt in control and excited until nature surprised them.

To be clear I am not judging those people as bad people, just acknowledging the spectrum of risk tolerance is different and that it has a damaging end in some cases. Despite the frequent defense of some of the more egregious activities that no one is hurt, living my way, etc... someone does often get hurt or burdened when the extreme risk takers finally are injured or die or have to be rescued, even if it is only family or emergency services. In the worst cases, someone else gets hurt or killed. The general trending of this behavior as something impressive is making it more dangerous for others to be near these people (crazy driving while chasing, or how about the guy who crashed a plane for the footage?).

I actually don't mind the vast majority of people who want to do such activities like take a bigger risk than I would personally, as long as they do not put others at risk. The attention seeking/validation and arrogance that comes from some of these people is very frustrating to deal with though.
 
Brian: Could it be that when you hear a chaser scream on a video that they are inside the tornado, they aren't really inside the tornado, because they would be flying, or flipping many times? I believe this is the case most of the time.

I am not talking just about people screaming that they are in the tornado, but some of the videos it clearly looks like they are inside the circulation

I know people who have driven in EF0-EF2 winds in cold fronts and downslope windstorms without incident (not reccomending this, EF1 is really risky), and it takes at least high EF3 to throw a vehicle (I read a paper sayign it takes 70 m/s), so it is definitely possible to drive through some tornadoes, but it is not possible to tell that they won't intensify on top of you or throw debris at you
 
I've been inside a low-end EF-2 tornado (Silver Lining Tours 5/28/19). I wouldn't relive the 20 seconds during and immediately after for any amount of money or fame.

I was in an EF0 tornado near Jewell, KS in May 2008 with the TWISTEX project. Even though that only lasted for 5 seconds it still scared the shit out of me and I would not knowingly do that again. Our car was *pinches* this close to getting lifted and tossed off the road.

We measured winds in the 70-80-kt range.
 
I was in an EF0 tornado near Jewell, KS in May 2008 with the TWISTEX project. Even though that only lasted for 5 seconds it still scared the shit out of me and I would not knowingly do that again. Our car was *pinches* this close to getting lifted and tossed off the road.

We measured winds in the 70-80-kt range.

Why do you say you were almost lifted? I would have thought that would take way more than 80 kt
 
It's interesting to read these other accounts of close encounters. My record is not clean by any means, but the derecho winds yesterday were likely the strongest winds I had ever been in while chasing, outside of Hurricane Irma in 17. I estimated around 85-90 mph, but hard to really tell in SD. Of course I set myself up with miles of clear fields to my south that I could see any debris coming my way.

We've had more chaser deaths by Freightliner in 2022 than we've lost storm chasers to tornadoes ever. Keep the risks in perspective.
 
It's interesting to read these other accounts of close encounters. My record is not clean by any means, but the derecho winds yesterday were likely the strongest winds I had ever been in while chasing, outside of Hurricane Irma in 17. I estimated around 85-90 mph, but hard to really tell in SD. Of course I set myself up with miles of clear fields to my south that I could see any debris coming my way.

We've had more chaser deaths by Freightliner in 2022 than we've lost storm chasers to tornadoes ever. Keep the risks in perspective.

How strong was the wind you were in in Irma?

My concern was that if more people start driving into tornadoes on purpose the death toll of tornadoes will rise higher
 
I don't know exactly, but Naples recorded like 131 or 141 gust? I would have guessed around 100 MPH maybe. We were in a sturdy parking garage.
 
Why do you say you were almost lifted? I would have thought that would take way more than 80 kt

I have video from the vehicle behind me, who was also struck, and who was also in TWISTEX. Chris Collura also got video of this incident from the other side of the road. See his reverse angle shot here:

Note: I am the one driving the vehicle that is closest to his camera. I do not appear in the video afterward, and the vehicle you see that has their window blown out was the third in line behind the vehicle behind me.
 
The cost of new set of windows in my 2022 Ford Ranger would likely cost more than I would ever make off any video.🤣 The social media life cycle of "I just drove into a tornado" is just a few hours now days. Ho-hum. The new standard will likely be competition to see who can be hurled the furthest by a tornado. Remember that guy who once built the tornado-proof armor. Please pick up the red phone.🤪
 
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